Threes
Cidu Bill on Jun 30th 2009
All the recent talk about famous people dying in threes (though it’s unclear who’s supposed to be the third celebrity along with Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson — sort of like all the various candidates for the “Fifth Beatle” or the “Eighth Wonder of the World”) calls to mind this Far Left Side comic from earlier this year:
Filed in Bill Bickel, Far Left Side, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, comic strips, comics, humor | 36 responses so far
johnjon Jun 30th 2009 at 08:48 pm 1
Billy Mays could fulfill the trio, perhaps?
CIDU Bill Jun 30th 2009 at 08:55 pm 2
Well, Billy Mays or David Carradine or Ed McMahon. The problem is, too many contenders.
johnjon Jun 30th 2009 at 09:06 pm 3
Ah, I forgot about Ed McMahon. And I didn’t hear about David Carradine until now. Actually, I didn’t even recognize the name, but I knew who he was after I saw him via Google Images. Kung Fu was before my time.
Charlene Jun 30th 2009 at 09:25 pm 4
Ed McMahon is the third.
Here’s the fourth:
http://roflrazzi.com/2009/06/29/celebrity-pictures-billy-mays-celebrities-die-in-threes/
AMC Jun 30th 2009 at 09:27 pm 5
http://agonist.org/amc/20090626/famous_people_die_in_threes
Aaron Jun 30th 2009 at 09:51 pm 6
Throw in Gale Storm (look her up) with the others Bill mentioned, and you’ve got a pair of threes.
Waka Waka Jun 30th 2009 at 10:00 pm 7
It’s clearly Billy Mays. His passing is so, so much sadder than Michael Jackson.
arvy Jun 30th 2009 at 10:20 pm 8
In this round Ed McMahon, Farah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, and Billy Mays were a set. Usually it is groups of three, but thanks to this special TV offer, you get four… that’s right four for the price of three!
Aaron Jun 30th 2009 at 10:23 pm 9
Huh, and apparently Fred Travalena died on Sunday. Death’s gonna need a stretch limo.
Nate Jun 30th 2009 at 10:30 pm 10
Yes, famous people always die in threes, as long as you stop counting after the third one. Google eidolia.
David N Jun 30th 2009 at 11:16 pm 11
While nodding to Arvy, the other one I heard went like:
“Celebrity deaths normally come in threes. BUT IF YOU ACT RIGHT NOW …”
buzz Jun 30th 2009 at 11:27 pm 12
Trio #1: McMahon, Fawcett, Jackson
Trio #2: Skye Saxon, Mayes, Storm
Kate C Jun 30th 2009 at 11:51 pm 13
You should google pareidolia, not eidolia.
Marshal Jul 1st 2009 at 12:28 am 14
Huey Long, last of the Ink Spots died on June 10th. He was 105.
List of most of the celebrities who died in June 2009.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deaths_in_2009#June_2009
Singapore Bill Jul 1st 2009 at 12:30 am 15
Traditionally the triptych involves two A-listers and a C-lister to round out the batch. Also, David Carradine was too long ago. It needs to be in the space of a week, 10 days at most.Fawcett, Jackson, and Mays, are therefore one group.
Cidu Bill Jul 1st 2009 at 12:36 am 16
I read today that the myth of three celebrities dying around the same time began with the Buddy Holly/Ritchie Valens/Big Bopper plane crash. Probably not true, but it makes for a good urban myth to add onto the myth.
Singapore Bill Jul 1st 2009 at 12:38 am 17
Never let the facts get in the way of a good story.
Patrick Jul 1st 2009 at 01:15 am 18
Ah, CIDU Bill you’ve brought up my number one pet peeve (of the past week)!
Once every three or four years, three well-known people of roughly the same stature will die within several days of each other (not weeks- so get Carradine out of this discussion). And then I have to hear all that “See? It’s true they ALWAYS die in threes” business, which totally ignores the fact that famous people die ALL THE FREAKING TIME, sometimes 4 or 5 a week (Like Ed, Farrah, Michael, Billy, Fred Travalena), sometimes more. In this case I think you get a legit threesome since future generations are unlikely to remember Billy Mays or any of the other minor celebrities, but (like them or not) Ed, MJ and Farrah are legit well-known stars. Doesn’t change the fact that, more often the not, celebrities DO NOT die in threes.
Thank you for allowing me to vent.
meep Jul 1st 2009 at 06:15 am 19
We actuaries got your explanation right here:
http://www.contingencies.org/julaug08/workshop.pdf
Powers Jul 1st 2009 at 06:44 am 20
Regarding the comic, which one of those is supposed to be Ricardo Montalban? And is the Saget thing just a wishful thinking on the part of the cartoonist? =)
eeyore19 Jul 1st 2009 at 07:36 am 21
This whole “famous peope die in threes” nonsense really annoys me. It makes it sound like the Grim Reaper has OCD. People die every day. Some of them are bound to be famous on one level or another. Plus, there’s never any consistency to the time frame between the first death and the third. Do they have to die within a few days? A week? Two weeks? If a celebrity dies without any other celebrity deaths close by, this doesn’t disprove the whole “in threes” bit. Yet when two famous people die close together, people wait (however long it takes) until a third person dies so they can say “see? I told you they always come in threes!”
Morris Keesan Jul 1st 2009 at 09:27 am 22
Two words: confirmation bias
Hunt Jul 1st 2009 at 09:30 am 23
My teenagers had no idea who Ed McMahon was, but they knew about Billy Mays.
Rainey Jul 1st 2009 at 09:39 am 24
I get the impression that this is actually a sarcastic tribute to the notion that famous people die in threes because the Grim Reaper is coming back for the fourth one and hints that a fifth one is on the way.
The Ploughman Jul 1st 2009 at 10:30 am 25
Maybe it’s the heat. Everybody should be more conscious on hot days to check on any celebrities they have in the neighborhood to make sure they’re doing okay.
Kevin Andresen Jul 1st 2009 at 12:33 pm 26
Even though I understand it, it still plays with my mind that the “oldest living person” holds that title, on average, for more than a year.
Patrick Jul 1st 2009 at 03:32 pm 27
An now Karl Malden. Maybe celebrities are starting to die thirteen at a time . . . or thirty . . .
Todd Jul 1st 2009 at 03:52 pm 28
The only name I knew was Montalban. I either didn’t know or had forgotten that he was dead. I guess I was kind of vaguely aware of the writer Updike.
And if Saget died in January, or near there, he’s the busiest corpse in showbiz.
The two guys in front in the line-up look like Picard and Data to me. Though I don’t know why Data’s wearing glasses.
Mark in Boston Jul 1st 2009 at 03:54 pm 29
Sometimes the first two of the three happen the same day, then there is a pause of a few days, then the third dies to end the cycle of three and later that day another one dies to start a new cycle of three.
Ted Jul 1st 2009 at 03:56 pm 30
…and Karl Mal
damn you Patrick.
Soup Dragon Jul 1st 2009 at 06:06 pm 31
Alexis Argüello. Never heard of him before, but apparently he he is pushing up the daisies now.
It’s a slow season for newspapers, they have to take what they can.
Marshal Jul 1st 2009 at 06:14 pm 32
Alexis Argüello
Nicaraguan boxer and politician, mayor of Managua
he has died at the age of 57, possible suicide.
Mollie Sugden, 86, British actress (Are You Being Served?), natural causes.
Kit Jul 1st 2009 at 06:48 pm 33
At least Malden was older than me. I was getting paranoid!
Charlene Jul 1st 2009 at 08:06 pm 34
The “three deaths” meme is a silly joke if anything. The obituary newsgroup (I used to write obituaries for a living, and it’s the kind of thing you never quite leave behind) has a troll who throws around wild prophecies about triads of death. I believe that after today’s deaths (Karl Malden, Mollie Sugden, and Harve Presnell) he’s having a stroke.
mike Jul 2nd 2009 at 05:33 am 35
The meaning of the comic, as I drew it, is that death comes in threes because that’s how many passenger seats are available in Death’s sports car. It’d be more fun if he drove the Partridge Family bus but the math gets kinda crazy, and no one gets to ride shotgun.
ljdarten Jul 15th 2009 at 01:03 pm 36
why is it every time something like this comes along, there’s a few people who have “rules” that specify “the way it really is”?