The Legend of Mary Worth: A Chicago Witch’s Tale

This is a Chicago legend. It is the story of Mary Worth. This is not to be confused with Resurrection Mary.

Mary Worth was a local witch in the Chicagoland area during the Civil War. All sorts of dark curses and black magic were attributed to her.
One night, her neighbors, fed up with her crimes against God, and human
decency, dragged her from her home, and burned her at the stake. They left her charged remains for the fauna to consume. Ms Worth’s Farm was in today’s Gurnee, Illinois. The story has been around for quite some time. Even Snopes has an article on the legend.

Mary Worth, and Bloody Mary are one in the same. The incarnation differs depending only on who is telling the story.

My introduction to Mary Worth was in The Summer of 1968 at Jefferson Park’s Day Camp ( a day summer camp for city children). I was all of 11 years old. Two older boys, who may have been 12, told me that if you stood in front of a mirror, and repeated, “I believe in Mary Worth,” three times she would appear in the mirror. If you opened your eyes, she would scratch them out. Since they were older boys they must know it is real — just like it has to be true it is on the internet.

Here it is, some 55 years later, and I can tell you I’ve never done it. I’m not sure why. Something about inviting a dark spirit into one’s own home, I’m sure. Yet, there is no real prohibition against conjuring a dark ghost in a public restroom, is there?

To be Continued