James Dean & The Curse

So everyone has heard of James Dean. The movie star heart throb that was to fast to live and to young to die, but ended up dieing at 24. He only made about 3 big movies but his impact in America is still felt. However his death is shrouded curses, "black magic", and malevolent presences. I won't get into his whole life story, instead I'll skip to the last moments of his life. The focus of this post is going to be about his silver Porsche 550 Spyder. 

 

The car which he fondly called "Little Bastard". It was one of only 90 ever made and Porsche's first production model race car. It had a 1.5 liter flat four with dual overhead camshafts and 110hp, but in a car that weighs just 1510lbs due to its hand formed aluminum body and tube chassis, it makes for one fast car. Many people around James had bad feelings about the little car. There were also warnings and irony's weeks before the crash. 2 weeks before James was doing a National Safety Council commercial, a commercial in which he said, "Remember, drive safely, the life you save might be mine." Which he changed form the life you save may be your own. There was also about 4 different times on the day of his death that he was warned of his speed, he also had gotten a ticket earlier that day for speeding. Dean's friend Eartha Kitt who went with a drive with Dean a week before the accident had said this to the young star. "James, I don't like this car, It's going to kill you." About the same time he met fellow actor Alec Guinness upon which Dean asked his opinion on the car. Guinness had said he thought It looked sinister, and if James got in it he would be dead within a week. A week before the crash he gave away a kitten the Liz Taylor had given him on the set of Giant. Why? Had he felt what was going to happen? Some think that the car had a malevolent spirit in it from the get go, some think it was just a horrible accident, others think it had to do with black magic. Some say James had a prior relationship with Maila Nurmi the actress on Vampira and after breaking off their relationship she had put a curse on him. It was known that she was in to black magic and she didn't like that he denied their relationship if the had one. The other story goes that she left a note on his windshield that said "How can you be in such an awful looking thing." No matter how you look at it the series of events after that crash are pretty strange. On the day of the crash James was on his way to a race with a Life camera crew in tow. He had originally planned to tow the silver Porsche to the race, but at the last moment decided to drive it there, in order to help familiarize himself with the car. While on his way there at about 3:30 is when he got the speeding ticket. However this didn't stop the young star from straying over the speed limit. After the ticket he told Hickman and Roth the part of his crew in the station wagon behind him to meet him at a place called Rolf at Paso Robles. Upon reaching Rolf's Dean ate an apple and drank a coke, his last meal. Hickman again warned Dean to slow down and watch his speed and that with his car being silver and so low profile it was hard to see on the road. They soon departed some say Dean was going in excess of 100mph others say it was about 55. Never the less at 5:30pm  he came to the crossing of highway 466 and 41. The spot had been known to be dangerous. A 1950 Ford Tudor driven by student Donald Turnupseed on his way home was making a left hand turn and needed to turn across the road. James also saw the car upon which seeing he said "That guy has to stop." However he didn't and turned across Dean's path. The Ford was struck in the fender with relative damage but the 1500 pound speedster hit it and flipped 49 feet into the air. Wutherich Dean's co-rider and mechanic was flung from the car and suffered a broken jaw and leg, but survived. Turnupseed Suffered non life threatening injuries. James however was not so lucky the small speedster was crush like a tin can around him pinning him inside. He suffered a broken neck, concussion, fractures of the upper an lower jaw, and massive internal bleeding. Although some think he survived only horribly disfigured, these are probably the same people who think that Elvis is frying donuts in Kansas. And was later pronounced dead at Paso Robles hospital. This wasn't the end of the cars death bringing and injury. After the accident car customizer George Barris bought the wreck for $2500. He had a bad feeling about the car from the start. This started the cars killing spree. While at Barris's garage the engine fell out of the car falling onto the mechanics legs breaking them. While at a race in Pomona Fair Grounds on October 24, 1956 two physicians who had parts of Deans car in their race cars both suffered severe crashes. Troy Mchenry whose car had the Porsche's engine lost control and crashed and hit a tree. He died upon impact. William Eschrid whose car had the Porsche's drive shaft crashed but despite serious injury survived. He later said the the car just locked up going into a turn. A kid trying to take the Porsche's steering wheel suffered a gash on his arm. A young man who bought two tires from the car had them both blow out within a week almost killing him. Barris then sent the car for display with the California Highway Patrol. Within days the building housing the wreck burned down with everything in it except the little bastard. The car was then put on display in Sacramento where it fell from its display and broke a teenagers hip. George Barkis who was hauling the Porsche was killed when his truck crashed sending him flying out of his truck but that didn't kill him, what killed him is that the Porsche fell on him after he flew out of his truck. Accidents surrounded the car until 1960 when on its way back from Miami it was sealed in a container. Upon arriving in California the seal was still intact but the car had dis-appeared from the container. It hasn't been discovered still. There's a rumor that in late 1960 the car was taken to Altus, Oklahoma where it sits today in a container with its title, but no one knows for sure.