Carol Anne and the TV people
December 27, 2007 7:27 PM   Subscribe

EVERYTHING you ever wanted to know about Heather O'Rourke (December 27th 1975 - February 1st, 1988) but were afraid to ask.

Also: Heather's massive army of Youtube memorializers:
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ad infinitum.
posted by hermitosis (55 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
(I've discovered that the proper way to view these videos is to open as many of them as you can all at once. With your volume turned up all the way.)
posted by hermitosis at 7:28 PM on December 27, 2007 [1 favorite]


Wow. Creepier than Poltergeist.
posted by shakespeherian at 7:37 PM on December 27, 2007


Wow. I never knew about her addiction to crack! Very enlightening.

Thanks, hermitosis.
posted by miss lynnster at 7:40 PM on December 27, 2007


This is creepier than my parasitic fungi post. Way creepier.
posted by puke & cry at 7:43 PM on December 27, 2007


Oh dear, that is terrible.
posted by Turtles all the way down at 7:43 PM on December 27, 2007


Q: What kind of music did Heather listen to?

A: She liked some '80s music on the radio, but mostly Elvis songs and music by Merle Haggard and other classic country artists. It was even rumored that Haggard dedicated one of his songs, "Twinkle, Twinkle, Lucky Star" to her. Heather was an "old soul" when it came to her tastes in music.



She was simply too beautiful for this world.
posted by dhammond at 7:44 PM on December 27, 2007


But seriously...Poltergeist was one of my favorite movies when I was a kid and it kind of freaked me out when she died.

.
posted by dhammond at 7:46 PM on December 27, 2007 [1 favorite]


Also...the Poltergeist "curse".
posted by dhammond at 7:47 PM on December 27, 2007


Sounds like her second divorce was particularly hard on her, too. Man oh man.

(But yeah, I'm with you dhammond.)
posted by miss lynnster at 7:48 PM on December 27, 2007


Creepy on general principle. Also "creepy" due to all of the "unnecessary" quotation marks.
posted by infinitywaltz at 7:48 PM on December 27, 2007


At first I was a bit sad that all of those questions were going unanswered, despite thousands and thousands of views, before I realized they were "asked and answered" style posts.
posted by Rock Steady at 7:55 PM on December 27, 2007


The official cause of Heather's death was determined to be from complications that occurred after emergency surgery for an acute bowel obstruction.

Huh, I always thought she had a terminal illness that eventually led to her death and was also the reason for her looking ill in her last Poltergeist movie. Does anyone else remember hearing something like that?
posted by itchylick at 8:03 PM on December 27, 2007


She's buried next to Truman Capote. Because we live in a universe where such things happen, and there is no point wondering about it.
posted by Astro Zombie at 8:07 PM on December 27, 2007 [4 favorites]


itchylick, they'd misdiagnosed her with Crohn's disease, and the drugs they were giving her caused the facial swelling and paleness.
posted by hermitosis at 8:08 PM on December 27, 2007


YEah, simulation, man.
posted by Henry C. Mabuse at 8:08 PM on December 27, 2007


Geez, did you not read the post? That link contains EVERYTHING you ever wanted to know about Heather O'Rourke. So quit asking more questions.

Oh, and the puffy face was from steroids she was taking Crohn's disease. Why do I know that? Because I have no life so I actually DID read the answer to the question "Why did Heather look "strange" in Poltergeist III?" And in turn, it answered everything I ever wanted to know. And oh, so much more.
posted by miss lynnster at 8:11 PM on December 27, 2007


I see your Heather O'Rourke and raise you with JonBenét Ramsey's forum and YouTube memorializers.
posted by ericb at 8:18 PM on December 27, 2007


This is all very, very strange.
posted by stagewhisper at 8:26 PM on December 27, 2007 [1 favorite]


Wow, I feel all strange--like I, too, am channeling an otherworldly spirit...

Screw you too, pal. Did you know her personally? Then I call bullshit on your "humanity and compassion." You "mourn her loss" because you saw her name in the newspapers. Unless you're equally full of hot burning compassionate tears for every single human who dies anywhere, you're a canting hypocrite. I don't see any reason to pretend to feel emotions I don't in fact feel, but that doesn't make me lacking in humanity, it makes me lacking in bullshit. You, on the other hand, are full of it.

Whew! What came over me? I was just peacefully reading the blue, got sucked into my MacBook, was covered in slime, hit with a tennis ball, and now there is an odd short woman with a weird voice in my apartment, and a skeleton coming out of my toilet.

WTF people?
posted by Admiral Haddock at 8:27 PM on December 27, 2007 [11 favorites]


This guy has a tattoo of JonBenét Ramsey Maybe that's not terribly surprising though.
posted by puke & cry at 8:27 PM on December 27, 2007


People are weird.
posted by orange swan at 8:37 PM on December 27, 2007


I'm totally rooting for that guy to win Amazing Race.
posted by miss lynnster at 8:52 PM on December 27, 2007


Um - why are there only two people posting on that forum?

Well, because they are the ones who know everything about Heather Whatshername. They are the only ones who need to post on that forum.

Oh. Never mind, then.
posted by yhbc at 8:55 PM on December 27, 2007


I loved Poltergeist (the first one), but I think the Carol Anne character was perhaps the lamest part of it.

I feel nothing for Miss O'Rourke, and fuck all of you for barging into my home and holding a gun to my head, making me go on the internet, navigate to MeFi, come to this thread, and express otherwise. I despise you all for trying to squelch my opinions.

I guess it could have been worse, she could have survived and become Drew Barrymore.
posted by fleacircus at 9:02 PM on December 27, 2007


(I've actually got her in my TV, on an upper-level UHF channel. I'm wondering what to do with her once everything goes digital in '09.)
posted by not_on_display at 9:02 PM on December 27, 2007


Yick.
posted by Kibbutz at 9:16 PM on December 27, 2007


Yick.

She coulda been a contendah.
posted by CynicalKnight at 10:00 PM on December 27, 2007


Diane: Sweetheart, last night, when you said "They're here.'...
Carol Anne: Can I take my goldfish to school?
Diane: Sweetheart, do you remember last night when you woke up, and you said "They're here.'?
Carol Anne: Uh huh
Diane: Well, who did you mean?
Carol Anne: The Metafilter People.
Robbie: She's stoned.
posted by moonbird at 10:03 PM on December 27, 2007


Oh, I don't know. At first, I thought, hey this is pretty sick. There is obviously a pedo thing going on with the image of this little girl that is masked in fandom. But, then I remembered she is dead, and realized that when that happens all bets are off and the sky is the limit to the fantasies of the living. I think Churchill said that.
posted by Senator at 10:08 PM on December 27, 2007


From the General Discussion forum:


On This Day 27 December
Some sites have forgotten Heather


Some sites, yes. But not MetaFilter. Oh, no, not MetaFilter. To live is to remember...Heather.
posted by maryh at 10:21 PM on December 27, 2007


I feel nothing for Miss O'Rourke, and fuck all of you for barging into my home and holding a gun to my head, making me go on the internet, navigate to MeFi, come to this thread, and express otherwise. I despise you all for trying to squelch my opinions.

That's only slightly less horrible than the disgusting, morbid "tributes" to her.

Christ, her family deserves some respect AND some peace.
posted by Epenthesis at 10:35 PM on December 27, 2007


You know, I look at stuff like this and think, sure, who hasn't been overly familiar with their sister's corpse. But there comes a time when you have to go do some tuckpointing.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 10:45 PM on December 27, 2007


Uh, Epentheis? I'm pretty sure fleacircus was riffing on this.
posted by puke & cry at 10:48 PM on December 27, 2007


BTW, I'm torn between feeling bitterly thwarted and profoundly relieved that I can't read those forum entries. I can only imagine what dark treasures of obsessiveness lie within.
posted by maryh at 10:55 PM on December 27, 2007


I always hoped she was haunting someone somewhere... and now I hope it's the people behind that site.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 3:12 AM on December 28, 2007


So does it *really* count as paedophilia if the object of your obsession is long dead?
posted by PeterMcDermott at 3:14 AM on December 28, 2007


I feel nothing for Miss O'Rourke, and fuck all of you for barging into my home and holding a gun to my head, making me go on the internet, navigate to MeFi, come to this thread, and express otherwise. I despise you all for trying to squelch my opinions.

languagehat, is that you again?
posted by PeterMcDermott at 3:16 AM on December 28, 2007 [1 favorite]


She's Here........!!!!
posted by doctorschlock at 3:54 AM on December 28, 2007


She's a fleshless skeleton now, though. Damn hollywood, inflicting its impossible notions of beauty on the young.
posted by Sparx at 4:19 AM on December 28, 2007 [1 favorite]


When she died, the operative phrase was "Toxic Shock Syndrome." Apparently nowadays it's being called Septic Shock tho I don't see much of a difference. Neither of these phrases show up on a cursory search of that website. So I don't see how this is "EVERYTHING you ever wanted to know" if it's not even remotely accurate.
posted by ZachsMind at 6:12 AM on December 28, 2007


Pull in your toenails, Zachsmind, it's right here, sixth question down.

I'm still overwhelmed by the craziness of the videos-- all these montages with incredibly sentimental music playing while she gazes into static or is tormented by ghosts. Like it's supposed to be moving or inspiring to hear Sara Maclachlan sing about angels while I watch a little girl clinging to the headboard so she doesn't get sucked into the bright light.
posted by hermitosis at 6:50 AM on December 28, 2007 [1 favorite]


Geez, did you not read the post? That link contains EVERYTHING you ever wanted to know about Heather O'Rourke. So quit asking more questions.

Geez, indeed.
posted by itchylick at 7:40 AM on December 28, 2007


Oh, and by the way I already know far more about Heather O'Roarke than I really ever wanted to know. Didja know that in interviews she admitted work on the first movie gave her nightmares for years afterward? I didn't need to know that.
posted by ZachsMind at 7:48 AM on December 28, 2007


Well, there goes my Friday. I imagine every day if I'm lucky I will learn one new neat, interesting, or creepy thing. Here's the trifecta! 1) The girl from Poltergiest died young, 2) Apparently horribly, 3) There are a ton of rememberance videos for her and a forum, and oh yeah, 4) She's buried next to Truman fucking Capote?!

And I say to myself... you need exact change be bop be bop be bop bada..

Shoot, and I -really- wanted to say what a wonderful world!!

[Derail link -- Hell's bells, I tried to find a video link for Sealab 2021 All That Jazz, and apparently they're all gone from YT. sniff]

posted by cavalier at 7:53 AM on December 28, 2007


Carol Anne, the beast is calling
Carol Anne, Carol Anne, she can hear souls sing
Carol Anne, the beast it needs you
Here it comes, here it comes
Reaching out somewhere from inside your tv
posted by Eideteker at 8:48 AM on December 28, 2007


They like to use their "quotation marks" over there, don't "they"?
posted by jamesonandwater at 8:50 AM on December 28, 2007


oh and
posted by Eideteker at 8:54 AM on December 28, 2007


Tangina: Cross over children. All are welcome. All welcome. Go into the Light. There is peace and serenity in the Light.

Tangina was such a bitch; The light was a bug zapper.
posted by quin at 9:59 AM on December 28, 2007 [1 favorite]


BOB: You know, I look at stuff like this and think, sure, who hasn't been overly familiar with their sister's corpse. But there comes a time when you have to go do some tuckpointing.
Charlotte: Okay.
posted by From Bklyn at 10:38 AM on December 28, 2007


As I clicked this link, all the computers in my office shut down (seriously).
posted by Gnatcho at 10:47 AM on December 28, 2007


The girl from Poltergiest died young, 2) Apparently horribly...

Well, actually the girl who played her sister was the one who died horribly (strangled to death).
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 4:40 PM on December 28, 2007


The Poltergeist curse.

So hard to believe this guy was taken so young, in the prime of his life, isn't it? Damn curse.
posted by miss lynnster at 5:07 PM on December 28, 2007


i'm so skeeved out right now
posted by es_de_bah at 7:54 PM on December 28, 2007




After reading the comments, I've decided not to click on any links in this FPP so as not to unleash a poltergeist from my laptop into my apartment.
posted by spec80 at 5:14 AM on December 30, 2007


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