I recently rewatched Rosemary's Baby, the horror film directed by Roman Polanski and starring Mia Farrow. The setting for this film was The Bramford, where Rosemary and her husband Guy rent an apartment in a building that turns out to be the home of a witch's coven, which targets Rosemary to be the mother of a baby fathered by the devil. The film uses the exterior of New York City's Dakota apartment building to depict The Bramford, and some claim the movie and its cast and crew were cursed because of this. Composer Krzysztof Komeda fell into a coma that eerily mirrored an event that occurred in the movie. Producer William Castle was hospitalized for a severe case of kidney stones and while there suffered from vivid hallucinations about the movie. Roman Polanski's wife Sharon Tate became fascinated with the occult because of the film and was killed by members of the Manson family. Others believed cursed by the building include, of course, John Lennon, who was shot and killed in front of the Dakota, as well as Judy Garland and Judy Holiday, residents who both died young. Plus, there are reputed to be no less than five ghosts haunting the place: a Victorian era little girl bouncing a ball and waving; the ghost of Edward Cabot Clark, the developer of the Dakota; a creepy specter with the body of a man and the face of a young boy; a "crying lady ghost" seen by John Lennon as well as other residents, and John Lennon himself, seen by people at the entrance of the building and also seen by Yoko Ono sitting at the piano in her apartment. And why all these sightings of ghosts and beliefs in curses at The Dakota? My theory is because it just looks like a haunted and cursed building. I took the photograph above of the Dakota when I was in New York back in 2012, and I defy anyone who disputes the fact that if there ever was a building that might house witch's covens, ghosts, and curses upon anyone who comes into contact with it, it would look EXACTLY like that.
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