“Titanic” is surrounded by anecdotes that could easily create a story on their own. One of those stories involves an adulterated drug soup, a mass visit to the hospital, the police, and a mystery that, almost 30 years later, remains unsolved.
“Titanic”: the cast and production team were drugged on set
In August 1996, some of the film’s cast and crew were in Halifax, Nova Scotia, filming scenes for “Titanic,” in which Bill Paxton appears as the leader of an expedition that discovers Rose’s necklace.
One night of filming, the crew had clam for dinner. Everything seemed to be going as usual, until some of the production members started behaving strangely.
As has been reported on several occasions, James Cameron, the director of ‘Titanic’, started running screaming: ‘There’s something inside me! Take it out!”.
Bill Paxton, who played treasure hunter Brock Lovett, who we see at the beginning of the film, said that, 15 minutes after eating the soup, “the whole group was walking around. Some laughed, some cried, some vomited.”
What had happened? The soup served as part of the catering service was adulterated with the drug PCP, also known as angel dust.
The poisoning affected 80 people who worked that night on the set, from the director, actor Bill Paxton, decorators and other general members of the production.
Luckily for Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, they weren’t filming that day, so they weren’t present and were spared eating the adulterated soup.
Many of those affected ended up at Dartmouth General Hospital, where, according to several people, they formed a conga line.
The doctors in charge of treating them realized it was mass poisoning and was probably caused by someone else, so they called the Halifax police.
The mystery of who drugged the ‘Titanic’ crew could soon be solved
From the night of the events, the authorities became involved in the case.
So, on August 28, 1996, the Halifax police issued a statement confirming what many already suspected: the Titanic crew had been drugged. Someone had adulterated the seafood soup with phencyclidine, commonly known as PCP or angel dust. However, the case was closed due to lack of evidence in 1999.
Recently, the Information and Privacy Commissioner Tricia Ralph ordered the police to release all the information they collected about the incident. If the police comply, the report, which includes a search warrant and a list of everyone who had worked on the set that day, will be made public in mid-May 2024. Consequently, the mystery of who drugged the ‘Titanic’ crew will could be solved, almost 30 years after the event.
How old were Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in Titanic?
The main actors of the story were quite young during the filming of the film: both were 21 years old, although Leonardo is a year older than Kate. “Titanic” launched both their careers.
Did you know the story of this incident during the filming of ‘Titanic’? Let us know in the comments what you think about it.
Source: univision
Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.
