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What are the Brown Mountain Lights?

The Brown Mountain Lights are a series of mysterious and unexplained lights, observed near Brown Mountain in North Carolina. They have fascinated observers and perplexed scientists for over a century now. The mystery has given rise to numerous legends and theories about their nature and origins.

Where are the Brown Mountain Lights Located?

Brown Mountain is located in the Pisgah National Forest in western North Carolina, United States. This rugged area lies in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains, part of the larger Appalachian Mountains range. The mountain itself is located between the towns of Morganton and Linville. It is accessible via several routes, including North Carolina Highway 181 and the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway.

History of The Brown Mountain Lights

The first recorded sightings of the Brown Mountain Lights date back to the early 20th century. Additionally, local Native American tribes reportedly told legends involving the lights long before settlers arrived. The phenomenon typically appears at night as glowing orbs that can vary in color and size. There’s no shortage of theories about the nature of the lights. Yet, no single theory seems to hold up to scrutiny.

Cause of The Brown Mountain Lights Phenomenon: Theories

Swamp Gas

Theory: One common explanation is that the lights are caused by swamp gas. Decaying vegetation releases methane, which can spontaneously ignite when it comes into contact with oxygen, creating brief flashes of light.

Criticism: This theory, however, fails to hold up under scrutiny because Brown Mountain and its surrounding areas are not swampy. The terrain is rocky and forested, which is not conducive to the accumulation of large amounts of decaying vegetation needed to produce swamp gas.

Foxfire

Theory: A naturalistic explanation for the Brown Mountain Lights is the phenomenon known as “foxfire.” Foxfire is a bioluminescence produced by certain types of fungi on decaying wood. The mushrooms glow when enzymes in the fungi react with organic compounds, creating a soft glow.

Criticism: Foxfire is a well-documented natural occurrence. Unfortunately, the theory does not stand up well. Foxfire typically emits a very faint light and is usually only visible at very close range. The lights observed at Brown Mountain, on the other hand, are often reported as brightly visible from great distances. Additionally, the lights move around, much like mushrooms generally don’t.

Saint Elmo’s Fire

Theory: Saint Elmo’s Fire is an electro-luminescent plasma caused by a strong electric field in the atmosphere. This stormy weather-related phenomenon manifests as a glowing violet light. It usually appears on pointed objects such as ship masts, airplane wings, longhorns of cattle, or even mountain peaks.

Criticism: Saint Elmo’s Fire, while visually similar to descriptions of the Brown Mountain Lights, does not fully account for them. Saint Elmo’s Fire is directly tied to atmospheric electricity during storms. Thus it would not occur regularly in clear weather conditions. Yet the Brown Mountain Lights often appear in clear weather.

Moreover, this phenomenon clings to conductive surfaces. Saint Elmo’s Fire does not move through the air or across great distances like the Brown Mountain Lights do. These discrepancies make it an unlikely explanation.

Ball Lightning

Theory: Ball lightning is another scientific phenomenon often suggested as a potential explanation for the Brown Mountain Lights. People describe this atmospheric electrical phenomenon as luminescent, spherical objects that vary from pea-sized to several meters in diameter. Unlike typical lightning, it can last longer and move in various directions.

Criticism: Ball lightning itself is unexplained. The true nature of ball lightning remains largely mysterious, as scientists are still not entirely sure what causes it or how it works. While it could theoretically explain the lights’ erratic movements and luminous appearance, ball lightning is exceedingly rare and poorly understood.

Additionally, ball lightning is usually associated with stormy conditions, which is not a consistent factor in sightings of the lights. The duration and behavior of ball lightning vary, but typically last considerably shorter than the observations of the lights. Plus, it just feels lazy to explain a mystery using another inexplicable mystery, no?

Geologic Activity

Theory: The release of piezoelectric charges caused by quartz compression due to tectonic movements, is another suggested cause. Quartz is abundant in the Appalachian Mountains, and stress on these rocks could indeed release electrical charges.

Criticism: The geologic activity theory sounds promising, but struggles to explain the frequency and behavior of the lights. No significant correlation has been found between observed lights and seismic activity in the area. Moreover, piezoelectric effects typically do not produce lights as bright as those on Brown Mountain.

Atmospheric Reflections of Manmade Headlights

Theory: A very practical explanation for some sightings of the Brown Mountain Lights is that they could be the headlights reflecting off clouds, mist, or other surfaces. Certain atmospheric conditions might refract light from more mundane sources and project it onto the clouds or other surfaces. This was, oddly, the conclusion of the research conducted on the phenomenon in the 1920s. You’d think researchers from that time period would be especially aware that headlights were a fairly recent development.

Criticism: This theory could plausibly explain some instances where the lights appear to follow a linear, predictable path. Yet many reports of the lights describe erratic movements that do not align with the predictable paths of vehicles. For instance, the lights are often reported as hovering, darting, or ascending, quite unlike vehicle headlights. Additionally, sightings have been recorded from angles and locations where roads or tracks are not in direct line of sight. Most damningly, reports of the lights predate vehicle traffic in the region. The absence of train tracks on the mountain probably excludes trains as a direct source of the lights as well. Furthermore, the lights have been reported during various weather conditions when such reflections would be highly unlikely.

Hoax

Theory: A more skeptical view is that some or all of the sightings could be hoaxes. This theory suggests that individuals could be using artificial lights, such as lanterns or modern drones equipped with LEDs, to create the illusion of mysterious lights for various reasons, ranging from pranks to attracting tourists.

Criticism: The possibility of some instances being hoaxes could be true, especially in more recent times with the availability of technology. Yet this theory does not convincingly explain the sightings that date back to before such technology. Additionally, the widespread and consistent nature of the reports makes it unlikely that all observations could be attributed to hoaxes. Sightings have been reported by scientists and government officials. These credible witnesses are less likely to be deceived by or participate in a hoax.

Alien Activity

Theory: A more fringe theory is that the lights are related to alien activity. This theory is bolstered by stories of unexplained disappearances and UFO sightings in the vicinity of Brown Mountain. Could there possibly be a secret alien base under the mountain?

Criticism: The alien theory relies heavily on anecdotes and lacks substantial verifiable proof. Additionally, similar atmospheric phenomena observed worldwide have not been convincingly linked to extraterrestrial activity. There’s probably a lot we don’t know still about extraterrestrials. Hopefully someday soon we’ll know more, but for now the theory is unverifiable.

Spirit Orbs or Ghosts

Theory: Some local folklore suggests that the lights are spirit orbs of Cherokee spirits, particularly from the souls of women searching for loved ones lost in battle. Alternately, Becky proposes it might be the spirit of a woman who met a ghastly end on Brown Mountain.

Criticism: There is no universally agreed upon explanation of the exact nature of spirit orbs, making it a less provable explanation. If you’ve directly observed a spirit orb with your naked eye, did it behave this way?

Where to See the Brown Mountain Lights: Directions

Intrigued enough to seek out those enigmatic lights on your own? There are several popular viewing locations that offer a chance to witness the phenomenon. Here’s a map to the Brown Mountain overlook on North Carolina Highway 181; one of the most accessible spots, providing a clear view of the mountain where the lights are often seen. This overlook is located just north of Morganton, NC, and can be reached by a short drive from the city.

Another prime location for viewing the Brown Mountain Lights is the Wiseman’s View in Linville Gorge, a more rugged, scenic vantage point. To reach Wiseman’s View, visitors can follow the signs from NC Highway 183 to Old NC 105 and continue to the Wiseman’s View parking area; from there, a short paved trail leads to the overlooks. Additionally, the Blue Ridge Parkway offers a good viewpoint at milepost 301 (Green Mountain overlook), which are easily accessible by car and provide panoramic views of the area where the lights have been spotted.

How to See the Brown Mountain Lights

Unfortunately, you’re unlikely to see the lights while briefly standing at these locations and looking frantically for 15 minutes. For the best chance of seeing the lights, plan to spend the night somewhere you can watch for them for several hours. Visit on a clear, dark night, ideally around new moon phases when less moonlight is present to obscure the phenomenon.

Because you’re unlikely to see the lights for yourself without spending hours or even days gazing into the distance, why not double up on your road trip goals and hit up The Brown Mountain Lights Festival? This tongue-in-cheek, alien-themed music festival takes place each October in Morganton, NC.

Photos and Videos of the Brown Mountain Lights

Good photographs of the Brown Mountain Lights are hard to capture, given the nocturnal and fleeting nature of the phenomenon. Here’s a video of the lights that made the news back in 2016. We’ll try to get a photo of the mysterious lights for you on our upcoming trip to Appalachia.

The post Brown Mountain Lights: Spooky Appalachian Legends appeared first on Homespun Haints.

Listen here:

You’re not afraid of the dark, are you? All those things you feared as a child—the weird shape in the corner, the strange sounds at night, the stories you shared with your friends at sleepovers—they’re all just a result of a vivid imagination.

But what if they’re not? Today, we speak with podcaster Ella Catherine about the strange things she encountered in her small town childhood home. What do you think it was she was seeing? Listen and decide for yourself.

About our Guest: Ella Catherine

Ella grew up just a little hop away from Becky’s old stomping grounds in Eastern Tennessee, and grew up with the same love of listening to ghost stories and urban legends. We had the pleasure of meeting Ella on our recent trip to Nashville.

Ella is the creator and host of the podcast For Better Self and Net Worth, for which she interviewed Becky. Follow her on IG @evolvewithella and her TikTok at @kiddinthekitchen

Episode References

Urban legends about the haunted Sensabaugh Tunnel in Eastern Tennessee

Becky and Ella bonded over the creepy urban legends surrounding their small towns in Eastern Tennessee. One of the most popular East Tennessee legends has to do with the Sensabaugh Tunnel in Kingsport, TN. According to much of the internet, the Sensabaugh Tunnel is one of the most haunted tunnels in the world. There are various stories about why it is so haunted. Most of the stories have to do with a baby that was drowned in the creek, either by a kidnapper or his own father.

The urban legend goes as follows. If you drive your car into the tunnel and cut the engine, you’ll hear the quiet cries of a baby. Your car may not start again, and if you glance in your mirrors, you’ll see Mr. Sensabaugh approaching your car from behind. Not until he’s almost at your car will your engine start again, so you can peel out of the tunnel and get some clean pants.

Haunted Martha Washington Inn in Abingdon

While Kingsport is in East Tennessee, it is actually closer to the western point of Virginia (which has plenty of its own hauntings and urban legends) than it is to the bigger well-known cities in its own state. Seeing as it’s part of the Appalachian Mountain range, perhaps it shares more culturally as well. The Martha Washington Inn in Abingdon, VA might just be one of the most haunted places in Virginia. Read more about the phantom horse of a Civil War soldier, indelible blood stain, human remains bricked into the walls, and other ghost stories of the Martha Washington Inn here.

Haunted Allendale Mansion in East TN and the Urban Legend of Long Dog

Another spooky place in Kingsport, TN, is the Allendale Mansion. The owners gifted this property to the town in the 1960’s. Today you can visit the grounds for a picnic, or even go fishing there. Or you can wait until after the sun sets, and take a ghost tour of the historic home.

Hopefully you won’t encounter Long Dog; a not-exactly werewolf-like creature people have seen the area for over a century. Not that shocking, considering its proximity to the Rotherwood Mansion and that property’s own infamous hellhound. By the way, we recorded the legend of Long Dog, as told by Becky’s ancestors, complete with sound effects, courtesy of Diana. (Editor’s note: Long Dog is a nice guy whereas the hellhound of Rotherwood is not.)

Bonus Ghost Tour of San Diego

Ella talks about the spooky places she got to visit on this haunted tour of San Diego, CA. She toured the oldest pub in San Diego, the Davis Horton House, Hotel del Coronado, and even a haunted candy store. We hope to bring you a review of this and many other ghost tours soon in our Most Haunted series.

We love bringing you stories about the hauntings and urban legends of East Tennessee!

After all, it was the ghost stories of her hometown there that drove Becky to create the madness that is Homespun Haints. We are gradually collecting ghost stories from all over the world. But it’s nice when things come full circle back to this isolated, spooky region.

Until next time, have a spooky day!

The post Get Out, Satan! appeared first on Homespun Haints.

Listen to this episode here:

Podcast About Ghost Evidence

Shawnna has always been sensitive to specters, as she learned from living in 2 haunted houses in Detroit as a kid. But none of that could’ve prepared her for the truly bizarre experience she and some girlfriends had one eerie night while attempting some light ghost summoning in the Indiana woods. Imagine yourself in the car with them, that night at the bridge…what would YOU have done, if you’d suddenly realized there was a fifth girl who wanted a ride, and she wouldn’t take “no” for an answer? Would you see this podcast episode’s story as evidence of ghost existence?

In today’s episode, a carload of spooked teen girls encounter odd apparitions in the dark Indiana woods, including a naked cowboy (ghost?), a forlorn dog, and a dead hitchhiker.

About the Guest: Shawnna

Today’s guest, Shawnna, is a fellow podcaster: she and her co-host Kristel host The Round Room, an oc-culture podcast. If you like your spooky paranormal with a side of true crime, go check it out. Shawnna’s podcast explores many of the same topics as our own. Listen as she and her co-host explore various true crime and paranormal cases with a large dash of irreverence. Some of these stories you won’t find anywhere else but on this podcast, so it’s worth a listen! You can follow them on Instagram @theroundroom or listen to the podcast here.

References

The Edna Collings Bridge

Shawnna had heard the story of the Edna Collings Bridge deep in the dark Greencastle, Indiana woods, where little Edna and her dog are still waiting for her parents to pick them up after swimming. She wasn’t so sure she believed the urban legends surrounding this spooky landmark. But sometimes (like this time), the first-hand experience is more shocking than the hype! Would you honk 3 times?

Until next time, beware of hitchhiking ghosts, and have a spooky day!

The post The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Afterlife appeared first on Homespun Haints.

Listen to this episode right here:

This episode’s process drawing:

Episode summary

Amanda and her little sister grew up in a haunted house, and now her own children are having terrifying experiences. It comes as no shock that the hauntings continued when she moved to a base in Baumholder, Germany. This base was once known as Hitler’s Hideout. It was a former POW camp area where the Führer purportedly drowned his own soldiers.

Maybe ghost hunting down in those old Nazi tunnels wasn’t the best idea? Although it oddly wouldn’t be the first time American troops have tried to ghost-hunt in German tunnels. Anyway, since then, Amanda’s ghostly experiences are getting more and more frequent…and horrifying.

Photos from Germany

Amanda has shared some photos with us that she took in Germany. Not of the tunnels, but of ruins of the 14th century castle known as the Frauenberg. Do you see anything in the windows?

Some ghostly things in Amanda’s apartment

This photo of Amanda’s apartment looks innocuous enough. Then you learn that there was no one actually standing in that room where that hand appears. And Amanda didn’t have a dog at the time.

Why are ghosts white?

Amanda’s childhood home may have been haunted by a classic Hollywood-style friendly ghost, who appeared as a whitish translucent full-body apparition who interacted directly with her. Where did the idea that ghosts are white come from, and is it accurate?

What was that in that corn field?

How the heck would you explain what happened that night at the abandoned farmhouse out on Oklahoma Flats Rd? Did an urban legend come to life right in front of her eyes?

What does smudging smell like in a haunted house?

You’re probably vaguely familiar with the concept of smudging, or burning plants like sage to influence energy, but we’re curious if you’ve ever experienced smudge smoke smelling worse than usual in places you associate with “bad” energy? Amanda has smelled burning rubber, and Becky has had experiences with randomly stinky sage as well.

We’ve also talked to guests who say that, when practicing smudging, the smoke will behave differently if it encounters bad energy. Does that mean that sage might be an energy detector as well as a potential energy balancer? (P.S. remember to avoid BRINGING the bad energy to the smudging practice by purchasing your sage from companies that attempt to honor indigenous cultures and their values).

Dreams About Ghosts and Podcast Hosts

If you’ve had an experience with ghosts, in Nazi tunnels or otherwise, then why not submit your story for a chance to tell it on the Homespun Haints Podcast? After we recorded this episode, Amanda had a dream about Diana’s basement ghosts that was eerily similar to Diana’s own most recent basement ghost dream. That gave both of them a spooky day!

The post The Haunted Cornfield: Scary Stories from Hitler’s Hideout appeared first on Homespun Haints.

Then, we talk about how mirrors are actually probably pan-dimensional portals that cause spirits to get trapped. Because that’s how we roll.

Listen now, and learn about how our brains manifest and reveal the monster within, today, on The H-files, brought to you by Homespun Haints!

The H Files

Welcome to The H Files: a limited-run miniseries where we delve deep into the folklore and science behind ghostly sightings and urban legends. This series began September 1, 2020, and ran every other Tuesday until November, 2020. If you would like to discuss anything you hear on the episode, please reach out to us in our Facebook Group or through Instagram. And, as always, if you have something you’d like to contribute to the show, you can always email us at info@HomespunHaints.com.

Urban Legends: Bloody Mary

Nobody really seems to know where the name Bloody Mary first came from. There’s some accounts that her full name is Mary Worth. In the first official published scholarly account, however, the folklorist refers to her as Mary Whales. This article suggests that she has many different names. These include, at the oddest, Hell Mary, Black Agnes, and Svarte Madame.

The Legend of Bloody Mary

We aren’t sure exactly where or when Bloody Mary urban legends came from, and we’re not sure if it was based on a real person. The point of the Bloody Mary spirit’s existence seems to be exclusively to scare, kidnap, and/or murder children. This is probably out of vengeance for her own baby, taken from her in some versions of the legend.

Bloody Mary, the Game

It’s a ritual game, practiced at slumber parties and secret treehouse meetings. The game is played with the brave kid/future victim alone in the bathroom. They stare into the dark bathroom mirror, with only enough light to see their own face. Then, they recite one of several various ritual chants. The most common chant among our friends was simply repeating “Bloody Mary” as many times as one is brave enough to do so. Then, Mary appears in the mirror. She reaches one cold arm out towards the victim, and either kills them, strikes them with an axe, or drags them into the mirror universe.

Why would anyone choose to play a game where the only goal is to summon an evil spirit and potentially get killed? Most kids start to play this game as an early experiment in flirting with danger. Think of it as an intermediate step between children doing dumb, dangerous things because they don’t know better, and teenagers doing dumb, dangerous things although they should know better. The game makes you feel both scared and brave at the same time when it’s your turn. Why not impress your friends by “bravely” doing something “dangerous,” when there’s no real risk, because Bloody Mary is just a bluff…right?

Oh, and the adolescent urge to flirt with danger is a ubiquitous phenomenon, with a name. Be sure to check out this episode’s sister article on The Robinson Age.

Mirror Gazing and Seeing Things

Mirror gazing is a divination technique in both modern witchcraft and psychic activity, and in older folklore divination games. Perhaps this is because mirrors are a portal. Or, perhaps this is because mirror gazing can trigger optical illusions, especially in the dark.

The Troxler Effect

The illusion occurs due to the Troxler effect, a phenomenon where the brain adapts to constant stimuli. First, you fix your gaze on a single point for an extended period. Over time, your neurons stop responding to the unchanging input, causing the image to appear blurry, faded, or distorted until you blink or shift your focus.

The most common Troxler effect people see during mirror gazing is that of a face. Usually, the gazer will see their own face in the correct spot, but mutated into a face they don’t recognize after a while. This specific Troxler effect phenomenon doesn’t have an official name, but some authors refer to it as strange-face-in-the-mirror-illusion. Like these authors, who discovered during one mirror-gazing study that depressed subjects experience the phenomenon far less significantly, compared to content controls.

What is Pareidolia?

When one sees a foreign face in the mirror in addition to their own face, that might be a slightly different phenomenon occurring. The fusiform gyrus in the human brain is hardwired to recognize faces. Even newborns show more interest in properly arranged face-like features than they do in scrambled ones. This face-detection system is so sensitive that it often finds faces where none exist, driven by our brain’s need to create meaning from disordered sensory input. When you focus very hard on one spot, the Troxler effect causes the rest of the image to blur, which might hilight the basic shapes within the blurred background, some of which are likely to form the vague shape of a face, because that’s what the brain wants to see.

It’s also good to know that there are some things computers still don’t understand, that are uniquely human. Want an example? Ask your favorite AI to generate an optical illusion like pareidolia, and you’ll see what I mean.

What is Prosopagnosia, or Being Face-Blind?

Are you one of those people who says “I may not remember your name, but I never forget a face!”? Well, good for you. Diana’s the opposite. Prosopagnosia, or face blindness, is a neurological disorder that impairs face recognition, affecting about 2% of the population. Most cases are developmental, often running in families and linked to genetic factors. Less commonly, it results from brain damage due to stroke, injury, or disease. Those affected rely on cues like hair, outfit, scars, voice, or movement patterns to identify others. In rare cases, faces can appear to be non-face objects, creating a reverse pareidolia effect.

Diana has had prosopagnosia since childhood, so don’t feel insulted if she doesn’t recognize you at a chance meeting. She didn’t realize she couldn’t recall faces until she got glasses at age 10. She always used clothing to recognize people short-term, and the sound of someone’s gait and voice to recognize them later on (after they’ve changed clothes). This, of course, made it nearly impossible for her to recognize familiar faces in (unfamiliar) photographs.

After learning more about the disorder, she’s now taught herself to cope by meticulously memorizing the facial feature ratios of familiar faces, kind of like facial recognition software. Strangely, this practice has made her more likely than others to recognize a resemblance between two people that most folks wouldn’t notice until the faces are put side by side. For example, how much Josephine Park (from the horror film Attachment) resembles Arnold Schwarzenegger.

What Do You See in The Mirror?

The scientific study of illusions is fascinating, isn’t it; to objectively study a subjective phenomenon? Here at Homespun Haints, we love speculating about spectral science for fun, but what’s really fun is hearing about the subjective experiences of our haunted guests. Do you have a story from a time when you played the game of Bloody Mary, and it went wrong—or worse, went right? Do you have arcane knowledge on the origins of the Bloody Mary urban legends, or what ever happened to her baby? Why not submit your tale to tell it on a future episode? Just thinking about all the poor children who’ve been sucked into the mirror makes today a spooky day!

The post Mirror, Mirror: The Science of The Bloody Mary Legend appeared first on Homespun Haints.

This article is a tangent to our first H-Files episode (the one about Bloody Mary, released on September 1st, 2020) and may contain spoilers and inside jokes. If you haven’t listened to that, you may want to do so now. 

Did you listen to the episode on the Robinson Age?

Really, I’ll wait. 

Ok, so now that you’ve listened to all the creepy ways your own brain tricks you into seeing Mary Worth (or whatever you want to call her) in the darkened mirror, I want to talk about why this practice is so popular among humans in their tween years.

Admit it, you had your own Robinson Age, right on track.

IF your friends told you the story of Bloody Mary, and you were even a little bit into it, y’all were probably 9–12 years old…and I’d even go so far as to guess that, when this topic fascinated your group of friends, you weren’t into sex, drugs, or even very hard rock and roll (or most of you weren’t). Why, the rational adult wonders, would a seemingly sensible child want to take part in an activity whose sole purpose is to result in someone coming into their home and attacking, maiming, or killing them (depending on your town’s version of the legend)? 

In fact, this behavior is so predictable and nearly universal at this age, that psychologists have a name for this life stage (of course they do): The Robinson Age. At some point during this phase, your innocent, obedient child will inevitably develop an unignorable craving for danger. 

Why do preteens suddenly start doing stupid dangerous things?

This adolescent hunger for risk can manifest in some really weird ways. As adults, we might conjure up the typical Hollywood-based mental images of riding in fast cars with older boys, getting drunk enough to pass out, and waking up pregnant. But it’s a rare kid who goes directly from patty cake and Legos to blackout drinking binges. No, we’re talking about the murky, confusing in-between, when a desire for subversive behavior and ritualized right-of-passage social bonding coincides with childlike play and the innocence to not really fully comprehend what subversive really means. Slightly illicit activities with an element of darkness and ritual are irresistible to most children in this age group. The type of ritualized bonding and the proving of chutzpah invoked by an activity like summoning the toilet ghost is super hawt to kids in the throes of this awkward life phase.

One could argue that anything subversive and designed to test-drive danger, which is deliberately kept a secret from adults, should count as an expression of Robinson Age tendencies.

Any of these sound familiar?

You’ve probably played or heard of these archetypal North American slumber party activities; 

• Light as a feather, stiff as a board: a group of participants chant a hypnotic phrase while attempting to levitate one of the group using only 1 or 2 finger tips each to support her.
• Using Ouija boards to contact ghosts: what, y’all didn’t grow up with a family Ouija board in the house? Ours was always front and center, between Scrabble and Monopoly.
• Truth or dare: in my social group, this classic game resulted in little more than the vanilla heteronormative style of closed-mouth kissing that doesn’t spread meningitis as quickly, and jumping off of moderately high surfaces.

I suppose the last of these examples may not fully qualify as a “ritual” per-se, in that no magic or paranormal phenomenon is expected to happen as a result of the activity. But I say it counts. One could argue that anything subversive and designed to test-drive danger, which is deliberately kept a secret from adults, should count as an expression of Robinson Age tendencies. This is especially true if “everyone” in one’s friend group is up to the same ill-conceived behavior, or if the doing of the thing classifies you as a different kind of person in the eyes of your peers. 

It is part of how kids learn to step out of their comfort zone for social acceptance or to gain social status.

My personal Robinson Age antics

For example, here are some mundane yet bizarre, mildly risky, clandestine activities I may or may not have participated in with friends during my own Robinson Age.

• “Smoking” hollow pieces of dried-out grape vine.
• Self-piercing with a needle and hydrogen peroxide.
• Wandering from one neighborhood to another alone on Halloween night (before cell phones).
• Pulling a stranger’s wad of chewed gum off the bottom of a table and chewing it.
• Watching The Rocky Horror Show, and not long after, attending the live floor show (not quite at midnight, curfew and all, but at least without a chaperone).
• Pickpocketing a beloved teacher after she confiscated a classmate’s belonging.
• The Penis Game.*

Why do kids go through the Robinson Age, and what does it have to do with Bloody Mary?

The apparent point to the Robinson Age is to develop a resilience in the face of fear, without suffering actual harm. This life phase is also part of how kids learn to step out of their comfort zone for social acceptance or to gain social status. Perhaps the very thing that makes summoning Bloody Mary so attractive is the utter skepticism that the ritual will work? The game is a way to gain a reputation for fearlessness by intentionally and publicly incurring risk, without any real risk at all.

Not all Robinson Age antics are nearly as risk-free as Bloody Mary. There are several subversive, social-status-determining activities that 9-12 year-olds may consider doing to fill these self-image and fear-tolerance needs which might lead to actual life problems. Cutting, bulimia, or chatting online with strangers come to mind. Considering the alternatives, perhaps summoning the mirror witch to risk a terrifying yet incredibly unlikely violent death is one of the most laudable ways to progress through the Robinson Age. Just don’t tell any kids I said that…adult approval would defeat the point. 

Footnote on The Penis Game

*If you’re not familiar with The Penis Game, it is a game of Chicken that involves taking turns saying a dirty word in a successively louder voice in a public place. The winner is the last person to say the word before the next person is too afraid of being overheard to take their turn. 

References (although this article on the Robinson Age is for entertainment purposes only)

https://demiworld.net/bloody-mary/#:~:text=Most%20calls%20to%20Bloody%20Mary,dark%20and%20delving%20into%20rituals.

https://research.library.mun.ca/8392/1/converted.pdf

Image source: Photo by Ben Wicks on Unsplash

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