This Is the Truth Behind the '3 Men and a Baby' Ghost Story
It's hard to believe that it's been 30 years since the release of 3 Men and a Baby, the hit 1987 comedy about a trio of New York City bachelors trying to figure out how to raise a baby girl dropped off at their doorstep.
The film of course famously features actors Tom Selleck, Ted Danson, and Steve Guttenberg. But one person that definitely did not have a starring role? The ghost of a young boy.
For years, rumors persisted that a "ghost boy" (who had supposedly died in the loft where scenes from the movie were filmed) can be seen standing between the sheer curtains in a scene between Jack Holden (played by Danson) and his mother (check out the scene in question in the video above).
But, much like the pervasive urban legend that one of the munchkins in the Wizard of Oz committed suicide on film, the rumor is not true: The human figure in question is actually just a cardboard cutout of Danson dressed in a top hat and tails, a fact that Tom Selleck confirmed in a February 2017 appearance on The Tonight Show:
"This was a big deal for video sales and all, and maybe Disney made it up-the story was that this kid died in the house where we shot the movie, this little boy," Selleck told Jimmy Fallon. "But we shot on a soundstage, they built a set and all ... I saw it, and it looks a little spooky but the story is ridiculous."
Margaret Colin, the actress that played Rebecca in the film, backed him up in a recent segment of Entertainment Weekly: The Show. "For years, people believed there was a ghost on the set of Three Men and a Baby," said Colin (though, like Selleck, she admitted she made a lot of money from all the people who rented the movie to see if they could spot the ghost). "Spoiler alert: it's not a ghost - it's a cutout. Of Ted Danson. In a tuxedo," said Colin. "Rent the movie again, see for yourself. Go ahead."
The cutout was actually intended to be part of a storyline that involved Danson's character, an actor, but that scene was cut from the final film (you do actually see the cardboard cutout more closely in a later scene, though, when the baby's mother shows up).
Consider that mystery solved.
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