Bloody Mary

Every little kid played this game at some point. You and a group of friends would go into a bathroom, lock the door, turn off the lights, and recite “Bloody Mary” three times while spinning in front of the mirror. Or if you were really brave, you went in alone. This ritual was done with the purpose of luring out the spirit of Bloody Mary. Legend has it that she would come out of the mirror, angry because you called upon her, and would do a number of things ranging from screaming to stealing your soul to drinking your blood to clawing your eyes out.

However, this wasn’t always how the game was played and it wasn’t always named “Bloody Mary”. It actually used to be a way for unmarried women to see the face of their future husband. The woman would walk backwards up a flight of stairs while holding a candle and a hand mirror. When they gazed in the mirror they would see the face of their future husband. But there was a chance that they could see a skull instead (the face of the Grim Reaper) which meant that the woman was going to die before she marries.

Most believe that Blood Mary originated from the English Queen Mary I, who was also called “Bloody Mary”. Mary was the only child of King Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. Her father was mad due to the lack of male heir and voided his marriage to her mother and separated them, forbidding her from ever seeing her mother again. The king then married Anne Boleyn who gave him yet another daughter, Elizabeth. Boleyn was worried that Mary would interfere with Elizabeth’s succession and had Parliament declare her illegitimate. Boleyn was then beheaded by the king for treason. Mary eventually became queen in 1553. Mary later endured miscarriages and fake pregnancies, which she believed were a result of God punishing her for the Marian Persecutions. The Marian Persecutions took place in 1554 in which around 240 men and 60 women were sentenced as Protestants and burned at the stake. Thus earning her the name “Bloody Mary”.

Other people think that Bloody Mary is based on Elizabeth Bathory or Mary Worth. Mary Worth was a witch who was executed in the Salem trials. Elizabeth Bathory was nicknamed the “Queen of Blood” and was convicted for murdering hundreds of young girls so she could bathe in their blood.

The game is still played in households across the world. And Bloody Mary’s name continues to be chanted and feared. Movies have been made and television shows such as Supernatural, Ghost Whisperer, and The X-Files have tackled their own rendition of this legend. Think back to when you played Mary’s game. What did you see?