At the age of seven, she was the star of a cult horror film. She died six years later in suffering

Heather O’Rourke became known as a charming and determined blonde in the cult horror film “Ghost”. She got the role by accident. While she was eating lunch with her mother and sister, she was noticed by Steven Spielberg himself, who was looking for the perfect girl for the film for which he was writing the script. Heather found herself on a set that wasn’t entirely unfamiliar to her – her sister had her first film experience, so Heather wasn’t a complete novice.

She had a wonderful career ahead of her, which was interrupted by a tragic illness. She didn’t have time to see the last film with her participation.

Heather O’Rourke’s death appeared to be supernatural

Heather O’Rourke played the role of little Carol, who lives with her family in a house in an old Indian cemetery. The place was naturally cursed, which the family quickly found out. Realistic execution, paranormal phenomena, ghost kidnapping – it couldn’t go wrong. “Poltergeist”, known in Poland as “Ghost”, instantly became a hit. Today it is considered a horror classic from the 1980s.

The scenes with Heather watching the ghosts get home from their dimension, and then turning to her parents and saying in a cheerful voice: “They’re already here!”, made history in cinema. Like most horror films in which supernatural things happen, “Ghost” also has its own mythology, created by fans of the genre. Its climax was the premature death of little Heather, preceded by other, equally tragic deaths.

First, her older sister in the film died. Dominique Ellen Dunne was only 22 years old and had several film roles under her belt – including in “Ghost”, where she played the oldest sibling, Dana. A few months after the premiere, Dominique was murdered by her boyfriend. One death is not a reason to connect a supernatural production with a very mundane murder. Julian Beck from the second part of the film died next (stomach cancer). The third death was Will Sampson (exhaustion due to long-term illness). A few years later, death suddenly came to Heather O’Rourke.

Heather O’Rourke’s death could have been avoided

The girl appeared in two more parts of the horror film. Unfortunately, she did not live to see the premiere of the last film. Before it was shown to a wider audience, Heather O’Rourke became seriously ill.

The first signals that something was wrong were noticed a year earlier. The mother took the girl for numerous tests; Crohn’s disease, a viral disease, a severe case of food allergy or a parasitic infection were suspected. Heather complained of abdominal pain, nausea, and swelling.

In January 1988, she was hospitalized again. Initially, she vomited and had stomach pain, but her parents called an ambulance when she suddenly began to turn blue and lose consciousness. Before she got to the operating table, she suffered a cardiac arrest. It was not possible to save her life.

The sudden death of such a young person was a shock to everyone. The cause turned out to be prosaic and if doctors had looked more closely at the X-rays taken a year earlier, they would have noticed that there was a blockage in the child’s intestines. The girl’s suffering death was quickly linked to the influence of evil spirits, the main characters of the film series. Heather O’Rourke would be almost 49 years old today.