Ghosts of Ohio
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Lore & Legends

Bloody Mary

In order to assist us in investigations, The Ghosts of Ohio keeps a database that contains all the reports we receive of alleged hauntings in Ohio. We also log in all the requests for information we receive via e-mail to enable us to find out what sites our readers are most interested in hearing about. And one of the requests we get most often is for information related to Bloody Mary.

For those of you not familiar with the legend of Bloody Mary, it goes something like this: a person stands in a dark room and stares into a mirror. The individual then says the name "Bloody Mary" (or some variation on the name) a certain number of times (usually three), and Mary will appear on the other side of the mirror. Depending on which version you choose to believe, Mary will do anything from simply leer at you to literally come through the mirror and attack you.

This is a frightening story to be sure. Even more disturbing is the fact that some believe Bloody Mary once lived in the Buckeye State...in a total of 25 separate locations throughout Ohio, to be exact. At least that is what it appears from all the e-mails we have received.

But before you start covering up all the mirrors in your house, you can relax; there is no Bloody Mary. It is nothing more than an urban legend that has been around for a long time. The legend itself is so popular that you can find variations of the Bloody Mary legend in movies such as Urban Legend and Candyman. It even made it into an X-Files episode.

So far, The Ghosts of Ohio has not been able to deduce why there are so many different versions of the Bloody Mary story floating throughout Ohio. It may simply be based on the fact that "conjuring" up Bloody Mary has become something of a tradition at sleepovers. It also appears that all one needs is a "haunted" cemetery with a Mary buried somewhere on the grounds and she becomes the "real" Bloody Mary. Such has been the case with graveyards we visited in Coshocton, Vermillion, and Medina.

Regardless, we thought our readers might want to hear about some of the more interesting things The Ghosts of Ohio have been told about Bloody Mary:

  • She lived in Lancaster in a house known as the Mudhouse Mansion. While the house no longer exists, when Mary is summoned, the house will materialize out of the mist**
  • She was the founder of "Helltown", located near Boston Mills
  • She was a patient at the former state mental state hospital in Athens
  • Nazis murdered her in Franklin Castle
  • She was an inmate at the Ohio State Penitentiary
  • She lives in Lake Erie (yes, literally living at the bottom of the lake)
  • Her name was Mary Wolfe and she returns to haunt Centerville Cemetery... in the form of a wolf

Needless to say, there is no truth to any of those stories. So rest easy, Ohio, you are safe from the clutches of Bloody Mary. However, if you should find yourself driving past any of the above-listed locations on some dark and stormy night, you might want to check your backseat. You never know-there might be some lunatic with a hook for a hand lurking back there, just waiting for a chance to force you to eat Pop Rocks with a Pepsi chaser.

**With regard to the Mudhouse Mansion variation of the Bloody Mary legend: The Ghosts of Ohio are aware that a house known locally as Mudhouse Mansion did in fact exist at one point. That variation came about while the "mansion" was still standing, albeit abandoned. On foggy nights, when viewed from a certain point on a nearby road, the house appeared to materialize out of the mist. This is due simply to the fact that the road is elevated above the house, which sits in a bit of a valley.

The Mudhouse Mansion variation on the legend was placed on this page to give the reader a better understanding of the wide range of stories that are circulating. It was written exactly as we were told it. But sadly, as you well know, facts are often not a requirement of urban legends!
© The Ghosts of Ohio