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The tragic death of ‘Poltergeist’ actress Heather O’Rourke

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  • Heather O’Rourke is known for playing Carol Anne in the Poltergeist franchise.
  • She played a possessed girl.
  • She was only 12 years old when she died.

Heather O’Rourke was just five years old when she landed a role in one of the most iconic movies in horror film history. The little sister of actress Tammy O’Rourke, was sitting alone one day, waiting for her mother in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cafeteria, when a stranger approached her and asked her name.

“My name is Heather O’Rourke. But you are a stranger and I can’t talk to you,” she replied. When her mother returned after a while, the mysterious man approached her and introduced himself as Steven Spielberg.

Steven Spielberg cast her on the spot

I recruit her without thinking
PHOTO: Twitter

The legendary director was looking for a girl, around Heather’s age, to star in the terrifying movie Poltergeist (1982), where a middle-class American family moves to an idyllic neighborhood and deals with the unexplained paranormal phenomena in their new home.

From the first moment, Spielberg, co-producer and co-writer of the project, fell in love with that little blonde-haired, blue eyed girl, so he convinced her mother to bring her to an audition. However, the first screen test was a disaster because Heather couldn’t stop laughing. FILED UNDER: Autopsy of Heather O’Rourke

Heather was meant to play Carol Anne

Heather was the one
PHOTO: Twitter

Spielberg insisted on seeing her again, although this second time he made her carry a book of scary stories. At one point in the second test, he asked her to scream a lot, and she started screaming so loud that she ended up crying.

The film, directed by Tobe Hooper, swept the box office becoming the highest-grossing horror film of 1982. The scares contained in the film were well formulated. Heather played little Carol Anne. FILED UNDER: Autopsy of Heather O’Rourke

Heather O’Rourke’s illness

Heather O'Rourke autopsy:
PHOTO: Twitter

Shortly after starting to shoot Poltergeist III, Heather O’Rourke began to have serious health problems including headaches, tremors in her legs, swollen feet, and, to make matters worse, she couldn’t eat. She was hospitalized four times and diagnosed with the flu.

After her mother persisted, it was discovered that Heather had an intestinal parasite called giardia. This microscopic bug tends to form very large colonies with very serious consequences for the patient. FILED UNDER: Autopsy of Heather O’Rourke

Heather O’Rourke’s death

Heather O'Rourke autopsy:
PHOTO: Twitter

After finally diagnosing her disease, doctors prescribed a very powerful medication in order to kill the parasite but the side effect caused intestinal inflammation. They had done everything possible to make her better.

According to El Nacional, Heather did not recover and on the morning of February 1, 1988, while eating breakfast, she collapsed on the kitchen floor. Her hands were cold, her fingers blue, and her stomach swollen. FILED UNDER: Autopsy of Heather O’Rourke

The Poltergeist curse

All died
PHOTO: Twitter

They immediately took her to into surgery but it was too late. After several erroneous diagnoses, little Heather O’Rourke died at 2:43 p.m. in the hospital. Although it may seem like a sudden and isolated situation, Heather O’Rourke was not the only actress in the Poltergeist franchise who died under strange circumstances at a young age.

Dominique Dunne, who played Carol Anne’s older sister in the first film, was strangled to death by her boyfriend in 1982, the same year the film was released. Julian Beck, the actor played Reverend Kane in the second of the films, suffered from stomach cancer that ended his life in 1985 without the film having been released yet. FILED UNDER: Autopsy of Heather O’Rourke

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