Why do actors die in groups of three?

Question

For the longest time ever since I was little, I've always heard that when an actor has died, there's always 2 more that are gonna die and then when that happens one more is gonna die...and from what I've seen...it does. They always die in groups of three. It may be coincidence, but it does happen quite often. So estelle getty has died, now bernie mac...I'm not sure of anyone else, but morgan freeman almost died...so who's next? Anyone else ever heard this or know how it got started and if it really is true, any statistics?

Answer 1

It's an old superstition that things happen in pairs of threes.

Answer 2

Like others have said, it's an old superstition. I remember people in my family saying similar things: bad things always happen in threes, or deaths, particularly those within a family, always happen in threes.

I have noticed this "pattern" of three at times, but it has never been a constant, or even clear pattern. My great-grandmother died when I was not quite 6 years old. When she died it was the first time I had ever lost someone.When I was about 13 years old my dad lost two of his best friends who happened to be close friends of our family, Ralph and Lloyd. Was this the pattern of three my parents always spoke of? The following year my dad lost his childhood bestfriend, David. Was my great-grandmother, Ralph and Lloyd the three deaths, despite over 7 years passing between the deaths of my great-grandmother and Ralph and Lloyd's death? Or was David's death following within a year of Ralph and Lloyd's deaths the three? When I was fifteen my dad passed away. A few months later my mother's cousin passed away. Eleven months after my dad had passed away we lost my uncle, his brother.

Do you see what I'm getting at? People die everyday. Where does one draw the line, marking where this pattern begins or ends? Is there a time frame to the pattern (within a week, a month, a year, a decade)? I'm sure that most of us--at least those of us that are old enough--can think of three family members, or three friends, or even three celebrities that have passed on. And I'm sure that if we were to really think about it, we could think of others as well, deviating from this pattern of three.

If you make a concerted effort to find a pattern between a sequence of deaths, you're going to see a pattern. Sometimes it may seem like people are dying off in certain numbers (whether that's twos, threes or hundreds), but it doesn't change the fact that people all die in ones.

The number three is a pretty powerful number and has a lot of symbolism behind it. In terms of death and this superstition, the number three is the first significant enough number to make the sequence of deaths seem not quite so coincidental.

If three celebrities all died in three different car accidents on the same day...that would be a coincidence. However, Heath Ledger dying back in January of a prescription medication overdose, Estelle Getty dying back in July from natural causes, and Bernie Mac dying within the last day from complications of pneumonia isn't much of a coincidence. A pattern of sorts maybe, but that's looking for a pattern within a protracted sequence of deaths that's really a stretch.

Answer 3

Well i don't know who's gonna die next but i can tell you for sure that it's a real myth, when Heath Ledger passed away he was the only one for a long long time...

Chances are that maybe Paul Newman will die sometime soon but it's not going to be as unexpected as Heath and Bernie.

Answer 4

They don't.  This is an example of pareidolia (perceiving significance in randomness).

Answer 5

Sometimes it does seem that way, although I'm sure it's nothing more than coincidence.  Estelle Getty was very old and in poor health, so her demise is no shock.  Bernie Mac did die quite unexpectedly, but people do all the time.  Obviously if Kirk Douglas drops dead tomorrow, then it will be a surprise - although he's about 90-odd so perhaps not that much of a surprise!

Answer 6

Its just a superstition.No one plans to die...except people who are suicidal.

Answer 7

Why are so many actors and actresses having twins???