"41% of the cast and crew of the film developed cancer after the film wrapped."

Warning: This post discusses sexual assault, drug use, animal abuse, and child death.

With two weeks of shooting left, Lee was on a night shoot with actor Michael Massee. Massee pulled the trigger on a prop gun thinking that it would shoot a blank; in reality, "a portion of a dummy bullet had inadvertently been left in the barrel of the gun from a previous scene." He died later that night in the hospital.

When the US was developing the atomic bomb, scientists used the Southwest deserts as nuclear testing sites. The Conqueror was shot in Utah; over 100 miles away, a former nuclear test site lay abandoned in Nevada. Officials said that the shooting location "was completely safe," and no one on set thought anything of potential dangers. Decades later, the film's director Dick Powell, lead actor John Wayne, and his costar Susan Hayward all died of cancer.

Later, as an adult and a working actor, Judy was prescribed a mix of "pep pills" and sleeping pills by doctors working with MGM. 

Unfortunately, Garland struggled with addiction her entire life and passed away at just 47 following an accidental overdose. 

While shooting a scene where the witch disappears in a cloud of smoke and fire, Hamilton was told to stand on an elevator platform, the plan being that once she was lowered down, the crew could send the blast of fire up. 

During one take, the crew released the fire before Hamilton was clear of the area — causing her hat and broom to catch on fire. She suffered second-degree burns on her face, and third-degree burns on her hand. 

Immediatly, the crew took her aside to clean her skin of all the green makeup so as to avoid the potentially toxic ingredients from getting into her burns. Hamilton later said, "I will never, as long as I live, forget that pain of them rubbing alcohol on those two burns."

Above the three of them hovered a helicopter. As Morrow ran beneath it with the children in his arms, a fireball shot off by a special effects worker hit the tail rotor of the aircraft, causing it to crash down on the three actors. 

The crash occurred at 2:20 a.m. Director John Landis was aware that Chen and Le's presence on set violated child labor laws, but shooting had continued anyway. Chen was crushed, and Morrow and Le were decapitated. 

According to the LA Times, Landis was "the first Hollywood director to face criminal charges for a death on set"; he was put on trial for involuntary manslaughter and later acquitted.

If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE, which routes the caller to their nearest sexual assault service provider. You can also search for your local center here. 

If you are concerned that a child is experiencing or may be in danger of abuse, you can call or text the National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-422-4453(4.A.CHILD); service can be provided in over 140 languages.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline is 1-800-950-6264 (NAMI) and provides information and referral services; GoodTherapy.org is an association of mental health professionals from more than 25 countries who support efforts to reduce harm in therapy.

If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, you can call SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357) and find more resources here.