BLOODY MARY
Episode(s): 1x05 - Bloody MaryLocation Sighted: Toledo, OH
On The Show: Bloody Mary is the spirit or entity of Mary Worthington. She was part of an unsolved murder case in Fort Wayne, Indiana. She was 19 years old, living by herself and on the eve of March 29th someone broke into her apartment, murdered her, and cut out her eyes with a knife. Of course she died in front of a mirror that captured her spirit and trapping it inside. One of the detectives on the case believed that a surgeon by the name of Trevor Sampson was the one who killed her. The detective goes on to say that her diary mentioned a man that she was seeing and called him by his initial, “T”. On her last entry, she stated she was going to tell “T”’s wife about the affair the two were having.
Now trapped in the mirror, Mary visits those she believes committed crimes of their own and kills them, always appearing after someone says "Bloody Mary" three times in front of any mirror. The Winchester brothers defeat Mary by Sam summoning her. He believes that she will appear for him because of his (dead) girlfriend Jessica. Dean hesistant at first agrees and Sam turns to call her name in front of her own mirror. As she appears Sam hits the ground and starts bleeding from his eyes. Dean then picks up the crowbar and smashes the mirror thinking that would stop her. However, when the boys turn to leave Mary climbs out of the frame and walks over the broken glass. They both then fall to the ground and bleed from the eyes. Dean then finally reaches for a nearby mirror and faces it toward Mary. Her own reflection brings her to an end.
The Myth Behind the Show: In common folklore,"Bloody Mary" is the name of a children's game in which a ghost or witch of the same name (or sometimes other names, such as Mary Worth) is said to appear in a mirror when summoned. One of the more common ways participants attempt to make her appear is to stand before a mirror in the dark and repeat her name three times, though there are many variations. Some include chanting a hundred times, chanting at midnight, spinning around, or rubbing one's eyes. Most of these are meant to disorient people.
In some versions of the legend, the summoner must say "Bloody Mary, I killed your son!" (or "I killed your baby"). In these stories, Bloody Mary is often believed to be the spirit of a mother (often a widow) who murdered her children, or a woman who was murdered shortly before or after her wedding. In stories where Mary is supposed to have been wrongly accused of killing her children, the querent (a person who consults a tarot reader or astrologer) might say "I believe in Mary Worth." This is similar to another game involving the summoning of The Bell Witch in a mirror at midnight. The game is often a test of courage, as it is said that if Bloody Mary is summoned, she would murder the summoner, often in a quite violent way, such as gouging out his or her eyes. Other variations say that the querent must not look directly at her, but at her image in the mirror; she will then reveal the querent's future, particularly concerning marriage and children.
Bloody Mary or Mary Worth is typically described as a child-murderess who lived in the locality where the legend has taken root about a century ago. There is often a specific local graveyard or tombstone that becomes attached to the legend. On the other hand, various people have guessed that the lore about taunting Bloody Mary about her baby may relate her tenuously to folklore about Queen Mary I. The queen's life was marked by a number of miscarriages or false pregnancies. Had Mary I successfully borne a child, this would have established a Roman Catholic succession and threatened the continuance of her religious persecutions after her death. Speculation exists that the miscarriages were deliberately induced. As a result, some retellings of the tale make Bloody Mary the queen driven to madness by the loss of her children. It is likely, however, that Queen Mary I provided only her nickname to the Bloody Mary of folklore. She is also confused in some tellings of the story with Mary Queen of Scots. Bloody Mary is sometimes said to have bathed in the blood of her child victims in order to retain a youthful complexion; this would appear to confound her with Elizabeth Báthory.
The mirror ritual by which Bloody Mary is summoned may also relate to a form of divination involving mirrors and darkness that was once performed on Halloween. While as with any sort of folklore the details may vary, this particular tale encouraged young women to walk up a flight of stairs backwards, holding a candle and a hand mirror, in a darkened house. As they gazed into the mirror, they were supposed to be able to catch a view of their future husband's face. There was, however, a chance that they would see the skull-face of the Grim Reaper instead; this meant, of course, that they were destined to die before they married.
The appearance of a ghostly figure in the mirror could be explained quite easily for the more complex rituals, for example spinning around while summoning Bloody Mary in front of a mirror lit by candles. The combination of dizzyness, rapid movement and flickering light could easily fool the eye into seeing someone, especially when the idea has already been implanted.
There is a very interesting article on the Bloody Mary folk legend here, entitled "The Face In The Mirror," if you are interested in reading more about it.