BLOODY MARY

American Hysteria

W!ZARD Studios

Society & Culture

4.4 • 3.1K Ratings

🗓️ 27 October 2025

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Bloody Mary...Bloody Mary...Bloody Mary...For our Halloween special, we are going to trace the history of the slumber party ritual known as Bloody Mary in which a young summoner stands in the dark in front of a mirror to call up a dangerous, blood-soaked witch-woman. By looking at the Victorian era occult divination games of girls, the many cemetery ghosts known as Mary, as well as humanity's supernatural history with the mirror itself, we'll try to figure out what this modern rite of passage might mean to those who dare go through with it. Become a Patron⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content Or subscribe to American Hysteria on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Listen to ⁠⁠Magpie Cinema Club⁠⁠ Get some of our new merch at ⁠americanhysteria.com⁠, all profits this month go to The Sameer Project, a Palestinian-led mutual aid group who are on the ground in Gaza delivering food, supplies, and cash envelops to displaced families. Leave us a message on our Urban Legends Hotline at ⁠⁠⁠⁠americanhysteria.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ Producer and Editor: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Miranda Zickler⁠⁠⁠⁠ Sound Designer and Associate Producer: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Riley Swedelius-Smith⁠⁠⁠⁠ Voice Actor: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Will Rogers⁠⁠⁠⁠ Written, Produced, and Hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	On this podcast, we explore fantastical thinking, moral panics, urban legends, conspiracy theories, hoaxes, and crazes, examine the forces that shape our culture, and tell the stories that create the realities we share, and sometimes the realities
0:23.5	we don't.
0:25.6	I'm your ghost, Chelsea Weber Smith, and this is American Hiscaria.
0:33.9	One, bloody merry, two bloody Mary, three, bloody Mary.
0:38.2	You compacted with the devil.
0:40.2	Never!
0:41.2	Never! Okay. I'm just lighting a candle right now.
1:06.0	All right, I just came into my bathroom.
1:11.6	I'm home alone right now and I'm about to try out the mirror game of Bloody Mary.
1:24.6	It's been a long time since I've done this. Very, very, very long time. I did do it as a kid.
1:34.6	But yeah, we're going to see what's different as an adult. One of the differences is I am currently
1:41.9	having some wine to really help loosen up myself and
1:47.0	the spirit world. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to do this ritual. I'm going to stare
1:54.6	at my own face in a mirror. I'm going to call up the mirror witch and I'm going to see what happens and try to describe it
2:04.4	to you.
2:06.6	If you don't know the game of Bloody Mary, it's really simple.
2:11.0	It's just make sure you go into a dark room, usually a bathroom, no light. Make sure you cover, block out all the light.
2:21.5	And then you chant. There are many different chants depending on where you live, what time period you've lived in.
2:31.2	But basically what you're doing is chanting the name of this being who is supposed to
2:38.9	be living within the mirror.
2:41.7	For me, her name's always been Bloody Mary.
2:44.4	I think that that's common for people that grew up, especially in the 90s.
	...

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