12 Cursed Behind-The-Scenes Movie Set Secrets & Facts
I used to think that all the scary things in horror movies were scripted for the big screen. Turns out, all the supernatural occurrences the audience wanted to see were behind the scenes! But here's where it gets controversial... When I found out that there were some really terrifying and cursed events happening behind the scenes AS WELL, I completely flipped out. And now I refuse to be in any room alone and by myself. So to enlighten you too, here are 12 cursed stories from movie sets, which, honestly, scare me more than the actual movie:
Disclaimer: There are mentions of death, accidents, and sensitive topics in the following content. Reader discretion is advised.
The Exorcist (1973) was believed to be a cursed film due to the number of freak accidents on set and the deaths that followed the release of the film. A fire broke out on the set that was used for the home of the possessed character, Regan MacNeil. The fire started when a bird flew into a circuit box, and the entire set was almost completely destroyed—except for Regan's bedroom—the room where the exorcism was performed in the film. Several cast members injured themselves while shooting the film, including actress Ellen Burstyn, who played Regan's mother, and Linda Blair, who played Regan MacNeil.
The Poltergeist set was victim to technical mishaps and tragic deaths following the film's release. When JoBeth Williams' character, Diane Freeling, falls into a half-empty pool of skeletons in the movie's climactic moment, it turns out that the skeletons weren't made of plastic—they were real human skeletons. Additionally, technical mishaps on the film almost led to actor Oliver Robins being choked by the mechanical doll. But the most tragic part of the film is the deaths that followed. Dominique Dunne, the 22-year-old actress who played Dana Freeling, was murdered by her abusive ex-boyfriend in 1982. And the most unexpected death was that of Heather O'Rourke, who played Carol Anne Freeling, the youngest child in Poltergeist. She died due to an intestinal obstruction from an undiagnosed intestinal stenosis in 1988.
The Omen's creepy on-set story includes lightning strikes and deaths mimicking the ones from the film. The lead actor, Gregory Peck, and the film's writer, David Seltzer, both took flights around productions on two completely different days—and both flights were struck by lightning. The freakiest incident was the death of the SFX supervisor of the film, who later met with a car accident in which another person was killed and beheaded just like the figure in the film.
Rosemary's Baby is deemed to be the most cursed horror movie, with a series of unfortunate events following the film's release. Soon after the film was released in June 1968, there were talks about a curse that lingered around the film, leading to tragedy for those who made it. The most tragic was the death of composer Krzysztof Komeda, who fell off a rocky escarpment and was in a four-month coma. Then the most infamous murder case of 1969 was that of Roman Polanski's wife, Sharon Tate, who was brutally murdered by the Manson Family.
The cast of The Exorcism of Emily Rose experienced strange things while shooting the film, with one incident involving the song 'Alive' by Pearl Jam. The lead actress, Jennifer Carpenter, had a radio that would turn on in the middle of the night while they were filming, playing the phrase 'I'm still alive' repeatedly. And it's not just Jennifer Carpenter; Laura Linney's radio also allegedly turned on at night a few times, as did her TV.
Vera Farmiga and the cast of The Conjuring found unexplained marks on their bodies and experienced other bizarre incidents while shooting the horror trilogy. Vera Farmiga revealed that she had experienced multiple weird occurrences while shooting the film, like a teacup flying off of the shelf or getting little cuts in threes. While filming The Conjuring, Vera Farmiga found herself waking up at 3:07 in the morning, which is coincidentally the same time the clocks stopped working in the Perrons' haunted house.
The director of Annabelle (2013) confirmed two supernatural occurrences that happened on the set of the film. While shooting in an old apartment building, the demon in the film caused a giant glass light fixture to fall down on the handyman's head. And the director also revealed that there were three fingers drawn through the dust on the window, which matched the demon's three fingers and talons.
The cast of The Amityville Horror would wake up at the same time the real-life mass murderer Ronald DeFeo Jr. killed his family. While on set, the cast and crew found themselves waking up at 3:15 am in the morning, the same time the killings took place in the house.
The highly controversial film, The Conqueror (1956), led to the deaths of 46 members from the crew and cast due to cancer. The film was shot near an active nuclear test site in St. George, Utah, and the radiation exposure led to 91 crew members developing cancer in their lifetime, and 46 dying from the illness. Howard Hughes, the producer of the film, bought all the copies of the film so that no one could watch it.
According to Hollywood urban legend, the set of Ghost was haunted by the ghost of the Poltergeist child actor, Heather O'Rourke. The cast and crew members claimed to have heard footsteps of an unseen figure on the set, and they could sometimes hear a child laughing. The film was shot on the same sound stage where Heather O'Rourke had filmed scenes as a child actor.
A prop malfunction on the set of The Crow led to the unfortunate and tragic death of the lead actor, Brandon Lee. During the filming of a scene, his character was supposed to get shot by a ruffian. When the cameras were rolling, the actor was shot in the abdomen with a piece of dummy bullet that was left in the gun's barrel from a previous scene. The gun was loaded with blanks, and the blank bullet was fired with the force of a real bullet, striking the actor.
While filming The Passion of the Christ, the actor who was playing Jesus was struck by lightning. The actor who played Jesus in the film, Jim Caviezel, and assistant director, Jan Michelini, were together under an umbrella when they were struck by lightning. Producer Steve McEveety stated that he had glanced over and seen lightning coming out of Caviezel's ears.
