In the last century, the Kennedy family has become one of the most well-known families in American politics. If you look anywhere after 1945, there’s almost undoubtedly a Kennedy wedged somewhere within the inner workings of the nation. Most recently, RFK Jr. has found his way into being the Secretary of Health despite having little medical knowledge or training.
A family so prominent in politics is bound to have a few conspiracy theories surrounding it.
The recent death of JFK’s granddaughter, Tatiana Schlossberg, at age 35, has reignited theorization about a so-called “Kennedy curse,” one that has supposedly been following the family since long before they rose to prominence.
The most famous example of the Kennedy curse is undoubtedly JFK himself. While riding in a motorcade, he was unexpectedly shot in the head. As the fourth actual assassination in U.S. history, it became one of the most infamous murders across the country. Many other conspiracy theories follow the assassination of J.F.K., mainly surrounding who shot him. The Kennedy curse theory, though, focuses more on a concerning pattern: A cloud of tradgedy seems to follow the Kennedys wherever they go.
Rosemary Kennedy is often cited as the “original” victim of the Kennedy Curse. Following lifelong struggles with mental illness and intellectual disability, the latter of which was likely caused by complications during her birth, Rosemary was forcibly lobotomized in 1941. The family, who figured it would be a bad look for their future political careers, decided to claim that she was “reclusive.” In reality, she’d been sent to a mental institute just north of Whitewater, Wisconsin, where she would die decades later.
It seems as though every single member of even the extended Kennedy family has a connection of some kind to this curse. No fewer than six have died in four separate plane accidents. For context, any person has a roughly 1 in 11,000,000 chance of dying in a plane crash.
If nothing else, the plane crash thing is weird. The weirdest example of the Curse by far is RFK Jr.’s brain worm.
In 2010, according to R.F.K. Jr., he started to experience brain fog and confusion. When he went to the doctor, they saw a dark spot on an MRI and diagnosed him with a brain tumor. He got a second opinion. The opinion? A parasitic worm got into his brain, ate part of it, and died. Later, doctors found and removed a portion of the worm from his brain.
All of these tragedies (and R.F.K. Jr.’s brain worm) following one family, one as ubiquitous as the Kennedys, is weird. Despite this, Tatiana Schlossberg, who people have been quick to call the most recent “victim,” died of cancer, just like anyone else. Rosemary underwent what was, at the time, a very standard medical procedure.
It’s more likely than not that there’s no actual curse placed on the Kennedy family. The amount of reporting following any death of theirs is enough to make it seem like they’re dropping like flies to some people. Likely, it’s a weird form of recency bias that comes from our relentless 24-hour news cycle. The real curse placed on the Kennedy family is probably the mundane curse of being famous.