We’re all familiar with a lot of the car accidents that took the lives of various notable people over the decades. Over time, the details of those events were usually consolidated into a blurb so we only had a general idea of what happened. In some of the most famous fatal car accidents of celebrities, mysterious circumstances surrounded the crashes that conveniently get swept under the rug to this day. In other cases, other events happened in the aftermaths that don’t get frequently told in historical accounts. To possibly show the resiliency of human beings after severe trauma, some of the famous car accident victims we’re all familiar with actually survived for a while after their crashes rather than die on impact as the stories usually were told through the use of urban legend.
Well, at least Jerry Seinfeld won’t have to join that list and end up being an icon who died young–or have a mystery surrounding his April 2 Hamptons car crash. A failure of brakes pretty much makes his case cut and dry. But in probably the most famous car accident of James Dean in 1955, a lot is still up in the air about exactly what happened to cause it. Also, all the generalized accounts of his car accident have younger generations probably thinking he died on impact. In fact, he lived for a short while on the way to the hospital, though his attributed (and ironic) last words were said right before the crash took place.
Anybody who’s into racing cars has to consider the fact that they might meet their end in one of them on the racetrack. It’s strange that Dean ended up meeting his end in one on a regular 55 mph highway in southern California just as a test run. That famous Porsche 550 Spyder has its own strange trajectory following Dean’s crash. Yet, based on the clues left behind in the aftermath of the car crashing head-on into that college student’s Ford Coupe–it appeared Dean was actually going the speed limit (55 mph) after earlier being stopped for speeding at 65 mph. This was based on the account of two California Highway Patrol officers who stopped by to witness the aftermath of the crash. They said that James Dean’s particular position of his body as paramedics took his body out of the car indicated a 55 mph impact.
Of course, getting a guesstimate like that based on a quick appearance might be considered unreliable. Nevertheless, this evidence was virtually ignored in pop culture–hence forwarding the generalized picture that Dean was speeding faster than a speeding bullet. It’s also been somehow forwarded that he was dead on impact when he was still conscious when the ambulance arrived. Those two highway patrol officers say they saw Dean breathing heavily, which obviously indicated internal injuries and bleeding that would bring on death within a short time after.
As with most accidents like this (and the one involving Princess Diana)–the occupants seem ok when they’re bleeding internally and will soon be dead if they don’t get immediate surgery. So, in that regard, it’s possible James Dean could have been saved had they gotten him to the hospital a little sooner and stopped the internal bleeding. The force impact of his crash was probably (or maybe arguably) a little stronger than the one involving Princess Diana…subsequently making his internal injuries possibly irreparable anyway.
It’s haunting, too, that perhaps the kid driving the Ford Coupe had more culpability when you see Dean’s attributed final words right before the crash: “That guy’s gotta stop. He’ll see us…”
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Incidentally, Dean’s Porsche (dubbed “The Little Bastard”) ended up disappearing mysteriously at some point in the 1960’s after it kept causing other injuries to other people transporting it, driving it or using its parts on other cars. The car was restored by famous custom car creator, George Barris, and then likely taken out to some remote location to be either burned or hidden in a place where nobody could find it. After all those accidents associated with the car (at least a dozen, if not more)–you’d probably also want to dispose of it in some way before people start using the words “beyond coincidence” or even “lawsuit.”
The mysterious car accidents of Grace Kelly and Gen. George Patton…
On September 13, 1982–Princess Grace of Monaco (with Princess Stephanie) was driving her Rover P6 down a steep road in the mountains of Monaco near the royal family’s home and somehow lost control of the car–leading the car to roll down the mountainside. We’ve all been told for years that Princess Grace apparently had a small stroke that made her lose control of the car while driving. But rumors have floated around for years that she didn’t suffer a stroke at all and that the brakes were mysteriously tampered with in her car. As you might guess, this was allowed to fester in pop culture–even though the Rainier family retracted a statement in the ensuing weeks after the accident that they thought the brakes had failed. The car wreckage was inspected by engineers later, and it was said that it was in perfect condition before she drove it.
You also have one of the witnesses driving behind the princess’s car saying that the car was swerving erratically before it went over the edge. This seems to split it right down the middle for those who believe she just had a cerebral hemorrhage (before getting head injuries from the crash)–or for those who think the brakes were tampered by Mafia figures in Monaco she was reportedly trying to bring down.
Whether it was one or the other, there doesn’t seem to be evidence to prove either side. There was never any medical way for doctors to tell if Princess Grace had a stroke prior to sustaining those cranial injuries–and, further, the Mafia would never leave traces of a crime.
The most likely scenario brought up in recent years is that Princess Grace was having an argument with Princess Stephanie (and even rumors that Stephanie was driving illegally instead)–bringing on her stroke. A lot of astute people have pointed out she was under a lot of stress and basically unhappy in her royal marriage that could have led to a blow-up as she let out pent-up frustrations with her daughter.
Another myth denied from the family is that Princess Grace had her accident right on the same stretch of highway where a prominent scene in the 1955 movie “To Catch a Thief” with Cary Grant was filmed. Prince Albert says this isn’t true, which only puts away the strange ironies for those who look out for such things in prominent people.
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If the conspiracy theories don’t hold up in the car accidents of Princess Diana and Princess Grace–then the little-discussed car accident that killed legendary General George S. Patton is certainly mired in enough twists and turns to make anybody wonder. Any reason for Patton to get bumped off was a significant one: It’s likely the highly-controversial Patton would have run for President and won the White House by 1948.
Patton’s fate came in 1945 Germany while he was said to be riding in the back seat of a 1939 Cadillac with his chief of staff. Both were there to oversee the American occupation of Germany immediate post-WWII that December, and Patton was planning to head back home to America the next day to possibly make plans to do something significant in politics. Even though no official record exists of what truly happened, the story goes that Patton’s Cadillac hit a large truck making a U-turn in front of them–hence throwing Patton forward where he hit his head violently and causing paralysis.
Other stories say that Patton wasn’t injured from the Cadillac crash at all and was actually injured later when switching over to a jeep (and probably frying the driver of that U-turning truck with certain vocabulary). It makes more sense that, if the jeep was hit by a rumored Navy truck, Patton would sustain more serious injuries in that than in the Cadillac. But neither stories ever had an official write-up–maybe due to the chaos going in post-war Germany. What is known is that Patton lied in a hospital bed paralyzed for two weeks in Germany before dying from his injuries sustained in either his Cadillac or a jeep.
A lot of people contend that the USSR wanted to get rid of Patton so he wouldn’t become President. Certainly the thought of seeing a President who’s standing in front of a giant backdrop of the American flag (thanks George C. Scott) and using enough profane analogies in his speeches to rankle the thickest person would have made American history a lot more colorful. The USSR probably feared what his no-holds-barred attitudes would end up doing to them in the long run.
Of course, this forwards the notion that notable people who ultimately become too powerful in the world for their own good end up getting rubbed out in car accidents, gunshot wounds or other unfortunate events by unseen forces. Whether that’s become a corollary of the American (and international) way is up to the general populace to decide…
