We've all heard the urban legend, however, there are different variations to the story. One tells participants to go into the bathroom with the lights off and the room completely black before chanting "Bloody Mary" thirteen times. Supposedly once the individual says "Bloody Mary" the thirteenth time, she'll appear and scratch up their face or tear it off.
Another variation explains that if participants go into a dark room and say "Hell Mary" seven times in front of a mirror the Devil will appear. Supposedly after three, "Hell Mary's" the mirror turns red and after five an unclear face appears.
In one other variation of the tale, if an individual goes into a room with the lights turned off, they must chant at a whisper "Bloody Mary" but their voice should grow louder to almost a scream as they spin thirteen times at a medium rate always glancing at the mirror as they pass. As the participant approaches the thirteenth repetition of "Bloody Mary" supposedly she appears.
The story I heard was to say "Bloody Mary" three times in a bathroom in front of a mirror with no lights on. Girls in middle school shut the lights off, screamed it three times fast in the girls' locker room in gym class then locked me in. I never saw anything, it was the act that terrified me more than the ghost story.
The "Bloody Mary" legend has been around since the early 1970s and probably before then. Some believe it is an initiation or a coming of age ritual for girls because it involves the bathroom, young girls, and sometimes blood. However, Historians believe there is a real person behind the lore and their name was Mary Tudor also known as Bloody Mary.
Mary was the daughter of King Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. When King Henry annulled his marriage to Catherine, Mary was separated from her mother and forbidden from seeing her. From the age of seventeen, Mary started to feel ashamed of her femininity because of how her father treated women. When King Henry married Anne Bolyn who birthed another female, Elizabeth, she went to Parliament to protect her daughter. Anne successfully pushed Parliament to declare Mary illegitimate.
Anne Bolyn was later beheaded for treason, but the damage was already done to Mary's name and she was last in line for the throne. During Mary's teen years she was afflicted with horrible menstrual cramps and irregular cycles. Symptoms of depression and sadness often troubled Mary which plagued her throughout her short life. Regardless of everything stacked against her, Mary eventually took the throne in "1553 at the age of 37 and promptly married Philip of Spain in the hopes of conceiving an heir. It’s here where the origin of the Bloody Mary legend begins to take shape.
Starved for love and forever seeking the approval of her father, Mary would replay this codependent pattern with her new husband, whom she was “ready to lavish all her frustrated emotions on.” (Howard, 2016).
Two months into their marriage Mary became pregnant or so she thought. Now during those times, there were no pregnancy tests. Mary believed she was pregnant because her belly and breasts became swollen indicating she was going to be a mother. However, her public was suspicious and rumors were spreading. Only time would tell whether or not Mary was pregnant, so she remained under the watchful eye of both England and Spain. For six weeks she was confined to her private chamber as customary during those times until Mary's expected due date of May 9th.
"Although the big day arrived, the baby didn’t, and both she and the servants around her proposed that perhaps a miscalculation of delivery dates was to blame, now settling on a new one in June, a month later. False reports almost immediately spread across the country, however, with some claiming their Queen had delivered a boy, and others stating she had simply died in childbirth, or that her swollen midsection were symptomatic of a tumor, rather than a pregnancy. Despite the world of gossip growing around her, one thing could be confirmed: Around late May, Mary’s belly began to shrink." (Howard, 2016).
Mary refused to believe she wasn't pregnant and continued to wait while everyone around her slowly lost hope. As June, July, and August came Mary finally gave up hope as well. She couldn't understand why until a realization reached her. God was punishing Mary for not following through on a mission she set out on months prior.
"At the time of Mary’s pregnancy, the people of England were divided between Protestants and Catholics. Mary, determined to unite her people under “the true religion” of the land, took action by signing an act shortly before Christmas in 1554 that would result in the Marian Persecutions, in which an estimated 240 men and 60 women were sentenced as Protestants and burned at the stake, earning her the name “Bloody Mary” forevermore." (Howard, 2016)
I never knew the story of Mary l, it's such a tragic story and easy to see how she became a legend. Do you think this is the real story behind the urban legend or is there someone else that time has forgotten? Could there be someone far worse? What do you think? What are your Bloody Mary stories? What have you heard? Share them in the comments, I'd love to hear them.
Resources:
Emery, D. (2018) Explaining the Legend of Bloody Mary in the Mirror
Howard, K. (2016) The True Story of Bloody Mary, The Woman Behind The Mirror
Mikkelson, D. (2001) Is The Bloody Mary Story True?
Ronca, D. (2020) Where Did The Legend of Bloody Mary Come From?
Smithsonian Magazine (2020) The Myth of 'Bloody Mary'
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