First physical mirrors were made by bronze, tin or silver. However, I’m not here to talk you about the materials or production methods of mirrors. Instead, I will tell you a bit how these are used in literary and movies. And you may get a tip for your own fiction book, perhaps.

So, to begin with, mirrors typically represent a window to some kind of unknown dimension in books and movies. Usually, the person who looks in the mirror has a chance to see someone. Often, the ‘one’ means the face of a woman or man. He / she could even be the same person with some difference(s), such as reversed nature.

Calm water surface can work as a mirror. A good example is the movie “The Lord of the Rings” and its first part, “The Fellowship of the Ring”, in which Frodo (the hero) looks in the Galadriel’s mirror, seeing the worst future. In one story (whose name I’ve forgotten) a child went through a water puddle into the different world where everything was opposite to the world where we live.

Sometimes a light ray hitting the mirror surface may do something. Most often used light type for this purpose is moon light which hits and flashes from the mirror and either takes the person in different century or on the mirror wrong side. It could even happen that the unfortunate person will change places with the reflection.

Bloody Mary

The most widely known game of this topic is “Bloody Mary”. In case you haven’t played this before, here are the rules:

1. Go to bathroom and put out the lights.
2. Stand in front of the mirror (or mirror cabinet).
3. Say three times “Bloody Mary”. If you carried it off, Mary’s reflection appears and she
   • cuts your head off
   • tears your eyes up
   • grabs you into the mirror
   • makes you insane
   • does something else (which may hurt a bit or lot).
4. If you are still alive, try the phrase thirteen or hundred times. Spinning around or lighting a candle may also help achieve the ghost.
5. Scream for help (obvious for many experimenters).

The game works the best in a full dark room. While you are watching the image in the mirror, it would seem to mutate into someone else. The cause for this is we tend to recognize human faces and while our eyes are getting used to the dark we see a figure in the mirror disappearing, reappearing and transforming.