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Do celebrities really die in three?<\/p>\n
Actor Malcom-Jamal Warner<\/a>, singer Ozzy Osbourne<\/a> and professional wrestler Hulk Hogan<\/a> died in late July, prompting Google search around the \u201crule of three\u201d to spike.<\/p>\n The term refers to the persistent notion that celebrity deaths come in threes. The \u201c30 Rock\u201d episode \u201cStone Mountain\u201d riffs on the idea by making Tracy Jordan fear for his life after he learns two other celebrities have died.<\/p>\n Is there any credence to the \u201crule of three\u201d? Experts tune in with their thoughts about math, pop culture and our impulse to find patterns in the chaos.<\/p>\n The celebrity \u201crule of three\u201d refers to a theory that celebrities die in threes at times close to each other.<\/p>\n The celebrity death \u201crule of three\u201d has applied to multiple instances. Here are a few.<\/p>\n The deaths of singers Buddy Holly, Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens in a 1959 plane crash.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n Experts confirm that there is no scientific evidence to support the \u201crule of three,\u201d though they have thoughts on why this phenomenon exists in the first place.<\/p>\n Psychiatrist Bernard Beitman, author of \u201cMeaningful Coincidences: How and Why Synchronicity and Serendipity Happen,\u201d tells TODAY.com that the theory may continue due to the psychological bias of apophenia, or seeing patterns as a way to make sense of randomness.<\/p>\n \u201cThe idea that this happens with three well-known people makes it look like this isn\u2019t just random. Maybe there\u2019s something to it. Maybe there\u2019s some force or cause or engine,\u201d Beitman says.<\/p>\n \u201cHuman beings are always looking for explanations,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n Psychiatrist Dr. Lauro Amezcua-Patino says grief over celebrities\u2019 deaths is a real phenomenon.<\/p>\n \u201cEven though we don\u2019t know them, they\u2019re part of the tribe. They have a meaning for us. So when we lose somebody who\u2019s a member of the tribe, we\u2019re going to grieve just like we grieve somebody close,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to think of celebrities not as something magical that we admire, but it\u2019s a member of the tribe that we belong to.\u201d<\/p>\n Professor and \u201cBook of Threes\u201d author Michael Eck tells TODAY.com that threes, compared to pairs, is the sweet spot for continuity.<\/p>\n Many groupings typically come in sets of three. Gold, silver and bronze medals. The Three Musketeers. Primary colors. The game of rock, paper, scissors. Snap, crackle and pop. Religious imagery of the father, the son and the holy spirit. The three states of matter: Solid, liquid and gas. The list goes on (and on).<\/p>\n Eck, who studies how the brain creates memory, says three holds significance for pattern-making. For example, with a string of digits, a person would assume understand that the digits one, two and three would keep going ad infinitum. The pattern of only one and two would be less clear.<\/p>\n \u201cThree is the place where the pattern reveals itself. You can understand the pattern, but it\u2019s not it\u2019s not excessive,\u201d he says. \u201cThree is a perfect upper limit to absorb things.\u201d<\/p>\n When applied to celebrity deaths, Eck says, we reach for three to create a sense of \u201ccompletion\u201d of a cycle.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to kind of ritualize their life with us,\u201d he says. \u201cWe want to think about these great people in our lifetime, remember them in positive ways.\u201d<\/p>\nWhat is the Celebrity ‘Rule of 3’?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Is There Science Behind the ‘Rule of 3’?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
What Is it About Number 3, Anyway?<\/strong><\/h2>\n