URBAND LEGEND: The Bloody Mary

Bloody Mary is a legend about a ghost in a mirror. They said that if you repeatedly chant her name, she will appear in a mirror. Legend also says that Bloody Mary is a ghost of an unhappy woman who committed suicide due to having her baby stolen or was accussed of murdering her own children. Either of these, it turned her spirit mad with anger and grief that made her haunt mirrors.

• Is Bloody Mary Real?

Some people think so. Many people already believe that Bloody Mary was a witch, just because she lived in the forest, in a small cabin and was known around the local village for selling herbal remedies and tinctures. People in the area are wary of her. They didn’t want to get too close to her. They fear that she might curse them or their animals.

• Missing Girls

Small girls started to go missing soon after. The people in the village looked everywhere but they couldn’t find them. Until a few brave folks ventured to the woods towards Bloody Mary’s cabin to search for the girls. The families were suspicious of her despite denying that she was involved in the girls disappearances. Her appearance drastically changed. She started to appear more youthful and feminine unlike her old self who looked too old and haggard.

Bloody Mary’s story continues with the Miller’s daughter.

The Miller’s daughter was enchanted by a noise that only she could hear that night. While the mother is threating her very bad toothache, she became very frightened and shouted to her husband to come quickly and follow her daughter. They were shouting for her to come back but to no avail. They seek the help of a few townsfolk and they notice that there was a light at the edge of the woods. They noticed Mary Worth was standing in the clearing next to a huge oak tree. She was holding a wand and is pointing it towards the miller’s home, and was almost glowing with an unnatural light – and the miller’s daughter was headed straight toward that light.

• Mary Worth’s Death

When the farmers and the Miller husband noticed what was happening, the went to her with pitchfork and loaded guns. When Mary noticed them and realised that everyone knew what she was, she broke the spell and set off to the forest.

The Miller husband quickly loaded his gum with silver bullets in case Mary turned her attention to his daughter. He fired the gun and Mary got shot at the hip. She got caught. She was kicking, trashing, screaming. She was tied on a stake and the townfolks set up a bonfire to burn her. As she was burning, she set a curse upon the people and told them that if they ever dared to utter her name in a mirror, she would be back for them – her spirit would return to wherever they summoned her from to exact her revenge.

• The Ritual

It is said that you have to walk up the stairs backward holding a candle and a hand mirror in a dark house. As you gaze through the mirror, you were suppose to get a glimpse of your future husband’s face. However, there is a chance that you may see a skull face or the face of the Grim Reaper instead, which indicates that you may fie before meeting your future husband or a chance to get married.

Others say that this is done by repeatedly chanting her name into a mirror placed in a dimly lit or candle-lit room. The name must be uttered n times (I won’t tell the specified numbers for readers safety).

The Bloody Mary apparition may appear as a corpse, witch, or ghost that can be friendly or evil, and is sometimes seen covered in blood, hence the name.

Some myths surrounding the ritual states that the partaker may endure the apparition screaming at them, cursing them, strangling them, stealing their soul, drinking their blood, or scratching their eyes out.

• The Price

Anyone who is foolish enough to provoke Bloody Mary is said to pay the price. Unlike any ghost who merely scared humans, Bloody Mary is said to be able to hurt humans. She can inflict physical harm or will kill her victims by decapitation, disfigurement or scratching their eyes out. If you are lucky enough that Bloody Mary took “mercy” on her victim, she would turn them insane or she may take a fancy on someone and drag them into the mirror.

Although the tales of Blood Mary are dismissed, in most people it is still a popular “game” among certain groups of people and may even be a rite of passage to some, a means of confronting one’s fears or a way to play a mean prank on someone.