POST#4: Urban Legends: Bloody Mary

Have you ever heard about Bloody Mary? Also known as “Mary Worth,” “Mary Jane,” “Hell Mary”?  Yes, practically, most of us know her, way back before; Bloody Mary became popular around students. They even dare each other to do her certain ritual and summon her, which is according to the legend; you have to stand in front of a mirror inside a bathroom, light a candle, and say “Bloody Mary” 13 thirteen times. Some says that summoning her will be more effective if you summon her when it is a full moon, in front of a mirror inside a bathroom, with lit candle, and spin three times while slowly chanting her name “Bloody Mary”. The participant must believe on Bloody Mary upon summoning her or it will fail because people who don’t truly believe will often see nothing. It is said that you will catch a glimpse of a woman, covered in blood behind you for a second, or she will come out behind you neither killing you nor drag you to hell with her.

Based on the article I have found while researching about Bloody Mary, crazyhorsesghost stated about one of the legend where Bloody Mary came from. He said that the legend of her can be traced back to the 13th century Europe specifically in the northern area. It is said that, young girls were mysteriously vanishing and they suspected the old woman who lives near by the forest area. The villagers went to her house one night and dragged the old woman outside, accusing her for being a witch and tortured her as she was asked what has happened to the young girls. As she failed on answering the villager’s question, the crowd raged and they tied her to a nearby tree and began to pile wood and dried brush around her. As the villagers started to set the fire, she began to curse the villagers and said that if anyone was foolish enough to say her name, “Bloody Mary,” three times at night, in front of a mirror with a lit candle, she will come out of the mirror and take her revenge. Today, there are certain people who have given it a try, especially teenagers. Many claims that they have seen Bloody Mary in the mirror behind them, some says that they have seen an ugly woman glaring at them.

Another story of Bloody Mary was about Mary Holescloth in North Carolina, a woman that was hung and buried in the 1780’s as she was accused to be a witch. It is said that Mary was hung for making her neighbor’s cows go dry and for running a 20 year old woman crazy and causing her to throw herself into the near river and drown. She was hung on Christmas Day, 1781, near the Tri Community School by a rope around her neck until she was dead. She went on a trial for three days and eleven of her neighbors testified against her, telling that she is having a relationship with the devil himself, and she is said to have a large place on her right hip that looked like a large mouth of jagged teeth that had bitten her.

Defending Mary, some of the people said that it was only a birthmark however, most of the people inside the trial believe on witchcrafts and they also believed that the devil was a very real being. At the time she was being buried, they wrapped Mary with chains and buried facing down because of their belief that if you buried a witch covered with chains, the witch’s ghost will never come back and bother anyone.

That’s why, at the old, closed down Tri Community Elementary School in North Carolina, people claimed that Bloody Mary can be seen on the mirror in bathrooms, she was always described standing, looking out of the mirror, with a bloody dress and several rusty chains draped around her neck and shoulders.

The best times to see Bloody Mary is on Fridays, Friday the 13^th, and on Halloween, as he stated. It would be better if you do the ritual when it is already dark outside, and you will have a better chance of succeeding when there is a thunderstorm or at 3:00 AM. He also suggested that if a participant tries on summoning her, they can use a black candle that must be held on the left hand. In addition, he suggested that it is best to stand inside the circle of sea salt to protect you on bad spirits, because in myths, it is said that salt prevents evil spirits to attack a certain person.

Mary Tudor when she was young

The legend does not end here. According on Anita Wirawan’s article about Bloody Mary, entitled Faces in the Mirror: The True Story Behind Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary was a daughter of a notorious King Henry the VIII who is famous for putting his wives to death whenever he grew tired of them. Mary Tudor was the daughter of his first wife and so ended up seeing an awful lot of carnage over years as King Henry VIII put to death not only his wives but a great many of the people around him.

For years, she was disowned by her father and forced her to serve in the household of her younger step-sister as a reminder of her status as the legitimate child. She grew up enduring it since her father was the most powerful and can put her life to danger whenever he wants to.

At last, when Mary Tudor became the Queen of England at the age of 37, she is now able to do her things on her way, unfortunately, it turned out to things like burning people at the stake because they refused to believe the same religion as hers as a Catholic. Soon, large portion of people detested her and eventually called her “Bloody Mary”

Mary Tudor when she was old.

On some rituals, it is sometimes suggested to say “I have your baby Bloody Mary” to provoke her to come out. Why? Because, as stated, back then, having a child was really important for Mary Tudor for the heir to the throne and there were a lot of pressure for her to become pregnant. Mary was overjoyed when she suddenly had pregnancy symptoms, such as her period stopped and she had morning sickness. As the time went by, her belly grew and after nine months, as the entire country prepared their selves for the new heir to the throne, nothing happened.

Days have passed, she failed to have a baby however; she still has the signs of being pregnant. Eventually, Mary’s stomach suddenly shrank and her symptoms disappeared, and turned out that her baby was just a ghost. She was humiliated. She also had another false pregnancy and died afterwards.

After her death, people started to make rumors about her, such scary things like how she bathed in the blood of young girls to keep herself being young and some stories that portrayed her to be a vain woman who was obsessed with her reflection in the mirror and her soul got trapped, and the reason why she is always looking for a way to get out

"Bloody Mary, I have your baby!"

Anita stated “I do feel bad for Bloody Mary too, that must have been a crazy and horrible environment to grow up in and then try to survive in as an adult. Sad that she chose to be cruel queen instead of a nice one though, or maybe her childhood just drove her insane and she could not help it.”

I highly agree about what she said. There are people who became cruel and crazy and sometimes, they became insane because of their past experiences. If she was taken care of his father properly, neither if her father was not that psycho –since he is really powerful and he can do things he wanted to his anytime –even on her daughter, she could have become a good and kind queen. However, her trait could possibly run in their genes.

Moving on, I suggest that we must not take risks on doing things such kinds of summoning and rituals. They are spirits and we must not taunt them just for our entertainment and curiosity because it might put our lives into danger. In fact, they are not supposed to harm us, but we are the one who provokes them and it could be one of the reasons why they could not rest in peace.