In fact, mention of white lighters seems to appear only in articles that propagate the rumor. (Jim Morrison had been living in France just prior to his death and expired in his Paris apartment, so he quite possibly could have encounter Cricket lighters prior to their introduction to the American marketplace.)įurthermore, we looked through several biographies and obituaries offering the circumstances of the passings of Joplin, Hendrix, and Morrison, and found no mention of lighters being in their possession at the time of their deaths. The Cricket was available in the 1960s in France, but it wasn’t commonly found in the United States until after the brand was acquired by Gillette and introduced to American customers in 1972, well after the deaths of Hendrix and Joplin. We’re skeptical of the notion that an inanimate object can by itself bring good or bad fortune to its bearer, so this article will be limited to examining whether Hendrix, Morrison, Joplin, and Cobain were all carrying white cigarette lighters at the time of their deaths:
Still don’t believe me? Keep using your white lighters and you will find out soon. I have had several personal cases where bad things happened, and every single time we had used a white lighter. So next time that you are in a sesh, and someone pulls out a White Lighter, throw that shit away or brake it. The coincidence was that all four of their autopsies showed that when they died, they had White Bic Lighters in their pockets. All four of them were left-handed, and they all died at the age of 27. Another reason revolves around Four Famous Musicians (and Fellow Stoners), Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Kurt Cobain. So when they were being investigated by police, white lighters would show signs of smoking and ash burns, and black lighters wouldn’t. Now, when people would try to pack bowls down with their lighters, the ash would often get stuck to the bottom of their lighters. The first reason, is because when disposable lighters first came out, they only came in two colors. But does anyone know the real reason behind it? There are multiple reasons in history why white lighters are considered bad luck. Most people understand it as a fact, even though they may not believe it. This rumor was summed up in a 2013 post on High Ideas as follows:Įveryone knows that white lighters are Bad Luck. While there are many reasons why people believe this, the most commonly offered reason is that several members of the “27 club” (musicians who all passed away at the age of 27) - including Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Jim Morrison - all allegedly had this product in their pockets when they died.
A popular pop culture superstition holds that a white BIC disposable lighter is bad luck.