The Poltergiest Curse

Do you think the Poltergeist movie trilogy was cursed or was it just a coincidence that so many things had happened on set and caused the deaths of its cast members?

Dominique Dunne was 22 years old when she was strangled by her ex-boyfriend. He had showed up at her house wanting to talk. A fight broke out and the ex attacked Dominique. She went into a coma, never regained consciousness and passed away five days later. Just weeks before her 23rd birthday. John Thomas Sweeney was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and only serves three and a half years of a six year sentence.

Heather O’Rourke was the star of the Poltergeist film series. She was 12 years old when she passed from complications from an acute bowel obstruction. It could have been fixed if caught early enough, but doctors thought she had Crohn's disease. Heather was on medication that made her have chipmunk cheeks as seen in the third Poltergeist film. She had flu-like symptoms and collapsed at home. She was rushed to the hospital where her heart stopped. CPR was performed and she came back. When she arrived at the hospital, she was put into emergency surgery where she passed away on the table.

Her mother filed a wrongful death suit against the Kaiser Foundation Hospital and Southern California Permanente Medical Group. She claimed that Heather was misdiagnosed.

Julian Beck played Kane in the 1986’s Poltergeist 2: The Other Side. He battled cancer for 18 months and passed away from stomach cancer 7 months before the film’s spring release.

Will Sampson was a 53 year old Native American actor who portrayed the good spirit in the second Poltergeist. He died a year after the film’s release. Will had a double lung and heart transplant 6 weeks prior to his death. He was weak before the surgery and he knew his chances of survival were small because of it. His cause of death was from a severe pre-operative malnutrition and post operative kidney failure and fungal infection.

Lou Perryman from the first film was murdered in 2009 when Seth Christopher Tatum broke into his house and killed him with an axe. He admitted to the crime with the intention to steal his car. He was an ex-con with a mental illness. He is currently serving a life sentence.

Oliver Robbins was attacked on set when he was filming a scene with a mechanical clown. It malfunctioned and choked him. It wasn’t until he started to turn blue that the crew had to intervene.

What do you think really happened? Do you believe in curses?