Perfect Cell
08-20-2006, 08:21 PM
The methods used in summoning the face in the mirror are even more diverse than the names. This is probably because these could change more rapidly with a participant's whims or pure convenience. A friend of mine said when she was growing up she had heard that Bloody Mary would only appear on a Friday. When I asked her if this was some part of the legend or why she thought this would be the case, she said it was probably just that the party she was at when she was told this had been held on a Friday. Consciously or unconsciously, children can and do modify the details to best fit their situation.
The two most common elements in the ritual are the mirror in a darkened room and repeating a chant a certain number of times. In about a third of the cases the words only needed to be spoken three times, although five, ten, 13 and 100 times were also popular.
Saying the words only three times doesn't at first glance seem like it would lend itself to much suspense, if scaring each other were one of the motivations involved. But once you've seen a group of boys throw a helpless younger child into a darkened bathroom and scream "Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary!" before the kid could escape, you realize that having to repeat the words any more times than that would take some of the fun out of it. Even the strongest and meanest kids can only hold the door shut for so long before the pure panic of the trapped child would be too much to handle.
On the other end of the scale, chanting anything 100 times in a darkened room seems only like a sure way to put people to sleep. At least you could be certain that anyone who finished the whole thing was very determined to have something, anything, happen for their trouble, even if they had to fib a little about what they experienced.
The words that must be recited vary quite a bit. In many cases you just use the spirit's name. In others you would say, "I believe in Mary Worth," "I don't believe in Mary Worth," "I hate Mary Worth," "Bloody Mary, come to me," or even "Bloody Mary, I got your baby" in those versions where the legend mentioned someone either killing or running away with her child. You might also be able to use the words "Bloody Mirror" or "Hell Mary." Sometimes the invocation was reciting the Lord's Prayer backwards.
Other aspects that can be involved include lighting candles, spinning around in circles or holding hands. The candles are probably more of a necessity for seeing in a darkened room than part of the ritual, although candles have been associated with magic for many years. Spinning around in circles seems like both an aspect of certain old witchcraft spells and also a way to make you disoriented. Holding hands is common to seances and similar ghostly events.
Some minor things mentioned among the components of the ritual in certain variations include splashing water on the mirror, rubbing your eyes or holding a knife. (Incidentally, if anyone is reading this trying to plan their next slumber party, I very highly recommend that you don't have a knife anywhere near you. Usually there is a scared panic with everyone trying to escape the bathroom, and a knife could very easily lead to a tragic accident.)
The most frightening story in the collection actually didn't even have a ritual. That's right, some people say that if you walk by a mirror in total darkness, regardless of whether you are trying to summon her or not, Bloody Mary will get you.
I knew I left my hall light on all the time for a reason.
«ºWhat Happensº»
Most of the time the kids are too scared to actually complete the ritual. And who can blame them, based upon the things that supposedly could happen.
The most common end result in the stories is that you'll see Bloody Mary's face in the mirror, and she'll try to hurt you somehow.
The attack could be scratching you with her fingernails or claws, tearing your face off with her teeth (some tales say she was a cannibal), attacking you with a knife, chopping off your head (this element appears when Bloody Mary is linked to British royalty), pulling you into the mirror so you'll never escape, cutting out your eyeballs and stealing them (in these versions she no longer has any eyes herself), forcing you to cut your own throat, scaring you so badly that you die of fear or relentlessly haunting you in any reflected surface from that point on.
Sometimes the end result is supposed to be much less threatening. Maybe you'll just see what she looks like in the mirror. Once in a while you can ask her questions that she will be compelled to answer for you. Sometimes nobody shows up and the water in the bathtub will turn into blood, or you'll see scars on your body that aren't there, or you can see into the future, or sometimes you'll even get toys or candy.
On the occasions when a group does finish the ritual, usually nothing out of the ordinary happens. Sometimes, out of fearful confusion or pure mischief, the participants will say they actually saw something in the mirror. Some kids, while telling the story to others later, like to display a normal scratch or scar and say that Bloody Mary did it.
¶Different Faces¶
While some think the story may have originally been inspired by a person who actually existed at some point, it just doesn't seem likely. For one thing, the vast majority of legends with a reputed historical basis have fewer and fewer facts behind them the closer you look, even in cases where the different versions of the tales agree with each other to a large degree on many key points. Then compare that to the Bloody Mary figure.There isn't much even a majority of people can agree on--not her name, not how she died, not how she became associated with mirrors, and not even if she is covered in blood or not. Without finding some new evidence we will have to give up the idea of locating a true-life Bloody Mary.
Faced then with sorting through the folklore for answers, we can dispense with the obvious dead ends first.
Two of the 100 tales I collected for this analysis featured the dead spirit of a man called the Candyman. Clive Barker's movie of the same name, about a killer with a hook for a hand who is summoned in much the same way as our witch in the mirror, was adapted from his short story "The Forbidden." Both are based upon reworkings of urban legends, not the other way around. It is a testimony to the author's skill that so many people now think there really was a Candyman, much like some believe in the historical existence of H.P. Lovecraft's fictional Necronomicon.
One of the more amusing anecdotes of the bunch was about Mary Wolf. The story evidently was spawned from a confused retelling of the Mary Worth story. This was the only version that featured an animal jumping out of the mirror, biting and clawing anyone in its path.
Kids in San Antonio had a version with someone called the Donkey Lady, who was supposed to be half human and half donkey. This story reportedly was famous enough in the city that someone set up a phone number you could call to listen to her voice cackle "heeee hawww" at you.
*All contents copyright 1998/1999 by Mythology Web*
*Yawn* Good morning!...(:-> Ms. HollowLuna
Thoughts?
The two most common elements in the ritual are the mirror in a darkened room and repeating a chant a certain number of times. In about a third of the cases the words only needed to be spoken three times, although five, ten, 13 and 100 times were also popular.
Saying the words only three times doesn't at first glance seem like it would lend itself to much suspense, if scaring each other were one of the motivations involved. But once you've seen a group of boys throw a helpless younger child into a darkened bathroom and scream "Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary!" before the kid could escape, you realize that having to repeat the words any more times than that would take some of the fun out of it. Even the strongest and meanest kids can only hold the door shut for so long before the pure panic of the trapped child would be too much to handle.
On the other end of the scale, chanting anything 100 times in a darkened room seems only like a sure way to put people to sleep. At least you could be certain that anyone who finished the whole thing was very determined to have something, anything, happen for their trouble, even if they had to fib a little about what they experienced.
The words that must be recited vary quite a bit. In many cases you just use the spirit's name. In others you would say, "I believe in Mary Worth," "I don't believe in Mary Worth," "I hate Mary Worth," "Bloody Mary, come to me," or even "Bloody Mary, I got your baby" in those versions where the legend mentioned someone either killing or running away with her child. You might also be able to use the words "Bloody Mirror" or "Hell Mary." Sometimes the invocation was reciting the Lord's Prayer backwards.
Other aspects that can be involved include lighting candles, spinning around in circles or holding hands. The candles are probably more of a necessity for seeing in a darkened room than part of the ritual, although candles have been associated with magic for many years. Spinning around in circles seems like both an aspect of certain old witchcraft spells and also a way to make you disoriented. Holding hands is common to seances and similar ghostly events.
Some minor things mentioned among the components of the ritual in certain variations include splashing water on the mirror, rubbing your eyes or holding a knife. (Incidentally, if anyone is reading this trying to plan their next slumber party, I very highly recommend that you don't have a knife anywhere near you. Usually there is a scared panic with everyone trying to escape the bathroom, and a knife could very easily lead to a tragic accident.)
The most frightening story in the collection actually didn't even have a ritual. That's right, some people say that if you walk by a mirror in total darkness, regardless of whether you are trying to summon her or not, Bloody Mary will get you.
I knew I left my hall light on all the time for a reason.
«ºWhat Happensº»
Most of the time the kids are too scared to actually complete the ritual. And who can blame them, based upon the things that supposedly could happen.
The most common end result in the stories is that you'll see Bloody Mary's face in the mirror, and she'll try to hurt you somehow.
The attack could be scratching you with her fingernails or claws, tearing your face off with her teeth (some tales say she was a cannibal), attacking you with a knife, chopping off your head (this element appears when Bloody Mary is linked to British royalty), pulling you into the mirror so you'll never escape, cutting out your eyeballs and stealing them (in these versions she no longer has any eyes herself), forcing you to cut your own throat, scaring you so badly that you die of fear or relentlessly haunting you in any reflected surface from that point on.
Sometimes the end result is supposed to be much less threatening. Maybe you'll just see what she looks like in the mirror. Once in a while you can ask her questions that she will be compelled to answer for you. Sometimes nobody shows up and the water in the bathtub will turn into blood, or you'll see scars on your body that aren't there, or you can see into the future, or sometimes you'll even get toys or candy.
On the occasions when a group does finish the ritual, usually nothing out of the ordinary happens. Sometimes, out of fearful confusion or pure mischief, the participants will say they actually saw something in the mirror. Some kids, while telling the story to others later, like to display a normal scratch or scar and say that Bloody Mary did it.
¶Different Faces¶
While some think the story may have originally been inspired by a person who actually existed at some point, it just doesn't seem likely. For one thing, the vast majority of legends with a reputed historical basis have fewer and fewer facts behind them the closer you look, even in cases where the different versions of the tales agree with each other to a large degree on many key points. Then compare that to the Bloody Mary figure.There isn't much even a majority of people can agree on--not her name, not how she died, not how she became associated with mirrors, and not even if she is covered in blood or not. Without finding some new evidence we will have to give up the idea of locating a true-life Bloody Mary.
Faced then with sorting through the folklore for answers, we can dispense with the obvious dead ends first.
Two of the 100 tales I collected for this analysis featured the dead spirit of a man called the Candyman. Clive Barker's movie of the same name, about a killer with a hook for a hand who is summoned in much the same way as our witch in the mirror, was adapted from his short story "The Forbidden." Both are based upon reworkings of urban legends, not the other way around. It is a testimony to the author's skill that so many people now think there really was a Candyman, much like some believe in the historical existence of H.P. Lovecraft's fictional Necronomicon.
One of the more amusing anecdotes of the bunch was about Mary Wolf. The story evidently was spawned from a confused retelling of the Mary Worth story. This was the only version that featured an animal jumping out of the mirror, biting and clawing anyone in its path.
Kids in San Antonio had a version with someone called the Donkey Lady, who was supposed to be half human and half donkey. This story reportedly was famous enough in the city that someone set up a phone number you could call to listen to her voice cackle "heeee hawww" at you.
*All contents copyright 1998/1999 by Mythology Web*
*Yawn* Good morning!...(:-> Ms. HollowLuna
Thoughts?