Check out Fate & Fabled here on @pbsstoried:    • Norse Mythology and Their Most Epic W...  

Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board, Bloody Mary and Ouija are scary and entertaining rites of passage for kids and teens to participate in. But do these games actually work? And why do we love to scare each other so much at sleepovers?

Check out our sleepover pals' PBSDS shows: Dr. Joe Hanson's Be Smart @besmart, Dr. Erica Brozovsky's Otherwords on @pbsstoried & Dr. Alex Dainis on Reactions @ACSReactions

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Written and Hosted by: Dr. Emily Zarka
Director: David Schulte
Executive Producer: Amanda Fox
Executive Producer: Dr. Emily Zarka
Producer: Thomas Fernandes
Editor/Animator: P.W. Shelton
Editor/Animator: Steven Simone
Illustrator: Samuel Allan
Executive in Charge (PBS): Maribel Lopez
Director of Programming (PBS): Gabrielle Ewing
Additional Footage: Shutterstock
Music: APM Music

Produced by Spotzen for PBS Digital Studios.

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00:00 Intro
00:52 History of Sleepovers
01:33 Multi-colored Flames
02:26 Levitation Games
04:33 Rite of Passage
06:12 Ouija
07:47 Bloody Mary
08:27 More Ouija
11:07 Concentration
11:37 Conclusion
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Bibliography

Alpha Xi Delta. Vols. 3-4, 1906.

Beccia, Carlyn. “The Secret History of Slumber Parties: How ‘Bloody Mary’ and Menstruation Go Hand-In-Hand.” Bust, May 11, 2023. https://bust.com/girls-sleepover-cree....

Dawson, Mary. The Mary Dawson Game Book: A Manual of Original Games and Guessing Contests for Entertainments of Every Description and for All Ages. D. McKay, 1916.

Dégh, Linda. Legend and Belief : Dialectics of a Folklore Genre. Indiana UP, 2001.

Farris, Anelise. “Experimenting with the Occult: The Role of Liminality in Slumber Party Rituals.” Preternature: Critical and Historical Studies on the Preternatural, vol. 6, no. 1, 2017, pp. 154–179.

Ladies' Home Companion. Vol. 39, 1912.

Maxwell, Anne. “For the Hostess: Several Smart Midwinter Affairs.” The Designer and the Woman’s Magazine.” Vol. 51, issue 3, January 1920, pp. 24.

Morton, Lisa. Calling the Spirits; A History of Seances. Reaktion Books, 2020.

Natale, Simone. Supernatural Entertainments: Victorian Spiritualism and the Rise of Modern Media Culture, Pennsylvania State University Press, 2016.

The Key: Official Organ of the Kappa Kappa Gamma. Vol. XXVIII, no. 1, February 1911.

Tucker, Elizabeth. “Levitation Revisited.” Children’s Folklore Review, vol. 30, January 1, 2008, pp. 47-60.