With Halloween just around the corner, come and explore three of the most famous paranormal games and parlour tricks to play with your friends – if you’re brave enough. Don’t blame me if it all goes wrong though.
Apple Divination Games
Apples are surprisingly magical fruits, featuring in folklore and mythology from the Bible to Norse Mythology and are often thought of as symbols of love, abundance, magic and the underworld.
Given it’s mystical associations and easy access, the humble apple has been used for centuries in fortune telling rituals, some of the most popular being:
- Apple Peeling – it’s said if one peels an apple in one single piece and drops it to the floor (or tosses it over the shoulder) it will land in the shape of your true love’s initials.
- Apple Seeds – should you find yourself choosing between two lovers, take the seeds from an apple, wet them, and stick them to your cheeks or eyelids, one representing each potential suitor. Whichever stays the longest is said to be the one to choose.
- Apples and Mirrors – there are a couple of variations to this one, but each is said to reveal the face of one’s true love. In its most simple form, sit in front of a mirror at midnight and eat an apple whilst combing your hair. As you gaze into the mirror, the face of your true love will appear behind you. For the long winded version, light a candle in front of the mirror at midnight and carve an apple into nine slices. Eat eight of the slices and, at the stroke of midnight, throw the final piece over your shoulder (or hold it up to the mirror) and the face of your true love will appear.
Mirror Ghost Games
If you’ve ever been to a sleepover, you’ve probably played – or at least heard – about these sorts of games. They go way back and each one relies on a darkened room, and a candle. These games find there bases in catoptromancy – the act of mirror divination – and serves as the scary counterpart of the apple-mirror games.
- Bloody Mary – clearly the most popular version of this game, one is instructed to stand infant of a dimly lit mirror and chant “Bloody Mary” three times (or thirteen, if you feel like it). Others chant “Mary Worth”, “Hell Mary” or “Bloody Mary, I’ve got your baby” so similar. Once summoned, the horrible visage of Bloody Mary will appear in the mirror and, if you’re one of the unlucky ones, she’ll scratch your eyes out, tear off your skin, or inflict some other form of injury upon you.
- Candyman – This variation originates from Clive Barker’s 1985 short story, The Forbidden, which grew into the 1992 film Candyman, and has lurked in the boundary of fact and fiction ever since. The story goes that chanting the name “Candyman” five times in a mirror will summon the murderous being with a hook for a hand. Ominously, parts of the story were inspired by the 1987 murder of Ruthie Mae McCoy, who was murdered in her home by killers who gained access from behind her bathroom mirror cabinet.
- Queen Of Spades -This version follows the same format as Bloody Mary, but includes placing a Queen of Spades card on the mirror on which you’ve drawn stars in red lipstick. By chanting “Queen of Spades, come” three times, she makes her appearance. Whether or not you see her in the mirror, it’s important to say “Goodbye” to this ghoul, otherwise, she may stick around, getting you when you least expect it.
The Midnight Man
This game is a comparatively recent addition to the list of paranormal games and rituals, emerging on the internet around 2010 and is said to be based on an “old Pagan punishment” – spoiler alert: it’s not. The game takes the form of a supernatural hide-and-seek with an entity known as “The Midnight Man”. You’ll need candles, paper and salt. Keep the candle, something to light it with, and salt with you at all times.
- Firstly, players are to write their name on pieces of paper – some rules stipulate that you must place a drop of your own blood on the paper too.
- Then, turn off all the lights in your home, and place the paper in front of a wooden door,
- Place a candle on top of the papers and lighting it (the candle, not the paper. Be careful not to burn your house down)
- Knock the door 22 times – the final knock must coincide with the stoke of midnight.
- Open the door, blow out the candle, close the door, and relight your candle.
You’ve now summoned the Midnight Man into your home. Take the candle and move around the house, careful not to stay in one space for too long. The Midnight Man will try and blow out your candle. Should this happen, you must relight it within ten seconds. If the candle relights, you can continue moving around the house. If it does not relight, make a circle of salt around you and remain inside into exactly 3:33am. By then, the game is over.
You can tell the Midnight Man is near by sudden drops of temperature, eerie whispers, moving shadows and, of course, your candle going out.
If you’re unlucky enough to be caught by the Midnight Man, a horrible fate is waiting for you. This varies between terrifying hallucinations to having your organs removed one by one, or some equally graphic.
At 3:33am, the game ends, however, this does not guarantee the Midnight Man has left, and that could open you up to a whole world of trouble.
So be careful this Halloween season. Whether you decided to conjure up a malevolent spirit or practice your apple divination, remember to stay safe. Maybe you should stick to watching horror films. You never know what’s lurking in the dark.
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The Hawthorn Files 