Main Piece: “There is a scary story that I used to play when I was a young girl during sleepover parties with my friends called Bloody Mary. It’s basically when you go into a bathroom and you turn off all the lights. Then you say “Bloody Mary” three times and flush the toilet. Then you are suppose to see Queen Mary appear in the mirror and then she kills you and scratches out your eyes and your spirit is forever in the mirror and you can’t escape. I was actually never brave enough to play the game because I thought I was gonna die. Still to this day it freaks me out a little bit but it was a big part of sleepovers with girls.”

Background Information: The informant learned this story from her other friends who were girls when she was around age 7. The informant would play this game during every sleepover and the informant describes it almost like a social experience with her friends. The informant said the game had a deep impact when she was younger and still bothers her today even though she knows it is not true.

Context: In the informat’s dorm room

Thoughts: This story seems symbolic of womanhood. As Alan Dundes said/analyzed, this story can be seen almost like a transition of young girls to womanhood since there is blood involved (mesntration cycle). For young girls, this transition into womanhood is terrifying so this story may be symbolic of those emotions. The number three is also important as well, because three is a very common used number in American culture.