Katharina Buczek
If you have been to a middle school sleepover, you have likely been subjected to the legend of Bloody Mary.
And it is supposedly quite simple to summon the evil spirit. Daring children just have to stand alone in a dark bathroom with a single candle lit. Then, they have to stare into a mirror and chant the spirit’s name three times over: “Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary.”
As legend has it, a ghostly figure known as Bloody Mary herself is supposed to appear in the mirror behind you. Some claim to have seen the supernatural woman alone; others have seen her cradling a dead baby.
But where the heck did this sadistic legend come from, and was Bloody Mary once a real person?
Queen Mary I Of England
The Bloody Mary legend does not have a precise origin. But, there are a few possibilities as to where the myth came from. And the first concerns Queen Mary I of England.
The Queen was born on February 18, 1516, to Catherine of Aragon and Henry VIII. But Mary did not seem likely to later become the Queen. Instead, her father spent much of Mary’s childhood doing whatever he could to produce a male heir.
However, once Mary entered her teen years, Henry became a part of a massive scandal after he claimed his marriage to Catherine of Aragon to be incestuous and illegal. The allegations surfaced because Catherine had previously been married to his brother.
Then, Henry went on to divorce Catherine, marry a woman named Anne Boleyn, and ultimately established the Church of England.
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