Heather O’Rourke has become the focus of renewed attention as RadarOnline.com can reveal a harrowing detail in her autopsy has resurfaced, shedding light on the medical mystery that surrounded the Poltergeist child star’s sudden death.
O’Rourke, who played Carol Ann Freeling in the three Poltergeist films, died unexpectedly in 1988 on an operating table at The Children’s Hospital of San Diego. Her parents had believed she was a healthy child, yet she developed flu-like symptoms while filming the third installment of the franchise.
Heather O’Rourke’s Tragic Death Details
Heather O’Rourke was just 12 years old when she died.
The medical emergency escalated with frightening speed, culminating in a fatal collapse that stunned both her family and the film industry. A year earlier, doctors had suggested O’Rourke likely had Crohn’s disease, an inflammatory bowel condition that can cause digestive pain, weight loss, and fatigue.
At the time, her symptoms eased, and the diagnosis went largely unquestioned. But when the signs returned during the filming of Poltergeist III, they were far more severe.
According to doctors, she suffered a cardiac arrest before being rushed to the hospital, where she was resuscitated. Surgeons then operated on what they believed to be a bowel obstruction.
O’Rourke was pronounced dead that afternoon. Her manager said, “It’s weird. She was completely healthy on Saturday, they thought she had the flu on Sunday, and she was dead on Monday.”
O’Rourke was best known for her role in three ‘Poltergeist’ films
The shock of her death intensified when the death certificate later revealed a far more complex and devastating picture: intestinal stenosis – a severe bowel obstruction potentially present since birth – suspected septic shock and cardio-respiratory arrest.
A hospital spokeswoman described the case to the Los Angeles Times as “distinctly unusual.” She said the obstruction had “caused an infection that, in turn, brought on septic shock” – adding “the shock prompted full cardiac and pulmonary arrest.”
She added the defect was believed to have been a congenital condition capable of causing “a lot of (digestive) difficulties throughout her life,” though O’Rourke had rarely shown symptoms.
The ‘Poltergeist Hollywood Curse’
She was one of several actors from the franchise to have died tragically.
The tragedy added to the eerie reputation of the Poltergeist franchise as carrying a “Hollywood curse,” as it had been plagued by a string of cast deaths. Dominique Dunne, who played Dana Freeling in the 1982 film, was murdered the year the movie was released.
Lou Perryman, who appeared as Pugsley, was killed at the age of 67 in 1992. O’Rourke’s death, however, was the one that struck hardest – she had been the face of the franchise, remembered instantly for her platinum-blonde hair and the line that made her iconic, calling out to her mother from beyond.
O’Rourke’s mother filed a wrongful death lawsuit following her passing.
Following the release of O’Rourke’s autopsy, her parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit. Her mother, Kathleen O’Rourke Peele, said in a statement, “The X-rays taken, if properly read, would have disclosed that this was the kind of condition that should have been treated surgically.”
The lawsuit was settled out of court. O’Rourke never lived to see the release of Poltergeist III.
While her character found a happy ending on screen, the real-life story of the young actor remains one of Hollywood’s most wrenching tragedies – made all the more haunting by the rare medical condition that went undetected until it was too late.
