An Unexplained Mystery

The past several months have been nerve-racking, angry, and controversial. The American people are apprehensive and plagued with uncertainty about the absence of domestic tranquility and the future. Many fear the violence and unrest that has gripped the nation will not appear to end any time soon. The recent local and statewide elections were daunting, with far-left progressive Democrats and a radical socialist claiming victory.

We could use a break, a respite, from all the rancor, rage, and threats, something to take our minds off politics and ideological disharmony. I recently came across a story that might just hit the spot. It has all the elements, the mysterious and supernatural, and what makes it so engrossing is that it is all true, and actually did happen.

The setting is California during the Golden Age of Hollywood. During the 1950s, a good-looking, charismatic, and aspiring young actor, James Dean, appeared on the silver screen. He became an instant sensation for his acting skills and persona, and was all the rage and idealized. He went on to star in a number of movies, and the payment he received fed his passion for automobiles, especially fast sports cars.

Dean purchased several such cars and competed in auto racing events. But eventually, he was directed by Warner Brothers Studios, to end his participation in any further racing competitions while under contract. In 1955, Dean purchased a Porsche 550 Spyder, which he nicknamed “Little Bastard,” and this would be his last hurrah.

In September 1955, while driving outside Cholame, California, to a racing competition in Salinas, Dean was in a catastrophic accident and was killed instantly, when he was 24 years old. His premature death shocked the nation. The Porsche 550 was totally destroyed and wound up in a salvage yard. It is at this point that the mystery begins.

The Porsche’s remains were sold to William Ostrich, another race car driver, for parts. Eventually, the engine was given a rebirth and found its way into Ostrich’s Lotus IX, while suspension parts were sold to Troy McHenry, another race car driver, for his Porsche. Both Ostrich and McHenry crashed their cars in the same race; McHenry was killed when his car hit the only tree on the race track.

What remained of Dean's Porsche, four tires, a mangled body, and a twisted frame, were sold. Two of those tires were resold, and when fitted to a new car, both tires blew at the same time, causing yet another accident. The remainder of the car was loaned to the National Safety Council for a traveling display. The body fell from its display on several occasions, and in one case injured a bystander, and killed the truck driver who was hired to transport it to a Road Safety Expo.

Eventually, the remains were placed in storage, and while there, caught on fire for unknown reasons. What was left was transported from Miami to Los Angeles, and while in transport disappeared. To this day, there has been no trace of the remains, except for a trans-axle that was found in a wooden crate in rural Massachusetts.

Here is what makes this macabre story even more unsettling. One week before the tragic accident, British actor Alec Guinness, while in the company of James Dean, had a premonition that he warned the young actor about, and also recorded in his diary ‘’the sports car looked sinister to me. I heard myself saying in a voice I could hardly recognize as my own, "Please, never get in it. If you get in that car, you will be found dead in it by this time next week.’’ Dean laughed it off, and a week later, he was dead.

Was this all just coincidence, or was James Dean's Porsche cursed from the moment he bought it, and what about the premonition of Alec Guinness? I believe it is one of those unexplainable mysteries of life, but then again…the veil that separates reality from the supernatural. Come to think of it, perhaps there is no veil at all.