Real-Life X-Files: Investigating the Paranormal

9. The Kennedy Curse

~ Chapter 9 The tragic death of John F. Kennedy Jr. on July 16, 1999, sparked renewed claims ofa "Kennedy curse"-only the latest in a series of alleged popular hexes such as the Hope Diamond jinx and the curse of King Tut's mummy. During live CBS coverage of the search for Kennedy's missing airplane, anchorman Dan Rather referred to "the alleged Kennedy curse," while after the bodies of Kennedy and his wife and sister-in-law were recovered, u.s. News & World Report (July 26, 1999) ran a frontcover story unequivocally titled "The Kennedy Curse:' A Buffalo (New York) News headline spoke more factually of a "litany of Kennedy tragedies " (Anthony 1999), a list that varies from source to source but generally includes the following misfortunes in the family of Joseph and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy: 1941: Daughter, Rosemary, is institutionalized due to retardation and the effects of an unsuccessful lobotomy. 1944: Son, Joseph Jr., dies in airplane explosion in World War II. 1948: Daughter, Kathleen, dies in plane crash in France. 1963 (August 9): Grandchild, Patrick, (son of President John E and Jacqueline Kennedy) dies after premature birth. 1963 (November 22): Son, President John E, is assassinated. 1964: Son, Edward, is injured in plane crash that kills an aide. 1968: Son, Robert E, is assassinated while campaigning for Democratic presidential nomination. 1969: Son, Edward, narrowly escapes death when car plunges offbridge on Chappaquiddick Island, killing passenger. The Kennedy Curse 1973: Grandson, Joe (son ofRobert and Ethel), overturns a Jeep, paralyzing a passenger. 1973: Grandson, Edward M. KennedyJr., has leg amputated due to cancer. 1984: Grandson, David (son of Robert and Ethel), dies of drug overdose. 1991: Grandson, William Kennedy Smith (son ofJean Ann Kennedy), is charged with rape but acquitted in trial. 1994: Daughter-in-law, Jacqueline, dies of cancer. 1997: Grandson, Michael (son of Robert and Ethel), is killed in "ski football" accident. And this is onlya partial list. Senator Edward Kennedy's son Patrick sought treatment for drug addiction in 1985, and Michael Kennedy, before his fatal accident, was disgraced due to an alleged affair with a fourteenyear -old baby sitter (Davis 1984; Thomas 1998; Anthony 1999; Salkin 1999; Kelly and Walsh 1999). Certainly the list is as long as it is filled with tragedy. But is it evidence of a curse? What exactly is meant by the term? Curses: Foiled Again Actually a "curse"-also known as a "hex" or "jinx"-is an alleged paranormal assault that can supposedly result in physical or mental injury or illness-even death. Known to NewAge mystics as a"psychicattack" (Guiley 1991), it is an ancient concept said to have either human direction (as from a sorcerer) or a supernatural one (such as by angry gods, demonic spirits, or the like). As an example of the first, in the Old Testament when Noah became displeased by his son Ham, he placed a curse on him (Genesis 9:21-27), and as a supernatural example, Jehovah dealt with an intransigent pharaoh by visiting upon him ten plagues (Exodus 7-12). Various occurrences could spark belief in the existence of psychic attacks. For example, although the plagues on pharaoh are not mentioned in any source other than the Bible (Asimov 1968), and some see the account as pure allegory (Graham 1979), such phenomena can occur naturally. (Proliferations of locusts and frogs, for instance, are not unknown, and the water turning to "blood" could be equated with a "red Nile" wherein flood waters are colored by lake deposits [Keller 1995; Acuistapace 1991].) 61 ~ 62 ifr Real-Life X-Files A phenomenon that can actually simulate a psychic attack is the "hag syndrome." Typically the "victim" awakens to feel a weight pressing on the chest and to see bizarre imagery (e.g. an "old hag;' incubus, vampire, or the like). Known from ancient times, and estimated to occur presently in some fifteen percent of the world's adult population (Guiley 1991), the syndrome is popularly termed a "waking dream" and occurs in the twilight between being asleep and awake (Nickell 1995). Because such an experience may seem quite real to the "victim;' it could appear to prove to that person that he or she was actually accursed. Apart from such dramatic "evidence;' however, beliefin curses is simply a superstition-that is, "a beliefthat some action not logically related to a course of events influences its outcome" or "any belief, practice, or rite...