What happened to Heather O'Rourke? Family of child actor who died aged 12 speak of their 'hurt' by rumors of a curse in new documentary

Almost four decades after the death of child actress Heather O'Rourke, her family have spoken in a new documentary about the ‘hurt’ caused by rumours after her untimely death.

Heather O'Rourke, who played Carol Anne Freeling in 1982 horror film Poltergeist, was just 12 years old when she died in February 1988. She had been rushed to hospital in a San Diego hospital with intestinal stenosis.

Intestinal stenosis is a narrowing of the bowel, often caused by inflammation or scar tissue. Symptoms include severe abdominal cramping, vomiting, bloating, and constipation.

Heather had been diagnosed with with Crohn's disease brought on by a parasite after drinking water from a well in 1987. It wasn't until just hours before her death that doctors discovered she had an intestinal blockage, which was later found to be congenital. This had become acute, leading to septic shock and cardiac arrest.

On the morning of her death, on February 1 1987, she began vomiting and collapsed, and was then rushed to hospital. She went into cardiac arrest on the way to the hospital, but was resuscitated and then airlifted to the hospital for emeregncy surgery for the bowel obstruction. She died after procedure, however, as she suffered a second cardiac arrest.

She died just months before release of Poltergeist III, in which she had reprised her role as Carol Anne Freeling for the third time.

Now, 38 years after her death, a new documentary about the actress and her life has been released. The Amazon Prime show, called She Was Here, features Heather's friends, family, and costars.

In it, they have all remembered the late actress, who would now be aged 50, but also the hurtful rumours that circulated about her cause of death after her passing.

Her elder sister Tammy O’Rourke shares in the documentary "everyone thinks they know better than our mum, or better than us,” referencing the fact that a lot of false theories were shared at the time about the cause of her little sister’s death, with some people believing something other than her health was the cause.

She added: "I'm sure it comes from a good place. They have a good heart and they're trying to be nice about it, but it's just so hurtful. So many things, just jabs that they say about her.”

One of Heather's friends also speaks out in the documentary and recalls her daughter telling her about a rumour she had read on social media about actor Macaulay Culkin encountering someone who claimed their shoes were made from Heather's skin. At the time of Heather’s death, some newspapers also accused a "pedophile ring" of killing the child star.

Heather's Poltergeist co-stars also speak in the show about their dismay and disguist that her memory is being tied to what some people believe to be "the Poltergeist curse."

"For all of this stuff and the Poltergeist curse and all of this to be heaped upon her memory, that's just not fair and not good," director Gary Sherman shared. Craig T. Nelson, who played Steve Freeling, dad to Heather's Carol Anne, said: "What curse? I mean, come on. That's part of the reason why I didn't want to do the third one. That's so ridiculous."

• Heather O'Rourke: She Was Here is available for rental and download on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Fandango at Home and Google Play from today (Tuesday February 24).