Famous family curses – Bruce Lee's son shot dead to Von Erich tragedy and Kennedy jinx – Daily Star
From presidential fame to wrestling acclaim, famous families throughout history have fended off strange curses that have triggered death, destruction and even war
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Wrestling dynasty the Von Erich family were famed for their super strength – but those ripped bodies didn’t protect them from the legend of a creepy curse!
Now new movie The Iron Claw, starring Zac Efron and Lily James, is set to reveal the rollercoaster fate of the doomed American fighting clan.
But it seems they’re not the only famous family to suffer from a tragic hex, as James Moore discovers…
READ MORE: Man who parked tank outside Wickes finally moves it – but says the battle is not over
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In the 1970s and 1980s the Texas-based Von Erich family were one of the big names in pro wrestling. But when ex-grappler Fritz von Erich, born Jack Adkisson, died in 1997, aged 68, five of his six sons had already perished.
Jack was electrocuted and drowned in a puddle aged six in 1959. Four pro-wrestling siblings also died early: David, from enteritis aged 25 in 1984, Mike from an overdose at 23 in 1987, Chris shot himself aged 21 in 1991, as did Kerry, 33, in 1993.
Lone survivor, Kevin, 66, played by Zac Efron on the new flick, says: "I used to have five brothers. Now I’m not even a brother."
One tale has it that a holocaust survivor had cursed Fritz for adopting a "Nazi" ring persona.
By the time US President John F Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, older brother Joseph and sister Kathleen had died in plane crashes, while another sister, Rosemary, was left disabled by a lobotomy.
JFK’s two-day-old son Patrick died in 1963 and his son John F. Kennedy Jr would die in a 1999 plane crash alongside wife Carolyn. Brother Robert was gunned down in 1968 and another, Teddy, drove a car off a bridge in 1969, killing a 28-year-old passenger and his Presidential hopes.
Other deadly incidents include skiing and canoeing accidents. A legend says JFK’s Irish great-grandfather Thomas Fitzgerald began the family’s bad luck when he dug up cursed treasure in 1838.
Some also say the President’s wife Jackie, carried the hoodoo over to the ill-fated Onassis family after remarrying.
The House of Grimaldi has ruled over the principality of Monaco in the Med for centuries. But after Prince Rainier I kidnapped and raped a beautiful maiden in the 14th century it’s said she became a witch, cursing the Grimaldi to never find true happiness in marriage.
An eerie echo came in 1982 when the actress wife of Prince Rainier III, Grace Kelly, died in a car accident.
Daughter Princess Caroline has since been divorced, then widowed after her second hubby died in a speedboat accident. Their other daughter, Princess Stephanie, has also divorced twice.
Irish brewer Arthur Guinness founded the famous stout in 1759. Despite a booming business, he lost 10 of his 21 children before his own death. Many descendants had tragic fates too.
Among them were Lord Moyne – assassinated by terrorists in 1944 and heir Tara Browne, who died in a car crash aged 21, in 1966.
In 1978 alone, Lady Henrietta Guinness, 35, leapt off a bridge to her death in Italy, four-year-old Peter Guinness died in a car crash and Dennys Guinness suffered a fatal overdose. As recently as 2020, Guinness heiress Honor Uloth, 19, died in an accidental drowning.
When 28-year-old actor Brandon Lee was accidentally shot dead on the set of his film The Crow in 1993, rumours of a family curse were re-ignited.
His father, martial arts icon Bruce Lee had died aged 32, in 1973 from a cerebral edema caused by an allergic reaction to medication. It’s believed that Bruce’s father Lee Hoi Chuen upset a group of Chinese merchants who cursed his family to have sons that died young.
Legend has it that 200 years ago Nepal’s first king Prithvi Narayan Shah angered a yogi called Gorakhnath by refusing his food, who then cursed his family to only rule for 10 generations.
In 2001 this came to pass in dramatic style when the nation’s Crown Prince Dipendra – from the 10th generation – massacred his own father – the king – his mother and seven other royals.
Dipendra then shot himself. He was briefly made king while in a coma, before dying three days later. Though his uncle Gyanendra took over, he was later deposed and Royal rule abolished.
Was World War One caused by a curse? The House of Habsburg was a famous royal dynasty based in Austria and it’s said that centuries ago they were cursed after destroying a sanctuary for ravens.
Winged spooks called Turnfalken would then appear just before the death of family members, including one of its most famous, French queen Marie Antoinette, guillotined in 1793.
Later a countess put another hex on Hapsburg ruler Francis Joseph I, after he executed her son. Chillingly, his wife was shot dead, his only son killed himself and his nephew, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, was notoriously assassinated in 1914 sparking war across Europe.
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