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The legend of Bloody Mary. She is said to be a witch or apparition from Western folklore. She appears in a mirror when her name is called three times or sometimes more while in a dark room, depending upon the version of the story, often as part of a game or dare.
One of the more common ways participants attempt to make her appear is to stand before a mirror (usually in the dark) and repeat her name 3 times, though there are many variations including chanting more than 3 times, chanting at midnight, spinning around, rubbing one's eyes, running the water, or chanting her name thirteen times with a lit candle. In some versions of the legend, the summoner must say, "Bloody Mary, I killed your baby." In these variants, Bloody Mary is often believed to be the spirit of a young mother whose baby was stolen from her, making her mad with grief, eventually committing suicide. In stories where Mary is supposed to have been wrongly accused of killing her children, the querent might say "I believe in Mary Worth." This is similar to another game involving the summoning of the Bell Witch in a mirror at midnight.
The game is often a test of courage and bravery, as it is said that if Bloody Mary is summoned, she would proceed to kill the summoner in an extremely violent way, such as ripping their face off, scratching their eyes out, cutting their head off, driving them insane, bringing them into the mirror with her or scratching their neck, causing serious injury or death. Some think if she doesn't kill the one who had summoned her then she will haunt them for the rest of their life. Other versions tell that if one chants her name thirteen times at midnight into a mirror she will appear and the summoner can talk to a deceased person until 11:08a.m., when Bloody Mary and the dead person asked to speak to will vanish. Still other variations say that the querent must not look directly at Bloody Mary, but at her image in the mirror; she will then reveal the querent's future, particularly concerning marriage and children.
Divination rituals such as the one depicted on this early 20th century Halloween greeting card, where a woman stares into a mirror in a darkened room to catch a glimpse of the face of her future husband, while a witch lurks in the shadows, may be one origin of the Bloody Mary legend.
Bloody Mary Worth is typically described as a child-murderer who lived in the local city where the legend has taken root years ago, somewhere in the west. There is often a specific local graveyard or tombstone that becomes attached to the legend and a destination for legend trips.
On the other hand, various people have surmised that the lore about taunting Bloody Mary about her baby may relate her tenuously to folklore about Queen Mary I, also known as "Bloody Mary," whose life was marked by a number of miscarriages or false pregnancies. Speculation exists that the miscarriages were deliberately induced. As a result, some retellings of the tale make Bloody Mary the queen driven to madness by the loss of her children. The mirror ritual by which Bloody Mary is summoned may also relate to a form of divination involving mirrors and darkness that was once performed on Halloween. While as with any sort of folklore the details may vary, this particular tale encouraged young women to walk up a flight of stairs backwards, holding a candle and a hand mirror, in a darkened house. As they gazed into the mirror, they were supposed to be able to catch a view of their future husband's face. There was, however, a chance that they would see the skull-face of the Grim Reaper instead; this meant that they were destined to die before they married.
As mentioned above, the legend of the Bell Witch is thought by some to be the source of the Bloody Mary legend; even though none of the characters share that name! The Bell Witch or Bell Witch Haunting is a poltergeist legend from Southern United States folklore, involving the Bell family of Adams, Tennessee. The legend is the basis of the films An American Haunting (2006) and The Bell Witch Haunting (2004). It is also said that the Bell Witch may have inspired the film The Blair Witch Project'.
According to the legend, the first reported manifestation of the haunting occurred in 1817 when John William Bell Sr. encountered a strange animal in a cornfield on his large farm in Robertson County, on the Red River, near Adams, Tennessee. The animal, described as having the body of a dog and the head of a rabbit, was shot at by John William Bell Sr. At a later date the Bell family claimed to hear knocking and gnawing noises on the outside walls of their house. These noises eventually moved inside the dwelling.
Sometime after the noises began Betsy Bell, the family's youngest daughter, claimed to have been assaulted by an invisible force. The legend continues with the poltergeist gaining strength, moving various objects about, speaking and having conversations with the family and guests. It identified itself as "Kate Batts", a neighbor of the Bell's that John had apparently upset in some way.
Bell Sr., later in life, suffered frequent facial seizures, often rendering him speechless (although Bell's Palsy is named after a different Bell). He died on December 20, 1820. A small vial containing a very powerful poison he allegedly ingested was found near his body. When some of the contents were force-fed to the family cat, the animal died. The vial was then disposed of in the fireplace.
Pat Fitzhugh's retelling of the Bell Witch legend concludes with a statement to the effect that some people believe that the spirit returned in 1935, the year when the witch claimed it would return ("one hundred years and seven" past 1828), and took up residence on the former Bell property. Other sources say that 1935 brought nothing out of the ordinary to the Bell descendants or the surrounding community.
Even the Far East has a Bloody Mary legend. Mutilated by her husband whilst alive the angry spirit of 'Kuchisake-Onna' appears around Japan on foggy nights intent on seeking her revenge. Also known as the 'slit-mouth-woman' she is said to have lived hundreds of years ago and was the wife or concubine of a jealous Samurai. Kuchisake-Onna is said to have been extremely beautiful, and also very vain. Her husband the Samurai believed her to be unfaithful to him, and one night in a rage attacked Kuchisake-Onna, slashing her mouth from ear-to-ear screaming "Who will find you beautiful now?"
Kuchisake-Onna is said to appear wearing a surgical mask and asks of her victim "Am I beautiful?" If her target replies "no" she then kills her victim there and then, supposedly with a pair of scissors. If the victim says "yes" she will then remove the mask and ask again "Am I beautiful?" If they then reply "yes" a second time Kuchisake-Onna will then follow them home and kill them in their own doorway.
So all-in-all a meeting with Kuchisake-Onna is a lose-lose situation, however there are tales that claim responding to her question "Am I beautiful?" with the reply "so-so" confuses her, allowing her victim to escape whilst Kuchisake-Onna considers what next to do. |
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