3. The Song 'Gloomy Sunday' Kills People
In case you forgot, the story goes that the song "Gloomy Sunday" from Hungarian songwriter, Reszo Seress, inspired not only himself and his girlfriend to commit suicide, but an inordinate amount of listeners in Hungary and, thereafter, the world over. This problem was so extreme that radios in America and across Europe banned the song. "Gloomy Sunday" has since become known as "The Hungarian Suicide Song." The truth is, it's a fun (or "fun") urban myth, and maybe a good premise for a story, but that's all it is: a story. There aren't any reliable sources or references that can confirm (or to be fair, deny) any kind of official ban on the song, either by Hungarian officials or American ones. While Seress did end his own life, there is nothing to indicate that his girlfriend did the same, or that he even did it because of the song. Seress also wrote the song with poet László Jávor, who
didn't kill himself despite coming up with these pretty dark lyrics:
Sunday is gloomy, My hours are slumberless. Dearest, the shadows I live with are numberless. Little white flowers Will never awaken you: Not where the black coach of Sorrow has taken you. Angels have no thought Of ever returning you. Would they be angry If I thought of joining you? ... Gloomy is Sunday, With shadows I spend it all. My heart and I Have decided to end it all. Soon there'll be candles And prayers that are said, I know. Let them not weep. Let them know that I'm glad to go. Death is no dream, For in death I'm caressin' you. With the last breath of my soul I'll be blessin' you.
(Seress only wrote the melody.) Hungary does have a relatively high suicide rate and has for some time (currently it's number three in Europe, edged out only by Lithuania and Belarus), so it's not too surprising that a pop song from Hungary with such dark lyrics would get associated with suicide so easily. But correlation does not equal causation just because sad, emotionally unwell people thought it would be apropos to quote the song in their suicide note, it doesn't mean the song actually inspired them to kill themselves. What makes this one particularly egregious is that you can read all about this myth (and how it's, at best, unverified) at Snopes.com. Tut tut, elves!