Gloomy Sunday, written in 1932, was nicknamed the Hungarian Suicide Song

At least eighteen suicide deaths in Hungary are reported to have had close links with Gloomy Sunday.

In the Time Magazine article, “Music: Suicide Song,” published March 30, 1936, the author (unnamed) described a number of suicides.

A Hungarian shoemaker by the name of Joseph Keller left a note at the scene of his suicide quoting some of the Gloomy Sunday lyrics.

Several bodies were found in the Danube with their hands clutching the song’s sheet music.

Two people shot themselves while hearing a band play the song, and others had been found to have ended their own lives while listening to it. The song was banned in Hungary.

However, the reports are not isolated to Hungary. “In the 1930s, both Time and the New York Times reported on suicides and attempted suicides in the US connected to ‘Gloomy Sunday.’

The song was banned on the BBC until 2002, and according to some reports, certain outlets in the US refused to play the song, fearing it was somehow responsible for these suicides.” The legend refers to more than a hundred suicides resulting from the Gloomy Sunday lure to the “other side.”

Many other stories about Gloomy Sunday suicides can be found strewn across the Internet. One tells of a girl in Vienna who drowned herself while clinging to the sheet music of the song. Another tale describes a woman in London who listened to the song repetitively and overdosed herself on drugs.

Video: Gloomy Sunday – The Hungarian Suicide Song

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