Did you know there are more than a few spooky sports stories?
We’ve gathered some of our favorites to give you a chilling read. And the next time you watch a game or place a wager (bet365 bonus code if you fancy online betting), you just might look at the sporting spectacle in a different way…
Our favorite spooky sports stories
NASCAR’s most gruesome race track
Nicknamed “Dega”, the Talladega Superspeedway is NASCAR’s longest track. And it’s also its most notorious. It opened in Alabama over 50 years ago and since then, there has been many gruesome, deadly accidents on the track.
Many of these accidents have been seen as freak occurrences, and some drivers have even reported hearing voices convincing them to quit racing while driving on the track.
The GAA team that invoked the wrath of a priest
In Ireland, the GAA has been a huge deal for well over a hundred years. This association promotes Irish sports, including Gaelic football and hurling. So when something spooky happens in these Irish sports, it sets tongues wagging.
And in 1951, something like that happened. Mayo were celebrating their All-Ireland win when their bus overtook a funeral hearse. This is seen as extremely bad form, and a vengeful priest cursed the team. He declared that the county wouldn’t win again until all of the team members died.
There is still one team member alive and Mayo haven’t won. Ever time they get close, people whisper about the curse.
100-year curse on English football club
It’s something of a cliché to say that English people are obsessed with soccer, or football as they call it. But it’s kind of true. And has been for hundreds of years, well before the English Premier League as we know it was set up.
But apparently not everyone is all about the soccer. Birmingham City FC has called St Andrews home since 1906. But apparently the land they built their stadium on was cursed.
The unlucky team failed to prosper in its location, with desperate managers trying to break the curse by doing everything from putting crosses on the floodlights to painting players’ shoes red to urinating on the pitch!
Eventually, 100 years after the team moved in to St Andrews, the curse seemed to break when the club triumphed over Queens Park Rangers with a 2-1 victory.
Trouble for the baseball team that crossed a goat
Chicago Cubs are one baseball team that saw an incredible, and some say near inexplicable, dry season lasting decades. However some say that this wasn’t caused by bad luck or bad sporting decisions.
Instead, they say that the team was cursed by a disgruntled pet owner.
William Sianis was an eccentric Chicago resident who loved everything to do with goats. He had a business called the Billy Goat Tavern and brought his pet goat everywhere with him. Including to watch the Cubs play in Wrigley Field.
However, goats smell pretty bad. And after his fellow spectators complained about the stench, he was asked to leave.
Furious that someone would insult him and his goat like that, he allegedly cursed the team. It wasn’t until 2016, some 46 years after Sianis died, that the Cubs won the National League Championship Series again.
How about a few poker ghost stories?
Now that you’ve read all about our favorite spooky sports stories, maybe you’d like to hear some gruesome tales about poker? Check out our articles on the Dead Man’s Hand and the Liverpudlian who made a deal with the devil for even more chills…
