1 00:00:13,535 --> 00:00:23,066 ♪♪♪ 2 00:00:23,153 --> 00:00:33,120 ♪♪♪ 3 00:00:33,207 --> 00:00:37,602 ♪♪♪ 4 00:00:39,735 --> 00:00:44,435 ♪♪♪ 5 00:00:44,522 --> 00:00:47,090 - We hear a lot about cursed films 6 00:00:47,177 --> 00:00:50,311 around horror productions. 7 00:00:50,398 --> 00:00:53,966 It's definitely a curious thing that people gravitate to. 8 00:00:54,054 --> 00:00:55,490 You know, crazy things that happened 9 00:00:55,577 --> 00:00:57,970 on the set of "The Exorcist" 10 00:00:58,058 --> 00:00:59,494 or "The Omen". 11 00:01:01,322 --> 00:01:03,498 You know, I remember watching "Poltergeist". 12 00:01:03,585 --> 00:01:05,326 And I remember my parents telling me, 13 00:01:05,413 --> 00:01:07,110 Oh, that little girl died. 14 00:01:07,197 --> 00:01:09,112 And I was like, Oh my God. 15 00:01:09,199 --> 00:01:11,462 - Hello! 16 00:01:11,549 --> 00:01:15,162 - I remember hearing the stories about "Poltergeist". 17 00:01:15,249 --> 00:01:18,643 The lore was introduced to me long before the film was, 18 00:01:18,730 --> 00:01:20,602 and so I almost felt like I had seen the movie 19 00:01:20,689 --> 00:01:22,995 because I had heard about all of the kind of cursed things 20 00:01:23,083 --> 00:01:25,172 that had happened on set. 21 00:01:25,259 --> 00:01:28,131 - Most people when you hear of "Poltergeist" probably think, 22 00:01:28,218 --> 00:01:31,003 oh yeah, that's that film that was kind of cursed. 23 00:01:31,091 --> 00:01:34,181 And then you enter the internet into that and forget about it. 24 00:01:34,268 --> 00:01:37,009 It's off and skyrocketing and it has a life of its own now. 25 00:01:37,097 --> 00:01:38,750 It will never go away. 26 00:01:39,751 --> 00:01:41,492 - There's a series of mishaps that happened 27 00:01:41,579 --> 00:01:43,233 that believers will say, 28 00:01:43,320 --> 00:01:46,367 uh, mean that there's a Poltergeist curse. 29 00:01:46,454 --> 00:01:49,500 For example, on the set of the film, the little boy, 30 00:01:49,587 --> 00:01:51,154 when he's being strangled by the toy clown, 31 00:01:51,241 --> 00:01:53,069 the mechanism malfunctioned 32 00:01:53,156 --> 00:01:55,854 and he claims he was actually being choked out. 33 00:01:55,941 --> 00:01:57,465 [Creepy laughter] 34 00:01:59,728 --> 00:02:01,338 - [Screaming] 35 00:02:03,123 --> 00:02:04,733 - Agh! Agh! 36 00:02:04,820 --> 00:02:05,908 - One of the stories to come out of... 37 00:02:05,995 --> 00:02:07,736 the original Poltergeist, 38 00:02:07,823 --> 00:02:09,477 which you had a lot of tragic stories surrounding it 39 00:02:09,564 --> 00:02:10,913 and a lot of deaths, 40 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:13,045 was JoBeth Williams in a... 41 00:02:13,133 --> 00:02:15,787 muddy pool full of skeletons. 42 00:02:17,354 --> 00:02:19,617 - [Screaming] 43 00:02:19,704 --> 00:02:21,924 - If you need skeletons to come out of a muddy pool, what do you do? 44 00:02:22,011 --> 00:02:23,926 Well, get some real ones, I guess. 45 00:02:24,013 --> 00:02:26,581 - Some people think maybe the skeletons in the pool 46 00:02:26,668 --> 00:02:29,061 at the end of the movie were actually real skeletons 47 00:02:29,149 --> 00:02:31,063 from India. [Woman screams] 48 00:02:31,151 --> 00:02:32,630 - The Poltergeist curse 49 00:02:32,717 --> 00:02:34,502 is often attributed to these rumours 50 00:02:34,589 --> 00:02:36,721 that they used real skeletons from India. 51 00:02:36,808 --> 00:02:38,288 And this is blasphemous, 52 00:02:38,375 --> 00:02:39,855 and they've desecrated these bodies 53 00:02:39,942 --> 00:02:41,552 and it led to a curse. 54 00:02:41,639 --> 00:02:43,641 - Whether that's true or not, I don't know. 55 00:02:43,728 --> 00:02:45,687 I tend to believe that it is true 56 00:02:45,774 --> 00:02:47,515 because those skeletons do look pretty good. 57 00:02:47,602 --> 00:02:49,473 - Ahh! Ahh! 58 00:02:49,560 --> 00:02:51,388 - There are a number of crazy things that happened 59 00:02:51,475 --> 00:02:54,783 throughout the making of the three Poltergeist films, 60 00:02:54,870 --> 00:02:56,654 but there are two primary reasons 61 00:02:56,741 --> 00:03:00,092 why people believe the films were cursed. 62 00:03:00,180 --> 00:03:02,530 - Now I lay me down to sleep... 63 00:03:02,617 --> 00:03:04,880 - The deaths of Heather O'Rourke 64 00:03:04,967 --> 00:03:06,098 and Dominique Dunn. 65 00:03:06,186 --> 00:03:07,839 - Oh brother! 66 00:03:09,885 --> 00:03:12,801 - Dominique Dunne was the daughter of Dominick Dunne, 67 00:03:14,716 --> 00:03:17,675 who was a very famous writer for Vanity Fair. 68 00:03:18,807 --> 00:03:20,504 But he made a name for himself 69 00:03:20,591 --> 00:03:23,290 covering many of the famous murder trials 70 00:03:23,377 --> 00:03:25,466 of the 1990s. 71 00:03:25,553 --> 00:03:28,686 Her older brother was Griffin Dunne 72 00:03:28,773 --> 00:03:30,906 who had made a number of movies. 73 00:03:30,993 --> 00:03:32,081 [Howling] 74 00:03:32,168 --> 00:03:33,952 - Did you hear that? 75 00:03:34,039 --> 00:03:37,260 - Dominique Dunne was in a relationship with John Sweeney, 76 00:03:37,347 --> 00:03:40,394 who was the sous chef for Wolfgang Puck. 77 00:03:41,656 --> 00:03:45,703 One evening, Dominique had been beaten up by John Sweeney 78 00:03:45,790 --> 00:03:47,923 and so she... 79 00:03:48,010 --> 00:03:50,491 broke off the relationship. 80 00:03:50,578 --> 00:03:53,102 - [Screaming] What's happening? 81 00:03:54,451 --> 00:03:57,498 - Poltergeist had already been released 82 00:03:57,585 --> 00:03:59,282 and was a big hit. 83 00:03:59,369 --> 00:04:01,806 And John Sweeney showed up 84 00:04:01,893 --> 00:04:05,288 at her house in Los Angeles, 85 00:04:05,375 --> 00:04:07,377 and got into a fight with her 86 00:04:07,464 --> 00:04:09,640 and began to strangle her. 87 00:04:09,727 --> 00:04:12,861 He did not, at that time, kill her. 88 00:04:14,428 --> 00:04:16,430 She then remained in a coma 89 00:04:16,517 --> 00:04:18,170 for four or five days 90 00:04:18,258 --> 00:04:20,912 and then she was taken off life support. 91 00:04:22,697 --> 00:04:24,481 Dominick Dunne had the idea 92 00:04:24,568 --> 00:04:27,615 to write about his daughter's murder 93 00:04:27,702 --> 00:04:31,140 and the subsequent trial for Vanity Fair. 94 00:04:32,402 --> 00:04:35,710 The judge ruled against the prosecution 95 00:04:37,102 --> 00:04:39,366 in almost every way possible. 96 00:04:39,453 --> 00:04:44,066 For example, John Sweeney had beaten up a girlfriend 97 00:04:44,153 --> 00:04:46,242 previous to Dominique Dunne 98 00:04:47,417 --> 00:04:50,638 and that was not allowed in court. 99 00:04:51,900 --> 00:04:53,858 It looked as though John Sweeney, 100 00:04:53,945 --> 00:04:55,773 under some kind of a plea bargain, 101 00:04:55,860 --> 00:04:58,559 would get 10 years in prison. 102 00:04:58,646 --> 00:05:00,474 That would have been better 103 00:05:00,561 --> 00:05:03,955 because he ended up spending two and a half years in prison. 104 00:05:06,044 --> 00:05:07,829 - So, after Poltergeist, 105 00:05:07,916 --> 00:05:10,527 Dominique Dunne is murdered by her boyfriend. 106 00:05:10,614 --> 00:05:11,920 I think that doesn't pick up 107 00:05:12,007 --> 00:05:13,530 a lot of cursed heat at the time, 108 00:05:13,617 --> 00:05:16,794 but then, in "Poltergeist 2", 109 00:05:16,881 --> 00:05:18,753 Will Sampson, an actor in the film, 110 00:05:18,840 --> 00:05:20,624 who was also a Shaman, 111 00:05:20,711 --> 00:05:23,888 was allowed onto set after hours to perform an exorcism 112 00:05:23,975 --> 00:05:26,935 to try to rid the production of its demons. 113 00:05:28,197 --> 00:05:30,242 - Two years after the release of "Poltergeist 2", 114 00:05:30,330 --> 00:05:33,245 Will Sampson, that same actor who performed the exorcism, 115 00:05:33,333 --> 00:05:36,727 died of kidney failure and malnutrition at age 53. 116 00:05:36,814 --> 00:05:39,774 Okay, that one, he's young; that could be a curse. 117 00:05:41,515 --> 00:05:43,430 - ♪ God is in... ♪ 118 00:05:43,517 --> 00:05:44,996 - And then to add to this list, 119 00:05:45,083 --> 00:05:47,129 Julian Beck, who played the cult leader, 120 00:05:47,216 --> 00:05:49,044 the old scary man that they used 121 00:05:49,131 --> 00:05:50,480 in a lot of the marketing for the film - 122 00:05:50,567 --> 00:05:52,047 even if you haven't seen the film 123 00:05:52,134 --> 00:05:53,962 you're probably aware of this guy. Ahhhhhhh! 124 00:05:54,049 --> 00:05:56,312 - You are gonna dieeeeeeeee! 125 00:05:57,531 --> 00:06:00,708 - He died of stomach cancer as well. 126 00:06:00,795 --> 00:06:03,275 - Sorry to see... 127 00:06:03,363 --> 00:06:05,930 you're still unconvinced. 128 00:06:07,367 --> 00:06:09,847 - When I accepted to do "Poltergeist 3", 129 00:06:09,934 --> 00:06:12,502 I was aware of the fact that there had been deaths 130 00:06:12,589 --> 00:06:14,852 on the previous two films. 131 00:06:14,939 --> 00:06:16,637 I think the only thing that brought about 132 00:06:16,724 --> 00:06:19,466 any feelings of a curse or anything 133 00:06:19,553 --> 00:06:23,470 was we had to recreate one of the characters in the film 134 00:06:23,557 --> 00:06:27,256 because the actor Julian Beck had died 135 00:06:27,343 --> 00:06:30,259 and we wanted to bring back the character of Rev. Kane. 136 00:06:30,346 --> 00:06:32,914 So they used a death mask of um... 137 00:06:34,568 --> 00:06:36,526 Julian Beck, 138 00:06:36,613 --> 00:06:38,876 to make the prosthetics for Nate Davis 139 00:06:38,963 --> 00:06:41,488 so that Nate would look like Julian. 140 00:06:42,576 --> 00:06:44,447 They called it a death mask. 141 00:06:44,534 --> 00:06:48,495 Whether the casting was done while Julian was alive 142 00:06:48,582 --> 00:06:51,367 or after he died, I'm not sure. 143 00:06:52,586 --> 00:06:54,762 It was a little creepy. 144 00:06:56,720 --> 00:06:58,156 - I'm Matthew Hutson. 145 00:06:58,243 --> 00:07:00,071 I'm a science writer and I'm the author 146 00:07:00,158 --> 00:07:02,900 of "The 7 Laws of Magical Thinking: 147 00:07:02,987 --> 00:07:06,469 How Irrational Beliefs Keep Us Happy, Healthy and Sane." 148 00:07:06,556 --> 00:07:10,995 Magical Thinking is basically belief in the supernatural. 149 00:07:11,082 --> 00:07:14,172 Things like luck, destiny, mind over matter, 150 00:07:14,259 --> 00:07:15,870 life after death 151 00:07:15,957 --> 00:07:19,221 or the belief that objects carry essences. 152 00:07:19,308 --> 00:07:21,136 This is the law of contagion. 153 00:07:21,223 --> 00:07:24,487 It's the idea that mental properties like personality 154 00:07:24,574 --> 00:07:27,316 or good and evil can be transmitted through contact. 155 00:07:28,578 --> 00:07:32,800 So, a great example of this is the story of the Red Sox jersey 156 00:07:32,887 --> 00:07:34,671 buried under Yankee Stadium. 157 00:07:36,281 --> 00:07:37,935 - Following a lengthy curse 158 00:07:38,022 --> 00:07:40,851 that hung over his beloved Red Sox baseball team, 159 00:07:40,938 --> 00:07:44,028 a Boston fan hatched his own devious plot: 160 00:07:44,115 --> 00:07:46,901 bury a Red Sox jersey in the foundation 161 00:07:46,988 --> 00:07:48,859 of the new Yankee Stadium. 162 00:07:48,946 --> 00:07:51,209 - He went to the construction site for Yankee Stadium 163 00:07:51,296 --> 00:07:54,604 and brought with him a jersey for David Ortiz 164 00:07:54,691 --> 00:07:57,172 who was a star on the Red Sox. 165 00:07:57,259 --> 00:08:00,741 And he put this jersey in the wet cement, 166 00:08:00,828 --> 00:08:03,744 thinking that he would curse the stadium. 167 00:08:03,831 --> 00:08:07,095 And the next year the Yankees found out about it. 168 00:08:07,182 --> 00:08:10,098 And, so, people were calling for this thing to be removed 169 00:08:10,185 --> 00:08:13,971 and they had to jackhammer it out of two feet of concrete. 170 00:08:14,058 --> 00:08:16,017 - They ripped the concrete apart today 171 00:08:16,104 --> 00:08:17,627 at the new Yankee Stadium, 172 00:08:17,714 --> 00:08:19,673 and there it was, wedged in there. 173 00:08:19,760 --> 00:08:22,414 Yup, that's it, the infamous Red Sox jersey 174 00:08:22,502 --> 00:08:24,242 buried by a construction worker. 175 00:08:24,329 --> 00:08:26,723 - They pulled this jersey out of the cement 176 00:08:26,810 --> 00:08:29,770 and held it up under the flashing bulbs. 177 00:08:29,857 --> 00:08:32,990 It was like a magical rite, like a cleansing ceremony. 178 00:08:33,077 --> 00:08:35,384 It felt very tribal. 179 00:08:36,385 --> 00:08:38,387 [Subway rattles] 180 00:08:40,258 --> 00:08:41,738 [Creepy music] 181 00:08:43,523 --> 00:08:46,874 - We infuse inanimate objects with agency, 182 00:08:46,961 --> 00:08:49,093 and our brains are just really good at that. 183 00:08:51,226 --> 00:08:53,663 We know from research by cognitive psychologists 184 00:08:53,750 --> 00:08:55,926 that if you offer subjects the opportunity 185 00:08:56,013 --> 00:08:58,015 to wear Hitler's jacket, 186 00:08:59,103 --> 00:09:00,844 they don't wanna do it. 187 00:09:00,931 --> 00:09:04,152 There's evil in the object itself. 188 00:09:04,239 --> 00:09:06,937 Almost as if the evil is floating in the ether 189 00:09:07,024 --> 00:09:10,375 and it just infuses into a body, a person, 190 00:09:10,462 --> 00:09:12,116 a jacket, an article. 191 00:09:13,117 --> 00:09:16,077 Anything associated with a horror film - 192 00:09:16,164 --> 00:09:19,254 the house, the set, a prop - 193 00:09:19,341 --> 00:09:21,343 of course, it's gonna have that kind of sense 194 00:09:21,430 --> 00:09:23,780 like there's something evil lurking within - 195 00:09:23,867 --> 00:09:26,217 in the walls or in the object. 196 00:09:27,392 --> 00:09:29,351 - There's something therapeutic 197 00:09:29,438 --> 00:09:31,919 about owning the things that frightened you. 198 00:09:32,963 --> 00:09:35,705 I just am a fan of the art. 199 00:09:35,792 --> 00:09:37,707 You know, some people collect paintings. 200 00:09:37,794 --> 00:09:40,318 I collect props. 201 00:09:41,189 --> 00:09:45,062 So this is my toy slash prop room. 202 00:09:45,149 --> 00:09:48,065 This is years and years of collecting right here... 203 00:09:48,152 --> 00:09:49,937 and a few bucks as well. 204 00:09:50,024 --> 00:09:51,242 [Chuckles] 205 00:09:51,329 --> 00:09:53,288 A lot of screen-used masks, 206 00:09:53,375 --> 00:09:55,986 various Halloween films. 207 00:09:56,073 --> 00:09:59,207 It's very important for me to have screen-used stuff 208 00:09:59,294 --> 00:10:00,948 versus just replicas. 209 00:10:01,035 --> 00:10:03,298 The screen-used stuff, I mean it's so rare 210 00:10:03,385 --> 00:10:06,475 and you're like one of a small portion of people 211 00:10:06,562 --> 00:10:08,129 that may have one. 212 00:10:08,216 --> 00:10:10,827 They only did one of these Frankenstein masks 213 00:10:10,914 --> 00:10:12,960 and I have it. 214 00:10:13,047 --> 00:10:15,658 It is kind of crazy to think who has handled these things, 215 00:10:15,745 --> 00:10:17,704 who's worn them, who's touched them. 216 00:10:17,791 --> 00:10:20,663 The legacy they carry, it makes them special 217 00:10:20,750 --> 00:10:24,667 and it also gives them some sort of mystique. 218 00:10:24,754 --> 00:10:27,670 But my crown jewel of my collection, 219 00:10:27,757 --> 00:10:30,064 the thing that creeps out pretty much everybody 220 00:10:30,151 --> 00:10:31,979 that comes into my house, 221 00:10:32,066 --> 00:10:33,633 is the Poltergeist clown. 222 00:10:34,895 --> 00:10:37,419 Many people look at that Poltergeist clown 223 00:10:37,506 --> 00:10:40,683 and they think I'm completely out of my mind 224 00:10:40,770 --> 00:10:43,164 for having it in my house. 225 00:10:43,251 --> 00:10:46,558 That thing terrified them as a child. 226 00:10:46,646 --> 00:10:48,299 It terrified me. 227 00:10:50,388 --> 00:10:53,087 - I don't necessarily like collecting 228 00:10:53,174 --> 00:10:55,350 some of the objects from horror films, 229 00:10:55,437 --> 00:10:57,700 even though I'm sure many people do, 230 00:10:57,787 --> 00:11:01,443 but I am a little bit addicted to going to the locations. 231 00:11:02,574 --> 00:11:05,926 Not just for the horror education that you get from it, 232 00:11:06,013 --> 00:11:09,494 but also for the history as well. 233 00:11:09,581 --> 00:11:12,410 And sometimes real-life history does intersect 234 00:11:12,497 --> 00:11:14,369 with the making of the movie. 235 00:11:15,587 --> 00:11:19,461 A place takes on a certain kind of personality 236 00:11:19,548 --> 00:11:21,550 just because a movie was shot there. 237 00:11:21,637 --> 00:11:23,595 - Okay, Rob, that thing almost killed me. 238 00:11:23,683 --> 00:11:26,773 - There's so many homes used in a horror film 239 00:11:26,860 --> 00:11:30,472 and then a buyer kind of unwittingly gets this home. 240 00:11:31,473 --> 00:11:33,040 And maybe they weren't aware of the fact 241 00:11:33,127 --> 00:11:35,129 that there were going to be so many people 242 00:11:35,216 --> 00:11:37,740 who come to their house almost like a pilgrimage, you know? 243 00:11:37,827 --> 00:11:39,873 This is, it is almost like a religion. 244 00:11:39,960 --> 00:11:43,006 - Hello. This is Ethan from Nubby Vision 245 00:11:43,093 --> 00:11:47,619 and I am standing in front of the Freeling house, 246 00:11:47,707 --> 00:11:49,143 which was featured in Poltergeist, 247 00:11:49,230 --> 00:11:50,971 my favourite horror movie of all time. 248 00:11:51,058 --> 00:11:53,451 - Who knew that a regular residential area 249 00:11:53,538 --> 00:11:57,325 could turn into a horror film tourist location? 250 00:11:58,979 --> 00:12:01,068 - The person that lives in that house now 251 00:12:01,155 --> 00:12:03,157 was the original owner, 252 00:12:03,244 --> 00:12:06,769 but they shot the film there before anybody had moved in. 253 00:12:06,856 --> 00:12:08,902 It was a brand-new construction. 254 00:12:08,989 --> 00:12:10,251 And so, when they bought it, 255 00:12:10,338 --> 00:12:12,557 I don't think they knew right away 256 00:12:12,644 --> 00:12:15,473 that that was the house from the film. Or maybe they knew 257 00:12:15,560 --> 00:12:16,910 and they just didn't think it'd be a big deal. 258 00:12:16,997 --> 00:12:19,173 Who would ever find out? 259 00:12:19,260 --> 00:12:21,001 - Reason why I'm whispering 260 00:12:21,088 --> 00:12:24,134 is because I am at the Poltergeist house 261 00:12:24,221 --> 00:12:26,180 and the garage door is open. 262 00:12:26,267 --> 00:12:27,921 There's a guy literally in his garage right there, 263 00:12:28,008 --> 00:12:30,662 so I'm trying to be quiet. 264 00:12:30,750 --> 00:12:32,360 - When you visit these places, 265 00:12:32,447 --> 00:12:34,841 you feel like it's a house you grew up in 266 00:12:34,928 --> 00:12:38,061 'cause in your mind it's a memory. 267 00:12:38,148 --> 00:12:40,411 So I just became obsessed with it. 268 00:12:40,498 --> 00:12:42,457 My friend Darren and I found the street 269 00:12:42,544 --> 00:12:43,980 where the Myers' house was. 270 00:12:44,067 --> 00:12:45,982 Hi, I'm Sean Clark. 271 00:12:46,069 --> 00:12:48,942 Today, I'm at the Myers' house in South Pasadena, California. 272 00:12:49,029 --> 00:12:52,859 That started my obsession with filming locations. 273 00:12:53,903 --> 00:12:55,775 Hi, I'm Sean Clark 274 00:12:55,862 --> 00:12:57,428 and today I'm standing in front of the house from Poltergeist. 275 00:12:57,515 --> 00:12:59,517 We're in Cuesta Verde, California - 276 00:12:59,604 --> 00:13:01,824 which is actually Simi Valley, California - 277 00:13:01,911 --> 00:13:04,871 where the house from the film Poltergeist was located. 278 00:13:04,958 --> 00:13:07,003 It's still here. It didn't get sucked into the ground 279 00:13:07,090 --> 00:13:08,875 like you saw in the film. 280 00:13:08,962 --> 00:13:11,181 The swimming pool was shot on a soundstage at MGM, 281 00:13:11,268 --> 00:13:12,922 but, you know, 282 00:13:13,009 --> 00:13:15,664 this house doesn't even have a swimming pool. 283 00:13:15,751 --> 00:13:17,666 The interior of this house wasn't actually used. 284 00:13:17,753 --> 00:13:19,407 It was all sets. 285 00:13:19,494 --> 00:13:22,540 And just the exterior is what they used in the film, 286 00:13:22,627 --> 00:13:24,368 and it's just a regular house. 287 00:13:24,455 --> 00:13:26,457 There's nothing scary about it. It's just suburbia. 288 00:13:28,285 --> 00:13:30,897 Hey, how you doin'? [Chuckles] - Hi. 289 00:13:30,984 --> 00:13:33,377 - Now I'm with Richard Hallman. He's the next-door neighbour. 290 00:13:33,464 --> 00:13:35,205 So, tell me, when did you move in 291 00:13:35,292 --> 00:13:36,685 and when did you first find out 292 00:13:36,772 --> 00:13:38,382 this was the house from Poltergeist? 293 00:13:38,469 --> 00:13:41,081 - I moved in in 2010, about 8 years ago. 294 00:13:41,168 --> 00:13:44,736 It's fun. I love the people coming by and checking it out. 295 00:13:44,824 --> 00:13:46,651 Everybody's friendly, so it's great. 296 00:13:46,738 --> 00:13:48,958 - I do believe they shot at least the scene in the kitchen, 297 00:13:49,045 --> 00:13:50,786 'cause-- looking into the backyard, 298 00:13:50,873 --> 00:13:52,919 when they were supposedly making the swimming pool. 299 00:13:53,006 --> 00:13:54,659 - 'Cause they did that. They made a pool. 300 00:13:54,746 --> 00:13:56,444 - There is a pool? - Yeah, so... 301 00:13:56,531 --> 00:13:58,272 - There is a pool. Okay, mystery solved. 302 00:13:58,359 --> 00:14:00,317 So I wonder if they did shoot that infamous scene 303 00:14:00,404 --> 00:14:02,015 with all the skeletons here, if that-- 304 00:14:02,102 --> 00:14:03,581 - That was here. - It was here? 305 00:14:03,668 --> 00:14:05,322 - No, it was here. - Okay. So... 306 00:14:05,409 --> 00:14:06,889 - It was done here. - ...the curse could be real 307 00:14:06,976 --> 00:14:09,587 and it might actually be this house. 308 00:14:09,674 --> 00:14:11,111 - So yeah, like there's some weird things that went on 309 00:14:11,198 --> 00:14:13,374 as far as like how many, you know, people, 310 00:14:13,461 --> 00:14:15,463 actors, things like that-- - That passed away, yeah. 311 00:14:15,550 --> 00:14:17,204 - Things like that. That's scary. 312 00:14:17,291 --> 00:14:19,554 - Did you know there was rumours that they used actual... 313 00:14:19,641 --> 00:14:21,773 some actual skeletons in that scene 314 00:14:21,861 --> 00:14:24,994 and that might be part of the reason of the curses. 315 00:14:25,081 --> 00:14:28,737 So, who knows? I mean you say this guy is the original owner. 316 00:14:28,824 --> 00:14:30,173 Nothing's happened to him yet, as far as I know, so... 317 00:14:30,260 --> 00:14:32,262 - No, he's still here, still going. 318 00:14:32,349 --> 00:14:34,917 - The curse of Poltergeist is really fascinating 319 00:14:35,004 --> 00:14:37,659 because it's kind of this meta curse. 320 00:14:37,746 --> 00:14:40,531 Because it is mirroring what you're seeing in the movie 321 00:14:40,618 --> 00:14:43,534 and that does have a bigger impact. 322 00:14:44,796 --> 00:14:46,494 The house in the film is not only the source 323 00:14:46,581 --> 00:14:47,930 of all the supernatural troubles 324 00:14:48,017 --> 00:14:49,497 that haunt the Freeling family, 325 00:14:49,584 --> 00:14:51,455 but it's also the source of the problems 326 00:14:51,542 --> 00:14:53,980 faced by these real-life homeowners, 327 00:14:54,067 --> 00:14:56,852 thanks to a bunch of curious Poltergeist fans. 328 00:14:59,202 --> 00:15:00,943 And the same thing with the skeletons 329 00:15:01,030 --> 00:15:03,337 that are rising up from underneath the house. 330 00:15:03,424 --> 00:15:06,514 If those are real, perhaps the people who are making the movie 331 00:15:06,601 --> 00:15:08,298 are making the same mistakes 332 00:15:08,385 --> 00:15:10,431 that the people in the movie are making, 333 00:15:10,518 --> 00:15:13,477 then it has this meta credibility to it. 334 00:15:13,564 --> 00:15:15,523 - You son of a bitch! You moved the cemetery 335 00:15:15,610 --> 00:15:18,178 but you left the bodies, didn't ya?! 336 00:15:18,265 --> 00:15:20,397 - The thing is, if you talk to anyone 337 00:15:20,484 --> 00:15:23,009 who's around that tragedy, 338 00:15:23,096 --> 00:15:24,836 it's, it's real 339 00:15:24,924 --> 00:15:27,013 and it's something that we forget. 340 00:15:28,057 --> 00:15:29,754 We try to mythologize it 341 00:15:29,841 --> 00:15:32,148 but we forget that there are real people affected. 342 00:15:33,584 --> 00:15:37,545 - I had an amazing relationship with Heather. 343 00:15:37,632 --> 00:15:40,678 I absolutely adored that little girl. 344 00:15:40,765 --> 00:15:43,681 I think it was after the first or second day of shooting, 345 00:15:43,768 --> 00:15:46,119 she came up to me and said: You know what, Gary, 346 00:15:46,206 --> 00:15:48,208 I really like the way you direct, 347 00:15:48,295 --> 00:15:51,080 and I, you know, I'm gonna be a director when I grow up, 348 00:15:51,167 --> 00:15:54,257 so I would like to study how you work. 349 00:15:54,344 --> 00:15:57,043 [Laughs] 350 00:15:57,130 --> 00:16:00,394 I think Heather had a ball with the practical effects. 351 00:16:00,481 --> 00:16:03,266 It was like an amusement park ride for her. 352 00:16:05,486 --> 00:16:07,357 And especially that mirror - you know, 353 00:16:07,444 --> 00:16:11,187 when she locks fingers with her image in the mirror. 354 00:16:12,406 --> 00:16:14,060 - We're back! 355 00:16:14,147 --> 00:16:15,887 - And she loved it. 356 00:16:15,975 --> 00:16:18,020 She just thought that was the most fun in the world, 357 00:16:18,107 --> 00:16:20,370 of riding up and down on this mirror. 358 00:16:20,457 --> 00:16:22,155 [Chuckles] 359 00:16:23,634 --> 00:16:26,811 Heather had been ill before we started shooting 360 00:16:26,898 --> 00:16:30,076 and her parents had been taking her to doctors. 361 00:16:31,120 --> 00:16:33,818 She was diagnosed as having Crohn's Disease, 362 00:16:33,905 --> 00:16:36,038 and they were treating her for Crohn's Disease. 363 00:16:36,125 --> 00:16:38,562 So she was on steroids 364 00:16:38,649 --> 00:16:40,651 and I guess the only side effects 365 00:16:40,738 --> 00:16:44,655 were the chipmunk cheeks that she would develop sometimes. 366 00:16:44,742 --> 00:16:47,702 But, unfortunately, they were treating her for... 367 00:16:47,789 --> 00:16:49,878 something that she didn't have. 368 00:16:52,489 --> 00:16:54,839 We got a call one morning 369 00:16:54,926 --> 00:16:57,103 that we were gonna have a conference call that afternoon 370 00:16:57,190 --> 00:16:59,670 and the conference call was... 371 00:16:59,757 --> 00:17:01,281 Heather's agent telling us 372 00:17:01,368 --> 00:17:03,674 that she had passed away that morning. 373 00:17:05,372 --> 00:17:08,418 My first reaction to hearing that Heather passed away 374 00:17:08,505 --> 00:17:10,203 was just total sorrow. 375 00:17:11,204 --> 00:17:14,859 Um, I-I just... I-I couldn't believe it. 376 00:17:14,946 --> 00:17:17,297 - The mother of the star of the three Poltergeist movies 377 00:17:17,384 --> 00:17:20,082 has filed a wrongful death suit against the hospital 378 00:17:20,169 --> 00:17:22,128 and medical group that treated Heather. 379 00:17:22,215 --> 00:17:26,349 - What they thought she had was a bowel inflammation. 380 00:17:26,436 --> 00:17:29,135 What she actually had was an obstruction. 381 00:17:29,222 --> 00:17:32,094 - There was a congenital birth defect 382 00:17:32,181 --> 00:17:35,315 and she had an abscess in her intestines 383 00:17:35,402 --> 00:17:38,709 that had been collecting fecal matter 384 00:17:38,796 --> 00:17:41,364 and, and, and other toxic matter 385 00:17:42,626 --> 00:17:46,326 that had been growing in like this balloon on her intestines, 386 00:17:46,413 --> 00:17:47,936 and that morning... 387 00:17:49,503 --> 00:17:51,722 um, it exploded. 388 00:17:51,809 --> 00:17:54,856 And basically, she went into toxic shock 389 00:17:54,943 --> 00:17:56,727 and that was... 390 00:17:57,946 --> 00:18:00,601 that was the end of it. 391 00:18:04,474 --> 00:18:08,130 And Alan Ladd Jr., he said, "Gary, get on a plane. 392 00:18:08,217 --> 00:18:11,786 You gotta come back, we gotta have a meeting. 393 00:18:11,873 --> 00:18:14,963 We have a film that we have an ending that we're unhappy with. 394 00:18:15,050 --> 00:18:17,313 We were gonna shoot a new ending and..." 395 00:18:17,400 --> 00:18:19,359 So I flew back to Los Angeles. 396 00:18:19,446 --> 00:18:22,318 And I wanted to be there anyways for the funeral, 397 00:18:22,405 --> 00:18:24,886 where I had been asked to be a pallbearer. 398 00:18:26,670 --> 00:18:28,759 We just decided in that room that day, 399 00:18:28,846 --> 00:18:30,326 the day before the funeral, 400 00:18:30,413 --> 00:18:32,546 that we were not gonna finish the film. 401 00:18:34,722 --> 00:18:36,506 Film's over. 402 00:18:36,593 --> 00:18:39,161 I can't go back into the cutting room 403 00:18:39,248 --> 00:18:41,903 or watch this film 404 00:18:41,990 --> 00:18:45,036 with this dead 11-year-old in it. 405 00:18:46,908 --> 00:18:50,346 Afterwards, the board at MGM just said to us, 406 00:18:50,433 --> 00:18:51,956 you're gonna finish the film. 407 00:18:52,043 --> 00:18:53,741 We got a lot of money invested in the film, 408 00:18:53,828 --> 00:18:55,221 you're gonna finish the film. 409 00:18:56,309 --> 00:18:58,398 - You don't need Carol Ann! 410 00:18:58,485 --> 00:19:01,792 I can lead you into the light. 411 00:19:01,879 --> 00:19:03,881 I have the knowledge 412 00:19:03,968 --> 00:19:06,232 and the power! 413 00:19:07,755 --> 00:19:10,323 - So they said, we'll have to come up and do an ending 414 00:19:10,410 --> 00:19:12,716 that... won't involve Heather. 415 00:19:12,803 --> 00:19:15,980 So, we came up with the idea for the stupid ending 416 00:19:16,067 --> 00:19:18,200 that's on the film now 417 00:19:18,287 --> 00:19:21,029 and used a double for Heather. 418 00:19:22,291 --> 00:19:23,814 That was the creepiest thing 419 00:19:23,901 --> 00:19:26,469 I've ever gone through in my life - 420 00:19:29,820 --> 00:19:32,388 having this little girl dressed up as Heather, 421 00:19:33,694 --> 00:19:36,262 keeping her face away from camera. 422 00:19:38,438 --> 00:19:41,092 I really just did not want to finish the film. 423 00:19:42,311 --> 00:19:44,879 None of us would go along with the studio 424 00:19:44,966 --> 00:19:49,100 and do any publicity for the release of the movie. 425 00:19:49,188 --> 00:19:51,886 None of us wanted the movie released 426 00:19:53,061 --> 00:19:54,280 and ah... 427 00:19:54,367 --> 00:19:56,064 but it was. 428 00:19:57,370 --> 00:19:59,633 I don't think any of us thought finishing the film 429 00:19:59,720 --> 00:20:02,157 would be a memorial to Heather. 430 00:20:04,420 --> 00:20:06,988 The only thing we did was... 431 00:20:07,075 --> 00:20:08,381 at the end of the film 432 00:20:08,468 --> 00:20:11,297 there is a single card that says: 433 00:20:11,384 --> 00:20:14,648 In Memoriam to Heather O'Rourke, 434 00:20:17,825 --> 00:20:20,306 which just makes it sadder. [Chuckles] 435 00:20:22,656 --> 00:20:24,223 - In other showbiz news, 436 00:20:24,310 --> 00:20:26,312 as "Poltergeist 3" opens around the country, 437 00:20:26,399 --> 00:20:29,532 the memory of Heather O'Rourke continues to make headlines. 438 00:20:29,619 --> 00:20:31,273 - With the death of Heather O'Rourke, 439 00:20:31,360 --> 00:20:32,970 and several other stars in the Poltergeist films, 440 00:20:33,057 --> 00:20:35,625 supermarket tabloids immediately began running 441 00:20:35,712 --> 00:20:37,975 stories of the films being jinxed. 442 00:20:38,062 --> 00:20:39,325 - Following Heather's death, 443 00:20:39,412 --> 00:20:41,805 I was attacked by the... 444 00:20:41,892 --> 00:20:44,286 by the tabloid world. 445 00:20:44,373 --> 00:20:46,680 They were outside my door. 446 00:20:46,767 --> 00:20:48,334 I couldn't pick up my phone 447 00:20:48,421 --> 00:20:50,684 without it being somebody from... 448 00:20:51,685 --> 00:20:55,036 the National Inquirer or some other rag like that, 449 00:20:55,123 --> 00:20:57,430 wanting to know uh... 450 00:20:57,517 --> 00:20:59,910 you know, asking me questions about Heather's death 451 00:20:59,997 --> 00:21:02,435 and about the curse of Poltergeist. 452 00:21:02,522 --> 00:21:06,700 I actually moved and changed my phone number. 453 00:21:08,397 --> 00:21:11,879 Zelda Rubinstein got so fed up 454 00:21:11,966 --> 00:21:13,924 with people asking her to talk about it, 455 00:21:14,011 --> 00:21:17,406 she finally went on camera and did an interview. 456 00:21:17,493 --> 00:21:20,322 - Zelda Rubinstein is in "Poltergeist 3". 457 00:21:20,409 --> 00:21:23,369 We asked what she thought of the jinx stories. 458 00:21:23,456 --> 00:21:27,895 - Heather died because of an undetected... 459 00:21:29,940 --> 00:21:33,074 congenital anatomical defect. 460 00:21:33,161 --> 00:21:35,685 And Dominique Dunne died at the hands 461 00:21:35,772 --> 00:21:38,775 of an extremely ill-directed, 462 00:21:38,862 --> 00:21:41,952 passionate boyfriend. 463 00:21:42,039 --> 00:21:44,520 I think that it's pretty much a courtesy 464 00:21:44,607 --> 00:21:47,349 to put to an end 465 00:21:47,436 --> 00:21:50,526 this superstitious um... 466 00:21:52,441 --> 00:21:54,313 crap. 467 00:21:54,400 --> 00:21:56,358 - You know, it's possible, if I had to do this all over again, 468 00:21:56,445 --> 00:21:59,013 that I probably wouldn't have made the movie. 469 00:21:59,100 --> 00:22:00,841 Um, I uh... 470 00:22:03,234 --> 00:22:07,064 But I don't think it had anything to do with a curse. 471 00:22:09,197 --> 00:22:11,721 I think people are always fascinated 472 00:22:11,808 --> 00:22:13,636 by the unknown. 473 00:22:13,723 --> 00:22:16,073 The fact that some people wanna connect that 474 00:22:16,160 --> 00:22:19,425 with Poltergeist and skeletons... 475 00:22:19,512 --> 00:22:21,035 to each his own. 476 00:22:22,950 --> 00:22:25,605 - I'm Craig Reardon and I work in special makeup effects, 477 00:22:25,692 --> 00:22:28,956 and in 1981, I worked on "Poltergeist". 478 00:22:29,957 --> 00:22:31,872 But the subject of the skeletons 479 00:22:31,959 --> 00:22:34,570 that were used in Poltergeist, to my utter amazement 480 00:22:34,657 --> 00:22:37,530 has created sort of an online mythology, 481 00:22:37,617 --> 00:22:39,358 and not a pretty one. 482 00:22:39,445 --> 00:22:41,534 Apparently, there's a contingent of people out there 483 00:22:41,621 --> 00:22:44,275 who, uh, believe that the fact 484 00:22:44,363 --> 00:22:46,887 that real human skeletons were used 485 00:22:46,974 --> 00:22:51,239 are some kind of pretext to "explain" - air quotes - 486 00:22:52,283 --> 00:22:54,764 why two actresses 487 00:22:54,851 --> 00:22:58,202 that worked in the film subsequently died, 488 00:22:58,289 --> 00:22:59,856 which is not only... 489 00:22:59,943 --> 00:23:02,250 just conceptually ridiculous, 490 00:23:02,337 --> 00:23:05,819 but, uh, is personally offensive to me. 491 00:23:05,906 --> 00:23:08,299 Here's something I guess they don't know, 492 00:23:08,387 --> 00:23:10,040 and that's the fact that human skeletons 493 00:23:10,127 --> 00:23:12,739 have been used in movies for years and years. 494 00:23:12,826 --> 00:23:15,698 William Castle, who's a kind of a beloved figure, 495 00:23:15,785 --> 00:23:17,744 well, he makes a movie called House on Haunted Hill, 496 00:23:17,831 --> 00:23:19,833 and at the end of that movie, 497 00:23:19,920 --> 00:23:22,836 Vincent Price makes a skeleton emerge 498 00:23:22,923 --> 00:23:26,492 from a vat of supposedly acid. 499 00:23:26,579 --> 00:23:30,409 The skeleton wobbles toward his virago of a wife. 500 00:23:31,540 --> 00:23:33,673 Well, that was a real skeleton too. 501 00:23:33,760 --> 00:23:36,023 It was a skeleton rigged up as a marionette. 502 00:23:37,111 --> 00:23:38,591 There's a scene at the beginning 503 00:23:38,678 --> 00:23:40,593 of the 1931 movie, Frankenstein, 504 00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:44,205 where Fritz the Hunchback runs into a skeleton. 505 00:23:44,292 --> 00:23:45,902 - Agh! Oh! 506 00:23:45,989 --> 00:23:47,774 - I mean, you know, I hate to disillusion you, 507 00:23:47,861 --> 00:23:49,558 those were real human skeletons 508 00:23:49,645 --> 00:23:53,214 because no low budget B film is gonna pay anybody 509 00:23:53,301 --> 00:23:55,172 to sculpt a human skeleton 510 00:23:55,259 --> 00:23:58,567 when all you had to do was go to a biological supply house 511 00:23:58,654 --> 00:24:00,482 and get a human skeleton. 512 00:24:00,569 --> 00:24:02,528 You know, wake up and smell the budget. 513 00:24:02,615 --> 00:24:04,791 That's really the way it worked. 514 00:24:04,878 --> 00:24:07,707 The idea of having a few of them on the set of Poltergeist 515 00:24:07,794 --> 00:24:10,361 and killing two lovely young girls 516 00:24:10,449 --> 00:24:12,363 is a pretty pernicious idea. 517 00:24:13,626 --> 00:24:18,152 It's an insult to the memory of a very sweet little girl, 518 00:24:18,239 --> 00:24:19,719 Heather O'Rourke, 519 00:24:19,806 --> 00:24:22,548 and it's worse than that to Dominique Dunne, 520 00:24:22,635 --> 00:24:25,246 who was strangled to death by her boyfriend, 521 00:24:25,333 --> 00:24:28,162 which had fuck-all to do with a skeleton. 522 00:24:29,903 --> 00:24:31,861 - Life is full of really... 523 00:24:31,948 --> 00:24:34,342 terrible tragedies and accidents. 524 00:24:36,257 --> 00:24:39,042 I think it's easier for people to try to explain away 525 00:24:39,129 --> 00:24:41,828 the kind of fragility of life and death 526 00:24:41,915 --> 00:24:45,658 if they can come up with some kind of larger reason for it, 527 00:24:45,745 --> 00:24:47,616 some kind of conspiracy theory 528 00:24:47,703 --> 00:24:51,141 that helps justify why this person is suddenly gone. 529 00:24:52,403 --> 00:24:54,536 I think it helps people cope in some ways too, 530 00:24:54,623 --> 00:24:56,538 if they can't accept the reality of it. 531 00:24:56,625 --> 00:24:59,933 Because the reality is that anyone can leave us at any time 532 00:25:00,020 --> 00:25:02,544 and that's sometimes too difficult 533 00:25:02,631 --> 00:25:04,633 to wrap our heads around. 534 00:25:06,243 --> 00:25:07,941 [Rain patters, keys jingle] 535 00:25:09,159 --> 00:25:10,378 [Door bangs shut]