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by - October 11, 2007 - 11:00 AM
Looks like the Curse of the Billy Goat has struck again, and with the Cubs’ loss last weekend, it will be at least one more year until the curse is lifted. 2008 will mark the 100th anniversary of the Cubs’ last World Series win, so a Series win next year would be pretty poetic anyway.
The story goes like this: Greek immigrant William “Billy Goat” Sianis, who owned the nearby Billy Goat Tavern, bought two tickets to game four of the 1945 World Series against Detroit. The second ticket was for his pet billy goat, Murphy. They made it into the game for a little while, but were thrown out after owner P.K. Wrigley complained about the goat’s smell. In retaliation, Sianis cursed the Cubs and said they would never win a pennant or a World Series again. Looks like there might be something to that curse.
If you’re not too superstitious, read on for seven more curses that seem to be doing their jobs. By the end of this post, you won’t want to endorse soup, knit any presents or turn 27.
1. The Curse of William Penn
William Penn is not a man to be crossed. His wrath isn’t confined to one sport – no, he has cursed all four professional sports teams in Philadelphia. A statue of Penn adorns the top of City Hall in Philly, and legend has it that an agreement was made that no building in town would ever stand taller than the statue. That was all fine and dandy until 1987, when One Liberty Place was constructed three blocks away from City Hall, dwarfing William Penn by nearly 400 feet. Ever since that date, not one of the professional teams in Philly has won any of their respective championships. There may be hope, though – in June 2007, a new tallest-building-in-Philly record was set with the Comcast Center, which stands 58 stories. When the final beam was raised, the iron workers attached a William Penn figurine to the top of it, officially making him the tallest thing in town again. We’ll see if it appeases Mr. Penn. It hasn’t appeared to yet… along with the Cubs, the Phillies lost their hopes at a 2007 World Series win last weekend.
2. Sports Illustrated, Campbell’s Soup and the Madden NFL video game series
All three seem to have one thing in common: whenever NFL players appear on their covers (on the can, in the case of the soup), he will either be injured soon afterward or be cursed with an exceptionally poor performance. I won’t cite all of the instances that this has held true, because it is pretty overwhelming. SI has a whole site dedicated to their jinx. Donovan McNabb, Shaun Alexander, Daunte Culpepper, Michael Vick, Marshall Faulk and Ray Lewis were all injured after appearing on the Madden cover. The Campbell’s Soup curse applies to Terrell Davis, Kurt Warner, and yes, Donovan McNabb. Again. As the quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles (see ‘The Curse of William Penn’), he may very well be the most cursed player in sports history.
3. The Sweater Curse
Not all curses are sports-related. Any knitter worth his or her salt will tell you about the Sweater Curse. Legend has it that after spending much time, effort and money to create a sweater for your significant other, the relationship will fail soon after giving them the garment. I am a knitter and have yet to gift anyone a sweater…although I’ll admit this is more a matter of skill than superstition. (Note: This is the best picture we found in a search for “cosby sweater.” He was a pitchman for Texas Instruments in the 1980s. OK, back to the list.)
4. The Curse of Tippecanoe
Broken but still worth mentioning, The Curse of Tippecanoe was placed in 1811, when William Henry Harrison defeated Tecumseh (at right) and his brother Tenskwatawa in battle. They cursed Harrison – and all future Presidents. For the next 120 years, every president who was elected on a 20-year interval would die before his term officially ended. Harrison was elected in 1840 and died of pnumonia the next year. Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield and William McKinley, respectively elected in 1860, 1880 and 1900, were all assassinated. Warren G. Harding, elected in 1920, suffered a stroke before his term was up. Franklin Roosevelt, re-elected in 1940, had a fatal cerebral hemorrhage. Granted, this was during his fourth term, which would not be allowed by today’s laws. John F. Kennedy, elected in 1960, was, of course, assassinated. It was Ronald Reagan, elected in 1980, who finally broke the curse. He narrowly escaped being assassinated, however, so it wasn’t for a lack of effort on Tecumseh’s part.
5. The Omen
It wouldn’t be a post written by me if I didn’t work horror movies in somewhere. I have a legitimate reason, though: both The Omen and Poltergeist are plagued by curses.
The Omen author and scriptwriter David Seltzer’s plane to the filming location in the U.K. was struck by lightning, and so was the movie’s star Gregory Peck’s. They were on two separate planes. Poor Gregory Peck kept just barely escaping aviation disaster – in another incident, he canceled a reservation he had on a flight. The flight he canceled crashed and killed everyone on board.
The hotel where director Richard Donner was staying was bombed. And on the very first day of shooting, the main members of the crew got in a head-on collision. Even those barely associated with the movie couldn’t escape: a warden at the safari park used for a scene in the movie was killed by a lion less than 24 hours after the scene was shot.
Finally, the incident that I find the creepiest is that special effects artist John Richardson, who created the famous beheading scene, was injured on the set of a movie a year later. His girlfriend was beheaded in the same accident.
6. Poltergeist
The actresses who played sisters in the original movie both died at terribly young ages: Dominique Dunne, who played the older sister, was murdered by her boyfriend in 1982. Heather O’Rourke, who played Carol Anne, died in 1988 of septic shock.
Why the curse? Supposedly, real human remains were used as props for the movie. The actress who played the mom in the movie, JoBeth Williams, said she was told the skeletons used in the swimming pool scene were the real deal. She also said that when she would get back to her house after filming Poltergeist every day, the pictures on her wall would all be crooked. She would move them back to their rightful positions, only to find them crooked again when she got home the next day.
7. The 27 Club
Finally, readers who are 27, beware, lest you join the 27 Club. Only people who die at the age of 27 are allowed to join, and, OK, they also happen to be famous rock stars. The illustrious list includes Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Brian Jones, Kurt Cobain and Pigpen McKernan (founding member of the Grateful Dead). Although these are the most famous, other musicians who died at the same young age include bluesman Robert Johnson; Dave Alexander, the bassist for Iggy Pop and the Stooges; Peter Ham, the keyboardist/guitarist for Badfinger; and Kristen Pfaff, the bass guitarist for Hole.
I know there are other curses, especially sports-related ones. Let me know what other curses I should be avoiding.
Previously on mental_floss:
• Quiz: Discontinued Ben & Jerry’s Flavor or Band I Found On MySpace?
• Six Cool Plants I Would Find A Way To Kill
• 12 Classes We Wish Our Schools Had Offered
• Strange Gravestones
• Five Ballpark Promotions That Went Wrong
Comments (30)
Comment
It’s worth mentioning that Sianis and his goat were allowed into all the regular season games that season.
And how can you mention to 27 club and not mention Robert Johnson? He’s not only the earliest example, but the writer of “Crossroads”, which is supposed to explain why the curse exists anyway.
posted by Ian EBH on 10-11-2007 at 11:13 am
Anyone who’s taken a statsitcs class (I’ve had the pleasure/curse of taking many), has become familiar with the source of the Sports Illustrated curse. Look no further than regression to the mean. The further you are out on the probabilitic tails of the bell curve, the more likely you are to come back to center. A player is most likely to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated when he or she has had an incredible run of good luck. The probability of them staying as “outliers” decreases with each performance. Therefore, the likelihood that an athlete will falter (and return to the “mean”) is higher at the point they’d been succesful enough to reach the cover than at other times in their careers!
posted by Statstastic on 10-11-2007 at 11:26 am
The Cowboys have not won the NFC title since Jerry Jones fired Troy Aikman. This year tehy are favored to, but did you all see what happened in last years playoffs with the Cowboys?
posted by Witty Nickname on 10-11-2007 at 11:45 am
Being from Massachusetts, I am extremely familiar with the Curse of the Bambino. This curse is said to be the reason the Boston Red Sox did not win a World Series for 86 years.
Another curse, that is more of an urban legend, imo, is that of MacBeth. Having participated in theater, I, myself have become victim to this curse.
posted by Aliceson on 10-11-2007 at 11:59 am
What about the SNL curse? Several cast and crew members from the show have died tragically (drugs, cancer, murder, suicide) after leaving the cast of Saturday Night Live.
posted by Ben on 10-11-2007 at 11:59 am
I have never heard of the Campbell soup curse, and it’s not as dangerour as the other two (Brian Urlacker appeared on Campbells chunky soup and he did not get hurt).
posted by Adam on 10-11-2007 at 12:06 pm
One more curse to add to the list…
The Pharaoh’s curse - belief that any person who disturbs the mummy of an Egyptian pharaoh will shortly die.
posted by Erin on 10-11-2007 at 12:32 pm
Yeah, I turn 27 Saturday. Thanks for that happy thought.
posted by Jenny on 10-11-2007 at 12:42 pm
I’m 27 in a few short months. Thankfully I’m as culturally irrelevant as a man can be, so, since it only applies to the famous, I should be ok.
posted by Christian on 10-11-2007 at 1:15 pm
Speaking of the Pharaoh’s curse, I read somewhere that there was an Egyptian mummy being transported on the Titanic and we all know what happened to that ship!
posted by Harvest on 10-11-2007 at 1:26 pm
do not mess with the sweater curse. I felt really bad after I taught a friend to knit, and she immediately started on a sweater for her boyfriend. he dumped her 3 days after she gave it to him.
posted by moonablaze on 10-11-2007 at 1:43 pm
I turn 28 a week from Saturday, and I’m not dead yet. (Knock on wood.)
Good thing my dream career as a rock star (who couldn’t play any instruments, nor carry a tune) never took off!
posted by Molly on 10-11-2007 at 2:49 pm
It’s a great article but what about the great Superman curse or The Addams Family curse?
OK, I may watch a bit too much TV.
posted by m0le on 10-11-2007 at 2:49 pm
The curse of the Grateful Dead keyboard players…
Ron McKernan (health problems brought on by alcohol abuse)
Keith Godchaux (car accident)
Brent Mydland (drug overdose)
Vince Welnick (suicide)
It’s almost like being the drummer for Spinal Tap, or a red-shirted ensign on Star Trek. You accept this job, it’s gonna kill you.
posted by Ken on 10-11-2007 at 3:05 pm
The Blade Runner Curse!
Well it’s not much of a bad curse, but the companies whose logos were placed in the backgrounds there suffered some degree of bad luck… especially Atari and Apple…
posted by El Capitan on 10-11-2007 at 9:40 pm
The movie “The Mothman Prophesies” is said to be cursed. A couple of crew members, technical people and an actor met untimely deaths shortly after making the movie. A hotel where scenes were filmed had a big fire. I only mention this because I had the fortune (or is it misfortune?) of being an extra in the movie. My scene wasn’t used so hopefully I dodged the curse. Right? I did dodge the curse didn’t I? didn’t I??? (gulp)
posted by Tdave on 10-12-2007 at 1:18 am
It seems as though The Omen Curse is on applicable to the 1976 version. There was a remake last year. Perhaps the curse is broken.
posted by Mel on 10-12-2007 at 7:44 am
It is well-known among musicians that a band will break up or lose a significant amount of players after the band promo photo is taken.
Every band I ever played with followed this curse. In fact, I can’t remember any of them *not* losing players, endorsements and/or management, nor, anecdotally, did this not occur with anybody else’s band.
Fortunately, death was not usually involved…
posted by Doc on 10-12-2007 at 11:49 am
I saw there’s a book coming out about the rock musicians who died at age 27
www.the27s.com
posted by gerald on 10-16-2007 at 8:40 am
What about the curse of the Hapburgs? It’s probably broken now, but no one can deny that group of inbred royals had some very bad luck over the centuries.
posted by Christine on 10-17-2007 at 7:51 am
There are two theatre “curses” that have been explained.
“MacBeth” is considered unlucky because it’s the repertory piece that gets hauled out to replace a show that tanks. So if you’re taking “Mental_Floss! The Musical” on tour, and then the boss tells you that you’re doing MacBeth tomorrow, you know you’ve tanked.
In the long-ago days of theatre, stagehands moved scenery by ropes hanging up in the flies (near the ceiling). They used a complicated set of whistles to communicate to each other and coordinate movement.
If you whistled on stage, you might end up with a piece of scenery landing on your head! Or having it appear in the wrong scene.
posted by Lynn on 10-17-2007 at 12:32 pm
What about the Poltergeist II curse? Julian Beck, who played the evil Kane, died shortly after the film’s release. Actor Will Sampson, also a real-life shaman, was called in to do an actual exorcism on the set…he died the following year.
posted by jason on 10-17-2007 at 1:02 pm
This might be rooted in years of lackluster Christmas gifts, but I think I might dump someone who knitted me a sweater too.
Someone has already mentioned the Curse of the Pharoh, so here is another international curse: The Curse of Oiwa. Japan’s oldest ghost story (and sometimes refereed to as the “Japanese Macbeth”), Yotsuya Kaidan is said to be the true account of a samurai hounded by the ghost of the wife he murdered, Oiwa. Productions of Yotsuya Kaidan have been wrife with death and misfortune for centuries, to the point that any cast wishing to perform the play makes a pilgrimage to Oiwa’s grave to ask for permission beforehand.
posted by Briana on 10-18-2007 at 7:51 am
My ancestors were followers of Tecumseh, and the “curse” that was placed on William Henry Harrison was along the lines of “he’ll get what is coming to him.” For a man to be so enamored of his own voice to speak in such awful weather for such a long time so as to catch pneumonia and die is what the ancient Shawnee would call “poetic justice.” The other dead presidents is what we Shawnee call a “coincidence!” :^)
posted by Ross on 10-18-2007 at 6:55 pm
Kudos on the SI, Madden, and Campbell’s curse. I think it’s worth mentioning that McNabb is cursed even further since that year, he was also featured on the cover of SI. So all three plus the Penn curse, looks like I need a new team.
let’s hope the new Penn Statue theory holds water.
posted by Shane on 12-19-2007 at 3:14 pm
How can someone be terribly young (poltergeist)? What does that mean? Is this young person terrible at being young? Is this person six years old yet complains about arthritis? I wonder.
posted by JournoJones on 12-20-2007 at 11:47 am
There’s a well-known Latin curse(or perhaps taboo).
Never give a husband or wife shoes as a gift, because those are the shoes they will sue to walk out on you.
posted by grover on 12-21-2007 at 2:38 am
*use
(though I the first thing my shoes would do if sentient is sue me)
posted by grover on 12-21-2007 at 2:39 am
The SNL curse is baloney. That show has been on for more than twenty years– long enough for any number of cast members, especially if they’re immersed in the Hollywood lifestyle of booze, drugs and hard living, to run out their lives. As for those who got sick, well, people get sick and die all around us it’s only because they’re relatively famous that people notice.
If a meteor hit the studio during taping and killed everyone, then you’d have something.
posted by Andie on 12-21-2007 at 11:44 am
Just going through lists that I missed. What about the supposed curse of the Hope diamond?
posted by Brandy on 2-26-2008 at 9:37 am