3. Hollywood Starlet Natalie Wood Had a Dark Watery Grave
Child actress Natalie Wood landed starring role as a little girl in Miracle on 34th Street. When she was young, her mother took her to a fortune teller as a lark, where the woman told them to fear dark water, because that’s how she was going to die. In 1949, Wood was acting in another movie, and she fell off a rickety bridge into the ocean, breaking her wrist in the process. As a result of this, she formed a huge phobia of water, so much so that she didn’t even like washing her hair.
As a teenager, she starred in more iconic roles in Rebel Without a Cause and West Side Story. In 1981, her body was found floating face-down in the Pacific ocean. She was only wearing a nightgown, socks, and a jacket. This appeared to be an accident or even suicide. But considering how terrified she was of the water all her life, would she really have chosen this as a way to go?
On the night of her death, Natalie Wood was on a yacht with her husband, Robert Wagner, and her co-star, Christopher Walken, had all gone out drinking that night and went back to a yacht. Witnesses in nearby boats said that they could hear an argument coming from the yacht, and a woman screaming for help. A man replied in a mocking tone, “Okay honey, we’ll get you.” At 1:30 AM, Wagner called to report Natalie Wood missing. Her body was found a mile away. Strangely, the yacht dinghy was also floating nearby, which indicates that maybe she tries to climb into it to save herself. According to Dennis Davern, the captain of the ship, he heard Robert Wagner smash a wine bottle, and scream at Christopher Walken about flirting with Natalie Wood. The police found the broken glass on the floor, and Wagner lied, saying it was a rough sea that night, and it must have fallen over.
There are several theories about the cause of Natalie Wood’s death. Did she fall while trying to escape to the dinghy? Or was she pushed off the edge? Maybe it was an accident, and she was just ignored by her husband. We will never know.