Sources:
Script:
(Intro music)
Hey there! This episode is the first of special bonuses that will be published every 10 episodes. Welcome to the Bazaar of Bizarre, my little shop of horrors and obscurities.
The Bazaar of Bizarre is an off-topic bonus episode that talks about things that once or still do personally creep me out or find fascinating. It’s a way to just talk about general creepy things once in a while, and so that I don’t run out of topics to cover too easily and stretch the podcast out just a bit more. These episodes will cover a wide range of things like creepy happenings from all over the world, spooky stories, and for this maiden episode, urban legends.
Originally, when I was considering making a Patreon, I was gonna make these episodes Patreon-exclusive, but then after a while, I decided not to make one, and decided that these bonuses are going to be appearing every ten episodes instead. I’m also not a huge fan of people being left out. And as a consumer of podcasts and YouTube videos, I really do want to support content creators on Patreon or “join” them on YouTube, but… expenses, man. So I can understand if people don’t have the extra money to donate or subscribe to extra content. But I’m getting off topic.
Anyway, let’s get into it.
The first thing I’m showcasing in my bazaar is Bloody Mary. And just a warning, this topic is a little gruesome and not for the easily queasy.
I remembering hearing this legend for the first time when I was eleven years old, and I was in Year 7 at the time. My friend, Steph, was the one that relayed the story to our little friendship group. And from what I can remember, she told us something along the lines of this:
There were a bunch of girls at a sleepover party one night, and they were playing truth or dare. As the game went on, one girl decided to choose ‘dare’. The other girls all looked at each other before deciding on a task.
They dared this girl to go into the bathroom, switch off the lights, and to light a candle. Then, she had to hold the candle, stare into the mirror and chant ‘Bloody Mary’ three times. Of course the girl obliged, and got the candle, then went into the bathroom. As instructed, she switched off the light, lit the candle, and stood in front of the mirror. Lastly, she uttered, ‘Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary.’ Nothing. It seemed that her friends just wanted to scare her with a stupid stunt. In matter of seconds, she then faintly saw a grotesque face behind her own.
Outside of the bathroom, the other girls heard blood curdling screams coming from the other side of the door. They tried opening the door but to no avail; it mysteriously locked itself. They called out to their friend, but all they got from her were more agonised wails. And all of a sudden, silence.
At last, the girls could open the door, but what they saw in the bathroom was a something out of a horrifying nightmare.
The walls and floor of the bathroom were splattered in blood. Their friend was lying lifeless on the floor with her eyes gouged out and her face twisted in terror.
That was the version I heard, but you probably heard a different version to that one. Some say you chant Bloody Mary five times, thirteen times or whatever. Others say you have to spin around as you chant her name. She’s either Bloody Mary, Hell Mary, or Mary Worth.
But the general idea of the urban legend is that you summon this evil spirit via a mirror, in the dark, and you end up dead with your eyeballs scratched out. Some kids try the ritual as a test of courage.
I remember there were three boys in my class back in year 7, again when this story was spreading around school like wildfire. They decided they’d try their luck with summoning Bloody Mary. They went into the boys’ toilets, switched off the lights and said her name three times in the mirror. But of course, they ended up living to tell the tale, with their eyeballs intact. Though, one of the boys reckoned he saw blood dripping down the mirror for a split second, but that was likely some childish embellishment that was cool for a scary story.
There are several origin stories as to how Bloody Mary came to be. Some say that she was a witch that was burned at the stake, and that she cursed the people that would say her name prior to perishing in the flames. Others say that she was a girl that died in a horrific car accident and was found with face severely scratched up.
There’s another origin story that’s a little far-fetched but disturbing and I wanted to share it with you. I got this off a site for a middle school in America strangely enough, but I’m gonna reiterate it right here. The story goes a little like this.
Back in the 19th century, a mysterious disease took place in a small village. People would fall unconscious and were seemingly lifeless. There was no hint of a pulse, nor was there condensation on a mirror placed under their noses for signs of breathing. However, when they buried someone, they realised that the victim of the disease was still alive when they heard knocking and screaming coming from the coffin. So to counter a mistaken death, the villagers devised a way to alert them if someone was still alive.
They would leave the coffin out and put a small hole in the coffin’s lid, and thread a string through it. One end would be in the coffin, and the other would be connected to a bell. That bell would be hoisted onto a post. If the person in the coffin was still alive, they’d ring the bell and people would be notified. Otherwise, if they didn’t hear the bell ringing after, say a week or so, then they would go and bury the coffin.
Now one victim of this mysterious illness was a girl called Mary. When she fell unconscious and didn’t wake up, her family did what they had to do. They put her in a coffin and prepared the string and bell as described. All they had to do next was to wait and listen.
One evening, Mary’s family were invited over to their neighbour’s house, and they went. Their neighbour, mind you, lived acres away. It was then that while the family was away, Mary opened her eyes. In the dark coffin, she could just make out a string hanging down. Instinctively, she pulled at the string and heard the bell ring. Knowing that the sound would alert anyone nearby, she tugged at the string repeatedly.
However, it didn’t seem that anyone heard her. The coffin was dark, cramped, and the walls and lid felt like they were closing in on her, and it was getting hard for Mary to breathe. Again, she tugged at the string, over and over, and as hard as she could so that the bell could ring out louder, but then faintly, she heard the sound of the bell hitting the ground with a thud, and she knew that she was in trouble. She had to try a different measure.
Several hours after being at the neighbours’ house, Mary’s family finally went home. When they arrived at their property, they saw that the bell and post were on the ground. They took this as a sign that Mary indeed alive so they clamoured over to the coffin and removed the lid.
Inside was Mary. Her fingertips whittled down to raw and bloodied nibs, and the white dress she wore was dyed in her own blood. Her face was frozen in an expression of panic and terror; her eyes and jaw wide open. They realised that Mary, out of desperation, tried to claw her way out of the coffin. They placed a mirror under her nose to see if she was still breathing. There was a faint bit of condensation, but only just. However, her family knew that Mary didn’t have much time left in the world, and sadly, watched her take her last breaths. Then, they had to bury her for good.
It is said that Mary’s spirit transferred into the mirror that was held under her nose, and got trapped there, never passing on to the afterlife. When someone says her name in front of a mirror, her unrested spirit would appear and claw at whoever was in front of her, as she did to the coffin lid that fateful night.
Not gonna lie, if I go to the toilet in the dead of night, I avoid looking into the mirror, and it may or may not be because of this story. Even to this day—even if I know that it’s just a made up legend. But like there’s just something so unsettling looking into your own reflection with barely any light. Like the shadows cast over your features and make you look creepier. But that’s probably just me and my wild imagination. Or maybe it’s how the brain functions.
A psychologist by the name of Giovanni Caputo conducted an experiment. The experiment required the subjects to be in front of a mirror in dim lighting, and to stare at their own reflections for ten minutes. The subjects noticed that something was off with their reflections even after less than a minute; they noticed that their features were distorted and began to look nothing like how they usually saw themselves. Some folks saw an old lady or a child staring back at them, some morphed into their parent. Others saw much more bizarre things like animals and creepy, fantastical characters. This is called the strange face illusion.
One explanation could be that in the dim light, you can’t really make out proper shapes and edges, and your brain most likely likely fills in the gaps. But it doesn’t exactly do it right, and therefore your eyes are seeing something that isn’t quite you. Another explanation could be the Troxler Effect in action. This is an optical illusion that happens when your eyes focus on one spot and stops its usual shifting and scanning.
When this happens, the vision neurons aeventually stop working, making the image in your peripheral vision slowly disappear until you start moving your eyes again. If you want to experience this effect for yourself, I have an example on the corresponding instagram post for this episode. It’s trippy stuff and our brains are weird. So, hypothetically, if we did try this mirror experiment and stared at one part our face for too long, say the eyes or the nose, our brain would likely not focus on the other parts of our face and this is how our features end up looking distorted.
I’d try this experiment for myself, but I’m too chicken and I don’t think my faint little heart would like what I see. But you’re more than welcome to try that for yourselves, and maybe comment your results.
Anyway, why does this relate to the legend of Bloody Mary? Well, maybe because people did see this supposed spirit because of the explanation I just gave. I mean, you do the ritual in the dark with nothing but a candle, and you stare into the mirror, and your brain does what it does best: trip you out.
Apparently, there was this trendy thing to do back in the day where girls would stare in the mirror long enough and see their future spouse looking back at them. Of course this was probably the strange face illusion making them see an entirely different face, but a creepy twist to this fun little divination was that if you saw a skeleton staring back at you, that means you’ll die before get married. And this ritual evolved into the modern legend it is today.
It seems that the legend of Bloody Mary got real popular with kids during the mid 20th century, and hasn’t exactly gone away. And there are many variations to this story. But I’ve noticed through my internet trawling and in my own life, that urban legends and creepy tales like Bloody Mary are popular within the tween demographic.
This can be explained by what is called the Robinson age. Gail De Vos, an adjunct professor at the University of Alberta and author on children and teen literature suggested, quote: “The ages between 9 and 12 are labeled "the Robinson age" by psychologists. This is the period when children need to satisfy their craving for excitement by participating in ritual games and playing in the dark. They are constantly looking for a safe way to extract pleasure and release anxiety and fears.” Unquote.
With myself and my schoolmates as an example, I guess it was a sense of safe adventure. Hearing about a vengeful ghost and a way to summon her was something different to the books we’d read and the media we’d consume that was “child-appropriate”, the things our teachers and parents would prefer us to have.
I remember, we enjoyed reading Goosebumps, especially the choose your own adventure ones. I’d try and find as many horror books that my catholic school library had. There was this book I found which was about aliens and UFOs, and it detailed the man in Black encounter regarding dr Herbert Hopkins and that creepy dude that made a coin disappear. It intrigued me, but it kept me up that night.
We can’t help but be a little curious about the things that the adults don’t really want us to discuss at the risk of getting nightmares. But it’s a way we can safely face our fears and maybe laugh about it after.
I mean, just a story, right?
And that’s my little spiel on Bloody Mary. I kind of wanted to explore my childhood a bit. Did you hear about Bloody Mary in your childhood? Did you try to the ritual? I’ll be honest, I tried, but only did it in the dark without a candle, and I whispered her name because I didn’t want my parents to know what I was doing. Of course, immediately after my third Bloody Mary I switched the lights on and booked it the hell out of there.
Anyway, that’s all I’ve got for today. As always, I hope you enjoyed listening to this one. Like, share, follow, review, you know what to do. Until next time, thank you for visiting the Bazaar of Bizarre.
Comments