Halloween Myths and Legends

Each Halloween, we hear several myths that the storyteller “swears to be true.” Below are several of the most popular myths that are told around Halloween time.

One of the most popular Halloween myths is that of Bloody Mary. Supposedly, if one goes into a dark room with a mirror, such as a bathroom, and spins around thirteen times repeating the words, “Bloody Mary,” Bloody Mary herself will appear in the mirror and either peer at you menacingly or scratch your face up. There are many different versions of this ritual. Some rituals require one to chant "I believe in Mary Worth" while in others one must chant, “Bloody Mary! I killed your baby!” Bloody Mary is also called Bloody Bones, Hell Mary, Mary Worth, Mary Worthington, Mary Whales, Mary Johnson, Mary Lou, Mary Jane, Sally, Kathy, Agnes, Black Agnes, Aggie, and many others. This ritual is commonly practiced amongst giggling girls at sleepovers. The precise requirements of the ritual vary; some versions call for there to be a single candle lighting the mirror, and others call for there to be two candles, one on each side. What the mirror-witch does upon arrival varies as well. She may strike her summoner dead, drive him or her mad, or fiercely scratch their face. She may merely peer maliciously out through the mirror, or she may drag one of the girls back through it to live with her.

Another highly popular Halloween myth is that of the lone hitchhiker. A man is driving home from work late one night, and he sees a girl of about seventeen or eighteen years of age on the side of the road. He pulls over, and she asks him for a ride, as she needed to get home quickly so that her parents will not get upset. The man has nothing better to do so he takes her home, watches her go inside, and then leaves. Once the man reaches his own home he realizes that the girl had left her sweater in his car. The next day, when he attempts to return the young girls sweater, he is informed by her mother that she has been dead for nearly forty years. Apparently, the girl was on her way home from a high school dance when she and her boyfriend got into a car accident where they both died