~Written By Bill Stone~

There are over a million different stories like The Bloody Mary Legend out there. EVERY small town all over the world seems to have its own version of it. The Legend, has a buttload of names that seem to be different everywhere you go. Bloody Mary and Mary Worth are the most common. Sometimes, it isn’t even Mary, but the Devil himself.

Where I come from, in New Castle Pennsylvania, she was known as “Mary Black.” Kids would turn off all of the lights, look into the mirror, and say mean things like, “we have your children, Mary Black,” or something. Usually, all they succeeded in doing was getting themselves so scared that, they’d end up crapping themselves. Good thing they were already in the bathroom, huh?

It’s been a long time since I’ve been to New Castle, but if memory serves me correctly, she was supposed to be a witch or something that was burnt at the stake after her children were taken from her. I really can’t remember. The point is, that it’s probably a different story than what you’ve been told, yet oddly familiar.

Who was she really?
I’ve done a little research, and unfortunately, it seems that the truth of the legend was lost over the years. That’s the problem with stories like this. Everyone adopted their own little spin on the story. Over time, as they pass from generation to generation, and from person to person, they become more and more exaggerated to the point that no one knows where falsehoods end and truth begins. We may never KNOW the truth.

There are a few sites that explore her origins. I’m not going to take their stuff and rehash everything they’ve said, and most will tell you the same old crap about the thing. It all leads to the same stories that seem to make no sense, or the inclusion of Queen Mary Tudor.

Queen Mary I Of England

I’m not going to go into some super long and boring history lesson about Queen Mary Tudor. I mean, if you’re really THAT interested, you can look it up on sites that are dedicated to her personally. All I’m really interested in, for this site, is her connection to the ‘Mirror Witch’, Bloody Mary.

Queen Mary I of the Tudor dynasty ruled England and Scotland from 1553 to 1558. During that time, her biggest project was an attempt to reestablish Roman Catholicism in England which led to the name, “Bloody Mary”.

Mary died at age 42. It is probable that she died of cancer, but it is not 100 percent certain. Many believe that it was actually ovarian cancer. She didn’t have a very long reign. It was only about 5 years. Her half-sister Queen Elizabeth I succeeded her, and reversed Mary’s efforts to reestablish Roman Catholicism in England.

Connections
Why is she connected with the Bloody Mary legend?

The Children
The Bloody Mary Legend: The Bloody Mary legend throughout the world has a very common theme of the ‘woman’ in the mirror and her children. People often use taunts regarding her children to summon her. “I have your children” and so forth.
Queen Mary I: She never had any children. She tried many times, and had multiple miscarriages, or false pregnancies. It has been said that producing an heir was extremely important to her, but she could never make it happen.

The Name
The Bloody Mary Legend: The name ‘Mary’ seems to be the REAL constant with most of the legends. Adding the word ‘Bloody’ to it seems to be an afterthought in many cases. Names like Mary Worth, or other variations are also used. There seems to be too many to count.
Queen Mary I: This woman actually earned the name ‘Bloody Mary’ in her lifetime. She is known as the Queen that brought Roman Catholicism back to England. She had almost 300 Protestant dissenters burnt at the stake.

The Mirror
The Bloody Mary Legend: There is very little room for doubt that mirrors or other reflective surfaces are an important aspect of The Bloody Mary Legend. Pretty much ALL variations of the legend incorporate them.
Queen Mary I: Mirrors and Queen Mary Tudor, based on my own research have no connection to speak of.

My Personal Opinion On The Queen Regarding The Legend
I have to say… At this point, I don’t think that Queen Mary I of England has ANYTHING to do with the Bloody Mary Legend that we’re talking about on this website. It just doesn’t make sense. The thing, whatever it is, that people are seeing in their mirrors, to me, based on what I’ve learned, doesn’t seem to have ANY real connection with the Queen, aside from the name.

I DO believe that the name itself came from her. I think that the legend somehow got confused with the Queen Mary I history, and people over time merged BOTH stories into one.

This is just my theory.

Does ritual really matter?
The things that people say, and the rituals people use to conjure her change with each legend as well. In some of them you have to do the ritual at 3AM while spinning on your head, and eating a ham sandwich. Then, and ONLY then will she come through the mirror, and kick you in the nuts.

Like I had stated before, the stories are different, yet the main points remain prevalent throughout almost all of the legends.

A psycho woman, supposedly named Mary, comes through the mirror to do harm to someone who is chanting her name, or taunting her in some way. All legends seem to agree on that.

I’ve heard a LOT of stories about odd things appearing in mirrors while someone was trying to conjure her, too many to count. And, believe me, they all didn’t have the same back story, and I’m sure the ritual they used to bring her forward was different as well.

So the real question is, does it really matter what legend you’ve heard, and what ritual you use?

Doesn’t look like it matters at all, which is an unsettling thought.

If the ritual doesn’t matter, is it possible for something to pass through the mirror without any help from us?

Is this idea REALLY far too removed from reality?

It’s a common belief that mirrors can be used in other applications, divination for example.

If you believe that divination is possible by scrying in a mirror, the next logical conclusion would be that there’s something about a mirror that either amplifys ones own abilities, or possesses some of its own, conceivably both. So, which is it? What’s in there? What’s on the other side of that portal? Something has to be there, right? Too many people have reported seeing something. Is it possible for them to ALL be wrong?

Somehow, I doubt it.

If you’re interested in more reading about The Bloody Mary Legend, please visit our Main Bloody Mary Page. This article is just a condensed version of that.

Or, you can visit our Bloody Mary Legend Archive. Readers from all over the globe have submitted their hometown versions of the legend.

Or, you can Submit Your Own.

Every now and then, I intend to adapt(and condense) pages on The Beyond into articles for the readers on the RSS feed. This is the first. I hope you liked it.