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essays and analysis of the bloody mary urban legend
essays and analysis of the bloody mary urban legend
essays and analysis of the bloody mary urban legend
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Bloody Mary Version 3
The story of Bloody Mary is told in different versions all around the world has been included in nine different movies (three in the past two years) (The Internet Movie Database). This particular version of the popular urban legend of Bloody Mary originates locally from North Potomac, Maryland. The storyteller is a female 19-year-old Caucasian sophomore student, currently studying psychology at the University. The story was collected in the spring on the University campus. After dinner, in a one-on-one environment, she began the story of an urban legend from her childhood.
I remember this from back in second grade. It scared me so much.
It was Friday the 13th. Back in elementary school, we always lined up in classes on the blacktop before school. This morning, a classmate told me about a girl that had been buried alive on Friday the 13th because her stepmother hated her and wanted her dead.
Then she told me, as if it was completely true, that if I went home that night and turned around three times in front of the mirror while chanting, ‘Bloody Mary,’ her ghost would appear in it and if I looked into her eyes I would turn to stone.
[Me:] Do you remember who told you this story or where the story happened?
[Storyteller:] I don’t really remember. I do remember that when I went home that night, I made my mom cover my mirror with a towel before I agreed to go to bed.
[Me:] So you never actually tested it out?
[Storyteller:] No way.
The tale of Bloody Mary seems to be a popular urban legend, according to researched sources, and its variations can be categorized into two groups: a set of simple instructions and those that tell the actual legend of the ghost. Most of the variatio...
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...rite of passage to adulthood by overcoming their fears and anxieties. For those too young and immature to attempt this “dangerous” ritual, such as the storyteller at the age when she was told the urban legend, this urban legend serves as a point in their maturity when their desire to overcome their fears actually overcomes their fears. This urban legend serves as an important marker in the phase of adolescent life and their process towards maturity.
Works Cited
"Bloody Mary." No date. Urban Legends & Superstitions. 8 Apr. 2006 http://urbanlegendsonline.com/mirrors/bloodymary.html.
IMDb Search. 2006. The Internet Movie Database. 9 Apr. 2006 http://www.imdb.com/find?s=all&q=bloody+mary.
Mikkelson, Barbara and David. "Bloody Mary." Urban Legends Reference Pages. 27 Oct. 2005. Snopes.com. 8 Apr. 2006 http://www.snopes.com/horrors/ghosts/bloodymary.asp.
The storyteller told me the story of the Goatman in a mutual friend’s dorm room at night. I had come to the dorm room to ask my friend if he knew any urban legends of ghost stories from around campus or the state of Maryland. The storyteller, a 21-year-old biology major, shouted excitedly from the couch that she knew one. She is from Beltsville, Maryland. Her mother is a lawyer and her father is a math professor. My friend and I sat down on the couch and listened intently as she told the story: The Goatman from Beltsville.
There are several other stories that I wish to share with you, but I will do so in Chapter 12, It’s All in the Photographs: The Ghost Writers. My daughters Stephanie and Megan, Ken O’Keefe, Scarlett McGrady, Leigh Schillings Edwards, Jon Matney, and I make up the key members of this team of paranormal investigators. Pamela Wilson Berry serves as an auxiliary member.
Maryland Ghost & Spirit Association. “Maryland Hauntings—St. Mary’s County.” Access date: 6 April 2005. 2000-2005. http://www.marylandghosts.com/locations/stmarys.php.
This story, although somewhat unique in its exact plot, contains many elements that make it a typical and traditional ghost story. These elements suggest common fears in today’s society of people in general, and children specifically.
A 19-year old female from Harford County, Maryland, narrated the story of Black Aggie, the urban legend of an overnight stay in a cemetery. She grew up Christian, and still lives in one of the more rural areas of Maryland with her younger sister and parents, who own and work at an electrical contracting business. Accustomed to hearing many ghost stories and urban legends, she first heard the story of Black Aggie during a middle school slumber party. Late one Saturday night over pizza in our Hagerstown dorm, she was more than willing to share her favorite urban legend with me.
The story of “Bloody Mary” was told to me by a twenty year old male. He is a current student at a University, studying accountancy. He has very conservative beliefs regarding politics. His father is an insurance broker and his mother stays at home. This story was collected on March 18, 2006, at his residence. This is the story as he told it to me:
The storyteller was an eighteen-year old male attending the University. Currently a sophomore, he was raised as a Catholic in Maryland. Upon visiting me a couple of weeks ago on a Saturday night, we relaxed over some calzones in my dorm as we began to watch television and listen to music. Flipping through the channels, we came across the Sci-Fi network, sparking a sudden interest in both of us to talk about scary stories. We began to discuss the local urban legends, myths, and horror stories that we knew, and he began to tell a story that he heard from a friend down in South Carolina during his freshman year. It went like this.
One night Ann saw the shape of a coffin from the egg trick, that's where it all started. Soon after that happened Ann Putman, Abigail Williams, and Betty Parris started acting weirdly. They started babbling, convulsing, or simply staring blankly. Once they were identified as victims of witchcraft they were asked to point out their tormentors. Ann pointed to Sarah Good and Sarah Osbourne. She also testified against Tibuta and said that the woman had tortured her grievously by pricking and pinching her dreadfully."(Yanak, T.,and Pam Cornelison, ...
I searched until I heard a story that gave me the chills. It comes from right around the block from where I live on campus, at one of the sorority houses at the University of Maryland. I collected this story the weekend of April 2nd, at my fraternity house. I asked my friend, a junior from Pikesville, if she knows any ghost stories. Her face lit up as if she was dying to tell me this story since the first time we ever met. She asked “you never heard the story of the ghost in the sorority house?” I replied no. The normally quiet woman demanded my attention away from the TV and went into her story.
When Tituba told Betty Parris and Abigail Williams stories and showed them voodoo tricks, things started to go haywire. As Betty and Abigail told some other girls about Tituba’s stories, the girls came over and Tituba showed them tricks. Pretty soon, the girls couldn’t listen in church, they had to cover their ears, and they would interrupt. Betty, Abigail, and the other girls had fits, contorted themselves into strange shapes, and had visible wounds on their arms and legs. Dr. Griggs concluded that the girls were bewitched!
Gilbert, Muller, H. Nightmares and Visions. Flannery O?Connor and the Catholic Grotesque. University Press. University of Georgia Press. 1977. 125.
First, “Lamb to the Slaughter”, Mary Malony. She killed her husband when he said he was going to leave her and her baby all alone. I guess she couldn’t bare the thought of him leaving her all alone like that so she just killed him with their dinner. “At that point, Mary Maloney simply walked up
This story was recounted to me by a 20 year old female student at my University. She is a Communications major, coming from an upper middle class family in the rural suburbs of New Jersey. I interviewed her in her apartment sometime in the late afternoon in an informal setting. Although she is skeptical about things such as urban legends and ghost tales, she explained to me that this story always unsettled her in an inexplicable way.
It was the last Saturday in December of 1997. My brother, sister, and I were chasing after each other throughout the house. As we were running, our parents told us to come and sit down in the living room. They had to tell us something. So, we all went down stairs wondering what was going on. Once we all got down stairs, the three of us got onto the couch. Then, my mom said, “ Well…”
Mikkelson, Barbara, and David P. Mikkelson. "Bloody Mary." Snopes. 27 Oct. 2005. Urban Legends Reference Pages. 6 Apr. 2006. http://www.snopes.com/horrors/ghosts/bloodymary.asp.