by Paula Maher

Created on: July 21, 2008

There are a lot of ghost stories out there. Some are old, some are new and some are mere legends. There are videos and photographs of spirit sightings too, although I admit I am not always convinced of their legitimacy. Having said that I must confess that I find any tale pertaining to the supernatural fascinating and I read each one I come across with the hope that this may be the one that contains the answer to life's biggest mystery; what happens after death. Have you ever seen a ghost?

Some say that although they have never seen' a spirit they have felt its presence. I read a comment on a forum from a person who considered looking into a mirror a paranormal experience. This individual used to stare at his or her own reflection and wonder if "Is it me looking at my reflection...Or is my reflection looking at me?"

There are superstitions that entail mirrors being used as portals to the "other side". The "Bloody Mary" is an urban legend from Pennsylvania. It is quite scary; I'm not sure I'd want to try this.

It was originally a children's game consisting of summoning an evil witch like spirit. The idea is to light a candle stand in front of a mirror and call out Bloody Mary thirteen times. Taking part in this game would command the horrifying witch to appear and commit dreadful acts such as scratching the caller's eyes out and clawing the face or worse causing the person to drop dead or disappear into the mirror for eternity. There are variations to these games but the end results sound pretty terrifying.

The history behind the Bloody Mary legend is said to have originated around 100 years ago. A witch apparently dabbled in black magic and was eventually executed for her sins and her disturbed spirit is still haunting people in this weird fashion. I have also heard and read about different variants to the origin of this spooky tale like the one being about a barren woman who suffered a couple of phantom pregnancies and her bitter spirit reacts to the chant" I stole your baby" which is also performed in front of a mirror. It is mentioned in places that the name Bloody Mary was taken from Queen Mary Tudor who reigned in England (r.1553-1558), who was also known as Bloody Mary, although the game has nothing to do with Queen Mary I.

A more modern story is that of young John Smith of Plainfield, Wisconsin who opened up his inbox one day in November 2007 and read an email from two girls who claimed to be his sisters named Lisa and Sarah; they signed the email "Smith

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