Does the Magical “Wire Hanger” Challenge Really Work?

A viral Tiktok challenge claims that putting a wire hanger on your head will make it magically move.

My co-host, Robyn Taylor, was mesmerized by some videos she found online this week showing young people freaking out over the viral challenge. According to hundreds of people who have been trying this out online, if you take a wire hanger and put it on your head it will make your head involuntarily move.

I've heard of strange things like this before. For example, if you stand in a doorway and press your hands against the door jambs for 30 seconds, your hands will magically rise up when you try to keep them by your side. Perhaps this challenge was something like that? Then again, it could be something much more sinister.

If you've been on Tiktok or Instagram you've probably seen tons of videos with kids freaking out over things that seem very unbelievable. Whether it's playing back a video at fast speed and hearing a secret message or counting to 12 and magically appearing to lip-sync to a crazy rap song, these videos are almost always fake. The intention is to make gullible people try it themselves and feel like an idiot.

With that in mind, we humored Robyn and decided to give the wire hanger challenge a try. Would it really make our heads turn involuntarily or would it wind up being just another trick to make boomers feel stupid?

We posted the video below so you can see for yourself just what happened when we stuck wire hangers on our heads at 8:00 in the morning.