Family | Self | Creativity
Childhood Games Transcend And Unite Us All
The importance of lore building for fostering connections and developing our minds.
Brian and I stood outside the bathroom door, urging the other to go in and “Do it.” It was 11 PM and we weren’t supposed to be awake. We were only nine years old, and playing the old game, Bloody Mary. It was played when you stood in the bathroom, turned off the lights and lit a candle. Then, you said “Bloody Mary” three times and waited for her to appear in the mirror.
She was allegedly a demon with a melted face. Both of us were too afraid but not willing to admit it. “No you do it. It was my idea first!” I said, while smiling to hide my terror.
“Yes but you look the most afraid,” Brian said, also smiling, and definitely afraid. We couldn’t even agree to do it together.
Though I wasn’t sure ghosts were a thing, there was enough of a plausibility that made Bloody Mary’s arrival feel real and that bathroom highly unappealing. Games like these, that might seem so trivial, are a key cultural aspect of growing up and developing. And they even bind us across generations.
Childhood lore has varying levels of virality, spreading across cultures by a number of factors…
