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Paper short abstract:

This paper presents how performing the deadly scary Bloody Mary ritual can give children safe frames to let go of fears and anxiety and learn to deal with real problems later in life. It shows brave secrecy amongst the kids, and the fear and reactions of adults who encounter the ritual.

Paper long abstract:

"You have to turn off the lights, stare into the mirror and say: Blooody Mary, Blooody Mary, Blooody Mary. You wait until you see somebody inside the mirror. It is NOT you. It is Bloody Mary. And then she comes out of the mirror. And then you die!"

These were the words of a seven years old girl who had encountered the Bloody Mary ritual at school. She went on to describe how her teacher had later covered the mirror in the bathroom. As a cultural historian I was curious how this scary ritual had reached such young kids, and the teacher's reaction surprised me. Did it not reaffirm the anxieties of the children rather than help them?

This paper presents the variations of the thrillingly scary Bloody Mary-ritual among young children in Norway, in a context of previous research on similar urban legends. I discuss what appears to be a discrepancy between children's experience of the ritual and the adults' reactions. I show how performing a deadly scary ritual can give children safe frames to let go of their fears and anxiety and learn to deal with real problems later.