The Poltergeist Curse Continues With Eerie On-Screen Prediction of Death

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The film Poltergeist has long been associated with curses given some unfortunate events surrounding the cast and crew of the film.

Several primary members of the casts of each film in the series lost their lives in close proximity to the productions, most notably young star Heather O’Rourke – who died at just 12 years old.

Dominique Dunne, who played Dana Freeling in the original film, was murdered by an angry ex-boyfriend at the age of 22, the same year the movie was released. Other casualties of the supposed curse include Poltergeist 2 stars Will Sampson and Julian Beck. A Native American shaman, Sampson allegedly performed a ritual to rid the set of evil spirits.

On a less tragic note, JoBeth Williams claimed that each night she returned home from the set of the original Poltergeist, the pictures hanging on her walls were crooked. It became a regular ritual for her to straighten them out, which needless to say gave her a nightly spook.

Related Story: 8 Horror Films Plagued By Real-Life Curses

Speaking of Heather O’Rourke (Carol Anne Freeling in the film), Bloody Disgusting just dug up something that’s absolutely chilling. Above the onscreen bed in the room she shared with co-star Oliver Robins (Robby Freeling), can be seen a cartoonish poster for Super Bowl XXII. So what’s the significance of this?

The year of the film’s release, 1982, the Super Bowl was in its 16th year. Super Bowl 22 (as seen depicted in the movie by a poster for it over Robby’s bed) took place in 1988 on January 31st. That the same day in 1988, Heather O’Rourke fell ill before dying.

Via, WikipediaO’Rourke became ill in early 1987 and was misdiagnosed by doctors at Kaiser Permanente Hospital as having Crohn’s disease. She was prescribed prednisone to treat the disease, which caused her cheeks to appear puffy and large. On January 31, 1988, O’Rourke suddenly became ill again, vomiting and unable to keep anything in her stomach. The next morning she collapsed while preparing to leave for the hospital and her stepfather called paramedics. O’Rourke suffered a cardiac arrest en route to the hospital, and after resuscitation she was airlifted by helicopter to Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego, where she died later that day.

The cause of death is officially listed as cardiac arrest caused by septic shock due to intestinal stenosis.

Of course this all can be dismissed as sad coincidence, but it does give you pause for thought.

Poltergeist Curse

Poltergeist Super Bowl

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