This Is The Dark Origin Of Bloody Mary, Your Favorite Childhood Superstition
Bloody Mary is an urban legend of a spirit who is called upon during a specific ritual, normally created by young teenage girls during events like sleepovers. There’s several different tales about what or who Bloody Mary really is. This spirit could either be completely friendly or completely sinister depending on which legend you’re following. Bloody Mary may not even be a spirit at all and just a tale regarding historic females from centuries ago.
The Divination Ritual: In this ritual the legend states that you must dim the lights in the house, hold a lit candle in one hand and a mirror in the other hand, raise the mirror high enough so you could see what’s behind you, walk backwards up the flight of stairs slowly, and say “Blood Mary” until you reach the top. You will then see the face of your future husband in the mirror, or you would see a skull. The skull would be an indication that you would die before ever having the chance to be married.
The Catoptromancy: This ritual is typically performed by standing in a dark room with a lit candle in front of a mirror while chanting “Bloody Mary” three times (some say 13 times). Most people perform this ritual in the bathroom with the door closed and locked. It could also be done by spinning around three times in front of the mirror, and each time you spin, you say “Bloody Mary.” Some legends state that they see Bloody Mary in the mirror, and she’s normally seen as either a spirit, witch, or a corpse. She can allegedly be seen as a friendly woman, but most people believe that she’s seen as something more sinister and covered in blood. Their stories revolve around the woman screaming at you, setting curses on you, harming you, trying to kill you, scratching your eyes out, drinking your blood, and even stealing your soul. There are also other ways to try and contact Mary during these rituals other than saying “Blood Mary.” You can also say, “I believe in Bloody Mary,” “I killed your baby, Bloody Mary,” “Hell Mary,” and “Mary Worth.”
Historical Figures: There are three women throughout history that some people believe are the real Bloody Mary. That first woman being Mary, the Queen of England. Queen Mary is believed to be Bloody Mary for two reasons. Reason one being that she killed several hundred people by burning them at the stake for refusing to believe in her religion. Reason two was the amount of miscarriages she had. Hence the whole “I killed your baby, Bloody Mary.”
The other woman who’s perceived to be Bloody Mary is Elizabeth Bathory. She was royalty in the 17th Century—a Hungarian Countess. Back in those times, treatments for medical conditions were not really around, and it was believed that the blood from humans helped cure diseases and also helped to keep you looking young. She killed over 600 women and young girls by torturing them, drinking their blood, and even went as far as baithing in their blood. I call her the Hungarian Vampire. Although this story makes sense, I’m not sure why she’s a candidate due to her name not being Mary.
The final woman believed to be Bloody Mary could actually be two different people with the same name. It could either be Mary Worth, a witch during the Salem Witch Trials who was executed by burning, due to practicing dark magic, torturing and killing slaves during the rituals. The other Mary Worth actually worked part of the reversed underground railroad system, where she captured slaves and brought them back to the South so she could make money off of them. Mary Worth was also explained to be a woman who killed slaves that were trying to escape the South in the underground railroad.
Even though no one will ever know where the urban legend of Bloody Mary really came from, it remains one of the most popular legends and spooky supernatural games in the world, and will continue to be for a very long time.