Two People Attached To The Omen Were On Airplanes Struck By Lightning
20th Century FoxReviews of The Omen described it as “scarier than The Exorcist.“
1976’s The Omen, directed by Richard Donner and written by David Seltzer, follows an American diplomat and his wife who adopt a young boy named Damien — a boy who may be the Antichrist. Soon enough, anyone who crosses paths with Damien experiences extreme misfortune and ultimately dies.
Before filming on The Omen began, executive Robert Munger warned the crew that any film telling the story of the child of the devil was certainly going to be cursed. As luck would have it, Munger’s warning allegedly came true.
According to Film Daily, a series of strange events soon began to unfold for members of the film crew.
It began when Academy Award-winner Gregory Peck, who plays the film’s protagonist, cancelled a flight at the last minute for unknown reasons. Chillingly, the plane he nearly boarded wound up crashing to the ground, killing everyone on board. To make things even more eerie, it landed on top of a vehicle that had members of the pilot’s family inside.
When Peck did eventually board a plane to England for filming on The Omen, his plane was struck by lightning. In a totally different instance, writer David Seltzer’s plane was also struck by lightning while he was on his way to film.
Later, executive producer Mace Neufeld said that he, Peck, and others affiliated with the film had planned to dine out at a restaurant one evening — only for that building to be destroyed in a violent explosion. Thankfully, none of the crew members were there at the time.
Then, in an eerie coincidence, the special effects artist who created The Omen‘s decapitation scene was involved in a head-on car crash that decapitated his girlfriend.
Finally, while shooting a scene in the film, Gregory Peck’s stuntman was attacked by trained rottweilers. For some reason, the dogs went into a frenzy and ignored their trainer’s commands. The stuntman survived, but sustained serious injuries.
