To mark the 150th episode of the podcast (OMG), we’re going back to one of our earliest subjects! At the very start of the pod we investigated the Halloween urban legend of the stranger poisoning trick or treat candy, and how the tale actually originated in the true-life crime of Ronald Clark O’Bryan, the “Real Candy Man” who killed his son with a poisoned Pixy Stick for insurance money. This time around, we’re looking into another Halloween-related urban legend: Bloody Mary.
The Bloody Mary urban legend is one of the most famous and persistent of any in American folklore. Especially if you grew up in the United States, you learned a version of the supposed ritual in your childhood: go into a darkened room, look into a mirror, say the name Bloody Mary a certain number of times, and in return you’ll see the horrific visage of Bloody Mary in the reflection…or maybe the ghoulish specter will pop out of the mirror to take your soul to hell with her.
Of course, no one has ever been snatched up by a bloody ghost emerging from a bathroom mirror – but that hasn’t stopped generations of kids, especially young girls, from taking part in the Bloody Mary ritual at slumber parties across the country and across the decades. But where did this urban legend come from? Is there a “real” Bloody Mary? Why do kids take part in a ritual designed to scare the pants off of them, and why are young girls by far the main participants in this strange and spooky tradition?
We dive deep into the psychology of folklore and our own pasts as legend-loving kids to try and determine where Bloody Mary came from, and why it’s still such a major part of childhood mythologies. Happy Halloween!
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