The amazing regularity with which artists who rose from the tumultuous and revolutionary ’60s had a hard time in the go‑go ’80s is about the most certain trope there is in pop culture. Of those who survived and were still making music in the ’80s, it might be easier to count the ones who did not have a hard time. Like the 1960s, the 1980s brought seismic cultural shifts that the previous generation just had a hard time adapting to. The punk revolution of the previous decade had cemented itself into the culture, and the rise of MTV required artists to have a visual presence where they hadn’t before. The cursed decade 10 therefore became a relentless test for ten classic rock titans, each of whom stumbled in its own spectacular way.

cursed decade 10: The Unlucky Legends

10 1992

David Bowie stands out as the outlier that proves just how tenacious the cursed decade 10 truly was. Though he entered the later end of the ’60s and possessed an MTV‑ready visual flair well before the medium exploded, the 1980s still managed to throw a wrench into his otherwise meteoric trajectory.

Bowie kicked off the new decade on a high note, delivering Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) – an album that matched the daring of his ’70s output. After a three‑year hiatus spent polishing his acting résumé, he returned with the blockbuster Let’s Dance, a record that vaulted him into global pop‑rock superstardom.

Unfortunately, the very success of Let’s Dance became a double‑edged sword. The album forced Bowie into a pop‑rock persona that felt alien to his artistic core. The follow‑up releases, Tonight and Never Let Me Down, suffered from a rote, uninspired feel, and Bowie himself later admitted that recording Never Let Me Down was a mistake.

He eventually reclaimed his footing in the ’90s, but only after confronting his past catalog and shedding the commercial veneer that the cursed decade 10 had thrust upon him. It wasn’t until the 2000s, when he fully embraced his legacy, that Bowie truly emerged from the 1980s shadow.

9 1989

The Rolling Stones began the 1980s with a bang, thanks to Tattoo You and its iconic single “Start Me Up,” which seemed to define the band for a new generation. Yet, behind the scenes, producer Chris Kimsey revealed that the album was essentially a patchwork of outtakes and unfinished instrumentals, with Mick Jagger slapping lyrics onto them because he and Keith Richards were “going through a period of not getting on.”

This interpersonal friction persisted through 1986’s Dirty Work. The recording sessions were riddled with animosity, largely fueled by Richards’ irritation over Jagger’s burgeoning solo career, which created a palpable tension that bled into the music.

By 1989, the band chose to set aside their grievances in favor of a highly lucrative stadium tour, proving that money can indeed smooth over creative differences. The cursed decade 10 finally loosened its grip as the Stones reconvened for profit‑driven harmony.

8 1992

Bob Dylan’s low point in the cursed decade 10 stemmed from a singular, polarising event: his 1979 evangelical conversion. Though his earlier work already hinted at religious themes, this sudden, zealous turn manifested in a fundamentalist attitude that shocked fans.

In 1980, Dylan famously warned a Tempe, Arizona audience that they’d go to hell for listening to Kiss, then delivered a rambling, paranoid sermon in Hartford about “homosexuals” in politics. These controversial statements, coupled with his 1979 album Slow Train Coming, alienated many long‑time supporters.

The evangelical phase ended with 1983’s return to secular material on Infidels, yet the lingering fallout from those three tumultuous years cast a long shadow over the rest of the 1980s and into the early ’90s. The cursed decade 10 thus marked a period of reputational damage for a once‑revolutionary voice.

7 1988

Neil Young arguably weathered the cursed decade 10 best of the lot, even turning his nadir into a personal triumph. The early ’80s saw him release two wildly divergent albums: the proto‑grunge, punk‑infused Re·ac·tor and the synth‑laden, sci‑fi concept Trans, both of which displayed his willingness to experiment.

After signing with Geffen, Young offered the label a country‑styled record, only to be rebuffed in favor of a “rock” album. In a moment of defiant sarcasm, he delivered Everybody’s Rockin’, a short, 25‑minute record that Geffen deemed a rebellious act. The label’s fury led them to lock Young out of the studio, and the album was released in a raw, unfinished state.

Geffen subsequently sued Young for producing music that was “musically uncharacteristic” of his previous work. Ironically, Young’s low period concluded when he finally severed ties with Geffen five years later, freeing himself from the constraints of the cursed decade 10.

6 1989

Elton John’s cursed decade 10 is peculiar because it contains as many peaks as valleys. The slump began in 1979 with Victim of Love, a disco‑infused 7‑inch remix of Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode.” The era also produced his self‑described worst effort, 1986’s Leather Jackets, and the 1982 release Jump Up, which lyricist Bernie Taupin dismissed as “a terrible, awful, disposable album.”

Nonetheless, 1983’s Too Low for Zero emerged as the best album any artist on this list managed during the cursed decade 10. Additionally, his 1986 live album with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra remains essential listening, while 1989’s Sleeping with the Past offered a quiet, understated beauty that belied the surrounding turmoil.

The root cause of John’s uneven years was drug abuse. Both John and producer Gus Dudgeon confirmed that the making of Leather Jackets was a coke‑fueled disaster, with John noting, “Gus Dudgeon did his best, but you can’t work with a loony.”

5 1994

Whether Pink Floyd truly existed in the cursed decade 10 depends on which side of the fanbase you sit. The 1980s saw frontman Roger Waters split from the group, leaving guitarist David Gilmour to assume the mantle of leader. Fans, like children of divorced parents, found their loyalties divided.

The Waters‑less incarnation struggled to prove its worth until the triumphant 1994 release The Division Bell. Throughout the cursed decade 10, the band resembled a legal shell, trading on the Pink Floyd brand to sell tickets and records while grappling with internal disputes.

Roger Waters later labeled the Gilmour‑led version a “facile, but a quite clever forgery…,” a sentiment echoed by Richard Wright, who admitted that Waters’ criticisms were fair.

4 1989

The cliché that hungry avant‑garde innovators age into complacent, uninspired adults holds true for Lou Reed, whose 1980s output mirrored his earlier incendiary style yet veered into baffling territory. He released a tongue‑in‑cheek hip‑hop homage titled “The Original Wrapper,” followed by the oddly phallic “My Red Joystick.”

Instead of the daring art rock exemplified by Metal Machine Music, Reed’s 1980s catalog leaned toward cinematic, miserablest concept pieces like Berlin and the self‑penned “Black Angel’s Death Song.” The contrast between his prior work and the decade’s output was starkly comical.

As the New York Times observed in 1998, Reed had once been publicly gay, staged heroin‑shooting theatrics, and sported a “Dachau panda” look with peroxide‑blond hair and black eye‑circles. By 1980, however, he renounced drug‑laden theatrics, declared himself heterosexual, and settled into marriage, marking a dramatic personal shift that mirrored his artistic turbulence during the cursed decade 10.

3 2012

It’s a miracle the Beach Boys even existed at all during the cursed decade 10, yet they not only survived but secured a surprise number‑one hit with “Kokomo,” their first chart‑topper in two decades. Although “Kokomo” is often reviled, its unlikely success underscores the band’s resilience.

Key to their story was the absence of Brian Wilson, who was under the influence of therapist‑manager Eugene Landy. Landy forced Wilson to cut ties with the band and his family, even securing a 25% royalty cut from all Wilson‑written songs and naming himself chief beneficiary in Wilson’s will.

Simultaneously, brother and bandmate Dennis Wilson was forced into rehab. He struggled with homelessness, lost his ability to sing or drum, and tragically drowned at Marina Del Rey in 1983 after a day of heavy drinking and a desperate dive to retrieve personal items he’d previously tossed overboard. Dennis’s turbulent mental state was further entangled with his infamous friendship with cult leader Charles Manson, whose family had taken residence in Dennis’s home, sending threatening messages—including a bullet—before Dennis ultimately refused to testify against Manson out of fear.

2 007

The curse of the 1980s was so potent it even touched Led Zeppelin, a band that effectively ceased to exist after drummer John Bonham’s death in October 1980. Nevertheless, the group reunited twice during the cursed decade 10.

The first reunion occurred in 1985 for Live Aid, with Phil Collins stepping in behind the drums. The performance was so embarrassing that Jimmy Page and Robert Plant refused to have it included on the Live Aid DVD released in 2004. Plant’s falsetto sounded ragged, and Collins, according to Page, “didn’t know the numbers,” resulting in a lackluster rendition of “Whole Lotta Love.”

A second reunion took place in 1988 for the 40th anniversary of Atlantic Records. Poor sound mixing turned their normally massive compositions into thin, reedy tracks, and the iconic “Kashmir” oddly resembled a disco remix. It wasn’t until a triumphant one‑off show at London’s O2 Arena in 2007 that Led Zeppelin finally reclaimed a semblance of glory after the cursed decade 10.

1 997

The trials and tribulations of Black Sabbath throughout the cursed decade 10 could fill entire volumes. One vivid anecdote involves Jeff Fenholt—known for his role in Jesus Christ Superstar—who claimed he was the band’s lead singer between January and May 1985. Though no other member corroborated this, Fenholt detailed his tenure in the book Sabbath Bloody Sabbath: The Battle for Black Sabbath.

Sabbath’s revolving door of members during this era made it plausible that such an oddity could slip through unnoticed. After Ronnie James Dio quit in 1982, the band seemed doomed, yet two subsequent releases—Born Again (featuring Deep Purple’s Ian Gillan) and 1986’s Seventh Star (a Tony Iommi solo project)—were both issued under the Black Sabbath name due to record‑company meddling, despite sounding far from classic Sabbath.

Iommi’s presence on Seventh Star set a precedent: any lineup containing him could legally call itself Black Sabbath. Consequently, the 1980s and half of the ’90s saw the band limping along with ever‑changing line‑ups, never more than two original members on any record.

All the while, former frontman Ozzy Osbourne’s solo career surged, casting a long shadow over his former band. Black Sabbath finally found redemption in 1997 when they reunited with Osbourne at Ozzfest, an event that effectively turned the once‑dominant solo act into a side project for the band’s own revival.

Over the years, many household items have been said to be cursed and haunted. They are regular objects you’d find in any home: chairs, mirrors, vases, cabinets, dolls, paintings, and the like. The story always goes that a demon or spirit resides in the item, although the object’s owner may not always know why their possession is possessed. This is the ultimate top 10 cursed roundup of the most unsettling objects that could be lurking in your own living room.

10 Busby Stoop Inn Chair

The Busby Stoop Inn chair was cursed by Thomas Busby, just before he was hanged for murdering Daniel Auty in 1702. Prior to the murder, Busby ran a coin counterfeiting operation with Daniel, who was also his father‑in‑law. Both started having problems, which came to a head one evening when Daniel visited the Thirsk, North Yorkshire, inn where Busby lived with his wife, Elizabeth.

Some sources say Daniel wanted to take Elizabeth back home, while others say he was just visiting. Whatever the reason, a drunk Busby arrived to find Daniel sitting in his favorite chair. This infuriated Busby and led to a fight. Daniel left after the fight, but Busby followed him home and killed him with a hammer. Busby was sentenced to death for the murder.

On his way to his execution, Busby requested a stopover at the inn, where he cursed the chair. Ever since, lots of people who have sat in the chair have died under mysterious circumstances. Some committed suicide, some fell off buildings, some had accidents, some went to war and never returned, and so on. Nevertheless, this did not deter people from sitting in the chair.

In the 1970s, Tony Earnshaw, who owned the inn, got so fed up with the deaths attributed to the chair that he took it to the cellar to keep people from sitting in it. Some determined people still went to the cellar to sit in the chair. Earnshaw finally had enough after an ignorant delivery driver died in a car crash a few hours after sitting in the chair. He donated the chair to the Thirsk Museum, where it is suspended from the ceiling to deter people from sitting in it.

9 The Crying Boy

The Crying Boy was not a single painting but a mass‑produced print, with multiple versions existing. The original one was made by Italian artist Bruno Amadio under the pseudonym “Giovanni Bragolin.” The painting was very popular in the UK, where lots of people hung it in their homes.

The first claim of the painting being cursed was made on September 5, 1985, when The Sun published an article about a couple whose house burned down. According to The Sun, the Crying Boy painting was all that was left of the mishap. The Sun published a follow‑up piece the next day, revealing that it had received several calls from people with similar issues.

One woman said the painting was all that was left after her house burned down six months after she purchased the painting. People also blamed the painting for other unfortunate incidents. One said her son’s privates got caught in a hook, and another said she’d lost her husband and three children since she first bought the painting in 1959.

The whole thing came to a head after another house containing the painting burned down. The fact that the painting involved was a lookalike by another artist changed nothing. The Sun offered to help readers rid their homes of the evil paintings. In response, readers turned in 2,500 Crying Boy paintings, which The Sun burned in a giant bonfire.

In 2010, Steve Punt, a comedian and radio presenter with the BBC, tried burning a surviving Crying Boy from the era. The painting did not burn, which made him speculate that it was protected with a fire retardant. However, he wasn’t taking any chances and refused to take the painting into his home. He just left it on his porch.

8 Belcourt Castle Chairs

The 60‑room Belcourt Castle in Newport, Rhode Island, is one of the most haunted houses in the US. The haunting is believed to be connected to some of the antique items kept inside the mansion, including the chairs found in its ballroom. Visitors often complain of an uneasy feeling when standing next to the chairs. Some say an unseen force resists them when they try sitting in the chairs. Others who managed to sit in the chairs say they were mysteriously thrown out of them.

Besides the haunted chairs, the ballroom contains a suit of armor that screams at intervals. The screams are said to be that of its owner, who was killed sometime in March of some year, which is the same month the screams are most frequent. He is said to have been killed after a spear was struck through the armor’s eye slit.

7 Basano Vase

The existence of the Basano Vase is doubted. Its backstory is shrouded in myth and folklore, and its present location is unknown. The vase is said to have been made in a town just north of Napoli, Italy, sometime in the 15th century. Someone gave it to a bride the night before her wedding as a gift. However, the wedding never happened because the bride died overnight.

The vase was given to a member of the bride’s family, who also died soon after receiving it. It was given to another family member, who suffered the same fate. It was at this point that the bride’s family deduced the vase was haunted. They buried it someplace, where it remained until it was unearthed in 1988.

The vase contained a note warning of the mysterious and fatal consequences for anyone who came into its possession. The man who found the vase ignored the warning and sold it to a pharmacist, who died three months later. The pharmacist’s family sold the vase to a doctor, who soon followed the pharmacist to the great beyond. It was later sold to two more owners, who also died.

The family of the last victim wisely opted not to sell the vase and reportedly threw it out the window. A police officer found it and returned it, but they refused to collect it. No museum accepted the vase, either, and it is currently said to be buried in a secret location.

6 Dybbuk Box

The Dybbuk (or Dibbuk) Box is a wine cabinet said to be possessed by an evil spirit referred to as a dybbuk. The box remains in the possession of antique collector Kevin Mannis, who bought it from a woman who said it was owned by her grandmother. Mannis opened the box after buying it. There wasn’t much inside, just a few curious items, including a candle, a wine goblet, and two locks of human hair.

However, someone or something ransacked Mannis’s shop the same day he opened the box. It definitely wasn’t a thief because nothing was stolen. The store clerk also reported that the light bulbs mysteriously broke, and she heard someone cursing. Mannis himself noted that the store smelled of jasmine flower.

At first, Mannis didn’t connect the incident with the box, which he gave to his mother. She suffered a stroke just five minutes after receiving it and quickly returned it. Mannis gave the box to his sister, who returned it after complaining that it mysteriously opened and gave her nightmares. Mannis gave the box to his brother and wife, who also returned it after similar complaints.

Mannis finally put the box up for sale, but the buyer soon returned it over complaints that it contained something evil. Unable to rid himself of the box, Mannis just kept it in his basement. He soon started complaining of seeing ghosts in his home. Curiously enough, visitors also complained about the same thing. Mannis also had nightmares in which he was beaten and would often wake up with scratches and bites from the beatings.

Mannis finally sold the box to Iosif Nietzke, who bought it for $140 in 2003. Like the rest, Nietzke, too, soon started complaining of mysterious events in his home. He reported objects mysteriously moving around his home and the lights suddenly going on and off. He also sold the box, and the latest buyer, Jason Haxton, complained of excessive tiredness and unexplained rashes. He added that he coughed blood and that his mouth tasted of metal. He visited Jewish rabbis to calm the spirit inside the cabinet before putting it away. In March 2017, Ghost Adventures host Zak Bagans acquired the Dybbuk Box to be displayed in his museum in Las Vegas.

5 The Cursed Mirror Of The Myrtles Plantation

The Myrtles Plantation in St. Francisville, Louisiana, is another haunted home in the US. Its most haunted item is a 200‑year‑old mirror. The story goes that the mirror became haunted after a slave called Chloe poisoned a cake, killing Sara, the wife of the owner of the plantation, and two of her daughters. The souls of the deceased were trapped in the mirror, from which they haunted the plantation.

Visitors to the plantation often note strange handprints and drip marks on the mirror. Some even confirmed seeing people dressed in old‑style clothes inside it. The mirror’s backstory is somewhat disputed, since there is no record of a slave named Chloe ever working on the plantation. Also, according to the plantation’s records, Sara and one of her daughters died of yellow fever, while the other one survived into adulthood.

4 Annabelle The Doll

If you have watched any of The Conjuring (2013), Annabelle (2014), or Annabelle: Creation (2017), you should have seen that creepy doll named Annabelle. She is based on a real, but less creepy‑looking, doll called Annabelle, which is on display at Ed and Lorraine Warren’s Occult Museum in Monroe, Connecticut.

The story of Annabelle’s creepiness began in 1970, after a woman bought her for her daughter. People soon started accusing the doll of random attacks and even attempting to strangle a family friend. Ed and Lorraine Warren investigated the criminal activities of the doll and concluded she was possessed by an evil spirit.

They decided to take Annabelle to their museum, but their car’s brakes and steering mysteriously refused to work until they sprinkled holy water on the back seat, where Annabelle sat. Ed kept the doll inside a glass box fortified with prayers. That probably didn’t stop Annabelle from committing more atrocities, though. A boy and his girlfriend once had an accident on their way home after Ed sent them out of the museum for mocking Annabelle and banging on her box.

3 The Anguished Man

The Anguished Man is a panting owned by the family of Sean Robinson. Sean says it was originally owned by his grandmother, who had always complained that it was evil. His grandmother often spoke of a man walking around her house at night and several mysterious sounds, including that of an unseen person crying. Sean’s grandmother added that the artist who created the painting mixed his blood with the oil paint he used. After he completed the painting, he committed suicide.

Sean claims his family started experiencing strange events after receiving the painting, following the death of his grandmother. Sean himself complained of seeing a mysterious person crying, a strange mist at the top of his stairs, and a man standing at the foot of his bed, staring at him.

Sean sometimes took the painting on tours to haunted locations across the UK. During one such tour at Chillingham Castle, John Sage, one of the most powerful spirits in the castle, reportedly angrily threw a bench upside down because of the presence of the uninvited spirit.

2 The Hands Resist Him

The Hands Resist Him depicts a young boy standing on a porch with what looks like the life‑size dummy of a girl. Behind them is a glass door with lots of hands. The painting was created by Bill Stoneham and is a recreation of a similar photograph his parents had taken of him and a neighborhood friend when he was just five.

In 1972, Stoneham, now grown and married, was contracted by Charles Feingarten to create two paintings a month for his gallery. It was during this contract that Stoneham created the painting and titled it after a poem written by his wife. The poem, titled “Hands Resist Him,” was about Stoneham’s adoption and the fact that he never got to meet his real siblings.

The painting was almost like the photograph, except that Stoneham added lots of hands to the glass door behind the children (and made the girl into a dead‑eyed dummy). Whether the hands have bodies or not is left to the viewer to decide, although no bodies are visible. In 1974, actor and producer John Marley bought the painting.

The story of the painting being haunted started after three people involved with it (including Marley) died between 1978 and 1984. However, Marley sold the painting before his death, and it appeared on eBay in 2000. The family selling it claimed their daughter saw the children leaving the painting and fighting.

No one in the family believed the girl at first, and her father even set up a motion camera to prove her wrong. To everyone’s surprise, the camera supposedly caught the girl leaving the painting and forcing the boy out at gunpoint.

The painting was bought by Kim Smith, who soon started complaining of several mysterious anomalies, which he claimed started right from the moment he sent the first e‑mail to bid for the painting. Several people who viewed the painting’s ad on eBay also had similar complaints. This is the reason why the painting is sometimes called the “haunted eBay painting.”

1 Robert The Doll

Robert is said to be the world’s most terrifying haunted doll. He has been accused of causing every unfortunate incident, from car accidents to broken bones to divorce. Some have even blamed him for losing their jobs.

Robert was originally owned by artist Robert Eugene Otto, who received him as a birthday present from his grandfather when he was still a child. Otto kept Robert into adulthood. At one time, he displayed Robert at one of the windows of his house. However, schoolchildren soon noticed that Robert frequently appeared and disappeared from the window, which made them avoid Otto’s house.

Myrtle Reuter became Robert’s new owner after she bought Otto’s house in 1974. Visitors to the house soon started complaining of strange footsteps and laughter. Some even claimed that Robert changed his countenance whenever someone spoke ill of Otto. Reuter herself complained that Robert walked around the house when no one was watching. In 1994, she donated Robert to Fort East Martello Museum in Key West, Florida.

10 more creepy tales await you as we dive into objects that seem ordinary until they turn terrifying. You’ve all experienced this sort of thing: you buy a box of pop‑tarts for the morning, get home and go to bed. You hear a rattling sound from the kitchen and go downstairs to investigate only to find your tasty, frosted breakfast treat floating in mid‑air over an open portal to hell on the linoleum flooring. Congratulations, you just purchased some haunted pop‑tarts. Here’s a list of some less breakfast‑y haunted and cursed objects.

10 More Creepy Highlights

10 The Swansea Devil

How far would you go if you missed out on getting a job? Would you anonymously post one‑star reviews about the company that snubbed you? Maybe you’d stalk and harass the guy or gal who got the job instead of you? Maybe you’d set a creepy carving of Satan opposite the company building with a curse that foretold the destruction of the place? Too far? Not for the snubbed architect in 1890’s Swansea, South Wales who was denied the chance to rebuild a church— that is exactly what he did.

The story goes that when famed architect Sir Arthur Blomfield beat a local architect for the contract to rebuild the ancient St Mary’s church in the centre of the town, the local man was incensed. A few years later he purchased an old row of cottages that stood opposite the new church, tore them down and built a large red brick building there, placing a statue of a smiling devil on its edifice. The aggrieved builder then placed a curse on the church, proclaiming that it would soon be destroyed and the devil would look upon the rubble and keep smiling. During the blitz, Swansea was targeted by the Luftwaffe, St. Mary’s took a direct hit, allowing the curse to be true. Now the Devil is a quirky landmark in Wales’ second city, peeping out at shoppers from a window at the Quadrant Shopping Centre.

9 Man Proposes, God Disposes

A bizarre, possibly supernaturally influenced suicide takes place on a college campus. What would you expect the note the victim left behind to say? Maybe ‘The voices told me to do it’. Perhaps ‘The Devil made me do it’? what about ‘The Polar Bears made me do it’?

This cursed painting, painted in 1864 by Edwin Henry Landseer, is often hidden from view by faculty at Royal Holloway, University of London in order for superstitious students to complete their exams. One tradition holds that anyone sitting directly in a sight line with the painting will fail their exam. Another legend states that one unlucky student locked eyes with one of the ravenous Polar Bears, went mad and committed suicide after scrawling the phrase ‘The Polar Bears made me do it’ on their exam paper. Even though the curse is unlikely to be ‘real’, nobody can doubt that trying to concentrate on an exam when two blood‑thirsty bears tuck into a meal of frozen polar explorers is a tough ask.

8 Letta the Doll

A quick Google image search of ‘Real Annabelle haunted doll’ or ‘real Robert the haunted doll’ throws up the rather disappointing result of two, rather plain‑looking kids’ toys. Their reputation is what terrifies, as well as their ascension to the top of horror pop culture. Letta, on the other hand, looks utterly monstrous.

Legend has it that this awful looking thing was made for a little gypsy boy over 200 years ago. Unfortunately, (probably in a fit of blind terror) the boy drowned, his soul becoming trapped forever inside the creepiest looking doll ever made. What are the chances, eh? Letta now resides in Australia, going on tours around the land down under with its owner, Kerry Walton.

7 The Chained Oak

This ancient Oak Tree near the village of Alton, Staffordshire, England is undoubtedly one of the scariest looking trees you’ll ever look at. Covered in huge, rusted chains, it looks as though the tree may have once roamed around the forest, picking off wanderers who dared disturb its arboreal realm before the villagers captured it and chained it to his current spot.

The ‘real’ legend is just as frightening. Legend has it that the Earl of Shrewsbury who lived at the grand estate of Alton Towers (now a pretty decent theme park) was travelling back home one evening when his carriage was stopped by a lone beggar woman. The grubby old lady asked the Earl for a penny and, when he rudely dismissed her, cursed the Earl, stating that for every branch that fell from the old oak tree, a member of his family would perish. That night, a great storm ripped one of the limbs from the tree and, by the morning, one of the Earl’s family members had passed away horribly. The frightened nobleman then ordered that the Oak be bound in chains so that no more branches could fall.

6 Any Sweater Given to a Partner

It must be hard being a knitting enthusiast…is a sentence nobody ever said. When it comes to keeping a healthy, long‑lasting relationship many knitters feel that they are plagued by a curse that mandates they keep their hobby and their hubby as far apart as possible! The notorious ‘Sweater Curse’ is the notion that when a knitter decides to craft a gift for their significant other as a gift they all but guarantee that the relationship will come to a premature end.

As opposed to suggesting some supernatural origin to this jinx, the knitters of the world are a rational bunch, putting this perceived phenomenon down to a host of rational possibilities like: Bad timing – it takes an age to knit a whole sweater, ample time for a crappy relationship to die. Last Shot – the knitter knows subconsciously that the relationship is nearly over and thus embarks on a grand a huge amount of work culminating in (in knitting terms) a grand gesture. There are, of course, myriad other reasons, but the rule of thumb remains – if you love him/her, for God’s sake, don’t knit them a sweater!

5 Merlin’s Oak

Our second hexed Oak and second entry from Wales. This one is related to the wizard Merlin from the Arthurian legend (the original Welsh versions, though, not the silly French version with a sword in a stone that, somehow, has the English as the good guys!)

The town of Carmarthen is, according to the signs when you enter by road, the oldest town in Wales. So old, in fact, its origins have been linked to Myrddin (Merlin), giving rise to the town’s name Caerfyddrin (The Fort of Merlin). A large oak once stood in the town, believed to have been planted by the wandering wizard. A prophecy accompanied the ancient tree: “When Merlin’s Oak comes tumbling down, Then shall fall Carmarthen town”. When the tree did finally get removed after years of decay, the very next year the town suffered a train derailment and some of the most severe flash flooding recorded. A branch taken from the tree is still displayed in the local museum (perhaps keeping this beautiful town from a fiery apocalypse!).

4 Okiku

Weird looking doll? Check. Religious undertone? Check. Haunting and/or possession? Check. Inanimate object that grows human hair? Wait, what?

This doll, according to legend, was owned by a little girl on the Japanese island of Hokkaido who, as you’d expect, died and now resides in her favorite toy. When her family moved away from Hokkaido they left the doll with the monks of the Mannenji Temple. Little ‘Okiku’ still resides there, her bizarre ability to grow her hair on full display to worshipers and visitors. Some even suggest that if you look into her half‑open, dead porcelain mouth you can see that her teeth are growing too. *shiver*

3 The Woman From Lemb Statue

Whenever a rotund, faceless statuette is unearthed in Europe, people seem to instinctively assume it is a fertility goddess. It must be, right? Look at the bulging ‘stomach’ reminiscent of a pregnant belly. The wide hips. The lack of facial features, elongated neck… truth is, we don’t know for sure what the significance of many of these pre‑written‑history idols is. What we do know is if you touch the ‘Woman from Lemb’, you’ll probably die. And all your family will too.

In a similar vein to many mummy‑borne curses, this artefact is purported to have caused the deaths of a whole heap of curious antiquarians and collectors. The strange stone idol is now displayed at the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh.

2 Haunted Ledger

A common element in tales of haunted or cursed objects is the consequences faced by the living for removing an artifact or item from its ‘rightful’ place, prompting supernatural forces to play havoc until it is returned. This usually involves a tomb, ancient temple or holy mountain. In the case of this haunted jewelry shop ledger, however, it seems all the spooky accountancy aid wanted was to be beside the seaside!

After the demolition of the ‘Shorland Fooks’ jewellers in the city of Brighton on England’s south coast, builder Tony Benyovits removed an old shop ledger book he had found hidden behind a brick wall. He took the interesting example of retail memorabilia back to his home in Maidstone, Kent (65 miles away). Soon enough, his family were being plagued by all manner of otherworldly phenomena: strange voices, ghostly apparitions and even strange images of people appearing in the family’s rug. One particularly uppity spirit informed Mr Benyovits’ daughter, Josephine, that the book needed to be returned to its hometown by the centenary of the first entry within its crumbling pages. Not wanting to anger these (I assume) long‑dead jewelers, the family donated the book to Preston Manor—(reputedly) Brighton’s most haunted house—which is where it now resides.

1 Portrait of Delphine LaLaurie

The evils perpetrated by notorious New Orleans slave owner Delphine LaLaurie have been discussed many times, quite rightly singling her out as one of history’s most evil women. It is no surprise, then, that the unspeakable crimes she committed have catapulted her into the realms of dark folklore and urban legend.

In the 1990’s, the residents of an apartment building which stands on the spot that LaLaurie’s infamous chamber of horrors once stood decided to pool their assets and brighten up the communal spaces with some nice new artworks. What better way could there be to achieve this goal than to commission local artist Ricardo Pustanio to paint them a portrait of a notable local celebrity. Who could this be? Louis Armstrong? Truman Capote? DJ Khaled…even though he wasn’t famous yet? No, they chose a lovely, cheery portrait of Madame Delphine LaLaurie. And, wouldn’t you know it, it turned out to be haunted! Cue a series of bone‑chilling encounters with the ghost of LaLaurie, culminating in the portrait being taken down, covered up and stored away securely. Maybe pick a nicer subject for the communal art next time, perhaps a jolly picture of a smiling clown?

For millennia, humanity has both revered and dreaded the notion of curses. Whether whispered by angry deities, cursed by spurned witches, or birthed from grim chapters of history, these dark spells have plagued the unsuspecting since the dawn of civilization. In the digital age, the word “cursed” has slipped into internet slang, describing images, videos, and audio clips that feel unnervingly eerie or outright disturbing. These unsettling media pieces form a niche corner of meme culture, designed to unsettle rather than amuse. This list dives into the top 10 cursed videos that have left viewers shivering, spanning everything from early YouTube oddities to legendary film misfortunes.

Why the Top 10 Cursed Videos Keep Haunting Us

Each entry on this roster carries its own brand of dread—some stem from alleged supernatural hexes that have allegedly claimed lives, while others are modern internet oddities that twist the mind. Whether you’re a skeptic or a believer, the sheer weirdness of these clips makes them impossible to ignore, and they continue to circulate, whispering their unsettling tales to new generations.

10 Rubber Johnny

This early‑YouTube oddball is often cited as one of the first truly “cursed” videos to surface online. Conceived as both an avant‑garde art piece and a music video for Aphex Twin’s track “Afx237 v.7,” the short film drips with discomfort from start to finish.

The centerpiece is a twisted young man confined to a wheelchair, his head wobbling erratically as he dances to the pulsing EDM beat. A tiny chihuahua watches his every move, while night‑vision filters and frantic cuts turn the whole scene into a dizzying, nauseating blur that feels more like a nightmare than a music video.

9 The Japanese Kleenex Commercial

In 1986, a trio of Kleenex ads aired in Japan, starring actress Keiko Matsuzaka dressed in pristine white, perched on a straw‑filled bed beside a child dressed as an ogre. On paper, it sounds like a quirky marketing stunt, but the footage tells a far more unsettling story.

A haunting, empty‑sounding love song plays in the background, casting an eerie, almost otherworldly atmosphere over the scene. Rumor has it the melody was a modern reinterpretation of an ancient German curse. Viewers flooded the network with complaints, leading to the commercial’s removal, yet the alleged curse lingered: cast members reportedly met mysterious fates, the lead actress allegedly gave birth to a demonic infant, and countless viewers claimed madness after watching it—especially at midnight.

8 My Dead Great Grandma’s Coffin in My Own Backyard

This clip feels chilling not just for its grotesque visuals but for its unsettling plausibility. A man, communicating solely via American Sign Language, explains that his local cemetery is so mismanaged that he has taken his great‑grandmother’s casket and placed it above ground in his own yard. The video culminates in him cracking open the coffin to reveal a partially decomposed corpse, which he then tenderly kisses on the mouth—an act that is simultaneously grotesque and deeply disquieting.

7 Atuk

The so‑called “Atuk” curse has haunted Hollywood comedy for decades. The tale revolves around a script adaptation of the Canadian satire novel The Incomparable Atuk, which follows an Inuit navigating the corrupting influences of big‑city life in Toronto. When studios attempted to bring the story to the silver screen, a string of high‑profile comedians were courted for the lead role.

First, John Belushi was offered the part and died a few months later. Sam Kinison then took the script, only to meet his end while attempting a rewrite. John Candy read the material and passed away months after. Chris Farley followed suit, dying within months of his involvement, and he allegedly showed the script to his friend Phil Hartman, who also met a tragic death soon after.

While some point to the actors’ health issues and personal demons as a more rational explanation, the uncanny pattern of untimely deaths keeps the legend alive, offering a convenient scapegoat for a series of unfortunate coincidences.

6 Man Gets Lost in the Catacombs of Paris

Whether fact or folklore, this found‑footage‑style clip sends shivers down the spine. The Paris Catacombs—a sprawling, maze‑like network of tunnels beneath the city—are officially open for tours only in a limited section, with the rest barred to the public. Yet thrill‑seekers and ghost hunters occasionally breach the forbidden zones.

In a 2000 episode of the TV series “Scariest Places on Earth,” a lone explorer is shown navigating the dark, endless passages. At first calm, his pace quickens, and he eventually drops his handheld camera, sprinting away. The camera continues to record, capturing a silent, dim tunnel after he disappears, leaving viewers to wonder whether he simply lost his bearings or fled from something far more sinister.

5 The Hungarian Suicide Song

Although the curse resides in the music itself rather than a specific video, any footage featuring the full, unaltered version of the song can feel ominously cursed. Known as “Gloomy Sunday,” composed by Rezső Seress in 1935, the piece earned the moniker “Hungarian Suicide Song” after a spate of suicides—estimated at around twenty—were allegedly linked to its mournful melody.

Eyewitness accounts often claim that victims listened to the song moments before ending their lives. Adding to the myth, Seress himself took his own life years later, and the popular Billie Holiday rendition was banned by the BBC for allegedly harming public morale.

4 Croatian Stalking Tape

This unsettling clip claims to be genuine footage released by Croatian authorities in an attempt to locate the video’s creators. Two teenage friends test a new camcorder in a park, only to notice a hunched, ape‑like figure with a sack over his head trailing them.

The stranger draws ever closer, eventually standing right beside the teens before they dart into a nearby building and lose sight of him. They rush to an elevator, and when the doors open, the footage abruptly cuts away, leaving only the sound of their terrified screams.

3 Poltergeist

Steven Spielberg‑produced “Poltergeist” (1982) remains a cornerstone of horror cinema, centering on a suburban family whose home sits atop a Native American burial ground, unleashing a vengeful supernatural curse. Beyond the on‑screen terror, the film’s real‑world production has its own dark legend.

Several cast and crew members met untimely ends: child star Heather O’Rourke died at age twelve, Dominique Dunne was murdered within a year of the film’s release, and both Julian Beck and Will Sampson passed away shortly after completing work on the sequel. Rumors persist of actual exorcisms performed on set and the use of authentic human remains in the infamous pool scene of the first movie.

2 Video Dating Tape

This eerie clip, likely fabricated, follows a man recording a personal video dating profile. Dressed in a loud Hawaiian shirt against a tropical backdrop, he earnestly presents himself as the ideal romantic partner—a surprisingly sad and awkward performance.

Mid‑recording, an off‑camera sound—resembling a gagged woman’s muffled moans—interrupts him, causing him to explode in a frantic outburst demanding silence. He then rises, seemingly to confront the source, but the camera cuts back to him calmly starting another take of his dating pitch, leaving viewers unsettled by the thin line between normalcy and horror.

1 The Omen

Producer Harvey Bernhard once warned that “the devil was at work and didn’t want this film made.” The ominous prophecy seemed to manifest: two months before shooting began, Gregory Peck’s son committed suicide. During production, Peck’s plane was struck by lightning, as was producer Mace Neufeld’s aircraft, and a bolt nearly hit Bernhard himself.

The IRA bombed the hotel where Neufeld was staying, and a re‑chartered aerial‑photography plane crashed, killing everyone aboard. An animal wrangler was mauled by a tiger, while a special‑effects assistant was decapitated in a car crash. Though many attribute these tragedies to coincidence, the sheer volume of misfortune fuels the legend of a genuine curse surrounding “The Omen.”

When Grease reached theaters in 1978, it was an instant hit. The movie was an adaptation of a popular 1971 musical, but nobody expected the film to be a big hit. John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John captured the public’s hearts as leads Danny and Sandy. The supporting cast at Rydell High hit all the right buttons for moviegoers. Catchy songs and amazing costumes sealed the deal. Critics and fans alike loved the storyline.

Not long after its release, Grease became the highest-grossing musical film ever produced. By the end of 1978, its soundtrack was the second-best-selling album of the year. Even with the film’s success, it only garnered one Oscar nomination—the song “Hopelessly Devoted to You,” written specifically for the film.

Years later, the film still resonates. In 2002, the American Film Institute named Grease one of the 100 best love stories ever put on film. In 2020, the movie was picked for preservation by the National Film Registry at the Library of Congress. However, the movie’s cast hasn’t had such a smooth run after its release. So many tragedies have occurred around those who starred in the iconic film that it feels like the production was cursed. Here are ten tragic tales that happened to the stars of Grease in the years after its success changed their lives forever.

Related: Top 10 Actors Who Relived Their Worst Moments On Camera

10 John Travolta’s Terrible Losses

John Travolta enjoyed a great run in the 1970s. Saturday Night Fever and Grease made him a big star. Through the ’80s, Pulp Fiction and other films solidified his status as an A-lister. But off screen, Travolta struggled with two terrible family tragedies. In 1993, John and his wife, actress Kelly Preston, had their first child. A son that they named Jett—a sweet reference to John’s love of airplanes. Jett struggled with Kawasaki disease as a child. The disorder inflames the arteries and leaves sufferers at risk of asthma and seizures. For a long time, Jett overcame it. But in 2009, it all ended in the worst way. While the family was vacationing in the Bahamas, Jett had an unexpected seizure and hit his head on a bathtub. The fall led to his death at only 16 years old.

As bad as that tragedy was for Travolta, he suffered another horrible life-changing event a decade later. In 2018, Preston was diagnosed with breast cancer. The couple chose to keep her diagnosis a secret from the public as she worked with doctors to battle the disease. Sadly, less than two years later, it claimed her life prematurely too. In the summer of 2020, Travolta revealed on social media that Preston had succumbed to the disease. Sadly, the man made world-famous with iconic movie roles suffered two of the worst personal tragedies anyone can experience. Years before her death, Preston told a friend that she was going to marry Travolta one after seeing him on a movie poster for—ironically—Grease^[1]

9 Olivia Newton-John’s Valiant Fight

Olivia Newton-John enjoyed her status as a Hollywood “it” girl in the years after her starring role in Grease. Off screen, though, life threw her plenty of curveballs. For one, her father Brinley suddenly died of cancer in 1992. Weeks after he passed, Olivia herself was diagnosed with breast cancer. The timing was fortunate; she had been undergoing regular screenings, and doctors caught the cancer early. Days after her diagnosis, Olivia had surgery to remove the cancerous breast tissue. For years, it seemed like the surgery had been a success, and Olivia was destined to live long past cancer.

In 2013, though, the cancer returned with a vengeance. By 2017, it had metastasized. Olivia chose to keep her health burden private for years. Along the way, she underwent conventional cancer treatments to try to beat the disease again. She also used cannabis oil to manage her pain during particularly awful bouts. For five long years, she fought valiantly. Sadly, in August of 2022, she lost the battle and succumbed to the disease. Fans recalled her buoyant, bubbly personality on screen in Grease as Sandy, which made it all the more tragic to consider how hard she had to fight for her life for so many years.^[2]

8 Dinah Manoff’s Family Tragedy

Dinah Manoff earned herself loyal fans with a memorable portrayal of Marty Maraschino in Grease. She appeared in dozens of other television and movie roles throughout her long career, too, and even won a Tony Award for her theater work. But her life changed in 2017 when her son, Dashiell Mortell, died in a car accident. Dashiell had been set on following in Dinah’s footsteps into acting. He starred in theatrical productions through his high school years, including several under his mother’s direction. He even played a greaser at one point, earning rave reviews for his work in a school production of The Outsiders.

After high school, Dashiell enrolled at Washington State University. Once he got to campus, he began participating in theater productions there too. In 2017, he went home on a holiday break. Days later, he and four other students drove back to campus to prepare for the return of classes. The roads were icy from a recent snowstorm, and a prior wreck had snarled the highway. Mortell’s car collided with another vehicle that stopped suddenly amid the pile-up. A truck then collided with their car, pinning the young man. He perished in the accident. The tragedy changed the course of Manoff’s life. Heartbroken, she spent hours grieving with other families who had suffered a loss. She also poured her time into giving back by teaching acting and improv to women in prison.^[3]

7 Jeff Conaway’s Drug Downfall

Jeff Conaway was best known for playing Kenickie in the 1978 musical. He enjoyed other Hollywood successes, too, including a memorable role in Taxi. The fast life caught up with him, though. By the 2000s, he was struggling with addiction to cocaine, alcohol, and prescription pills. As his friends later explained, a back injury sustained on the set of Grease was what led to Conaway’s pain pill compulsion. Over the years, his pain worsened, and his addictions fell in line. Conaway’s habits became so bad that loved ones got him a spot on Celebrity Rehab with addiction expert Dr. Drew. Sadly, the TV appearance did little to stop the decline.

To Conaway’s credit, he battled his demons for years. The actor had multiple stints in rehab and underwent five back surgeries. He tried “so hard to get clean and sober,” his manager optimistically noted in 2011. But his back issues were so severe that he never could shake the opiate addiction that came with pain relief. In May 2011, Conaway was placed in a medically-induced coma amid a severe bout of pneumonia. Sepsis set in, likely compounded by his longtime opiate use. After 17 days in the intensive care unit, his family made the difficult decision to remove him from life support.^[4]

6 Didi Conn’s Parenting Challenge

Didi Conn played perhaps the most memorable supporting role in Grease. Her portrayal of Frenchy was perfect for the vintage feel of the film, and fans recalled her bubbly on-air persona for years after. In the 1990s, she adopted a baby boy named Danny. But soon after her life-changing foray into motherhood, challenges began. As a two-year-old, Danny started experiencing severe sensitivity to sound. Pediatricians chalked it up to a case of the “terrible twos,” but Conn didn’t buy it. Over the next few years, the sound sensitivity got worse. Eventually, a specialist determined Danny was on the autism spectrum.

That diagnosis came in 1994, years before autism was well understood by the general public. Because of that, Conn struggled to find medical experts who could help her son. Over the years, Didi and Danny both struggled through adversity while dealing with his sensory issues. Thankfully, as he grew, pediatricians and specialists found therapies that worked to manage his autism. Conn was so moved by the ordeal that she filmed a pilot for a television series about a child with autism. The show wasn’t picked up by networks, but she later released it as a short film.^[5]

5 Dennis Cleveland Stewart’s Sad Death

Dennis Cleveland Stewart was an “out” actor in New York City through the 1970s. That was a difficult time to be gay, though, and Stewart lived quietly. His acting career took off around that time too. His pock-marked cheeks earned him the nickname “Crater Face.” The memorable look brought him character actor fame. First, Stewart got moviegoers’ attention as a featured dancer in Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in early 1978. Later that year, his star shone the brightest when he was cast as Leo Balmudo in Grease. Four years later, he took on the role once more in the musical film’s sequel. But as fast as his star rose, it waned. Stewart never found the same level of artistic success and played out a string of similar characters.

Off screen, the gay man tried to be cautious and discreet with his relationships. After a long time in New York, he moved to Los Angeles in 1993. The move west wouldn’t lead to a career resurrection; it was already too late for that. The naturally shy Stewart was seriously sick with HIV. He didn’t reveal his status to many people in his life, but close friends knew. Sadly, early in 1994, he succumbed to AIDS just a few months shy of his 47th birthday. His ashes were scattered at sea.^[6]

4 Annette Charles’s Cancer Battle

Annette Charles played the bad girl Cha-Cha DiGregorio in the iconic film. She enjoyed many successes in the theater world too. But as talented as she was on screen, film parts only came sporadically after Grease. Instead, Charles found her place in life teaching college students. The actress, also known as Annette Cardona, became a popular professor at California State University, Northridge. For years, she taught Chicano studies to eager college students in the Los Angeles area. Many of them weren’t aware of her acting background. Still, they adored her passion for academic work and responded to her desire to improve their lives. She was so successful as a professor that she transitioned beyond undergrads and worked with many Ph.D. candidates.

Sadly, in 2011, that all ended abruptly. Early that year, the beloved professor entered the hospital with what she thought was a bad case of pneumonia. Doctors ran tests and determined she had lung cancer. The disease progressed very rapidly from there. A month after she entered the hospital, Annette passed. She was 63 years old. In the aftermath, colleagues from the college mourned her sudden death. “I cannot imagine life without Annette,” said fellow CSUN professor Renee Moreno. “My life is forever changed in knowing her, and the world is a little less without her.”^[7]

3 Sid Caesar’s Long Period of Suffering

If there’s one Grease actor who was a star long before the film, it was Sid Caesar. The renowned comic actor had been a TV mainstay on Your Show Of Shows and other productions for years. But by the time Grease hit theaters, his star had begun to wane. It wasn’t so much his on-air opportunities that faltered but Caesar’s lifestyle away from cameras. In 1980, he gave a chilling interview describing himself as emotionally broken. Surrounded by hangers-on and people trying to leech away his entertainment earnings, Caesar was depressed, miserable, and in poor health. In fact, in the same year Grease was released, the comic infamously collapsed in the middle of a stand-up performance. For the star, that period right around the surge of Grease proved to be the lowest of his many lows.

After the on-stage scare, Caesar became determined once and for all to shed his addictions to alcohol and prescription pills. He cut out the drugs and jettisoned unscrupulous doctors and members of his entourage. By 1982, he was clean and released his autobiography Where Have I Been. He carried on for three decades after that, finally becoming healthy and happy. When he died in 2014 following a short illness, he was deservedly hailed as a comic legend.^[8]

2 Eddie Deezen’s Disturbing Decline

Eddie Deezen may not have had a big part in Grease, but he was memorable all the same. The character actor played the ever-nerdy Eugene Felsnic in the film. Complete with a quirky get-up, big glasses, and a bowtie, he perfectly sold the part of the high school’s nerd. Away from the cameras, though, Deezen has long struggled with mental health issues and legal troubles. In 2021, the actor caught the attention of cops in Maryland after he was arrested at a restaurant. Cops were called to deal with his disturbance, and when they arrived, he reportedly threw plates at the officers before being detained.

Sadly, Deezen was back in the news in April 2022. Cops in Cumberland, Maryland, claimed he pushed his way into a nursing facility in the city. Once there, he tried to force his way into one of the residents’ private rooms. When staffers stopped him, Deezen refused to leave. When police were called out, they recognized the actor from previous run-ins. He had apparently entered the facility multiple times in the months before. This time, he was arrested for trespassing and burglary. Deezen’s problems deepened in August when a judge ruled he was mentally incompetent to face trial on those charges.^[9]

1 Alice Ghostley’s Lonely Death

Alice Ghostley wasn’t meant to be a star. The small-town girl dropped out of the University of Oklahoma as a young woman. She claims she didn’t look the part of an actor, either. “My nose was too long, I had crooked teeth, I wasn’t blond,” she once told a newspaper reporter about how limiting her looks had been in entertainment. “But I also knew I’d find a way.” And find a way she did. Ghostley became an exceptional character actor. She won a Tony Award for her theater work and enjoyed TV turns on Bewitched and Designing Women. When she appeared in Grease, popping up in that iconic film as Mrs. Murdock, the auto shop teacher, it was icing on the proverbial cake.

For 52 years, she was married to fellow character actor Felice Orlandi. The pair had a wonderful life together, by all accounts. It ended sadly in 2003 when Orlandi died, though. Ghostley was alone for the first time in five decades. Sadly, she was also going through an awful experience with her health. In her waning days, the actor suffered a series of increasingly-severe strokes. She was also diagnosed with colon cancer. All alone and unwell from the ailments, Ghostley passed on in 2007.^[10]

Even if you’re prone to superstition, you might find the idea of a cursed film laughable. Yet some productions have been so wrought with bad luck it has seemed like the only logical explanation to some. But whether or not you are a believer, you might want to count yourself lucky for not being involved in the following ten movies.

10 The Exorcist (1973)

The 1973 horror classic The Exorcist caused quite a stir amongst cinemagoers upon release based on its merits alone. But the strange incidents surrounding the film, including several on-set injuries, a fire, a motorcycle accident, and a lightning strike on a church, have also led to many labeling it as cursed.

People have also linked the film to several deaths, the most notable being that of actors Jack MacGowran and Vasiliki Maliaros, who both passed away before the film hit the big screen. In addition, several cast members would also report losing family members around the time of the film’s shooting.^[1]

9 Rebel Without a Cause (1955)

This 1955 coming-of-age drama explored the so-called moral decay of America’s youth. However, there was seemingly just as much delinquency behind the scenes of Rebel Without a Cause as anything that made it to the screen, including a real-life fight between acting hopefuls perpetrated by the director Nicholas Ray and a love triangle between Ray, Natalie Wood, and William Hooper.

However, rumors of a curse linked to this film didn’t spring up due to shenanigans, but tragedy, with each of the movie’s three leads suffering an early grave. First, James Dean passed away at 24 due to a car crash only weeks before the film arrived in theaters. Then, years later, a 37-year-old Sal Mineo was murdered outside his apartment, and Natalie Wood mysteriously drowned in the waters off Santa Catalina Island at 43. Also, supporting actor Nick Adams who went on to achieve a degree of fame, died young due to a drug overdose.^[2]

8 The Crow (1994)

The Crow was to be the launching pad for the career of Brandon Lee, Bruce Lee’s son. But unfortunately, the film would be his last, following a now infamous fatal accident on set, which saw Lee shot by a real bullet instead of a blank. However, while Lee’s death was the most tragic event linked with the film, it was not the only bad luck the cast and crew suffered.

Things arguably started to go wrong after the pre-production crew received an anonymous voicemail telling them not to make the film because ‘bad things would happen.’ Sure enough, on the first day of shooting, a crew member suffered severe burns and later lost his ears when his crane hit a power line. Then the “Storm of the Century” hit the southeastern U.S., causing complications, delays, discontent, and sickness for the cast and crew. All in all, the fact the movie made it to the screen is perhaps nothing short of a minor miracle.^[3]

7 The Poltergeist Trilogy (1982-1988)

If this list is going to teach you anything, it is that horror films are seemingly the most susceptible to apparent curses. And here we don’t just have one classic of the genre, but a whole trilogy that people claim to be cursed. And again, a series of deaths, two of which were unexpected, in this case, involving no less than four cast members, lies at the heart of the matter.

Dominique Dunne, who portrayed Dana Freeling, was the first to meet a tragic fate after her former partner murdered her on her driveway in 1982. Then, Julian Beck, who played the evil preacher Kane in Poltergeist II, took his own life in 1983 after a long battle with stomach cancer. Next, Will Sampson, who played the Native American shaman Taylor, passed away during surgery in ’87. Finally, Heather O’Rourke, who played Carol Anne, the focal point of the Poltergeist series, tragically passed away at the age of twelve from an intestinal abnormality.^[4]

6 The Wizard of Oz (1939)

There’s no denying that The Wizard of Oz will live on as a landmark moment in cinema history. But despite its commercial success, some believe the film is cursed, due to the number of serious accidents that occurred on set, from an exploding broomstick injuring a stunt double to broken wires causing the actors playing the winged monkeys to come crashing to the ground.

Elsewhere, Margeret Hamilton, who played the Wicked Witch, experienced second and third-degree burns to her face and hands after fire used for special effects caught on to her. Meanwhile, Buddy Ebsen, the original tin man, suffered poisoning due to costume designers using pure aluminum dust to create his makeup. And that scene where Dorothy and her friends fall asleep while snow falls from the sky? That was mineral asbestos falling on the actors.

According to Judy Garland, who played Dorothy and later struggled with depression and substance abuse, there was plenty of mental and psychological abuse on and off the set too. And then there are the urban legends, such as the false claim that a munchkin hanged himself during filming. But in reality, the curse behind The Wizard of Oz was nothing supernatural but a combination of neglect and ignorance on the studio’s part.^[5]

5 The Omen (1976)

This horror classic tells the story of a couple who adopt a child that, as it turns out, might be the son of the Devil. But while it is beloved by some, some would argue that making a film about such a story was tempting fate. And they might have the evidence to back this up.

The bad luck began a month before filming commenced when lead star Gregory Peck’s son ended his own life. Later, when Peck was heading to London for the film, his plane was struck by lighting. Amazingly, the same thing happened to executive producer Mace Neufeld only a week later. And that wouldn’t be the only aviation problem, as a plane that many of the crew were originally meant to board ended up crashing.

Other events connected to the film include the director’s hotel being bombed by the IRA, lions killing a zookeeper in a safari park the day after footage for The Omen was shot there, and a rottweiler attacking a stunt performer. However, perhaps the most shocking incident allegedly connected to the curse would occur to special effects director John Richardson and his assistant Liz Moore when they were involved in a car crash. John, the man behind The Omen’s infamous decapitation scene, survived. Unfortunately, however, his assistant was herself decapitated.^[6]

4 Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

Another film that plays upon the concept of an (in this case, unborn) antichrist and is supposedly cursed is Rosemary’s Baby. And rumors of said curse arguably began with the murder of director Roman Polanski’s wife, Sharon Tate, at the hands of the Manson family in 1969. Her murder followed the death of composer Krzysztof Komeda, who suffered a tragic fall from a rock encampment. Years later, John Lennon was shot outside of the Dakota, where Rosemary’s Baby was filmed, which some have also attributed to the curse.

Beyond these deaths, others have linked the film’s “curse” to the downward spiral of those involved backstage. For some, such as producer William Castle and original novelist Ira Levin, the stress of being involved with such a controversial film wreaked havoc on their personal lives and mental health. Elsewhere, producer Robert Evans was not only convicted of cocaine trafficking but became linked to the high-profile murder of Roy Radin. And then, of course, there is Polanski’s fall from grace that, in the wake of his wife’s murder, saw him indulge in substance abuse and become linked to multiple acts of depravity.^[7]

3 The Superman Franchise (1948– )

The superman curse is a hex so strong that it seemingly cursed an entire franchise. And if we’re going by the number of people affected, it’s clearly one of the most potent. The Superman curse has, if believed, been proven liable to jinx anyone even remotely involved in the Superman movies, from backstage staff to actors to producers. However, if one particular group is at high risk, it is the actors who play the title character.

The curse seemingly began with the first live-action Superman, Kirk Alyn, who struggled to find work after taking on the role. Then George Reeves, who portrayed the capped hero in the 1951 film, died just days before he was set to be married. Next, Lee Quigley, who played the baby Superman in the 1978 film, died of a heart attack at fourteen. And Christopher Reeves became the most high-profile victim of the alleged curse following a horse-riding accident that left him paralyzed.^[8]

2 Atuk

Now for a film so cursed that it never got made. Based on the book The Incomparable Atuk, Atuk tells a “fish out of water” story about an Inuit living in New York. But whenever someone tries to make the film, they keep running into the same problem: the actor tipped for the lead role suddenly dies.

John Belushi was the first name to be attached to the movie before dying due to drug intoxication, with the script lying on his coffee table. Sam Kinison actually made it on to set to play the lead before production was shut down. He later died tragically when a drunk driver hit his car. Next, John Candy got hold of the script and showed interest before dying of a supposed heart attack. Finally, Chris Farley showed an interest before dying after a four-day, drug-fueled bender at 33.^[9]

1 A Confederacy of Dunces

A Confederacy of Dunces seems to be suffering from the same curse behind Atuk. It’s another movie based on a book that tragedy and bad luck have prevented from being made. First, John Belushi signed up to play the lead role before dying of a drug overdose. Then John Candy and Chris Farley suffered the same fate.

A version of the film set for release in 2005, starring Will Ferrell, was moving ahead nicely. But while Ferrell survived the alleged curse, the production didn’t. Not only was one of the film’s financers murdered by her husband, but Hurricane Katrina rolled in to destroy many of the film’s needed locations.^[10]