Title: Bloody Mary
General Information about Item: Bloody Mary is a game usually played by children when they are bored and looking for something to do. It involves an attempt to conjure the evil spirit of the deceased Queen Mary I of England.
Genre and Sub Genre:
- Genre: Horror story
- Subgenre: Urban legend
Language: English
Country where Item is from: The United States
Informant Data: Carolina Miranda is from Miami, Florida and is 13 years old. She attends Leewood K-8 Center.
Contextual Data: Carolina first heard about Bloody Mary in the cafeteria at her school. She was eating lunch with her classmates, who had played the game the night before at a sleepover. She told me the story as it was originally told to her. She, herself, has never participated.
Item: Associated file (a video, audio, or image file)
Transcript of Associated File: These friends of mine, Mason and Jack, were going on about this weird game called Bloody Mary. The night before, they had tried to get a ghost to appear in the bathroom. Mason and Jack grabbed a candle, lit it, and made their way to the bathroom at Mason’s house. Jack chickened out, so Mason went into the bathroom alone. It was his house, after all. He was confident nothing was going to happen anyways. Jack promised to wait outside and call for help if necessary.
Mason went into the bathroom with candle, locked the door, and turned off the lights. Setting the candle down on the sink, he spun around 13 times while chanting “Bloody Mary.” After the 13th time, he expected to look in the mirror and see the ghost of the evil queen, but, he saw nothing. Feeling very dizzy, he fumbled around with the lock on the bathroom door. When he finally stepped outside, Jack looked very relieved.
Informant’s Comments: Carolina says that she would never play the game, even though nothing happened to her friends.
Collector’s Comments: I have heard about many variations of the game. Sometimes, the faucet is left running. This is supposed to help call the spirit. The number of times the participant spins around, as well as the chant, are also subject to change. In one version of the game, the participant taunts Bloody Mary, saying, “I stole your baby, Bloody Mary.” This is a direct reference to the Queen’s ghost pregnancy. She was under immense pressure to produce an heir to the throne, but was never able to.
Collector’s Name: Sarah Perez
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