Bloody Mary Myth

Bloody Mary...Bloody Mary...Bloody Mary!  I really hope you didn't read that out loud in front of a mirror.  If you did, then you might see the ghost of bloody Mary holding a baby and trying to take yours. 

You ever wonder who the Bloody Mary myth was based on? 

Well,  Queen Mary the 1st earned the nickname "Bloody Mary" when she signed an act in 1554, which lead to the Marian Persecution during which over 200 men and 60 women were burned at the stake.  

The reason Bloody Mary might be holding a baby or trying to take yours is because of something that happened to Queen Mary.  The queen was one of the most famous cases of Pseudocyesis.  It is very rare and happens when a person is so determined to become pregnant that their body is tricked into acting like it is.  She showed all signs of being pregnant, but a month passed her due date she no longer had her baby bump.  She never had a child.  

It is a solid theory as to the origin of Bloody Mary.  Real or not you won't catch me trying to summon Bloody Mary!




Howard, K. (2019, January 30). Behind The Mirror: The True Story Of Bloody Mary. Retrieved June 15, 2019, from https://allthatsinteresting.com/bloody-mary

Bermuda Triangle

You know that rhyme...Columbus sailed the ocean blue?  Well he also sailed through the Bermuda Triangle.  In fact, he made the one of the earliest sighting of something odd in the area now known as the Bermuda Triangle.  He reported seeing a green fire crashing into the ocean.  As well as a weird light several weeks later.  


The 500,000 square miles of  bad luck in the Atlantic ocean has had many strange wrecks and disappearances.  In 1918 the USS Cyclops disappeared without sending any distress signals.  In 1941 2 ships similar to the USS Cyclops vanished in nearly the same spot and in both disappearances no wreckage was ever found.  Planes vanish, compasses malfunction.  Over all, not even the luckiest ship has a chance.

Cupid and Psyche

In the story of Cupid and Psyche, the goddess of love, Venus, was decidedly jealous of Psyche's beauty.  This jealousy leads her to order Cupid to make Psyche fall in love with the evilest man but Cupid fell in love with her and married her.  She was lonely because he would only visit at night.  She was told that she can never look at him because if she did their child would be mortal. 

One night she looked at him while he was sleeping and he woke up and ran away.  She searched for him and on her journey she was enslaved at Venuses palace.  In the palace, she was given a task to bring a box of beauty from the goddess of the underworld.  Against the advice given to her when the task began, she opened the box and fell into a death-like sleep.  Sorta like sleeping beauty.  She was brought back from the death-like sleep by Cupid and gained immortality. 

Pandora's Box or Jar?

When you here about Pandora what do you automatically think of? Her box right? Pandora is a Greek mythology story where a god fashioned the first mortal woman out of clay. She had something and that something was said to have contained evil spirits and misery. That something was a jar. Not a box. 

You are probably wondering, how did it change from a jar to a box? Well, in the 16th century there was a man named Desiderius Erasmus, who painted an interpretation of Pandora with a box instead of a jar. People aren't sure whether he misinterpreted the Greek or confused it with the box in the story of Cupid and Psyche. 

Think of this jar-box transition as a long game of telephone. I don't know about you but with my OCD like tendencies, I tend to get annoyed when people say box instead of a jar. I hate to say it but, Pandora's box does have a better ring to it.






Encyclopedia Britannica. (2019). Pandora | Greek mythology. [online] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pandora-Greek-mythology [Accessed 5 Jun. 2019].

The Sidhe

This Irish race of supernatural creature has a twist on the "fairy" tale myth.  Some sources might says that the Sidhe [shee] are fallen angels.  The reason the are small is because it is believed that "...they diminished in size after people stopped honoring and believing in them, though they retained their human like form."(Alexander, 2014, p. 105)  They can also make themselves invisible and often hold feasts with music and dancing.

Who knows?..Tinker Bell might once have been an angel before she made it on the big screen.

Alexander, S. (2014). Fairies: The myths, legends, and lore. Avon, MA: F W Media.

One Diseases Symptoms Make it Look Like you're a Vampire

Although vampire superstition has been around for longer, lore and accounts of real vampires grew most in the Middle Ages.  The Middle Ages was ripe with diseases and plagues.  One of these diseases shows symptoms that fit the description of traits a vampire would show.  Lets list some common traits exhibited by a vampire throughout all lore  and compare it with symptoms of a disease called Porphyrias [pawr-feer-ee-uh].


VAMPIRE 

• Burns in sunlight
• Pale/Fair skin
• Drink blood       

PORPHYRIAS 

• Blisters in sunlight
• Changes in pigment (skin color)
• Desire to drink human blood to alleviate symptoms

Interesting huh?



Barber, P. (1987). Forensic Pathology and the European Vampire. Journal of Folklore Research, 24(1), 1-32. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3814375

The Bedburg Werewolf

The 15th century holds one of the most famous cases of the werewolf. For a long time the town of Bedburg, Germany had a number of cow mutilations and the farmers suspected wolves. Then children and women started disappearing. Some were not found and others found mutilated. A man named Peter Stumpp, born in 1525, resided in Bedburg, Germany. Peter was blamed for the killings after some hunters claimed that they saw him shape-shift into a wolf. After being tortured he confessed to the killings as well as owning an enchanted belt that let him transform from man to wolf. The enchanted belt was never found.

Editors, H. (2017, August 23). Werewolf Legends. Retrieved June 5, 2019, from https://www.history.com/topics/folklore/history-of-the-werewolf-legend

Vlad the Impaler

Vlad Dracula ruled Walachia, Romania from 1456-1462.  The reason for his nickname is because he killed his enemies by impaling them on a wooden stake.  He is also said to dip his bread into dying enemies blood.  No wonder people believed he was a vampire.

Editors, History.com. “Vampire History.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 13 Sept. 2017, www.history.com/topics/folklore/vampire-history.