Tonight I was watching "Twilight Zone: The Movie" with my kids. A few weeks ago we had watched "Poltergeist" so I told them this was the movie the little girl (Heather O'Rourke) had been making when she died, that she had been hit by a falling helicopter and that the episode was cut out.

I can't remember when I was told this, but it's something I have repeated before and believed completely for over 15 years. Out of curiosity I looked up Twilight Zone on IMBD. I was wondering what the cut episode was about. It turns out I was completely wrong. Actor Vic Morrow and two Vietnamese kids were killed during the making of the Bigot episode and that it was later edited to end the way it was finally shown. Heather O'Rourke died in 1988 from cardio respiratory arrest at a hospital in San Diego

I feel like an idiot. I can swear I've heard at least a dozen other people repeat the same "fact". I feel almost betrayed now that one of the foundations of my trivia knowledge has been ripped away.

Any other commonly believed movie "facts" that are actually bullsht?

Ghost of a little boy in Three Men and a Baby.

that Fargo was based on a true story.

That George Lucas can write a decent screenplay.

That Fargo one has been around the bend for along time. It wasn't until the commentary that I found out it was untrue though.

I always thought Heather O'Roarke exploded. Something made her insides burst or something. Not sure how you got the Vic Morrow death confused when at the time there were so many tasteless jokes about it. (How did you know Vic had dandruff? )

A taste of my childhood for you all...


ME: *Farts*

MOM: "Ok, you need to use the bathroom right now."

ME: "But I don't have to go."

MOM: "You know, that's how the little girl from Poltergeist died, from holding in her poop."

ME: *Runs to bathroom in fear for my life*



So for at least 10 years of my life I was convinced that this poor little girl died from not taking a shit when she needed to.

Thanks Ma.

Not like she didn't try to take a shit, but in a way that's what killed her. Heather O'Rourke had an intestinal stenosis(bowel obstruction) - a congenital birth defect that had gone unnoticed. The resulting infection caused her intestines to burst, with the resulting purulence and suppuration bringing about septic shock and full cardiac arrest. In one scene in Poltergeist III(her last film, released four months after she died) the hauntings are explained as being due to an "inconvenient plumbing problem." And there's your sick synchronicity for the day.

If I remember correctly, Heather's cardiac arrest was brought on by toxic shock syndrome (believe it on not this can be caused by women leaving in tampons for too long, though I think with Heather is was something to do with intestinal problems, she was probably too yound to have started her period). She died during or just after finishing Poltergiest 3.

Well, Luther, it appears you posted while I was writing this.

You can see how long it's been since I've last posted by my sig. Man, do I need to change it!

So I was right, she did explode. Sorta.

http://www.snopes.com/movies/films/films.asp

Actually, I think Luther meant "obstruction" not "infection"