Many people across the U.S. have heard of Bloody Mary and the various urban legends that follow her. There is even a movie, “Bloody Mary”. However, they didn’t include the actual history of the urban legend. Similar to the director/writer of the movie, not as many people have heard the story of her life in Lincoln, Nebraska.
According to an article from Geocities, Mary Partington was born and raised in Lincoln since 1871. She lived on a farm on the outermost area of the city where she raised crops and had sheep. When the 1950s and 60s came along, she had to give up a lot of her sheep, leaving her with only three sheep to care for. Around this time, Lincoln began to grow rapidly as a city. She now lived near 27th street, which had been taken over by noisy vehicles, paved roads, electricity, and new buildings.
According to Sheila Story’s article “Lincoln Ghost Tours helps relieve fear of ghosts”, she lived alone, around 90 years old, and was harassed by nearby “hooligans”. Because she had no electricity during this time, it caught the attention of many teenagers.
One day in October, she woke up to a loud car outside her house. At 3 a.m., she could only see the outline of two men from the street lights. They attempted to get into her house from her window by busting it. Not even a moment later, a loud gunshot pierced the silent air throughout the neighborhood. She had killed one of the teenage intruders leaving her with the name “old killer lady”, or currently known as “Bloody Mary”.
The case never went to trial, but Partington had to move, and her house was later destroyed and wiped away. Five weeks after shooting the teenager, her goats were shot. Not soon after this, people who believed she was defending herself checked up on Mary. Instead of finding her sleeping or reading a book, they came in to find Mary’s corpse. She had been dead for 5 weeks!
Mary was constantly taunted by the youth in the area where she lived. Because of all the rumors about her, a lot of people doubted she was using self defense when she shot the teenage boy. All of the lies about her killing kids may have had to do with the reason she was found dead in her home. No one knows for sure, but someone else may have killed her. Others believe she may have died due to her old age. Like Mary, her home is long gone, but people say on October 24, you may be able to see a silhouette of her if the conditions are right.