Bloody Mary

**Also known as:** Mary Whales; Mary Worth

“Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary.” Repeat the name three times in a darkened bathroom while looking in the mirror and … something weird, bad, and creepy happens! That’s the gist of an urban myth associated with slumber parties. Although many scoff, others claim there really is a Bloody Mary and that these experiences are true. The myth has not died but continues to evolve. Is it a game, a hoax, or a ritual?
There are variations from the basic version:

* Some say it must be done at midnight.
* One must twirl around while calling.
* Some recommend sprinkling water on the mirror or coating it with ocean water.
* Sometimes a red candle or candles must be lit.

Descriptions of what happens after vary, too:

* You see Mary’s face in the mirror where your own should be.
* Mary appears in the mirror, weeping tears of blood from gouged-out eyes.
* You see your own reflection in the mirror, covered in blood.
* Mary comes out of the mirror and kills you.
* She doesn’t come out of the mirror all the way. She just reaches out and scratches you.
* Mary reaches out and pulls you into the mirror.
* Mary blinds you, drives you insane, and/or leaves you comatose.

Books have been written theorizing about Mary’s true identity and the lengthy history of her ritual. Among the possibilities:

* Many romantic magic spells involve attempts to conjure the image of one’s future spouse or true love in a mirror.
* Mediums mirror-gaze in order to communicate with spirits, sometimes calling them by name, timing rituals for midnight, and accompanying them with candles.

Bloody Mary is a popular theme of horror entertainment. Theatrical reenactments may be seen on television shows including The Ghost Whisperer and Supernatural.

Horrific details may have been added to scare and discourage people from attempting such shamanic rituals. A clue that this might be so emerges in a variant: after you call her name three times, Mary will actually appear in the room with you. (Not through the mirror; she just manifests.) Do not look at her directly but only at her reflection in the mirror and she will not harm you but will instead truthfully answer all your questions regarding your future.

Another possibility: consistent features of the ritual include references to blood, the mirror, and the location in a bathroom. The Bloody Mary game is most frequently a teenage girls’ party ritual. Blood, girls, bathroom: it’s hard not to think of menstruation. Many traditional cultures forbid menstruating women from viewing their own reflections. The Bloody Mary game may involve a menstrual spirit and ritual gone wrong.

A famous theory recalls the historic Bloody Mary: Mary Tudor, Queen of England (18 February 1516–17 November 1558). In her brief reign (1553–1558), she burned over three hundred people at the stake, thus earning her sobriquet.

Mary suffered a number of miscarriages. A rumor suggests those miscarriages were induced, not by Mary, but by enemies in her household who sought to guarantee that she would leave no lineage (as she did not). Some scholars suggest that the Bloody Mary mirror ritual emerged shortly after her death and that the reflection in the mirror is the bloodthirsty queen driven mad by the loss of her babies. Clues that this might be the spirit’s identity emerge from ritual variations that include summoning her by taunting, “Bloody Mary, where is your baby?” or, “Bloody Mary, I killed your baby.”

Bloody Mary may have emerged from her mirror for good. Residents of homeless shelters in Florida, Chicago, Oakland, and New Orleans describe a spirit in the guise of a woman who roams at night possessing young homeless girls, forcing them to become prostitutes, drug addicts, and gang members. She feeds on fear and misery, weeps flaming black tears, and is called Bloody Mary and La Llorona.

The modern merger of Bloody Mary and La Llorona is not without precedent. An old pseudonym for Blood Mary is written Mary Whales, but sounds like Mary Wails, as in the Wailing Woman. (Alternatively, it sounds like Mary Wales, as in Mary Tudor’s Welsh heritage.)

**See Also:** La Llorona

## Information Source

Encyclopedia of Spirits: The Ultimate Guide to the Magic of Fairies, Genies, Demons, Ghosts, Gods & Goddesses by Judika Illes