My Favorite Brunch Cocktail, Extra Spicy

Location: World Wide

It is a name that has been chanted in front of mirrors in nearly every corner of the world. Often referred to by myself and sisters as “BM”, it is one of those tales that has kept me truly terrified through my adult life. From slipping off with my adventurous friends to the dilapidated bathrooms at Chestnut Ridge Park during our 5th grade picnic, to now my favorite cocktail to sip extra spicy at brunch with my pals, her name and legend lives on.

But who is Bloody Mary and where did she come from? The truth is that no one really knows. Try Googling the topic and you will find so much lore that you cannot help but deduce that young girls are still making up frightening tales at sleepovers, filling in details with newly created stories based on their own town’s history. The Ghosts of Ohio paranormal researchers have a whole webpage devoted to the different reports they have received about my favorite brunch cocktail, extra spicy in all parts of Ohio, including BM once living as an inmate at the Ohio State Penitentiary, being murdered by Nazis in the Franklin castle, and living as a ghost at the bottom of Lake Erie.

Call her Mary Worth, Mary Ruth, Mary Whales, Mary Weather, Mary Lou, Mary Johnson, or Black Madame. Bloody Mary is every single one of them, and I am sure the list doesn’t end here.

It is a simple concept. Go to a dark room, usually a bathroom, where there is a mirror. Chant her name several times in front of the mirror.

Where I grew up in the suburbs of Buffalo, New York, we giggled our way into the bathroom, lit a candle, turned the lights off, and said her name three times while spinning in a circle. We then bolted from the bathroom terrified of being mutilated or killed.

Other versions have included running the faucet, flushing the toilet, or chanting her name up to a hundred times.

She may be a ghostly pale woman with long dark hair. She may be beautiful and covered in blood. Her face may be disfigured or mutilated. Any and all of these are options are possible when you call my favorite brunch cocktail, extra spicy into your mirror.

Will she kill you? Maybe. Will she mutilate you? Possibly. Will you see her every time you look into a mirror for the rest of your life? It could happen. Will she drag you into the mirror to be trapped with her forever? I can’t call it. Will you see the reflection of your future spouse? Well…

Maybe.

Again, this is all dependent on the lore of the region.

Let’s dive a little deeper into a few popular origin stories to take a closer look at the plethora of tales surrounding our friend, BM.

Mary Worth was disfigured. She hated her reflection so much that she put a curse on the mirror. The curse was so powerful that it shattered. Summoning Mary Worth will cause her to appear in the distance. She will appear closer and closer until she is so close that the mirror shatters. If you summon Mary Worth and the mirror shatters, you will never again be able to look into the mirror without seeing her reflection beside your own.

Six years after Mary Whales was ran over by a truck, she was seen hitchhiking at the same spot on the road. The couple who saw her claimed she was wet and bleeding, with scratches on her face. They pulled over to help the girl out, but she vanished without a trace. Mary Whales can be summoned by chanting “I do believe in Mary Whales” ten to a hundred times in a dark room, in front of a mirror. It is unclear what happens when she reveals herself to the chanter.

Queen Mary I, or Mary Tudor of England, is the one woman in all the BM lore who was actually given the nickname “Bloody Mary”, an unfavorable title which became popular in the 17th century. Born in 1516 to Katherine of Aragon and King Henry VIII, she was said to be a beautiful sight to behold. Queen Mary I took the throne in 1553 and during her five year rule burned hundreds of Protestants at the stake. Although history shows that her brutality was not any worse than most during her reign, she became known as Bloody Mary when her halfsister, Queen Elizabeth, took the throne. Politics, much?

But don’t worry, there is more.

It has also been speculated that my favorite brunch cocktail, extra spicy was a woman murdered during the Salem Witch Trials, in Salem, Massachusetts. Some have connected BM to a cult and others have heard tell that she was a girl accidentally buried alive in the 1800s, whose family never heard the ringing of the bell in her casket after she was presumed dead.

A fascinating tidbit of information is that BM wasn’t always the evil girl in the mirror frightening, kidnapping, mangling, or killing those who summoned her. In the 20th century, girls would stand in the mirror on Halloween hoping to catch a glimpse of their future lover. It was such a popular activity that postcards were created and distributed all over the country, with variations of a young girl looking into a mirror with an excited glint in her eyes. You can purchase these vintage postcards on E-Bay from anywhere between $30 and $200.

What is it about her that makes saying her name so scary? Is it that summoning her is a choice, an activity you do with free will, knowing your life could be in danger? Is it her grotesque appearance when she finally shows herself? Is it the peer pressure from friends when you are trying to find your place in society, at a time when you are immensely vulnerable? Or is it that we are inherently averse to our own reflections and what mirrors symbolize about ourselves, both physically and internally?

While studying BM has lifted some apprehension I previously had of her name, I can guarantee that my mirror ritual days with BM are over. The only time you will ever hear me reference Bloody Mary is when I am ordering my favorite cocktail at brunch, extra spicy with my people.

Shannon

Karen J. Weyant. (2021). Say Her Name Three Times. The Feminine Macabre, II, 129-134. Seriously, check it out! I cannot emphasize how much journals like this help me with my own research (or how much I enjoy reading them!) Click to purchase The Feminine Macabre Volume II here! (note: this is an affiliate link)