Don't mess with Bloody Mary

Informant: Female/23/Korean-Portuguese ancestry
Location: Kaimuki, Oahu

We've all done it when we were kids. Testing how brave we are by calling Bloody Mary so many times into the bathroom mirror in pitch blackness. Nothing ever happened, but it was good for a laugh.

One night me and three of my friends were just hanging out looking at a book I got for Christmas: The Daring Book for Girls (the female counterpart to The Dangerous Book for Boys). One section in it was called "slumber party games," and one game listed was Bloody Mary. On a whim, and with a hint of nostalgia, we decided to try it out again, never thinking that anything remotely exciting would happen.

The four of us piled into my roommates bathroom, closed the door and turned out the light. We were sitting in darkness, but we could see the light coming from underneath the door. So my boyfriend proceeded to chant "Bloody Mary" into the mirror as my roommate counted them off one at a time. When he hit 13, he turned on his flashlight, stuck it under his chin, and attempted to scare us by screaming loudly (he failed). Then my roommate said "Okay, let's just stay quiet for a minute."

Not 10 seconds after he said that, the light under the door went out completely, and something banged on it.

I clutched the arm of my friend so tightly I nearly ripped it off. We turned on the light and locked the door. I've never seen my boyfriend move so quickly. Before I knew it, he was curled in the corner of the bathroom yelling "I didn't hit the door I swear!" We all thought he did of course, but realized that he was too far from it without us catching him hitting it. And besides that, how would he explain the light going out completely?

After a few minutes my roommate decided that we couldn't stay in there forever, so he grabbed the Maglite and opened the door. We turned on every light in the apartment and checked every room and closet. There was nobody in the apartment.

Later that night my boyfriend made his way back to his dorm. About 15 minutes later, he called me with some startling news. He said "I don't want to freak you out, but I have these scratches on my arm and I don't know where they came from." He took pictures and sent them to me. I did not recall seeing those when he left my apartment. He said "It kind of looks like a giant W," and I said "Maybe it's an upside down M..."

Needless to say, we're never playing that game ever again.