Add one more level (either from having a sixth name on the roll or through one of the names having already been moved off from the top), and the number involved jumps to 19,530. If everyone in the chain had followed instructions and mailed it to five of their friends, by the time it reached you it had already been through 3,905 pairs of hands, and that only provided the first person listed was the one who began the progression. For instance, suppose the money-generating come-on you received in the mail displayed five names. Because each level of the pyramid increases exponentially the throng of investors involved, the numbers soon lose meaning. First, for pyramid investments to work, the world would need an endless supply of people, each of them with money in hand and determined to participate in the process. So much can go wrong with pyramid contrivances that their pitfalls hardly needs explaining. Such endeavors have operated under the names of “Elite Activity,” “Women Empowering Women,” “The Dinner Club,” “Spirit of Giving” and so many more that we couldn’t possibly ever list them all.) Deserving of particular mention are “gifting circles” or “gifting clubs” wherein folks pay substantial chunks of cash to be included on a chart of like-minded investors, the object being that as new people are added behind them, they will move higher on the diagram one tier at a time until ultimately they occupy the top spot, at which moment they will receive the pool of money accumulated behind them. (Pyramid schemes exist in many forms and go by many names. If all goes according to plan, their small investment will reap them a fortune once their names percolate to the top of the list. In their most common form, recipients are instructed to send a token set dollar figure ($5, for example) to the name at the top of the group’s roll call, strike that name and address from the list of those involved, add their own to the base of the register, recopy the amended letter, and mail it to five of their acquaintances. Money-generating (pyramid or Ponzi scheme) chain letters hold out the promise of untold riches to those gulled into participating in their circulation. Luck-generation (or ill luck avoidance).Money-generating (aka pyramid or Ponzi schemes).While folk cures and accompanying prayers have dropped from favor (as medical information and resources became easier to access, such intelligences became less vital), other sorts of “Send this to five of your friends!” mailings emerged to fill this gap.Ĭontemporary chain letters fall into five broad categories: Our modern world sees chain letters of a variety of descriptions circulated by surface mail, fax machine, and in e-mail. The cures detailed therein were typically combinations of recipes for simple nostrums and special prayers to be recited as the concoctions were mixed or administered. These letters were also sold by peddlers and fortune tellers. In them, their writers set down what they believed to be useful cures, on the understanding that such missives were to be recopied by those who received them then distributed to those people’s loved ones, who in turn would themselves recopy these wisdoms to hand to their nearest and dearest. Pass the item to others for their benefit, protection, or well-being, certain written communications dating to the Middle Ages could fairly be considered the first of this sort. If, however, we’re willing to settle for an implied instruction to History to point to as the moment of origin. If we accept that a true chain letter must contain within its text an explicit instruction to the reader to make copies of the mailing and put them into the hands of a specified number of new recipients, that 1888 date is a defensible notch on the timeline of #Dollar letter chain archive#VanArsdale in his massive archive of the genre is dated 1888. While all manner of written materials (letters, speeches, eye-witness accounts, polemics, recipes, cures, prayers) have in the past been circulated to ever-widening circles of recipients, the first full-fledged chain letter recorded by Daniel W. Origins: The practice of circulating letters to other parties beyond their original recipients has existed for centuries, so pinpointing the exact origin of chain letters is problematic. Topic: A discussion of the history and various types of chain letters.
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