Contrary to popular belief, Bloody Mary is not only a cocktail. In fact, this is the nickname of the famous English Queen Mary I Tudor, who lived in 1516-1558. The queen got her nickname due to unheard of cruelty towards her subjects. Being an ardent Catholic who does not accept other religions, she mercilessly executed more than 300 Protestants, and this is in just 5 years of rule! Moreover, the queen did not limit herself to killing ordinary residents, her anger also touched Archbishop Cranmer, who, like everyone else, was burned at the stake. There are many legends associated with Bloody Mary, the story of one of them is closely intertwined with the legend of Countess Bathory, a cruel and narcissistic woman. According to legend, Bloody Mary used the blood of young Protestant girls to prolong her youth.
However, there is another version of the Bloody Mary prototype. This is Mary Worth - a real-life woman who brutally killed her own children. Harold Brunvend, famous writer and inventor of the term "urbanlegend, "dedicated an entire chapter to her in one of his books called" I believe in Mary Worth ". According to another version, Mary Wales was the girl who later became known as Bloody Mary. The story says that she was a student of a Catholic seminary and died from loss of blood after her face was lacerated, and since then her spirit has been unable to find peace.
Although the history of the English Queen Mary is full of events and really scary scenes, most people seem to be more interested in scary stories about Bloody Mary - legends and traditions. The most common of them says that her spirit can be invoked by pronouncing the name "Maria" in front of a mirror. However, what was the reason for the emergence of such superstition? There are several versions, or rather legends.
According to one of the versions, the spirit of the brutally murdered girl moved into the mirror and kills anyone who turns to her - this is Bloody Mary. The story goes that a girl named Marie Warrington died in front of her own mirror - the killer cut out her eyes. However, the most common and ancient legend is associated with ancient times, when people firmly believed in the existence of otherworldly unclean forces, witches and sorcerers. This story tells about a terrible witch, who was nicknamed Bloody Mary. Legend has it that on the edge of a small village there lived a powerful old sorceress whom no one dared to argue against for fear of corruption.
One day, little girls began to disappear in the village, and their bodies were not found in anyvillage, nor in the forest nearby. Bloody Mary denied her involvement in the murders, but it was impossible not to notice that she looked much younger … At night, the miller's little daughter got out of bed and left the house, walking towards a sound that only she could hear. Running out of the house, the miller found Bloody Mary: she was standing on the edge of the forest and pointing at the miller's house, her body was glowing.
Seeing this scene, the villagers took up arms, caught and burned the witch in the square. However, before her death, the witch managed to utter a terrible curse. From now on, anyone who pronounces her name three times in front of the mirror will know the torments of death, and his spirit will forever be imprisoned in a mirror trap, burning in the hellish flame that knew the body of the witch, nicknamed Bloody Mary. History does not confirm such a legend, however, strange things connected with this mysterious person do happen…
