History WMG / Mama

*** Actually, women could be put in mental hospitals for [[https://bit.ly/3JWwW8a WTF]] (really, one on that list is "novel reading"), so the idea of an unwed mother being tossed in one of those for simply being that and maybe losing her minds afterwards wouldn't be out of the ordinary for the 19th century. On the subject of her baby, much like modern times, babies don't always get adopted out and the baby looked to be at least 3-4 months old. Sure, they get adopted quicker than older kids but they don't always get adopted out as quickly.

*** Actually, women could be put in mental hospitals for [[https://bit.ly/3JWwW8a WTF]] (really, one on that list is "novel reading"), so the idea of an unwed mother being tossed in one of those for simply being that and maybe losing her minds afterwards wouldn't be out of the ordinary for the 19th century. On the subject of her baby, much like modern times, babies don't always get adopted out. Sure, they get adopted quicker than older kids but they don't always get adopted out as quickly.

* Doubtful -- her behavior in the flahback of her taking back her baby and the circumstances under which she jumped from the cliff says quite a lot about her mental state when she was alive. Unless what you mean is that Edith was actually sane when she entered the asylum but lost it while she was in there -- which seems doubtful, since her baby's presence at the convent when she stole it back (assuming that really was her baby and not somebody else's that she stole) implies that only a short time passed between Edith's incarceration and escape as the baby hadn't been adopted yet, unless of course the baby was going to be raised in the nuns' care.

While less common than fiction would have you believe, there were cases in the 19th century of perfectly healthy women who had extramarital pregnancies being sent to asylums on trumped-up diagnoses like "hysteria" or nymphomania. If the asylum was unscrupulous enough to admit her on those grounds, it could have been a convenient way for a prominent family to hide a daughter who'd caused a scandal.

Furthermore, if the affair between Jeffrey's wife and Lucas was a genuinely loving one; then perhaps even if Jeffrey found out about the affair or he just suspected the same thing as Lucas about his daughters' conception, and the parents ran a DNA test to confirm who was the biological father and it was confirmed to be Jeffrey (yes it's likely Lucas and Jeffrey are identical twins, but twins' DNA becomes different later in life due to environmental factors), perhaps Lucas' loving relationship with the girls' mother would make him still see his nieces as his real daughters afterwards.

** This does somewhat explain the ending in that she crosses over, when technically, supernatural means aside, she shouldn't be able to do that, along with the fact she doesn't leave behind remains (odd are)

** Perhaps Edith was related to the SlenderMan? Tall and gangly, with long thin arms and legs, and a penchant for carrying children away...

[[WMG: Mad Edith was biologically a man.]]
That's why she was put in the asylum, as it was considered a mental illness in the 19th century. She kidnapped a baby that she loved and considered her own before jumping to her death. When she returns as a ghost, she then adopts Lily and Victoria for the same reason she adopted the other baby: to have the children she was biologically unable to have. Which is also why she was so quick to smash the baby's corpse when Lily screamed out for her in the climax. It wasn't her biological baby, and she had grown a bigger attachment to the girls.

Think about it, a one year old child being raised by a ghost and her three year old sister? If she were to get sick, she'd die, and if you look at the pictures at the beginning of the movie, you clearly see her puking. Also, she's never shown sleeping in the movie (but she pretends to) and she eats moths. Mama's ghost magic was keeping her alive, but when Mama realized she was a ghost, she took Lily with her. That's why when they cocoon-bombed off the cliff, Lily didn't leave a corpse. And the response to Annabel's breath? Ghosts subconsciously desire human contact, Lily is as attracted to the living as Mama is.

[[WMG:Edith did not have a recognizable medical disorder. She was related to Fuchi from the manga of JunjiIto.]]

** Perhaps Edith was related to the SlenderMan? Tall and gangly, with long thin arms and legs, and a penchant for carrying children away...

** The name was pronounced [[GhostDad ED-Dith and it's a boy's name]].

* Except if she were really biologically male, it's highly unlikely that she would have gone by a female name back then since no one would even acknowledge such a thing. They probably would have recorded her as male with a male name since they'd probably think her wanting to be female was just a delusion.

** Except if she were really biologically male, it's highly unlikely that she would have gone by a female name back then since no one would even acknowledge such a thing. They probably would have recorded her as male with a male name since they'd probably think her wanting to be female was just a delusion.

That's why she was put in the asylum, as it was considered a mental illness in the 19th century. She kidnapped a baby that she loved and considered her own before jumping to her death. When she returns as a ghost, she then adopts Lily and Victoria for the same reason she adopted the other baby: to have the children she was biologically unable to have. Which is also why she was so quick to smash the baby's corpse when Lily screamed out for her in the climax. It wasn't her biological baby, and she had grown a bigger attachment to the girls.