I can’t think of a better place to begin this blog than with possibly my favorite urban legend / ghost story of all time — the completely spooky tale of Bloody Mary!

I’m sure most of you are familiar with the story in one form or another from your childhood years. Sometimes the name changes [1], sometimes the details of the ritual changes, but in most cases the core elements of the story remain largely the same.

To summon Bloody Mary you have to go into a bathroom at the stroke of midnight and stand in front of the mirror with a lit candle and with the lights turned off. You chant her name 3 times, “Bloody Mary… Bloody Mary… Bloody Mary…” and then you shout, “I stole your baby!”

And then… in the mirror… you will see the face of a horribly disfigured woman — and she’ll claw your face with razor-sharp nails, leaving you just as terribly mutilated as she is!

Egad, what could be creepier than that!

It’s easy to imagine that some form of this ritual has been performed an endless number of times by children from vastly different backgrounds in the decades since it made its way into popular folklore.

But what about the legend itself?

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Footnotes:

1.	I’ve encountered the story using the name Bloody Mary, Hell Mary, Mary Worth, Mary Whales, Mary Wolf, and Black Aggie, just to name a few.
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On the 12th of April, 2003, I posted a farewell message on the front page of the Urban Legends Research Centre, explaining that I was going through a sad period in my life, and that I felt it was time for me to set down my self-imposed quest to investigate urban legends, even if only for a little while.

A little while became a year, and a year grew into 2. However, as I said back on that day, I knew a time would come when I would want to start again.

The time has come. I want to start again.

Last time, my goal was to build a reference library of urban legend research. This time, I intend to kick back, relax a little, and explore the things that catch my interest. I have this desire to share these things with the wind and the rain, and because the wind and the rain never remember, I will share them here, too.

I hope you’ll join me for a journey into the things we sometimes believe. Leave comments, disagree, share with others.

Most of all, I hope you enjoy the time you spend here, and that you’ll come back occasionally, to see where the journey has taken us.

Much warmth,

Murray @ ULblog.org