Bloody Mary (folklore)

Historically, the divination ritual encouraged young women to walk up a flight of stairs backward holding a candle and a hand mirror, in a darkened house.

[1][2] In the ritual of today, Bloody Mary allegedly appears to individuals or groups who ritualistically invoke her name in an act of catoptromancy.

[4] The Bloody Mary apparition allegedly appears as a corpse, witch, and ghost that can either be friendly, evil, or a demonic spirit, and is sometimes seen covered in blood (hence the name).

The lore surrounding the ritual states that participants may endure the apparition screaming at them, cursing them, strangling them, stealing their soul, drinking their blood,[citation needed] or scratching their eyes out.

[6] Additionally, in the 1990s the Bloody Mary ritual was represented pop culture and used as a tool to discuss racial and sexual violence and gender oppression.

An early 20th-century Halloween greeting card depicts a divination ritual in which a woman stares into a mirror in a darkened room to catch a glimpse of the face of her future husband. The shadow of a witch is cast onto the wall at left.