A mirror is an object with a surface that has good specular reflection; that is, it is smooth enough to form an image. The most familiar type of mirror is the plane mirror, which has a flat surface. Curved mirrors are also used, to produce magnified or diminished images or focus light or simply distort the reflected image. But can a mirror become haunted by ghosts or images of the past?
Magic mirrors are nothing new. Mirrors play a powerful role in cultural literature, from the self-loving Narcissus of Greek Mythology to the Biblical reference to Through a Glass Darkly. The evil queen in the European fairy-tale Snow White asked, "Mirror, mirror, on the wall... who's the fairest of them all?" Some of the best-loved uses of mirrors in literature include Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and the Mirror of Erised in the Harry Potter series. Horror movies about mirrors include Candyman (film).
But haunted and magic mirrors differ in many ways. Many spells in witchcraft use the powers of a real mirror large, small or decorative from love spells to harming a person. Voodoo customs in New Orleans say that lost ghosts can be trapped in mirror to help stop a haunting. And the magic or voodoo spell they use to keep a spirit locked in is still practiced today.
Many have claimed over the centuries to see the shadows and faces of th e dead in mirrors. And those that wonder why as myself, have never gotten a clear answer to as why.
Haunted Mirrors, Ghosts, Necromancy and Superstition
It is a common superstition that someone who breaks a mirror will receive seven years of bad luck. One of the many reasons for this belief is that the mirror is believed to reflect part of the soul, therefore, breaking the mirror will break part of the soul. However, the soul is said to regenerate every seven years, thus coming back unbroken. To counter this one of many rituals has to be performed, the easiest of which is to stop the mirror from reflecting the broken soul by grinding it to dust.[citation needed] The belief might also simply originate from the high cost of mirrors in times gone past.
According to legend, a vampire casts no reflection in mirrors because it is an undead creature and has already lost its soul.
Divination rituals such as the one depicted on this early 20th century Halloween greeting card, where a woman stares into a mirror in a darkened room to catch a glimpse of the face of her future husband.
Another superstition claims it is bad luck to have two mirrors facing each other.
A common courage-based game among children is to chant Bloody Mary (folklore) in a mirror. In contemporary Western folklore, Bloody Mary is a ghost or witch said to appear in a mirror when her name is called three times (or sometimes more, depending upon the version of the story), often as part of a game at slumber parties. Other very similar tales use different names for the character including Mary Worth, Mary Worthington, Hell Mary and even Marie Laveau among others. Some minor things mentioned among the components of the ritual in certain variations include splashing water on the mirror, rubbing your eyes or holding a knife a candle, or standing there totally naked. Calling Mary in the nude is the best many say for she does come to you then more often then not.
About 100 years ago or so there was a woman named Mary. One day she had a terrible accident and her face was scratched so badly that she bled to death. But her spirit could not rest. Bloody Mary roams the world as an evil ghost. If you stand in front of a mirror in the dark and say her name three times, you will see her horribly mangled face appear. If you don't turn on the light and run away as fast as you can she will try to scratch your face off.
The Marie Laveau legend tells that if on June 23rd if you go to Bayou St. John with a hand held mirror And pray to Marie Laveau. Her image will appear if you reflect the image of the black bayous water into it. When she appears you can ask her to bring back a lost or unfaithful lover they will return and love you back forever, and look at no other. Also if you take the mirror to her grave on November1st and leave it there, New Orleans Voodoo, Hoodoo tradition says she will make the person you love love only you and not look at any other!
Mirrors are most commonly used for personal grooming (in which case the old-fashioned term "looking-glass" can be used), decoration, and architecture. Mirrors are also used in scientific apparatus such as telescopes and lasers, cameras, and industrial machinery. Most mirrors are designed for visible light; however, mirrors designed for other types of waves or other wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation are also used, especially in optical instruments.
Necromantic Mirror Rituals
Lisa Lee Harp Waugh The Great American Necromancer has a room in her 5th Ward Houston Home that is mirrored from ceiling to floor. This is the room that she enters nude and speaks to spirits. Why nude I asked her? And to my surprise she said, "Well that's how I was taught so that's why I do it that way." "Tradition is the strongest part of Necromancy and following the rules is very important." Says Waugh.
Waugh also told me that if you place to tall white candles one foot apart in front of a large mirror the ghosts that haunt your home or business are drawn to the spot in between. They draw closer and closer and can be sucked into the mirror world. At the point they enter some say you can actually see their face when they are absorbed into it.
Dr. Dee's Shew Stone
'The Black Stone into which Dr Dee used to call his spirits. This mirror was used by the Elizabethan mathematician, necromancer, astrologer and magician John Dee (1527-1608/9) as a 'shew-stone', one of many polished translucent or reflective objects which he used as tools for his occult research.
The mirror, made of highly-polished obsidian (volcanic glass), was one of many Aztec cult objects and treasures brought to Europe after the conquest of Mexico by Cort?s between 1527 and 1530. Mirrors were associated with Tezcatlipoca, the Aztec god of rulers, warriors and sorcerers, whose name can be translated as 'Smoking Mirror'. Aztec priests used mirrrors for divination and conjuring up visions. Dee had an interest in optics and optical mirrors or 'glasses' as described in his private diary and works. he was also interested in psychic phenomena and, from 1583, worked with Edward Kelly as his medium. Kelly would see visions in the 'shew-stones' of 'angels' that communicated by pointing to one square after another in tables of letters and unknown symbols, which Dee and Kelly transcribed.
The case, made to fit the obsidian mirror with its projecting handle, has a paper label with the handwriting of the English antiquary Sir Horace Walpole, who acquired the mirror in 1771. The text begins 'The Black Stone into which Dr Dee used to call his spirits ...'. He has added later 'Kelly was Dr Dee's Associate and is mentioned with this very stone in Hudibras [a satirical poem by Samuel Butler, first published in 1664] Part 2. Canto 3 v. 631. Kelly did all his feats upon The Devil's Looking-glass, a Stone.'
Mirrors or often the focus of calling up the dead or being used to see them. They need not be magical or under a spell or a curse to do such.
A Cursed Mirror
Click below to watch a video from youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zwzXelddds
Many believe all mirrors can be cursed. Some believe the large Haunted Mirror at the Myrtles Plantation is not haunted but under a witches or some Voodoo Hoodoo curse or hex. The mirror itself is, at best, unsettling to view. The silvering is marred by drips from the top of the mirror all the way down and there are several other markings in the mirrors silver that appear to be hand prints of a child trying to claw its way out.
The carved wooden frame of the mirror is the only original part of the mirror, the glass having been changed because of the disturbing markings. According to legend the marks reappeared after the mirror glass had been changed at least twice. Also See: THE HAUNTED GHOST MIRROR AT THE MYRTLES PLANTATION.
The stories of it being cursed vary depending on who tells the story. Marie Laveau is said to originally cursed the great mirror when it once hung in the home of Madame Lalaurie. The reason is because she refused to keep the Devil Baby under lock and key for her. So she out of anger cursed the mirror trapping all the lost souls in it that Lalaurie had murdered.
Another tale tells that it was cursed by the great New Orleans Witch Queen Oneida Toups because the French Quarter antique shop owner refused to come down in price and sell it to her. That day the new owners of the Myrtles were said to have bought it and brought it to the newly renovated bed and breakfast.
The actual curse that either Laveau Or Toups is said to have put on it states that if the mirror is in one owners possession for more then 10 years they will die a horrible public death! And their family name will be ruined and tainted forever. True or not that is how the story goes.
I have visited the Myrtles Plantation near Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It has been given the name "America's Most Haunted House." the great haunted mirror in the house I was personally told has to be replaced every 10 years because of unexplainable smudges that appear within the mirror.
On the tour of the house, everyone photographed the mirror. In looking at it nothing unusua appesrs in it. However, I had this feeling that Ishould go back and rephotograph the mirror.
The most photgraphed Haunted Mirror in the world! MYRTLES PLANTATION GHOST PHOTO
There is some debate in the scientific community as to the value and interpretation of results of the ghost in the mirror test. While this test has been extensively conducted by the houses many visitors, there is also debate as to the value of the test as applied to the fact that many photos are reflections of a flash. But in looking over several Myrtles Plantation Mirror Ghost Photos which may be a reoccuring factor in determining the value of the test that it is truly haunted.
http://www.hauntedamericatours.com/ghos ... MIRROR.php
