There was a game that the girls I knew used to play, called "I believe in Mary Worth." If you repeated that line 50 times in front of a mirror in a darkened room, 'Mary Worth' was supposed to leap out of the glass and cut you to ribbons. Attempting this was supposed to prove your bravery, although noone seemed to get past 49 invocations.
I always thought this reffered to the comic strip dowager, which added a really baffling element to the ritual. (Why would a kindly old lady want to cut me up for believing in her??)
A childhood belief about ghosts
