THE GUINNESS FAMILY CURSE

The Guinness Family Curse

Photo credit: Harald Bischoff

The Guinnesses—one of Ireland’s most accomplished clans and famous brewers of the Guinness beer brand—have had their share of bad luck throughout history. Granted, such a large family is bound to be in trouble from time to time in accordance with the law of averages. But with the Guinnesses, those misfortunes looked like something out a Final Destinationplot.

Arthur Guinness—the patriarch and founder of the brewery—lost 10 of his 21 offspring while building his empire. After his death, other family members either became poor, insane, or alcoholics. It was during the Second World War that talk of a “Guinness Curse” really took off—two prominent family members were killed, one by Jewish terrorists, and one during a battle just weeks before the war ended. In the aftermath of the war, a series of deaths ranging from suicides, car crashes, and freak accidents (one family member hit her head on the toilet seat and drowned in the bathtub while in the middle a drug session) gave further credence to the curse. Even animals were not spared from the curse, as one of Ireland’s most famous racehorses (the owner’s mother was a Guinness) was abducted by the Irish Republican Army and never seen again.