With an ominous 'click', the lights to the
small bathroom go out. Inside are three giggling teenage girls, it's
one of their first sleepovers and inevitably, the topic of ghosts came up. Each teen told her own scary ghost story,
the girls hyping each other's fears up throughout the night until finally came the dare: it
was time to call out to Bloody Mary, perhaps the most famous ghost story of all. The ritual is simple, the girls snuck down
to the kitchen and grabbed an old candle kept for power outages, along with some matches. Then cramming into the small bathroom, the
lit the candle and turned off the lights. “Bloody Mary...”, the first of thirteen
incantations is nothing more than a whisper. The ritual to summon this specter requires
a slow, but steady repetition of her name, each one louder than the last. There's nervous laughter among the girls as
they repeat the name a second time, slightly louder. The nervous laughter dies off somewhere around
the seventh repetition. The candle's flame, sitting perfectly still
until now, suddenly dances for a moment. The girls gasp in shock as a cold chill overtakes
the bathroom, but they brush off both events as coincidences. Maybe the AC has kicked on outside the bathroom. “...Bloody Mary... Bloody Mary... Bloody Mary...” Ten repetitions, the whispers louder now,
almost at full speaking voice. The girls are practically chanting the name
at this point, but as they come to the last incantation they hesitate. Just once more, and the ritual will be complete. The candle's flame is perfectly still. The house... quiet. “Bloody Mary!” Two of the girls jump with a start as the
third, braver member of the trio suddenly shouts out the name for the thirteenth and
final time! The three girls hold their breath... waiting
in the dark. Water drips from the leaky faucet, one slow
drop at a time. Drip... drip... drip... After thirty seconds, the girls start nervously
giggling again, their courage slowly returning. They begin to make fun of each other, talking
about how scared the other person was, and firmly filing away the dancing candle flame
and cold breeze in the back of their minds as nothing more than random weirdness. But the candle flame is dancing again. The girls hold their breath, peering at the
dancing candle, not daring to breathe hoping that it was their normal respiration causing
the candle to dance in the small, claustrophobic bathroom. But the candle is still dancing... A hand suddenly reaches through the mirror,
grabbing the nearest girl- the one who had finished the ritual by shouting Bloody Mary's
name! The girls scream as their friend is dragged
towards the hideously deformed face in the mirror. They tear open the door, two of them running
out of the bathroom and screaming for help. From inside the bathroom the sounds of screaming
and struggling suddenly cease. The legend of Bloody Mary has been around
in some form or another since about the 19th century, and it's no surprise that it has
remained a popular game with adolescents all around the world. While the western version of Bloody Mary is
believed to summon the specter of a protestant woman accused of witchcraft, or perhaps even
Queen Mary I herself, what's curious is that other cultures also have similar ghost stories-
with a very similar ritual to summon spirits from beyond through an ordinary mirror. Peering into mirrors and seeking the supernatural
is nothing new for humanity, and in practices that stretch all the way back to ancient Greece,
people have been trying to seek out ghosts or divine their futures by looking into a
mirror. Typically the goal is to discern future events
by performing a specific ritual, such as looking into a mirror and seeking either a healthy
face that looks back at you, or a terrifying apparition. If you saw the healthy face then you would
overcome whatever illness you were currently suffering. If instead you saw a scary visage, then you
would surely die. The ritual to summon Bloody Mary has some
basis along the lines of predicting your future, but is mostly believed to be about testing
one's courage. Bloody Mary may indeed impart some knowledge
of the future if successfully summoned, but she could also simply try and murder you. Whatever your intent is though, the ritual
is always the same. First, everyone taking part in the summoning
must gather together in a pitch-black room with a mirror. A single candle, or in modern times a flashlight,
is the only source of light allowed. Every other source of light must be completely
blacked out, so for obvious reasons doing the ritual at night is best. Next, you and anyone else partaking in the
ritual look into the mirror and makes eye contact with their own reflection. Slowly, you begin to chant the name Bloody
Mary, starting out quietly and growing in volume. After the thirteenth repetition- which should
be delivered with finality- everyone must stop chanting and sit quietly, keeping eye
contact with their own reflection. At this point, Bloody Mary may make her appearance,
and if she does you must be cautious. Most important of all is to stay out of arm's
reach of the mirror, for it's said that Mary can lash out at anyone standing too close
and seriously injure them, or perhaps even drag them into the mirror itself with her. Next, you must make sure to never, ever allow
the mirror to be broken until the ritual is complete. Doing so might allow Bloody Mary to escape,
letting loose a demonic spirit that will surely attempt to attach itself to you. If successfully summoned, Bloody Mary may
answer a question from one of the members of the ritual, but it's just as likely that
she will instead shriek and scream at you, lashing out at anyone foolish enough to stand
too close to her mirror. Her scream has been compared to that of the
legendary Banshee itself, though instead of killing you on the spot, Bloody Mary screams
are known to cause severe and long-lasting psychological issues for those who hear them,
including depression, suicidal thoughts, and mania of various forms. Once summoned, there is no known way of dispelling
Bloody Mary, but it's recommended that you simply leave the room immediately and don't
return for a significant amount of time. If Bloody Mary refuses to leave, she may choose
to instead continue visiting you through the same mirror, though if that happens you must
resist the temptation to simply shatter it or throw it away carelessly into a dumpster. Instead you should safely store the mirror
and prevent it from breaking, or risk letting Bloody Mary loose into our world. Sometimes, Mary won't appear the first time
she is summoned. Instead she may choose to answer the call
later, at an unexpected time when you may have completely forgotten about the ritual. So if you attempt to summon Mary, keep your
guard up- she may be biding her time before striking out. But who is Bloody Mary exactly? Some believe that she is Queen Mary I, daughter
of the infamous Henry VIII. She was England's first queen to rule on her
own without a king, but she is far more famous for being a devout Catholic. During the English Reformation, English Protestants
had splintered off from the Catholic church, and Mary didn't take kindly to that. By the time she died from an influenza pandemic
in 1558, she had executed hundreds of protestants for refusing to recant their faith. Even for the normally bloodthirsty English,
Mary's executions were too much, and often seen as being overly cruel in their methodology. Most people sentenced to burn at the stake
were strangled before burning, but Mary often refused to offer such mercy and burned men
and women alive. The next suspected Bloody Mary was Mary Queen
of Scots. This Mary lived a rather tumultuous life,
used as a political pawn by various men seeking the throne thanks to her legitimate claims
to both the Scottish and English thrones. Eventually, Mary fled and sought protection
from her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I, but instead of finding hospitality, Mary was imprisoned
for 18 years by Elizabeth. Eventually Mary was accused of being part
of a plot to overthrow Elizabeth and she was executed. But the execution wouldn't go as planned. Despite attending her own execution with a
dignified grace and even cheerful manner, the executioner made a real mess of things,
granting Mary far from a merciful or dignified death. Sentenced to have her head chopped off, the
first axe blow struck her in the back of the head, missing the neck entirely. The crowd gasped at the horror as the executioner
quickly attempted to rectify his mistake- but the second swing failed to completely
decapitate Mary. With blood gushing everywhere, the executioner
was forced to saw away at the sinews that still kept the head attached to the neck,
and eventually Mary bled to death. The last Blood Mary candidate is perhaps the
most bloodthirsty, and probably who the real legend is based on. After all, this Bloody Mary suspect more than
lived up to the bloody reputation. Elizabeth Bathory is considered by many to
be the greatest serial killer in history. Known as the 'Blood Countess”, Elizabeth
Bathory would routinely invite young peasant girls to her castle under the guise of caring
for them. Peasant families would gladly send their daughters
away, confident in the better life that they would have learning to be servants for nobility
rather than forced to backbreaking farm labor. The truth however was that none of those girls
would live for long. Bathory's cruelty knew almost no bounds, and
she routinely tortured the young girls she took in. Eventually she killed all of the young girls
in the nearby villages, forcing her to look for victims further away. She visited countless horrors on her victims,
and was fond of taking baths in blood of the young girls, believing the act would rejuvenate
her and reverse aging. It's not known how many girls Bathory killed,
but it's estimated to be in the hundreds, which in our opinion makes her the likeliest
Bloody Mary candidate out of the three. The real question though is if you're brave
enough to try and summon herself tonight? Or maybe you did years ago, thinking it was
nothing more than a childhood game, not realizing that Mary could simply choose to wait to answer
your summons until you're no longer expecting it. Like, perhaps, the next time you wake up in
the middle of the night for a quick bathroom trip. Our advice? Don't stand too close to the mirror. Ready for more terror? Check out Laughing Jack Explained. Or click this other video instead.
