Bloody Mary

Happy Halloween, yunz’ all! In honor of the day, I thought it appropriate to do a post about the Bloody Mary apparition, which terrified many pubescent girls in the United States in the 1970s and ’80s.

Trying to see if you could summon Bloody Mary was a genuine folk tradition. Because it was spread by word of mouth and without any organization, it’s hard to say exactly when the practice began.

Folklorists have noted common features: usually it involved girls just before or in early adolescence. They would take turns going alone into a darkened room which had a mirror in it that was lit only dimly, as by a candle. (Often at slumber parties.) The person would shut her eyes and chant “Bloody Mary,” and when they opened their eyes, something terrifying would happen that involved seeing a woman’s bloody face in the mirror.

Movies like “The Candyman” and the Bloody Mary 2010 film featured in the second image have been based on the legend. Folklorists like to ask why practices like this become popular, and what do they mean for the people who participate? There isn’t a definitive answer — even those of us who remember nervously going into a bathroom to chant “Bloody Mary” might not be aware of the subconscious motives.

But some interesting theories are out there. One is an idea that Bloody Mary was all about periods and menarche and how scary womanhood was — the girl was seeing an aspect of herself in the mirror when she saw the bloodied face. There is a lot of subconscious stuff that is associated with the words “Bloody Mary,” too. For Catholic girls, the Virgin Mary was a central figure, and the idea that a demonic shadow version of the holy Mary, possibly summoned by the inherent sinful nature of the young participant, might have been part of the brew. Finally, the age of the players (9-12) is a time psychologists note is typical for people to deal with anxieties and fears by playing ritual games, often in darkness. Staring at oneself in a dimly lit room’s mirror does play tricks with one’s eyesight, and so the game does potentially produce results. I wouldn’t know, because I was too scared to open my eyes whenever I went into the bathroom .