[UA] New artifact and ritual as an urban legend

[rowan at media.mit.edu]

> As has been mentioned already (digest mode and a different time zone
> make me
> slow to respond) the interesting bit about the Bloody Mary mythology is
> that
> it has somehow formed by word of mouth exclusively and has even been
> found
> to have moved to Europe. To quote from the article: "[The myths] are a
> striking example of 'polygenesis,' the folklorist's term for the
> simultaneous appearance of vivid, similar tales in far-flung locales."
> And
> later: "[Bloody Mary's] name was first spoken in hushed tones among
> children
> all over America nearly twenty years ago. Even in Sweden folklorists
> reported Bloody Mary's fame."

NO. This misconception has come up several times on this list.

Google: bloody+mary+legend

Returns:

http://www.mythology.com/bloodymary.html
http://www.snopes2.com/horrors/ghosts/bloody.htm
and, interestingly, 
http://www.clivebarker.com/html/visions/new/bloody/bloodymary.htm

among others.

Excerpt from mythology.com:

Folklorist Jan Harold Brunvand, best known for popularizing the term "urban 
legend," titled this story "I Believe in Mary Worth." Folklorist Janet
Langlois wrote an essay about the ritual that was published in 1978, after 
interviewing Catholic school students about the spirit they called Mary
Whales. 

Of the 100 versions I collected, the name Bloody Mary was by far the most 
prevalent, appearing about 50 percent of the time (47 of the accounts). Of
course, "Bloody Mary" is more of a description than a name, so it's possible 
that the term could have been chanted in the ritual to summon the ghost
while believing her real name to be something else.

The name Bloody Mary was linked to a number of different people, including a 
historical Bloody Mary (Queen Mary Tudor of England), Mary Queen
of Scots (probably mostly due to confusion with the other queen), the Virgin 
Mary (in these cases she generally does not display any menacing
qualities), Mary Magdalene, a witch burned at the stake, an axe murderer, a 
child killer and "the crazy woman who lived down the street," among
others.

-Matt Norwood

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