You have likely heard, especially if you have ever been a pre-teen girl, that if you stand in front of a mirror in a dark room and perform a specific ritual, you will summon a ghost, or demon, or witch or some other such being. It’s dangerous, thrilling, and, for many, a rite of passage. In this episode, Matt discusses one of the most widespread ghost stories on earth – Bloody Mary.
This episode was written by Matthew Armstrong with music by Matthew Armstrong and production assistance from Kaylia Metcalfe.
A transcript of this episode can be found HERE.
Support The Show
Supporters get early access to our episodes as well as that warm feeling of knowing that you, yes you, are helping our intrepid Ghosthropologist keep working and keeping our producer well-caffeinated.
Sources:
American Folktales and Mythologies Society. 2008 (1997). Bloody Mary: Mary of Portsmouth. Originally written 1997, made available to public domain 2008. Available online 5/3/23 at https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Bloody_Mary_of_Portsmouth.pdf
Armitage, Marc. 2006. ‘All About Mary’: Children’s use of the toilet ghost story as a
mechanism for dealing with fear, but fear of what? Contemporary Legend, Vol. 9: 1-27
Caputo, Giovanni. 2010. Strange-Face-in-Mirror Illusion. Perception, volume 39.
Dẻigh, Linda. 1969. The Haunted Bridges Near Avon and Danville and Their Role in Legend Formation. Indiana Folklore 2(1): 77-81.
Dundes, Alan. 1998. Bloody Mary in the Mirror: A Ritual Reflection of Pre-Pubescent Anxiety. Western Folklore 57(2): 119-135.
Dylan Foster, Michael. 2015. The Book of Yokai: Mysterious Creatures of Japanese Folklore. University of California Press, Los Angeles, CA.
Freed, Shaari. 1993. Spooky Activities and Group Loyalty. Children’s Folklore Review 16(1): 33-39.
Janecek, Petr. 2014. Bloody Mary or Krvavá Máří? Globalization and Czech Children´s Folklore. Slovak Ethnology / Slovenský národopis, Vol. 62. Accessed online 3/10/23 at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263852135_Bloody_Mary_or_Krvava_Mari_Globalization_and_Czech_Childrens_Folklore
Langlois, J. 1978. Mary Whales, I Believe in You: Myth and Ritual Subdued.
Indiana Folklore, Vol. 11(1): 5-33
McNeil, Lynne and Elizabeth Tucker. 2018. Introduction. In Legend Tripping: A Contemporary Legend Casebook. Utah State University Press, Logan, Utah.
Thigpen, Kenneth. 1971. Adolescent Legends in Brown County: A Survey. Indiana Folklore 4(2): 141-215.
Tucker, Elizabeth. 2018. Early Studies. In Legend Tripping: A Contemporary Legend Casebook. Utah State University Press, Logan, Utah.
Winter, Laura. 2014. Bloody Mary in the Mirror: A Comparative Examination of a Living Tradition. MA Thesis, Department of Folklore, Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador
KMMA Media 