The Legend of Bloody Mary | Teen Ink

The Legend of Bloody Mary

September 26, 2008
By e.nadeem PLATINUM, Karachi, Other
e.nadeem PLATINUM, Karachi, Other
37 articles 0 photos 8 comments

A legend or a true story? To believe, or not to believe? That is for every one to decide for themselves about the scary myth of Bloody Mary.

Many people have heard of the legend of Bloody Mary, but all the same stories traveling from person to person are almost each different.
For the sake of fun, or mostly because of curiosity, people, mostly teenagers, at sleepovers or parties, try the legend to see whether it is true. They shut off the lights, and go the washroom, because it is usually dark in washrooms, and in front of a mirror, chant ‘Bloody Mary’, or else ‘Mary Worth’, or ‘Mary Worth, I killed your baby’ three times. Sometimes the number is thirteen times, as people say. They are supposed to be holding candles. The legend is that they see the bloody, horrible face of Bloody Mary. Some people say that the next day they notices scratches on themselves, and not many have hesitated in telling about their friends who tried it and died there and then.

One story commonly told is that a child was born to a young, unwed woman in a small village. Much to the mother’s horror the child was hideously deformed. The town’s people disposed of the baby calling it, “The Workings of the Devil”. The child was taken deep into the woods and left to the elements. The young mother remained inconsolable, her mind saturated with the sound of her newborn screaming.

During the colony’s witch scares, the mother was then accused of being in league with the Devil and was sentenced to burn at midnight in the town’s square. Before the sacrifice, she was given a mirror to have one last look at herself. She gazed into it and saw the slashes inflicted on her by the people. She swore on that night she would return to curse those who spoke her name. As the flames engulfed her she called out to Satan for her revenge.

For years later, children played their games, mocking her, chanting her name in front of mirrors. They were mortified at the results.

Her name was Mary Worth.

Another popular story is about this poor lady who lived in a village, where most people farmed for a living. However, she kept to herself, and lived far away from others. She had no family, nor friends, and people stayed away from her for she was believed to be a witch for unknown reasons.

This time period came when some of the farmers’ children began disappearing one by one. The farmers were suspicious of the lady, for their beliefs that she was a witch, to be merged with their kids disappearing, made them think she kidnapped them. However, when a group of farmers visited her to see if she had anything to say, she refused to say she kidnapped the children, and slammed the door on their faces. Then, one night, in a small hut, a mother of a girl, was unable to sleep, and was just sitting in the kitchen. Suddenly, she heard a noise, and when she cautiously went to check, she found her daughter walking mysteriously out of the house. The mother thought her daughter was sleepwalking, so she tried to take her inside. But the young girl was acting very strangely, and showed no sign of recognition or giving in to her mother. The mother tried to pull her, but it seemed as if she was being controlled by a powerful force, that she would not budge, but just headed towards the woods. The mother cried for help and the villagers came out at the cries. Looking around for signs, they saw the lady known to be a witch, standing between the trees, leading the girl to her home in the woods.
Angry, but scared, the whole village went after her, and investigated her house. They were horrified to find graves dug for the stolen children, and that the crazed lady had bathed in their blood. The raging farmers decided to burn the now-definite witch at stake, but before the fire finished her off, she screamed a curse to all people who would ever dare say her name in front of a mirror.

Legend has it that 100 years ago there was a woman named Mary Worth. Mary was involved in a terrible accident in which her face was scratched and scared beyond recognition and she bled to death. But her soul was in torment and could not rest and she supposedly now roams the earth as an evil spirit.
The legend states that if you stand in front of a mirror in the dark and say her name ten times, you will see her horribly disfigured face appear. It also states that if you stare into her eyes and get too close she will reach through the mirror and try to scratch your face off or pull you into the mirror where your soul will lie in eternal torment. This story has been told many times in countless variations and remains one of the most well known of the horror legends to this day.

Bloody Mary

The myth also goes about saying that after the specified number of chanting her name, Bloody Mary will scratch your eyes out, and death will follow. Other variations have her driving you insane, or pulling you into the mirror, never to be seen again.

The Bloody Mary Legend saw some rising popularity with a variation of the story in the 1992 movie "Candyman" that used the idea for its plot. When the characters chanted "Candyman" in the mirror 3 times, he would appear and murder them with his hook hand.
The movie "Urban Legends" was released in 1999 and borrows the Bloody Mary myth once again, for one of its stories. There's no doubt, the horrific tale will appear again, perhaps in yet another version with a different twist.

Bloody Mary goes by many different names, such as :- Bloody Mary, Hell Mary, Bloody Bones, Mary Worth, Mary Whales, Mary Worthington, Mary Johnson, Mary Lou, Mary Jane, Sally, Kathy, Agnes, Black Agnes, Aggie and Svarte Madame.

The meaningful reason scientists give for kids trying out this legend as a tradition at every party, is because of excitement and curiosity. Since scientists can not prove whether this legend is true or not, or maybe they do not want to admit it is true so as not to frighten others, they are trying to find safer games, which will arouse curiosity, and take minds’ away from the horrifying, terrible myth of Bloody Mary.



Similar Articles

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

This article has 1 comment.


DaRkShAdOw said...
on Oct. 2 2008 at 8:49 am
wow....its pretty interesting!