10 Truly Disturbing Behind-The-Scenes Movie Facts
2. The Corpses Used In Poltergeist Were Real
The production of 1982's Poltergeist is infamous for its many tragic incidents and coincidences which have collectively become known as "The Poltergeist Curse" such as the filming of the scene in which Robbie is strangled by a possessed clown doll.
During shooting, the mechanics of the clown doll prop malfunctioned and actually began to choke Oliver Robbins, the actor who portrayed Robbie.
In addition to this, Heather O' Rourke, the child actress who played the main role of Carol Anne, passed away at age thirteen due to undiagnosed intestinal stenosis. Dominique Dunne, who played Carol Anne's elder sister Dana, also suffered an untimely death when she was strangled by her ex-boyfriend John Thomas Sweeney four months after the release of the film.
Some have speculated that the cause of this apparent trend of tragedy and misfortune that plagued the production of the Poltergeist movies was the use of real corpses in one scene of the original film during which the matriarch of the family is plunged into a muddy pool full of skeletons.
Apparently, it was somehow cheaper to source real human skeletons than to purchase props. Actress JoBeth Williams, who played the mother, was only told that she was taking a dip with actual human remains after she filmed the scene.