The film industry has been around and thriving for centuries, estimated to have created more than 500,000 films since 1888. Within those films, there has been much change such as from black-and-white to color, from silent to sound films. There have also been many rumors and conspiracy theories circling certain films and the creation of them, from curses to time travel, let’s go through some of these theories.
The Curse on the Poltergeist Films
The famous 1980s movie trilogy, Poltergeist, has been plagued with conspiracy theories for decades, most notably that there is a curse on the popular franchise and its cast. Theorists claim this curse began during the filming of the first movie in 1982 when the film used real human skeletons in a scene to save money. It should be known that neither the cast nor crew, besides director Steven Spielberg, knew the skeletons were real, but it did not stop the horrifying events that occurred after that scene was filmed. In fact, so many terrifying instances occurred that, after it was discovered by the cast that the skeletons were real, one cast member performed an exorcism on the set to try and rid the curse from the films.
The major contribution to this theory is the large number of cast member deaths during and after filming the franchise, five overall. The first occurred in 1982, only five months after the first film’s release when Dominque Dunne, who played the oldest daughter Dana in the film, was strangled and murdered at only 22 years old by her ex-boyfriend John Sweeney, who only served 3 years and 7 months for the murder. The next death occurred in 1985 when Julian Beck, who played the evil preacher Kane, succumbed to his 2-year battle with stomach cancer at age 60. The second Poltergeist movie was still in post-production when he passed and ultimately some of his lines had to be re-recorded by a sound-alike. The next occurred in 1987 when Will Sampson, who performed the exorcism in 1984 and who played Taylor (the medicine man), passed in 1987 at age 53. This was due to his fight with a chronic degenerative condition called scleroderma, he ultimately succumbed to kidney failure during an attempted lung and heart transplant surgery. The next tragic death occurred in 1988 when Heather O’Rourke, who played the youngest child Carol Anne, passed away at the age of 12 quickly after finishing filming Poltergeist III. She succumbed to two heart attacks brought on by septic shock, which was caused by a serious case of intestinal stenosis. It was later found that Heather was misdiagnosed by the hospital which ultimately led to her untimely death and her parents suing the hospital. As for the movie, it was still in post-production and when the ending had to be reshot, the film used a body double to serve as Heather’s character and had her face away from the camera. The final tragic death occurred after filming in 2009 when Lou Perryman, who played construction worker Pugsley in the franchise, was brutally murdered in his own home. This occurred when an ex-convict, who did not know Perryman, and who was on the run from the police broke into Perryman’s home and killed him with an ax in order to steal the actors’ car, the ex-con was ultimately sentenced to life in prison for the murder.
Along with these deaths, there were also a couple of close calls for cast members. The first occurred during the filming of the first Poltergeist film when Oliver Robins, who played middle child Robbie, was nearly killed by an animatronic error. In a scene where his character was supposed to be choked by a clown, the animatronic doll tightened its arms too much, leaving Robins truly unable to breathe. At first, the directors thought that Robins was improvising his reaction until his face began to change color and Spielberg ran over, managing to pry the doll off Robin’s neck and save his life. A second incident occurred when Richard Lawson, who played Ryan in the first Poltergeist, was involved and survived a 1992 plane crash that left over half the passengers dead.
Besides near and actual deaths, some other reported incidents led to the popularity of this conspiracy theory. JoBeth Williams, who played matriarch Diane, reported being haunted while filming Poltergeist, experiencing events such as her bed shaking vigorously and her paintings constantly hanging askew no matter how many times she fixed them. These instances became so common she admitted that she felt as though someone, or something, was telling her not to do the film. Another report came from Dominque Dunne who said she once witnessed a bookshelf tip over and throw books throughout the room she was in. Author James Kahn, who novelized the movie, also reported an incident where he claimed that as he was writing about a lightning strike, one hit the building he was in and caused his Air Conditioning unit to blow across the room, nearly striking him in the back, then a few moments later the lights came back on and all of his videogames began playing by themselves. Another instance was when a special effects malfunction caused an uncontrollable fire which left a maintenance worker trapped, luckily, a stuntman managed to run back to rescue him, and no one was seriously hurt in the incident.
This theorized curse on the franchise also seems to be following it throughout the years, as seen by the filming of the 2015 remake of Poltergeist. It is said the filming was accompanied by a multitude of “bizarre” electrical and equipment failures as well as “a female spirit dressed in black” who seemed to appear throughout and would follow the director to where he slept off-set. Director Gil Kenan even admitted that the haunting was so creepy that he was “too afraid to find out what the land used to be” and he ended up hiring Paranormal analyzer Brenda Rose to “cleanse” the set of any evil energy or spirits. Along with this, once filming was over, the previous owner moved back into the house and ended up calling the director to ask if he experienced any of the terrifying occurrences that he was now seeing, suggesting the Poltergeist curse possibly followed and planted itself to that house/set.
Overall, this theory has been a popular one throughout the decades and it’s understandable why with all the tragedy surrounding this franchise. It has also led to some other horror movies being theorized to be haunted, most popularly The Exorcist. However, many cast members have come forward and stated they do not believe the production was haunted, including Oliver Robins. As the last sibling in the series still alive, Oliver Robins joked “I hope there isn’t a curse, because I’m still around”, however, he also admits that he does not think there is one as “those deaths can be explained.. they were going to happen whether [the actors] were in the movie or not. Like with Heather, she had a medical condition for which she wasn’t treated. So I don’t think they are interconnected”.
What do you think?? Is the Poltergeist franchise haunted? Was it all just an unfortunate series of events? Let us know in the comments!!
Munchkin Suicide in “The Wizard of Oz”
The 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz” is a revered classic which has stood the test of time, still popular nearly a century later. Despite how beloved the film is, it also notably had lots of issues during filming including third-degree burns, aluminum poisoning, exploding broomsticks, and forced drug use. However, according to conspiracy theorists, these were not the worst things that occurred during filming. There has been a long-running conspiracy theory that one of the munchkin actors committed suicide on set, specifically by hanging himself on one of the trees in a forest scene, and that his dead body made it into the final cut of the film.
This theory emerged after viewers of the film noticed a figure hanging in the background of one of the scenes, specifically at the 48-minute mark as Dorothy is walking about the forest with the Scarecrow and Tin Man. While many were partial to the suicide theory, there have been some other theories about what this figure could have been, most popularly a misplaced prop. The theory became so popular that the studio eventually commented on the figure, stating that it was not due to a munchkin but instead to a member of the animals they rented in an effort to make the forest seem more realistic, specifically it was the shadow of a large crane.
Despite this statement, many still believed the suicide theory and it seems the company took note of the theory’s continued popularity as in the 1989 re-release, which was said to be created to give the audience a clearer, higher-quality version of the 1939 film, the large figure was no longer present in the shot. Instead, an emu bird took its place, but many argue that this bird’s outline looks very different than the one in the 1939 version, both smaller and in a different location, overall, too different to be the same figure. However, to this day there is still no proof to this theory and with the last munchkin actor dying in 2018, it does not seem we will ever know what truly occurred on that set.
What do you think?? Was this a tragic situation that made it on camera? Or simply a shadow mishap? Or something else?? Let us know in the comments!!
The Time Traveling Simpsons
The Simpsons is one of the most famous, long-running shows in film history. Its first appearance was as a cartoon short on the Tracy Ullman show in 1987 which led to its first official episode airing in December of 1989 and now the show is finishing off its 35th season, with no ending in sight. Over these past few decades, the show has predicted a large number of future events, so many in fact, that a popular conspiracy theory has emerged which theorizes the Simpsons creators and writers are time travelers. There have been many instances of the show supposedly predicting the future, including with Super Bowl winners, World Cup results, FIFA corruption, Disney buying 20th Century Fox, 9/11, Lady Gaga’s Super Bowl performance, and the invention of Smartwatches but some instances are more famous than others.
One famous instance is the Simpson’s prediction of the Siegfried and Roy tiger attack. In season 5’s episode “$pringfield” which aired in 1993, a duo named Gunter and Ernst, who were clearly a reference to the famous Vegas show duo Siegfried and Roy, appeared and were subsequently mauled by their trained white tiger, which the real-life duo were known for using. This was simply considered a funny episode until ten years later in 2003 when Roy Horn was attacked by a white tiger during a performance who bit into his arm and then into his neck before dragging the entertainer offstage. Horn did survive the attack but was left with a severed spine and some other major injuries including massive blood loss and even endured a stroke. The incident ultimately led to the end of the famous Las Vegas act and caused Horn many health issues, including partial paralysis on his left side. News of this tragedy took over the media but was also accompanied by headlines such as “Another ‘Simpsons’ Prediction Has Come True”.
Another famous instance of the Simpsons foreseeing the future is their prediction that Donald Trump would become President of the United States. In an 11th-season episode named “Bart to the Future:”, which aired in 2000, Bart Simpson was allowed to see into the future. In this vision, Bart saw Lisa Simpson, his sister, becoming President and discussing her plans for how she will take over after Donald Trump’s term. As we all know, this prediction eventually became reality when Donald Trump became the President of the United States in 2016. After Trump’s win, the Simpson’s writer made a statement on this fulfilled prediction, stating this episode was supposed to serve as a “warning to America” of the horrifying future that could be ahead if America continued as it was headed in 2000, saying “it was pitched because it was consistent with the vision of America going insane”. Similarly to the tiger attack, the news of Donald Trump’s presidency was also accompanied by news headlines such as “The Simpson’s Predicted Donald Trump’s presidency”.
Arguably the most famous instance of this theory, however, is when Homer Simpson accidentally came very close to discovering the mass of the Higgs Boson particle in the 1998 episode “The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace” in which he became an inventor for the episode. This particle was first predicted by Nobel Prize-winner Peter Higgs in 1964, however, it was not discovered until 2012 following a $15 million experiment. Simon Singh, an author who wrote the book “The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets” released a statement about this incident saying “That equation predicts the mass of the Higgs Boson, if you work it out you get the mass of a Higgs Boson that’s only a bit larger than the nano mass of a Higgs Boson actually is, it’s kind of amazing as Homer makes this prediction 14 years before it was discovered”.
Overall, the Simpsons have predicted a multitude of future events, many more than can be put in this one article which has led to the continued popularity of this conspiracy theory. One of the Simpson’s writers, Al Jean, has commented on this theory, stating that the team does not have a “sixth sense” and are not “seeing into the future”, but instead are simply making “educated guesses” which are bound to sometimes hit after a 30-year TV-run, stating that “If you write 700 episodes, and you don’t predict anything, then you’re pretty bad. If you throw enough darts, you’re going to get some bullseyes”.
What do you think?? Do you think the Simpson’s writers can see into the future? Or are these all just a bunch of coincidences from over the decades? Let us know in the comments!!
Overall, the film industry and the productions made from it have caused many conspiracy theories to be created throughout the centuries and will no doubt continue to do so. Do you believe any of these conspiracy theories?? Do you know any that weren’t mentioned in this article? Let us know!!
