Famous Family Curses Throughout History That Will Blow Your Mind

Whether or not you believe in famous family curses is one thing, but no one can deny that the families on this list have had more than their fair share of bad luck, trauma, and untimely deaths. Are they just coincidence or a little bit too uncanny?

The Kennedy Family

The Kennedys are an anomaly of American history. From scandalous affairs to questionable suicides, to assassinations and accidental deaths, there is a lot of mystery and tragedy to sift through here. This presidential, high society family fell farther than Icarus did.

The family curse began in 1994 with Joseph Kennedy Jr.'s death during WWII, and has continued all the way up to the present day. President John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert were assassinated, David Kennedy died of a serious drug overdose, JFK Jr. died in a plane crash, and Mary Kennedy committed suicide. The worst part? That's not even the entire timeline of the Kennedy misfortunes.

The Getty Family

The Getty family curse is one wrought with drug overdose and kidnapping. Once the most wealthy family in the world, the Gettys fell from grace as they dropped dead, one by one.

Of all of the famous family curses, this one is perhaps one of the saddest, as most of their deaths were self-inflicted. The most well-known tragedy to have struck the Getty family, however, was the kidnapping of Getty III. He was taken by mobsters in Italy for a ransom demand of $17 million. J. Paul Getty, the founder of Getty Oil, initially refused to pay the kidnappers any money, but after they sent the family a box that contained Getty III's sliced off ear, they negotiated down to $2.9 million. But before you go thinking that the grandfather was, in the end, a warm-hearted guy, he only paid the kidnappers the tax deductible amount of $2.2 million, and made Getty III's father take out a loan for the rest. Charming, right?

Getty III later died of a drug overdose as he was never able to deal with what had happened to him. He was not the first untimely death to have occurred in the family, though. Timothy Ware Getty died of a brain tumor in 1958 when he was just 12 years old, and Getty Jr.'s second wife ended up dying of a drug overdose.

The Onassis Family

Jackie Kennedy is truly a woman to feel sorry for, as she found herself in the middle of not one, but two famous family curses, surrounded by famous deaths. After her husband was shot in Dallas, she married a shipping magnate named Aristotle Onassis. Then, Aristotle's only son (from a previous marriage) died just a few years later in a plane crash. Sound familiar?

The mother committed suicide shortly after her son's death, and then their only daughter died of a heart attack.

The Nepalese Royal Family

What happened to the Nepalese Royal Family was a lot like The Amityville Horror. In 2001, Prince Dipendra murdered his entire family—mother, father, and seven other members—and then shot himself immediately afterward. He himself died three days later.

What makes this such an infamous family curse is that it is the stuff of legends and myths. Apparently, it had been prophecized centuries earlier that the dynasty would end after the tenth generation, which is exactly what happened. It is believed to be the result of a curse placed upon the first king by a yogi named Gorakhnath.

The Von Erich Family

The patriarch of the Von Erick family, Fritz Von Erick, died in 1997 after watching the majority of his children die before him. The first to die was his young child, Jack Jr., in 1959, as a result of accidental electrocution. He was seven years old.

Fritz's son David then lost his infant daughter just a few hours after she was born. David then died suddenly in 1984, and his brothers, Mike and Kerry, eventually wound up with horrible drug problems. Their brother, Chris, committed suicide in 1991. It's no wonder that the Von Erich family curse is one of the most famous family curses.

The Guinness Family

Recognize the beer family's name? You should. They're basically a living symbol of Ireland thanks to their creamy beer. That's why the Guinness Storehouse is such a popular tourist destination in Dublin, and why we celebrate St. Paddy's with their brew.

While the Guinness family have had extreme success with their world-renowned stout, they have not been as lucky in matters of life and death.

An astounding 10 out of 21 descendants of brewery founder Arthur Guinness died. Sure, you can make millions, but what's it all worth when half of your family gets wiped out in a series of assassinations and strange accidental deaths? Suicides, terrorist plots, and car crashes are just some of the terrible misfortunes that befell the famous Irish family.

The Grimaldi Family

The Grimaldi family curse is another one of the most famous family curses that comes from legends and myths—and this one dates back to the Middle Ages. It is said that the first Prince Rainier Grimaldi of Monaco abducted and and raped a beautiful young woman, who then cursed the dynasty to never be happy in marriage for the rest of time. (Another version of the story says that the young woman was actually his wife, whom he burned at the stake for being a witch.)

Since then, generations of Grimaldis have been plagued by divorce, affairs, and freak accidents that resulted in death. Witch's curse or not, this royal family certainly never did find much luck in the way of relationships.

The Habsburg Royal Family

This is one of the most notable famous family curses because it ended up kicking off World War I. That's right, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was one in a long line of Habsburgs who suffered tragedies throughout the ages.

Over a 200-year period, only 50 percent of the babies of the royal family made it to their first birthday. The dynasty is also famous for an incredibly long tradition of inbreeding, in an effort to keep the bloodline royally pure. Members of the family ended up looking deformed, and also suffered from severe medical issues that sometimes resulted in death.

The Hemingway Family

Everyone knows of the sad story that is Ernest Hemingway's suicide, but how much do you know about the rest of the writer's family? His was not the only suicide. In fact, the family has endured a total of five suicides—an incredible and highly unusual number. Hemingway's father committed suicide before him. His siblings Ursula and Leicester killed themselves as well, as did Ernest's granddaughter, Margaux.

The Wodeyar Royal Family

After she and her husband were dethroned in 1612 by Raja Wodeyar, Alamelamma took all of the family jewels with her and cursed the future of the new Mysore dynasty. It is commonly reported that she foretold that the city would turn into a sandy wasteland and would be beset by whirlpools. She also is said to have cursed the family's ability to bear children, before leaping to her death.

Over the next several generations, the land was in fact overcome by sand and the coastal area was taken over by whirlpools. The Wodeyar family also only produced males every other generation, making direct succession difficult. The astounding accuracy of the supposed curse makes it one of the most famous family curses in history.