Tag Archives: Bloody Mary

Bloody Mary

Context: The popular legend was spun off into an outdoors urban legend and corresponding children’s game in New York.

A.F.: For us, it [Bloody Mary] was like a, we had two ways. It was a sleepover game. We had a flashlight at someone’s house, but the main way that we would do it, so I went to elementary school in a relatively, even though it’s suburban, it’s still an isolated area, so there were like paths, that went to like houses or roads. So there was this path that led from like our, because we had like a vaguely biggish field, that went from the path to a house on my road. Which again, we thought it was like the Bloody Mary path, and if you wandered too far then Bloody Mary would come and get you.
P.Z. : Okay, so it was outdoors?
A.F.: Um, yeah, ours was actually outdoors. Yes.

Thoughts: This was a much different version than the one I am familiar with. I’m not sure if this was primarily an East-Coast variation or specific to the respondent’s school. But usually, there were not these specific, wooded, secluded paths that made this version possible.

Bloody Mary

Context: H.A. learned about this legend and the corresponding game in the early to mid 2000s while at elementary school.

H.A. : Alright, so, Bloody Mary was a little game that my friends and I would play when we were in like fourth, fifth grade? And um yeah so basically we would turn off, and because we didn’t have anywhere to go we would do it in the bathroom.
P.Z. : In your house? At school?
H.A. : At school. Okay, at school. And um we would turn off all the lights, there was, it’s actually kind of funny, there was still light from outdoors, so there was no way around that. So it wasn’t completely dark, but ideally you’re in a completely dark room and like you hold a candle in your hands. And um basically one person, a designated person, is supposed to say, is supposed to stand in front of the mirror and say “Bloody Mary” three times, and then when you open your eyes, Bloody Mary is supposed to appear, and she’s supposed to like pull you into the mirror. Or legend says. Never happened to us, good thing, but we’re, um, we’re, we’re safe, but a lot of girls at school were doing that a lot. And the principal got concerned and it’s basically banned at our school now.
P.Z. : Gotcha.

Thoughts: This was very similar to my own experience. The only difference in my own version is what happened after Bloody Mary appeared. However, this is a fairly popular story that I think is and will remain popular for years to come.

The Origin of Bloody Mary

Nationality: China
Age: "No no no, don't tell them my age"
Occupation: Elementary School Teacher
Residence: Shenyang, Liaoning, China
Performance Date: 2/24/2021
Primary Language: Chinese

Backgrounds:

Ms. Z is an elementary school Maths and Chinese teacher in Shenyang, China. We were having dinner together when I mentioned my folklore collection project. She then shared some of the interesting folklores she’s learned of from the kids in her class or from her colleagues.

The Main Piece:

Z: I recall this ghost story about Bloody Mary going around among my students. So, basically, this Bloody Mary used to be a prostitute. She hated the way men treated her, so she wanted to revenge. Since then, every time when she was hired by a man, she would kill him and then drink his blood. And after she dies she becomes a ghost.

Me: So how do we call her out. I know other versions of this story, and they had their own ways of calling her to appear.

Z: If a boy walks into a dark bathroom, turn off all the lights and then say “Bloody Mary” three times facing the mirror, the ghost’s disfigured face will appear in the mirror, and she’ll scare the boy to death.

Analysis:

The Bloody Mary story might be one of the most famous ghost stories, this time not around America, but around the world, since the elementary school Z works in is in China. It is interesting to see that there are so many different versions of the orginin of Bloody Mary, how to summon the ghost, and the consequences of summoning her. Through all the different versions, we can see how a piece of folklore can have different variations in difference places. I know of classic origin stories of Bloody Mary that is linked to European history, or linked to religion (Virgin Mary). I guess for the reason why the ghost’s origin becomes a prostitute in the Chinese elementary school is this: the kids in the elementary school has little or no knowledge about western religion or western history, because they aren’t taught about them in elementary school. So, their cultural backgrounds and knowledge doesn’t allow for such origin stories. Therefore, the origin of the ghost might then turn into a more relatable story, prostitutes, which exist in almost all cultures, unlike religious or historical figures that are known only to a specific group of people that share the same culture.

For another version of the story, see Bloody Mary by Austen Le

http://uscfolklorearc.wpenginepowered.com/bloody-mary-10/


Bloody Mary, but make it Jewish?

Nationality: United States of America
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 04/26/2021
Primary Language: English
Language: Hebrew

Main Piece:

How did you learn about Bloody Mary?

“When I was in Hebrew school, a teacher told me that Mary was related to Jewish history. She was a Jewish figure that would haunt you, and the teacher was trying to connect it to Jewish curriculum. I was like ‘why are you trying to ruin this story’, like yes, I was genuinely afraid but that was so stupid (laughs).” 

How do you play Bloody Mary?

“You get into a bathroom, close the door, turn off the lights, look into a mirror, say bloody Mary 3 times, she’s supposed to appear and do something bad.”

Context/Background: 

My informant is my roommate. She was raised in Conservative Judaism and attended Hebrew School from elementary school through high school. This story was collected when we were talking about Judaism during dinner. 

Analysis: 

Many young children are taught a version of Bloody Mary. Various accounts can be seen in Alan Dundes’ article “Bloody Mary in the Mirror: A Ritual Reflection of Pre-Pubescent Anxiety.” In my own experiences, I’ve been told that Bloody Mary is a wife who got killed before her wedding or a woman who died in a bloody car crash. However, in the case of this specific account, the person teaching this game to my informant tried to alter the backstory so it would fit into her religious education. My informant’s Hebrew school teacher saw the value in this myth and its impact on children, so the teacher tried morph it to fit her agenda. My informant saw straight through this attempt, but still ended up fearing the figure, Bloody Mary.

Dundes, Alan. “Bloody Mary in the Mirror: A Ritual Reflection of Pre-Pubescent Anxiety.” Western Folklore, vol. 57, no. 2/3, 1998, pp. 119–135. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1500216.

Bloody Mary

Nationality: American
Age: 22
Occupation: Unemployed
Residence: San Diego, CA
Performance Date: 04/24/20
Primary Language: English

Informant: “So you go into the bathroom, turn off all the lights, look into the mirror and say, “Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary,” three times and by the third time, you turn on the light and there will be like a scratch on your face…and you’re haunted.”

Collector: “Cool. Is it only in the bathroom?”

Informant: “It needs, uh…. I’m pretty sure. I mean all I ever heard was the bathroom one, like going into the bathroom and it needs to be pitch black.” 

Background: The informant is my twenty-two year old sister. She learned this piece from friends while attending Catholic elementary school in San Diego, CA. She is an avid metal and alternative music fan with a love of body modifications including tattoos and piercings as well as horror films. 

Context: The piece was collected during a casual at-home interview. I asked the informant to share this piece because I have multiple childhood memories of her performing the ritual.

Analysis: This game/ritual is fairly common among young women and was very popular at our Catholic elementary school among both genders. While many folklore scholars have posited that this game is entrenched with female puberty and menstruation, I believe this piece was also integrated with our conceptions of the “Virgin Mary” as a human and yet divinely endowed, liminal character. Other variations and meta folklore suggest multiple different interpretations as to who “Bloody Mary” refers to. To both me and my sister in Catholic school, the only Mary we could conceive of was the Virgin Mary and the story became a sinister way to expose the contrast between the benevolence and kindness expressed within Catholicism with the strict, harsh realities of the institution we were a part of. My sister later added that the game never worked for her because she never completed it in total darkness, suggesting that although the ritual may not manifest in a supernatural encounter for everyone that participates, people still believe.