"Mystery Unsolved-3"
"Bloody Mary" |
| Queen Mary |
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| Bloody Mary |
Known later in life as Queen Mary I, the first queen regnant of England, the legendary monarch now known as Bloody Mary was born on February 18, 1516 in Greenwich, England at the Palace of Placentia.
The only child of King Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, Mary’s lifetime of shame over her own femininity began at the young age of 17 when her father annulled his marriage to her mother, frustrated by the lack of a male heir to the throne. This left the young Mary totally separated from her mother and forbidden from ever visiting her again.
The king went on to marry his now ex-wife’s maid of honor, Anne Boleyn, who disappointed him with yet another daughter, Elizabeth. Worried that Mary may interfere with Elizabeth’s succession, Boleyn pressed Parliament to declare Mary illegitimate, and succeeded.
Of course, Boleyn was later beheaded by her husband for treason, but by this time the damage to Mary’s name had been done, and she stood last in line for a seat on the throne.
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| Bloody Mary |
Since her teen years, Mary had been plagued with terrible menstrual pains and irregularity in her cycles, which would be attributed to her eventual physical and psychological stress later in life.
She was also known to be struck with deep and frequent periods of melancholia, depressive spells which would stay with her throughout her relatively short life.
Despite all the odds and afflictions stacked against her, Mary did eventually take the throne in 1553 at the age of 37 and promptly married Philip of Spain in the hopes of conceiving an heir.
Starved for love and forever seeking the approval of her father, Mary would replay this codependent pattern with her new husband, whom she was “ready to lavish all her frustrated emotions on.”
Ten years her junior and in no way as excited to reciprocate her amorous feelings, Philip fulfilled the negotiated duties expected of a royal marriage, and two months later Mary’s greatest wish came true: She was with child.
Despite displaying the usual symptoms of pregnancy, including a swelling of the breasts and an ever-growing abdomen, the public remained suspicious of the queen’s recent good fortune, and it didn’t take long for rumors of a false pregnancy to start spreading.
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| Bloody Mary |
In a time without pregnancy tests and in which doctors could not examine a sitting monarch, only time would tell if these rumors bore any truth. Until then, the people of England and Spain kept tabs on Mary with a watchful eye.
And so they waited. In customary fashion, Mary went into a private chamber where she was confined for six weeks before her expected due date of May 9.
Although the big day arrived, the baby didn’t, and both she and the servants around her proposed that perhaps a miscalculation of delivery dates was to blame, now settling on a new one in June, a month later.
False reports almost immediately spread across the country, however, with some claiming their Queen had delivered a boy, and others stating she had simply died in childbirth, or that her swollen midsection were symptomatic of a tumor, rather than a pregnancy.
Despite the world of gossip growing around her, one thing could be confirmed: Around late May, Mary’s belly began to shrink.
Unable to explain or understand what was happening to her body, she continued to wait as those around her slowly lost hope.
June and July came and went as her doctors extended the birth date even further. By August, Mary finally left the confines of her chamber, childless and alone like never before.
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| Bloody Mary Ritual |
She believed that God was punishing her for failing in a mission she set out to achieve just months earlier.At the time of Mary’s pregnancy, the people of England were divided between Protestants and Catholics. Mary, determined to unite her people under “the true religion” of the land, took action by signing an act shortly before Christmas in 1554 that would result in the Marian Persecutions, in which an estimated 240 men and 60 women were sentenced as Protestants and burned at the stake, earning her the name “Bloody Mary” forevermore.
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| Bloody Mary |
To this day, the tale of Bloody Mary, Queen of England, remains one of the most infamous cases of supposed pseudocyesis, or “phantom pregnancy.”
A rare and mysterious condition, pseudocyesis occurs, to put it simply, when a person so determined to become pregnant actually “tricks” their own body into believing that it is, hence the appearance of physical symptoms, and even a discontinuation of the menstrual cycle.
Another possibility in Mary’s case could be endometrial hyperplasia, often a precursor to uterine cancer, which can be backed by reports of Mary’s low appetite and a lifelong history of menstrual irregularity.
Years later, Mary announced herself pregnant again, although this time even her own husband remained unconvinced. Assured by the sure signs of pregnancy, she was later confirmed to have entered menopause, and yet again did not deliver a baby.
She died the next year at the age of 42, presumably of uterine or ovarian cancer. Her name can still be heard today, chanted by children in dark bathroom mirrors the world over, all hoping for a terrifying glimpse of the ghost with no understanding of the real story of Bloody Mary.
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| Bloody Mary |
In folklore and children's street culture, "Bloody Mary" is a game in which a ghost 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 (most commonly in a bathroom) and repeat her name three times, though there are many variations. Some include chanting a hundred times, chanting at midnight, spinning around, rubbing one's eyes, running the water, or chanting her name thirteen times with a lit candle. 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 variants, Bloody Mary is often believed to be the spirit of a mother (often a widow) who murdered her children, or a young mother whose baby was stolen from her, which made her go mad in grief and she eventually committed suicide. In stories where Mary is supposed to have been wrongly accused of killing her children, the querent 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 proceed to kill the summoner in an extremely violent way, such as ripping his or her face off, scratching his or her eyes out, driving the person insane or bringing the person into the mirror with her. Other variations say that the querent must not look directly at her, but at her image in the mirror; she will then reveal the asker's future, particularly concerning marriage and children.
Bloody Mary Worth is typically described as a child-murderer who lived in the locality where the legend has taken root years ago. There is often a specific local graveyard or tombstone that becomes attached to the legend.
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| Bloody Mary |
On the other hand, various people have surmised that the lore about taunting Bloody Mary about her baby may relate her tenuously to folklore about Queen Mary I, known in history by the sobriquet "Bloody Mary". 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.
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| Bloody Mary |
The appearance of a ghostly figure in the mirror could be explained quite easily for the more complex rituals, for example spinning around whilst summoning Bloody Mary in front of a mirror lit by candles. The combination of dizziness, rapid movement and flickering lighting could easily fool the eye into seeing someone, especially when the idea has already been implanted. The participant may think that they have seen a spirit, it is, however, most likely a trick of the eye brought upon by the combination of darkness and fear.
According to legend Bloody Mary is the ghost of an unhappy woman who either committed suicide due to having her baby stolen or was accused of murdering her children - depending on the variation used this turned her spirit mad with grief or anger and she would haunt the world via the use of mirrors (in an almost identical fashion to the Candyman).
Known in life as Mary Worth it is traditionally said that "Bloody Mary" will appear if a brave (or foolish) soul chants her name three or more times next to a mirror in complete darkness at midnight - according to the variations of the legend above one is also said to be able to make the ghost appear via stating "Bloody Mary, I killed your baby" or "I believe in Mary Worth".
Of course anyone foolish enough to provoke Bloody Mary is said to pay the price, unlike many ghosts (who merely scare humans) Bloody Mary is said to be capable of physical harm and will either kill her victims via disfigurement, decapitation or by scratching their eyes out - if she is in a "merciful" mood Bloody Mary is said to simply turn her victim insane or (in rarer tales) she may take a fancy to someone and drag them into the mirror (presumably to the Other Side - like the ghosts in Poltergeist did).
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| Bloody Mary |
Although the tales of Bloody Mary are dismissed as a modern fairytale of sorts by most people it is still a popular "game" amongst certain groups of people and may even be a rite of passage to some, a means of confronting one's fears or a way to play a mean prank on someone.
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