Here's Why Staring Into a Mirror for Too Long Can Be Scary

More often than not, reflection morphs into something weird, scary. Go try it yourself!

According to a psychological research, staring at oneself for more than 10 minutes straight in the mirror can cause optical illusions of facial deformation. The said phenomenon is called Troxler Effect. It occurs when the features that an individual is not staring at begins to fade.

An excerpt from a study:

"This effect wanders over the entire face, distorting it massively. It does not stay in one place. There have been many participants in this experiment. Sixty six percent reported huge deformation of their faces. Eighteen percent reported that their faces changed to their parents face with traits changed. Twenty eight percent reported that their face had changed to an unknown person. While 48% also reported that their face had changed to monstrous beings"

So this explains the whole Bloody Mary fiasco, a folklore that has been dug from a distant past and passed around by preteens to scare other preteens in a cunning attempt to be cool.

Reference

Caputo, G. (2015). Dissociation and hallucinations in dyads engaged through interpersonal gazing Psychiatry Research, 228 (3), 659-663 DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2015.04.050