Crazy Urban Legends

Just like Poltergeist, it is believed that this film too is cursed and then in the Dvd release, the legends were proven to be true. It goes like this:"Many of the film's participants claimed the film was cursed. Blatty stated on video that there were some strange occurrences during the filming. Lead actress Burstyn indicated some rumors are true in her 2006 autobiography Lessons in Becoming Myself. Due to a studio fire, the interior sets of the MacNeil residence (with the exception of Regan's bedroom) had to be rebuilt and caused a setback in pre-production. Friedkin claimed that a priest was brought in numerous times to bless the set. After difficulties encountered in the New York production, Blatty asked Fr. King to bless the Washington crew on its first day of filming at the foot of Lauinger Library's steps to 37th Street. The incident was recounted in Fr. King's Washington Post obituary in 2009. Other issues include Blair's harness breaking when she is thrashing on the bed causing permanent damage to the actor's spine. While filming the vaginal crucifix stabbing scene, Ellen Burstyn was seriously injured when the crew pulled her harness too hard after Blair hits her across the bedroom. Irish actor Jack MacGowran died from influenza shortly after he filmed his role as director Burke Dennings."

This is one of the most infamous movie urban legends and myths out there, because it involves multiple deaths. There's no way of determining if an actual 'Poltergeist' curse exists, but there have been few movies with so many high-profile deaths of those involved in them. Throughout the run of the three 'Poltergeist' movies, actress Dominique Dunne died after her boyfriend choked her; child actress Heather O'Rourke succumbed to septic shock due to a bowel obstruction; actor Julian Beck died of stomach cancer; and Will Sampson died due to kidney failure, malnutrition, and a fungal infection after a heart-lung transplant. While the latter two deaths weren't surprising due the knowledge that both actors were fighting life-threatening conditions, the unexpected death of such a young child and the violent death of Dominique Dunne are what really led to the creation of the 'Poltergeist' curse. Add to the mix the movie's spooky subject matter, and you've got a whole slew of 'Poltergeist'-related urban myths and legends. But while it is true there were multiple deaths of actors and actresses involved in the movies during their runs, there's no way of proving the existence of an actual curse.

Another famous urban legend, people said that in one scene Simba plops down on the ground, sending up a cloud of dust which weirdly enough looks like "SEX". Although Disney has denied that saying that they wanted to write "SFX" to honor the special effects team



What do you think? :D

Probably the most known Urban Legend, it goes that a ghost of a young boy appears for a second in the film. You can watch the complete explanation here:

1939 classic Wizard of Oz is a great family musical. At one point though people pointed out that in one of the scenes of the film, you can actually see a man, probably a crew member who plays a munchkin in the movie, committing suicide! It is today known as the Hanging Munchkin Urban Legend. Even in extremely poor quality you could clearly see a dim figure which first gives us an impression of a horrible suicide. This urban legend is not true though.



It has been made clear now that the hanging figure is actually one of the live exotic birds distributed around the set for visual interest.

The Oscar Winning Japanese anime about a girl getting lost in the spirit world has an even weirder Urban legend and Miyazaki accepted it 100%. In the film, Chihiro is a small girl who gets lost in the world of spirits and her parents are turned to pigs. She is forced to work at a lavish bath house made for the spirits and survive till she figures out how to get out. This Japanese version of Alice in Wonderland may look like a family fantasy film for all ages but rumor had it that the bathhouse actually represented a brothel from the Edo period of Japan (1603 to 1868). In that period the prostitutes of the bathhouse were known as "Yuna", these prostitutes worked under a different name and the one who run these brothels was called "Yubaba". And all these elements are unmistakably present in the movie.

In an interview Miyazaki accepted the urban legend and said that he wanted to throw light on the problem of prostitution that's increasing in the country. Furthermore, if you have seen the film, the monster "No-face" always tries to give Chihiro gold. Miyazaki specified that he was "attracted" to her and wanted her.

Although the film never openly suggests this and Chihiro never goes through that experience, it's all there. Probably we watch the film through her innocent eyes that's why we are never aware of it. But the Japs who knew their history well were!

I am extremely big fan of Hayao Miyazaki's animated films. And one of my favorites is My Neighbor Totoro that came out in 1988. It's a story of two girls, Mei and Satsuki, who move to new home near a dense forest. They later befriend the forest spirit, Totoro , who is the guardian of the forest. Simple story, no problem. But then in 2009 some horrible urban legend came out on the net that almost diminished this film's cuteness and for some people Totoro wasn't the same again.

The legend has it that Totoro is not a forest spirit but a deadly god of Death (very cute for a demon!). It doesn't end here. The legend also says that the two girls die in the end of the film.

After some years, counter-views did come from Totoro fans and the legend was proved false. Miyazaki himself denies it. But unfortunately some people still believe that the legend is true.

Provided that you have seen the film, here is a link which completely covers all the points that prove it to be a movie on death: my.opera.com/sukekomashi-gaijin/blog/tonari-no-totoro

My personal opinion? People are always looking for attention-seeking stuff. And making a great children's classic into a Final destination like movie is what they like to do. It's all rubbish and false, probably one the worst urban legends.

In Mel Gibson's 2006 intense action movie Apocalyto, it is said that this one frame appears in one of it's infamous scenes where our protagonist finds himself surrounded by a bloody pile of bodies whilst being chased by some Mayan guards.



Is it true? Yes it is. Mel Gibson loves jokes like these but this wasn't very well received given the films extremely intensifying atmosphere.

The frame is that of a fictional character named Waldo from Where's Waldo? Seems like we found him...