Has anyone noticed that Hollywood death's come in three's?

I've noticed this for a while now. I've always noticed that every time an actor dies, two others fall with them (no offense intended if any was found). Here's an example:

Harvey Korman (81) - May 29, 2008
Joseph Pevney (96) - May 18, 2008
Sydney Pollack (73) - May 26, 2008

Those are kinda expected due to the old age but i'll go on a search for more. I believe i noticed this around both Anna Nicole Smith's untimely death as well as Heath Ledger's.

Heath Ledger (28) - January 22, 2008
Christopher Allport (61) - January 25, 2008
Robert Gari (88) - January 22, 2008

Anna Nicole Smith (39) - February 8, 2007
Ned Austin (81) - February 10, 2007
Barbara McNair (73) - February 4, 2007


I don't know, maybe it's just me but i'm just curious if other's on here have noticed this as well.

(This is the first thread i've posted here!!)

actually, my best friend and i have noticed this for years. whether we heard this somewhere else and THEN started noticing, i don't remember. I am sure that this isn't ALWAYS the case, but it does seem to be the case whenever we take "notice" (and i haven't really paid much attention for the last year).

I don't know if this really fits...But, some people who really like Rock Music *mostly psychedellic rock* thought there was something odd about the death of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Jim Morrison.

In one biography I read about Jim Morrison, there was something in there about Morrison joking about "being the third one to go" in reference to the death of Jimi & Janis...

Jimi Hendrix - September 18, 1970
Janis Joplin - October 4, 1970
Jim Morrison - July 3, 1971

Just a thought...

seems like randomness to me. not to say that you are wrong, but people die every day, i think that you could find a pattern relating to stars' deaths and the number three, but there are so many deaths that it doesn't seem... for lack of a better term... unnatural. granted ledger's death was untimely, but that was his own doing.

Though what you said earlier about the death of jimi, janis, and jim does sound intriguing...

I heard this years ago, as justamomma had said in his/her post.

Notice it, yes, after it was mentioned. It may be that one death doesn't really mean that much other than you knew someone, then another person dies within a time frame that brings the first death back to active memory. Now, your looking for a pattern and someone else then dies.

I've seen 4 and 5 well known people die within a short time frame also.

This brings up the randomness aspect mentioned by sandman692.

yeah i reckon, unless they die in a plane crash, its all relative.We folks just notice them there hollywood stars more , I believe.

Hollywood deaths AND plane crashes.

Folks have noticed it for decades.
I first heard of it as a child - more than 40 years ago.

Heck .. even the Patrick Swayze movie "GHOST" said something about it. Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore were watching TV and it talked about a plane crash. Swayzes character said - 'these things always happen in 3s.'

Deaths coming in threes (usually all in one genre or field of expertise) is a old old notion. Just do a web search for "Deaths come in three"

I remember my great nan telling me this when I was very little, I remember the most ancient family members telling the youngest family members this. Currently my parents are the 'ancients' now and they are continuing on the tradition of scaring the younger family members with the Death comes in threes belief hehe.

i'm not sure about all year round deaths in 3s but certainly in the uk, my family have always looked for the 3 xmas/new year deaths of famous people as there have always been 3 of those for as long as i can remember. we usually try and guess who they might be though most are complete surprises.

sandman692: i actually thought of that like an hour after posting the thread. I know, i was way late on it.

justyc: lol, sounds like one helluva tradition! I might have to adapt that one!

reply to post by screamo



It's called the "law of series" - or "seriality" - and it was actually investigated almost 100 years ago, by Kammerer. (He's the one who named it, too, unless I am mistaken.)

I have certainly noticed the airplane thing. As somebody else said, that observation has been around forever. But it must be said that there is an airplane accident almost every day, it's just that the great majority go unreported.

See here:

A.C.R.O.


Trains also seem to derail in series.


And for actors, it would actually be around 2 - 5 days.

IMDB Dates

(Some might argue that many of the actors listed are unknown to them, although that's hardly the point. From the people listed in the OP, I only knew - and loved - Pollack, the other two I've never heard of before today.)


So, in some respects it could appear that it's just a matter o perception.
But I think deep down we all know that, in reality, that isn't exactly true. (And Kammerer was no idiot himself.)

On a more personal level, one of the most remarkable "series" I recall is the December 31 1997 - January 15, 1998, period: on December 31st, Kennedy had a fatal ski accident (by crashing into a tree); a few days later, exactly the same fate befell Sonny Bono; and 10 days later a friend of mine also hit a tree during skiing (she survived, but was severely injured and disfigured).

Some might say "big deal: it was winter, that's when people ski".
Indeed they do - EVERY YEAR. And yet, how many "series" of this particular accident have you detected...?






[edit on 30-5-2008 by Vanitas]

Yeah, i guess it's all nothing more than strange/eerie coincidences. I never heard of the airplane crash one but it does sound familiar in some way i can't quite put my finger on. hmm

I also have never heard of the train derailing thing till i read your post. Awfully odd stuff

Yea, and Only the Good Die Young...

reply to post by screamo


bad things come in threes.

your list for the most recent round contains one older death that might not fit the threes.

Dick Martin died May 24, 2008. For those of you scratching your heads, Dick Martin was one half of Rowan and Martin's Laugh In.

yes its a old wives tale...

everything happens in 3's

your sister gets pregnant...2 other family members or close friends will get pregnant.

death

so on and so forth..

if i remember correctly i knwo my great grandma use to talk about death in 3's

uncle jim died...i bet so and so and so and so next.. 2 to die.

ect...

Well, this time around it was Tim Russert, Eric Medlen (NHRA Driver), and then George Carlin.

They always say that celebrities dies in threes, I wonder who is next?

Amy Winehouse July 23rd 2011
Bubba Smith (aka Hightower from Police Academy) August 3rd 2011
and
?

reply to post by screamo


I couldn't agree more! It's been proven time and time again and again recently.

They go in threes. More and More people are beginning to realize that.
Hollywood Threes, Paul Crouch (Nov. 30), Paul Walker (Nov. 30), and Nelson Mandela (Dec. 5)
READ MORE: rebatoneyblog.blogspot.com...

raquelalise
reply to post by screamo

 

I couldn't agree more! It's been proven time and time again and again recently.

They go in threes. More and More people are beginning to realize that.
Hollywood Threes, Paul Crouch (Nov. 30), Paul Walker (Nov. 30), and Nelson Mandela (Dec. 5)
READ MORE: rebatoneyblog.blogspot.com...

I loved Mandela in that flick about the dog, the one where the dog talks? Didn't he star in that with Joan Cusack?