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In contemporary Western folklore, Bloody Mary is a ghost or witch said to appear in a mirror when her name is called three times (or sometimes more, depending upon the version of the story), often as part of a game at slumber parties. Other very similar tales use different names for the character including Mary Worth, Mary Worthington, and Hell Mary among others.1
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Overview
In folklore and children's street culture, "Bloody Mary" is a game in which a ghost of the same name (or sometimes other names, such as "Mary Worth") is said to appear in a mirror when summoned. One of the more common ways participants attempt to make her appear is to stand before a mirror in the dark (most commonly in a bathroom) and repeat her name three times, though there are many variations. Some include chanting a hundred times, chanting at midnight, spinning around, rubbing one's eyes, running the water, or chanting her name thirteen times with a lit candle. In some versions of the legend, the summoner must say, "Bloody Mary, I killed your son!" or "I killed your baby." In these variants, Bloody Mary is often believed to be the spirit of a mother (often a widow) who murdered her children, or a young mother whose baby was stolen from her, which made her go mad in grief and she eventually committed suicide. In stories where Mary is supposed to have been wrongly accused of killing her children, the querent might say "I believe in Mary Worth." This is similar to another game involving the summoning of the Bell Witch in a mirror at midnight. The game is often a test of courage, as it is said that if Bloody Mary is summoned, she would proceed to kill the summoner in an extremely violent way, such as ripping his or her face off, scratching his or her eyes out, driving the person insane or bringing the person into the mirror with her. Some versions say that if you chant her name thirteen times at midnight into a mirror she will appear and you can talk to a deceased person until 12:01, when Bloody Mary and the dead person you asked to speak to will vanish. Other variations say that the querent must not look directly at her, but at her image in the mirror; she will then reveal the querent's future, particularly concerning marriage and children.2
Bloody Mary Worth is typically described as a child-murderer who lived in the local city where the legend has taken root years ago. There is often a specific local graveyard or tombstone that becomes attached to the legend.
On the other hand, various people have surmised that the lore about taunting Bloody Mary about her baby may relate her tenuously to folklore about Queen Mary I, known in history by the sobriquet "Bloody Mary".31 The queen's life was marked by a number of miscarriages or false pregnancies. Had Mary I successfully borne a child, this would have established a Roman Catholic succession in the English monarchy and episcopacy and threatened the continuance of her religious persecutions after her death. Speculation exists that the miscarriages were deliberately induced. As a result, some retellings of the tale make Bloody Mary the queen driven to madness by the loss of her children.4 It is likely, however, that Queen Mary I provided only her nickname to the Bloody Mary of folklore. She is also confused in some tellings of the story with Mary Queen of Scots.
The mirror ritual by which Bloody Mary is summoned may also relate to a form of divination involving mirrors and darkness that was once performed on Halloween. While as with any sort of folklore the details may vary, this particular tale encouraged young women to walk up a flight of stairs backwards, holding a candle and a hand mirror, in a darkened house. As they gazed into the mirror, they were supposed to be able to catch a view of their future husband's face. There was, however, a chance that they would see the skull-face of the Grim Reaper instead; this meant, of course, that they were destined to die before they married.5
Cultural references
The legend of Bloody Mary has served as inspiration for movies and television shows dealing with the supernatural.1 In 2008, for its annual "Halloween Horror Nights" events, Universal Studios Florida developed a new variation of the legend.6 In their version, "Mary" was a doctor who studied fear by exposing her patients to the thing they feared the most.6 During the experiments, Mary would sit behind a one-way mirror; the patients would shout her name three times when they wanted the experiment to end.6
In 2008 Cupsogue Pictures and Impact Motion Pictures announced that they would be producing a definitive high-production-value picture encompassing the Bloody Mary legend. The production - 'The Summoning' - produced by Gene Fallaize and directed by Hollywood veteran Stephen Hudis, is in pre-production and is slated for theatrical domestic and UK release in October 2009 7 8
Notes
- ^ a b c Urban Legends Reference Pages: Bloody Mary
- ^ See generally, Bill Ellis, Lucifer Ascending: The Occult in Folklore and Popular Culture (University of Kentucky, 2004). ISBN 0-8131-2289-9
- ^ Bloody Mary, Mary Worth and other variants of a modern legend - MythologyWeb
- ^ Obiwan's UFO-Free Paranormal Page > Ghosts and Hauntings FAQ > Urban Legends > Bloody Mary
- ^ Ellis, op. cit.; see also Ronald Hutton, Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain, (Oxford, 2001). ISBN 0-19-285448-8
- ^ a b c Dewayne Bevil (2008-09-25). "Universal crafts Bloody Mary bio for Halloween Horror Nights". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved on 2008-10-14.
- ^ "IMDb.com".
- ^ "TheMirrorWitch.com".
External links
- The Face in the Mirror is an article with information about the various Bloody Mary ghost legends.
- Myths Over Miami - The supernatural Bloody Mary and related legends among homeless children in south Florida.
- Bloody Mary FAQ at ghosts.org
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 8 January 2009, at 11:18.
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