Mary Worthington

The answer to that question, so far is:

I don't know!

The truth is, possibly nobody knows...but - Mary Worthington is the character involved in the "Bloody Mary" legend.

There are other names by which she is called, including: "Black Agnes," "Hell Mary," "Mirror Mary," "Mary Jane," "Mary Bones," "Bloody Bones," "Mary Lou," "Mary Johnston," "Mary Whales," and of course, "Blood Mary."

Additional alternate names for 'the game' played or spirit supposedly evoked by calling out a name:

Agnes, Sally, Mary Ann, Kathy, Aggie, Svarte Madame.

Some people believe that "Mary" was a witch who lived one to two hundred years ago, who was executed for dabbling in the black arts. In versions where people believe that Mary was a witch, she is usually said to be a murderer of children. She used witchcraft to aid her in the abduction of and in the killing of children. She may have used the blood or body parts of children in other witchcraft rituals.

* Note...

I will continue searching, but so far, very little information exists about a witch named Mary who killed children. No solid evidence has turned up, even though I have been looking for documents on the topic of Mary Worthington/Bloody Mary for a week before deciding to publish this hub.

In some accounts of the Bloody Mary legend, Mary is a distraught, young woman whose infant was either stolen away or did not survive his/her infancy. In distress at her baby's death or disappearance, Mary lured other children away from their families and, under the sheen of insanity/despair, killed them.

Still, in this sort of account, it is said that Bloody Mary is executed, tortured or otherwise made to die by townsfolk in a local area.

After her death, it is said that children no longer went missing or turned up dead under suspicious circumstances for a great number of years.

In this account, Mary was a young and very fit mother, very responsive to her infant's needs. She was extremely attached to and loved her baby, so when the infant was stolen away from her, Mary turned simply mad (insane) from grief and finally committed suicide.

Some people who believe in the Bloody Mary legend say that Mary Worth, Mary Worthington or a woman with a similarly common first name was a child murderer, plain and simple. In certain versions of the Bloody Mary story, people say that Bloody Mary can be traced to a non-witch persona who was discovered to be murdering small children in, around and nearby to her local village.

Consequently, this woman was blamed and held responsible for all the missing children in her area and any suspicious deaths of children. Apparently, townsfolk who caught on to her trapped her and executed her.

• In some accounts, Bloody Mary was tortured by townspeople until she expired.
• In some accounts, Bloody Mary was purposely disfigured by townspeople and authorities before being executed.
• In some accounts, Bloody Mary was a disfigured woman who preyed upon and killed small children - and was soon found out and executed.

* Note...

Anytime 'local townsfolk,' 'local area,' or similar descriptions have been uncovered in my searches for Bloody Mary/Mary Worthington, no particular town, townsfolk, local region or area is ever identified...

I smell a BUSTED Myth coming up, don't you?

Some say that Bloody Mary is the ghost of Queen Mary I (1517-1558), who was very unpopular during her reign (1553-1558).

During her reign, Queen Mary I changed the religion of her country of rule, thus naming Roman Catholicism as the official religion of England.

Many Protestant citizens were outraged, but Mary had a great number of outspoken Protestants silenced by execution. Partly, the killing of Protestants earned her the nickname of "Bloody Mary."

This version of Mary Worth is that Mary was a beautiful child but in her teen years, was disfigured in an accident of some sort. During her sensitive adolescent years, she was teased ruthlessly by peers and by the time she grew into early adulthood, she was shunned by all.

It is not known how Mary Worth died in this version, but she died young, alone and angry. Her ghost is not yet at rest and still carries this intense anger around.

There is a version of Bloody Mary that contains the following details:

A young and very beautiful young woman's life comes to a sudden and violent end in a car crash, horribly disfiguring the young beauty at the same time, making her body nearly unidentifiable. Her body, in legend, was able to be identified by guessing that the young lady was Mary Worthington, Mary Worth or someone of a similarly common name - because a well known identifiable object was found near the car wreck.

The identifiable object, depending on who is telling the tale may be:

• a bracelet
• a necklace
• a scarf

The ghost of Bloody Mary appears in a mirror whenever the Bloody Mary Game is played, and the ghost is still raging from her disfigurement and untimely death - thus, the ghost tries to disfigure those who dare to summon her..

Most of the versions designed to summon a Mary woman who was disfigured for any reason are supposed to make Mary come forth and make a physical mark on whoever is playing the Bloody Mary game.

In these versions, the number of times to say Mary Worth's name varies. Sometimes the name is to be "Bloody Mary" instead of Mary Worth, but generally the game works like this:

In a darkened room with a mirror, stand in front of the mirror, look into it while saying "Mary Worth" 10 times - or "Bloody Mary" 10 times...

Mary Worth or Bloody Mary is supposed to appear and scratch you.

Summoning Mary Tudor, a.k.a. Queen Mary of England:

People who believe that the ghost of Queen Mary is still somewhere 'out there,' looking for her deceased children are the most likely people who will be interested in this version of the morbid Bloody Mary thrill-seeking game and who will try to call her out of the mirror.

An extension of information surrounding the person of Mary Tudor must be mentioned here first.

Aside from Mary Tudor being called "Bloody Mary" because of her persecution of Protestants, it is known that Mary Tudor suffered many (5) miscarriages. It is easily and logically assumed that the loss of a number of infants was emotionally devastating for the Queen of England - so, in one version of the Bloody Mary game, it is with the viewpoint of summoning a bereaved mother who stays active beyond death in order to find the souls of her lost infants.

The point of this version of the game is to coax Mary forth through mocking her. One is to stand in a darkened room, in front of a mirror and taunt:

"Bloody Mary, I have your children" - five times in a row - to represent the number of children Mary lost to miscarriages.

Apparently, Mary is supposed to show up and attack you if you have taunted and called out correctly.

Well...if you were taunted in this way, wouldn't YOU be upset, too?

Some say that in the not so distant past, a couple of hundred years ago, a little girl named Mary fell ill. She stayed in a coma for a long time and then one day, the local physician - a very old man, couldn't detect her breathing anymore and believed her to be dead. Now, maybe young Mary was breathing very slowly and shallowly. Maybe the doctor was too old to discern an incremental movement and amount of life in Mary.

Nevertheless, Mary was pronounced dead and immediately a funeral was held so that Mary could be laid to rest.

Nobody knew they had buried her alive.

On the evening of the day she was buried, Mary's family - who lived near the cemetery - experienced a strange thing in the dark of night. Mary's mother swore she could hear screaming in the night - over in the direction of the graveyard. This so disturbed her that she went out to her daughter's grave. Then she swore she heard some muffled vocal sounds and scraping on the casket.

By the time of morning light, friends and family had convinced Mary's mother that the disturbances and sounds were caused by hallucinations, by her own despair at the loss of her daughter, but the mother insisted for several days that what she'd heard the night of her daughter's funeral was real.

To appease and show the mother her faulty logic, and perhaps to get her to rest in her grieving state, the family finally decided about 5 days later to dig up Mary's grave and show that the young girl was, in fact, laying at rest with no animation or life at all.

When they dug at Mary's gravesite and opened the casket, they did find a lifeless Mary in there but to everyone's horror, they also found scratches all over the inner lid of the casket and Mary's fingernails, where they weren't entirely broken off, were bloody and worn to the quick!

Ever since, it is said that if you follow these instructions, you will see Mary herself:

On Friday the 13th, turn all the lights in your house off. Go to the bathroom and turn the water in the tub/shower and sink on. Flush the toilet and while the water is draining there, look into the mirror and say "Bloody Mary" 5 times...

Mary will appear in the mirror!

Now - quickly - get the lights back on before Mary stabs you with a knife!