10 Spookiest Hollywood Stories And Urban Legends
3. James Dean's Cursed Car
Despite a conspiracy theory to the contrary, James Dean was tragically killed in a car crash in 1955. En-route to a motorsports event, he crashed his Porsche Spyder into another vehicle and later died from his injuries. He was 24, and one of Hollywood's brightest stars was extinguished far too soon. However, what happened to the car that Dean dubbed "Little Bastard" after the accident is very strange indeed.
George Barris, the so-called "King of the Customizers" spun a compelling myth around the car's supposed curse. Barris claims he purchased the Porsche and the car had broken a mechanic's legs in an accident during the vehicle's unloading. After this, Barris sold the engine from the car to Dr. Troy McHenry, who was later killed in a car crash.
Barris would tour the car around road safety conventions and claimed that during the tour the car fell off a display and broke a teenager's hip. It's also said to have fallen from a trailer and killed a truck driver. It's all very spooky but James Dean expert Lee Raskin believes Barris never owned the real car, claiming it was purchased by one of Dean's racing rivals Dr. William Eschrich for salvage.
Whatever the truth, a car part from the famous vehicle recently fetched almost $400k at an auction.