With the recent deaths of Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson happening within in three days of each it made this guy think of the old wives tale that celebrities die in 3’s. He researched the dates and found it happens more often than he thought. The results are from the years 2000 – 2009, choosing only famous people that died within three days of each other. Here are the results of the last few years:
2009
June 23 – Ed McMahon (T.V.), June 25 - Farrah Fawecett (Actress), June 25 – Michael Jackson (Singer)
2008
Jan 17 – Bobby Fischer (Chess), Jan 18 – Lois Nettleton (Actress), Jan 19 – Suzanne Pleshette (Actress)
2007
Mar 9 – Brad Delp (Singer), Mar 10 – Richard Jeni (Comedian), Mar 11 – Betty Hutton (Actress)
Apr 23 – David Halberstam (Author), Apr 23 – Boris Yeltsin (Former Russian Pres.), Apr 25 - Bobby “Boris” Pickett (Singer)
July 29 – Tom Snyder (T.V. Show Host), July 30 – Ingmar Bergman (Director), July 30 – Bill Walsh (NFL Coach)
Sept 21 - Alice Ghostley (Actress), Sept 21 - Rex Humbard (T.V. Evangelist), Sept 22 – Marcel Marceau (Mime)
2006
Feb 18 – William Cowsill (Singer), Feb 18 – Richard Bright (Actor), Feb 20 - Curt Gowdy (Sportscaster)
Feb 24 – Don Knotts (Actor), Feb 24 – Dennis Weaver (Actor), Feb 25 – Darren McGavin (Actor)
Mar 25 - Richard Flescher (Director), Mar 26 – Buck Owens (Singer), Mar – 26 Paul Dana (IRL Race Car Driver)
My Grandmother always claimed this was true all the way back into the silent movie era.
Don’t know if people died in patterns before movies/radio/tv though.
You can add billy mays to the list
Fourth death, June 28th – Billy Mays (TV salesman)
Who decides what a “celebrity” is? I bet that most of us know next to nothing about half of the above listed.
i only know Boris Yeltsin and Michael Jackson
JUNE—-2009
1. David Carradine
2. Ed McMahon
3. Farrah Fawcett
1. Michael Jackson
2. Billy Mays
3. ?
Sept 22 – Marcel Marceau (Mime)
I hadn’t heard that
^ “I hadn’t heard that.”
HAHAHAHA! ROFLMAO!!!
Billy Mays: starting new list… but wait, there’s more. If you die today, we’ll throw in two more.
Statistically, there were thousands more celebrity deaths that did not occur in threes in the last nine years. In fact, my cursory research revealed that most celebrities died in groups of one!
Recently, I think there is an overall increase in celebrity deaths and we need some type of massive celebrity bailout to protect these national treasures…
good grief, random chance should have produced a bigger list than that
Celebrities weren’t dying this fast when Bush was president.
Your sixth celebrity is Gale Storm, who passed over the weekend
Rumor has it that Walter Cronkite is on his deathbed too. Looks like we’re shooting for nine.
Well I’ve been reading up on all of these celebrities die in three articles for the past few days and I really do believe it.
First was David Carradine, then Ed McMahon, then it was Gail Storm, then another cycle started with Farrah Fawecett, Michael Jackson, and then Billy Mays. So this time it was two cycles i’m guessing.?
Karl Malden slipped in ahead of Walter Cronkite.
add steve mcnair to the list. that makes 3 (6 really) so celebs can relax.
More like reporters can only count to three, and have an unhealthy fixation on celebrity.