Bloody Mary

The oldest recording of Mary Worthington aka Mary Worth, Bloody Mary, Mary Jane, Mary White, Mary Whales, and of course Hell Mary, was in 1960.  Her legend goes that Mary was so vein that one day she ended up in an accident that ruined her face forever. Her family wouldn't allow her to look in the mirror for fear that she would be scarred forever.  One night she saw her reflection,broke down in screams and sobs and climbed into the mirror to find her old reflection.  The game goes:  Chant one of these names 3 times or 7 times or as many times as needed for her to appear in the mirror.  There has been several recordings of her "appearances".  One girl chanted her name (Hell Mary) three times and she didn't appear but the as she was walking to the door  her candle blew out.  Her motion of walking or... MARY WORTHINGTON??!? Another girl chanted "Mary Worth" seven times before she appeared in the mirror and scratched her... Many many of others have claimed to see Mary. And each culture seems to have some urban legend that  goes with seeing bad things in the mirror.  Such as in England you see the devil and some Spanish culture has something similar.  There are bad things associated with mirrors since the times of the bible, Shakespeare and... snow white!! 

So, what this sounds like to me is a game of telephone gone horribly wrong!! there are too many chants associated with this one mythological girl.  You can also trick your brain into seeing things you want to see or believe in so much.. and that's psychology.