Three Men and a Little Creepy

The top grossing movie in 1987 wasn’t Robocop or Full Metal Jacket, but instead a domestic buddy comedy that unexpectedly combined three of the biggest leading men of the time—all from their own different arenas.

Three Men and a Baby wasn’t exactly my cup of tea at age twelve, but there were only so many movies I could get my eyeballs on, especially at theaters. Other kids might have been comfortable sneaking into R-rated films, but I was way too chicken. Besides, I knew all three of the main actors from their other work.

Steve Guttenberg was Sgt Mahoney from the Police Academy films, which my friend Tim utterly loved. The blend of slapstick and potty humor coupled with adult language was the perfect puberty-fuel.

Then, there was Tom Selleck, AKA Magnum, P.I. Here was every man’s man with the moustache to back it up. You couldn’t go anywhere during the 80s without running into this macho dude, so confident in his masculinity that he wore short shorts everywhere he went.

Finally, you had Ted Danson, the star of the incredibly popular sitcom Cheers. Every Thursday night, Sam Malone would listen to everyone’s problems, offer unsolicited advice, and get into his own adventures. Danson was a very familiar face.

There were some funny moments in the movie, to be sure, but I think most of the feeling they were going for is endearment.

You might conclude that I had little interest in repeated viewings of this movie, and you’d be absolutely right—except for something weird that happened. Well, maybe it’s more accurate to describe the incident as something that never actually happened, but let me back up just a bit to explain what I mean.

By the time the film had made it to VHS, there was an urban legend that had begun to circulate around Three Men and a Baby. According to this rumor, there’s a creepy ghost that appears out on the balcony during one scene.

The rumor mills churned until they produced the following narrative: a boy had somehow died in the apartment where the movie was being filmed, and you could see him sort of floating by the window.

This legend is what compelled my friend Matt and me to watch and rewatch that one particular scene dozens of times. We had our juvenile detective hats on, and we befriended the play, pause, and rewind buttons on the VCR. I’ll be honest: the first few times felt very, very creepy.

Neither of us could figure out what was actually going on. VHS tapes were pretty good, but they were still a little grainy and fuzzy compared to Laserdiscs we would sometimes enjoy together at Matt’s house. The lack of clarity only added to the eerie feeling.

In reality, this was a cardboard cutout of Ted Danson that was supposed to be featured in the film, but the scene was cut during production. So, there was this relic that was never explained, and it wasn’t really ever in focus—we just had to guess at what it was.

This is classic pareidolia—we see patterns everywhere, even where there aren’t really any.

You might be familiar with a more commonly discussed urban legend from The Wizard of Oz, where one of the actors playing a Munchkin had hanged himself on the set. Supposedly, you can see his swinging corpse during one scene, but it turns out to have been a large bird instead.

There are other examples too, but I want to leave you a little bit of space to comment. Were there any other urban legends from movies or TV shows that really resonated with you?