Urban Legends – Bloody Mary

About 100 years ago or so there was a woman named Mary. One day she had a terrible accident and her face was scratched so badly that she bled to death. But her spirit could not rest. Bloody Mary haunts the world as an evil ghost. If you stand in front of a mirror in the dark and say her name three times, you will see her horribly mangled face appear. If you don't turn on the light and run away as fast as you can she will try to scratch your face off.

That is the ‘original’ and most popular version of the Bloody Mary Legend. There are a lot of different versions, mostly because kids tell them to scare their friends and so adjust the story to fit the situation. For example in 1 of the versions you have to say the name 3 times and in other 100 times. Maybe the 3 times ‘adjustment’ came because for example a few boys wanted to scare a girl. They told her the legend and threw her in a darkened room screaming:
‘Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary,’
They couldn’t have shut the door with the girl in it for a long time to say 100 times the name so they changed the legend.

Who is Bloody Mary?
The name Bloody Mary can be linked to a lot of people. First Queen Mary of England, Mary Queen of Scots and the Virgin Mary. Those are the names of known people but she is also linked to: the which burned at the stake, the children killer and the ax murderer.
In some cases Bloody Mary is the Satan. And to add the 2 situations she also is the sister/daughter/wife of the Satan.
There are also people who don’t know the legend as Bloody Mary but as Mary Worth. There is a book about the legend known as Mary Worth. It’s called ‘I believe in Mary Worth.’ The writer asked Catholic students what they know about the legend and wrote everything down.

The ritual
There are even more different rituals than names for the legend. Most of the rituals are as the one described at the beginning of this page, but there are also a lot of rituals which involve spinning in circles while saying the name. Or saying the name 13 times but beginning by whispering it and ending by yelling it. Than you have the rituals where you have to hold things. Hold hands, a knife, a candle, and splashing water. The most frightening story doesn’t involve a ritual. Just by passing a mirror in the dark she can come after you and get you anyway.

I myself herd another version. My friends told me that if you look in the mirror at 12 o’clock and you say Bloody Mary 3 times, her face appears. She tries to throw an ax towards your face and if you duck and she misses you have 7 years of luck. But if she hits you, you have 7 years of bad luck. I think this version is better than the rest, because you have a reason to hail her. At least you can do it at a sleep over with your friends and be scared to death but do it all the same just for the good luck.