The Peculiar Death of Christopher Case

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In April 1991, the body of an otherwise healthy 35-year-old man was found inside his Seattle apartment.

He was fully clothed, kneeling in an empty bathtub, and there were zero signs of a struggle or forced entry.

The death was quickly written off as the result of natural causes, but when his friends came forward, they told a different story.

They claim he'd spent a week evading a supernatural force he swore had been sent to kill him.

Did he literally scare himself to death, or was his passing really the result of a witch's curse?

Whenever the notion of curses arises, it invariably invites ridicule and derision and the not-so-in-depth scrutiny of a victim's mental state.

It's far too easy to dismiss such afflictions as the product of paranoia and delusion.

But if you were to ask yourself, as a sane and rational human being, if you were to become so utterly convinced that something beyond your understanding was out to get you, would you be as quick to dismiss your own experiences in the same off-hand manner?

Curses have been with us for nearly as long as there has been civilization.

And in dozens of cultures separated by both time and geography, the source of these curses has very often been levied at powerful supernatural women.

Witches.

Through means of birth or a pact with mystic forces, they were often said to be able to communicate with the dark forces for both beneficial and detrimental ends.

In ancient societies, from Mesopotamia and Egypt to Greece and Rome, witches could heal or curse at will, depending on whether or not the subject had drawn their ire.

Though many countries have seen the belief in witches dramatically reduced in the modern era, Others, especially those in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and the Caribbean, have never stopped doubting their existence.

There are thousands of stories of encounters with witches and curses, and not all of them are relegated to the far past.

In 2019, a young Romanian man claimed his neighbour, a folk witch known as Ababa, had cursed him for rejecting her granddaughter.

As a result, the man suffered a string of misfortunes.

It started with the death of his livestock and the breakdown of his relationships.

Soon after, he developed a mysterious rash, which he and many others agreed was a witch mark, proving he was the subject of black magic.

Only after the man participated in a ritual of cleansing did the symptoms and his bad luck begin to subside.

In 2007, a young English girl took to the internet after having an interaction with her elderly neighbour.

She claimed the woman had hexed her over a disagreement, causing her to suffer incredibly painful cramps and period pains.

After months of agony and stress, she went to see a physician, only to discover she had developed endometriosis, a disorder of the uterus, seemingly overnight.

Her doctors were stunned at how rapidly the condition had spread, and she ended up needing several surgeries to alleviate her symptoms.

Centuries after the last witch trials ended, the notion that harm could be summoned through spiritual means remains a potent and provocative idea.

And whilst most modern societies have pushed such beliefs to the margins, the psychological impact of a curse, real or imagined, remains difficult to dispute.

Many medical researchers point to the idea of the nocebo effect, where belief in harm can bring about genuine illness or even death.

For those raised in deeply superstitious cultures, simply believing that they've been cursed can lead to a cascade of real physical symptoms, from panic attacks to heart failure.

The natural unpredictability of life can sometimes reinforce this idea.

A new diagnosis, the death of a loved one or an unfortunate accident cease to be explainable occurrences.

Instead, they become proof of the curse, thus reinforcing the subject's downward mental and physical spiral.

Some argue that happenstance rather than supernatural powers is the real intent of the so-called witches.

They can simply threaten their victims, then sit back and watch as they begin to ascribe every negative experience in their lives to the curse.

In some cases, the stress alone can cause them to end up in hospital.

or worse.

But if curses are medical problems rather than mystical ones, how can we explain those cases in which non-believers become the subject of a witch's anger?

It just so happens that the following story centers around an otherwise down-to-earth, rational and more-to-the-point non-religious individual who became so wedded to the belief that he was being stalked by supernatural entities that it changed the course of his life.

A change which unfortunately led to his untimely death.

Christopher Case was a small-town radio DJ who had grown up in Richmond, Virginia.

He was regarded by most who knew him as a well-rounded individual, intelligent, sophisticated, and an absolute fitness sellot.

He took daily vitamin supplements and exercised religiously.

In his early 30s, he decided to move out west to Seattle in Washington state to start a new career as a music executive.

He worked for the Musak Holdings Company, producing the soft music heard in lifts and waiting rooms all over the world.

Chris was a popular young man.

He had made good friends in his new role and still managed to keep in regular contact with old friends back on the East Coast.

Despite this, he was largely regarded as a bit of a loner.

and had been a bachelor for many years.

This is not strange in itself.

After all, Christopher's job frequently required him to travel all over the United States.

Moreover, his friends described him as someone who got most of his pleasure from his hobbies.

He had a real passion for music, particularly compositions of the ancient world.

Chris's idea of a good time was sitting at home listening to his favourite tracks rather than going out to socialize.

He found solace in the arrangements of notes and harmonies rather than in the company of others.

All in all he was not the type of person to want for much.

He didn't bother others and they generally didn't bother him.

And it is for this reason that nobody who knew him has ever been able to understand the events that took place in the spring of 1991.

On the morning of Thursday the 18th of April Chris was found dead in his apartment.

The circumstances were strange to say the least.

His body was discovered fully clothed, sitting inside his empty bathtub in a kneeling position with his head resting against the wall.

Those who witnessed the scene later stated that it appeared as though he had simply fallen asleep and passed away.

Police investigation ruled out a struggle and there were no signs of forced entry.

However, the general condition of Chris's apartment raised immediate concerns.

During their search, investigators investigators found a multitude of crucifixes, half-burned candles and books on the occult spread throughout the residence.

They also noted that salt had been poured at the entrance to his home and along every single skirting board.

Finally, they claimed that when they entered, they'd heard religious music playing quietly in several rooms.

None of this seemed to be in keeping with Chris's personality, as both neighbours and co-workers described him as level-headed and decidedly non-religious.

Given the bizarre scene, police were eager to understand what had happened to him.

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Following an autopsy, The King County Medical Examiner's Office determined that he had died of acute myocarditis.

This is an inflammation of the heart muscle that can reduce the heart's ability to pump blood, sometimes to the point of heart failure.

Otherwise, Chris was completely healthy.

He was just 35 years old.

Considering the state in which his apartment had been found, it was hardly the outcome investigators had expected.

Little did they know it, but they would soon find themselves in the middle of a story that read like something straight out of a horror film.

Shortly after his passing, friends reported that in the days leading up to his death, Chris had called them in a panic on numerous occasions, saying that something was after him and that he feared for his life.

In several of these calls, he told them that he was absolutely certain that he would be dead before the end of the week.

These new revelations baffled authorities and at least at first seemed to be far too fantastical to be true.

But after weeks of looking into the reports, investigators discovered a very chilling side to Chris's story.

Seven days before his death on the 11th of April, Chris had embarked on a business trip to San Francisco.

He was attending a conference where he would meet with a variety of other executives within the music industry.

At some point during his visit, he was introduced to an older woman who shared his passion for the music of the ancient world, particularly that of Egypt and other Mediterranean civilizations.

They seemed to have a lot in common, and as their conversation progressed, it became clear to Chris that this woman wished to pursue a romantic relationship with him.

She made no secret of her feelings and asked him to take her home on more than one occasion.

but he politely declined these requests.

Although she was an attractive lady, her intensity had unnerved the young executive.

This, coupled with the fact that she was at least 20 years his senior, led Chris to suggest that they call it a night and go their separate ways.

To his shock, the woman became incensed at the rejection, but it was what she said next that would forever change his life.

She told him that she was a witch, that she would put a curse on him, and that he would be dead within a week.

Chris, who thought of himself as a rational individual, simply shrugged this off.

As we have already stated, he did not believe in the paranormal or supernatural, and he was not religious in any sense of the word.

As strange as the woman's threats had been, he simply disregarded them and travelled back to Seattle the next day.

He would relate this tale to his friend Sami Sauda upon his return.

She too would dismiss it with the same supposed rationality, and at least for the first few days after arriving back home, Chris seemed to have completely forgotten about the entire incident.

However, on the morning of the 14th of April, Chris called Sammy in a panic.

To his friend's shock, he reported being kept awake all night by the sound of whispering voices coming from somewhere inside his home.

Despite spending over an hour searching various rooms, he had been unable to identify the source of this terrifying din.

But things only got stranger from that point onwards.

Chris also reported seeing shadows moving around the apartment, despite the fact that he was there alone.

As Sammy listened helplessly, her otherwise rational friend described experiencing intense feelings that he was being watched by some mysterious force.

This would be the first of three frantic phone calls that Chris would make to Sammy over the next few days, each one stranger and more intense than the last.

It was clear to her that Chris was going through something.

He wasn't acting like himself, nor was he speaking like himself.

He was terrified, paranoid, and utterly convinced that something dreadful was going to happen to him.

Then, on the 16th, he called to tell her that something had attacked him whilst he was sleeping.

He described waking up in the middle of the night to find himself paralyzed, being throttled by unseen hands.

He reported that the attack was particularly intense and violent, the force of it lifting him off his mattress before releasing him and throwing him back onto his bed.

Afterwards, he had noticed tiny cuts on the ends of each one of his fingers, and that his bedsheets were stained with blood.

This would prove to be the last straw for Chris.

After his call to Sammy, he visited a religious bookstore called Evangel Incorporated.

The store manager, Rodney Higuchi, described how Chris had entered the shop, walked over to one of the displays and picked up a handful of crucifixes.

Mr.

Higuchi asked him how he intended to use them.

and Chris responded by telling him what he believed to be the truth of the matter, that he was being attacked by paranormal entities and that he needed the devotional items to defend himself.

Rodney assisted the stricken man as best he could and even recommended a few books on the subject of fighting witchcraft.

Between his visits to the bookstore and his calls to concern friends back east, Chris had begun a determined effort to fend off whatever mysterious forces had been tormenting him.

By the afternoon of the 16th, the battle lines had been drawn.

He had placed the crucifixes at regular intervals around his home, interspersing them with burning candles.

He had also poured lines of salt along the extremities of each room, leaving small piles in each corner.

Taking inspiration from the books Mr.

Hoguchi had recommended, Chris had written dozens of notes on various methods of combating evil spirits, which were scattered throughout his apartment.

It had been less than a week since his meeting with the strange woman, but Chris was a changed man.

The confident, rational young executive from several days earlier was gone, replaced with an obsessed individual so focused on preventing the paranormal threat he believed he was facing that it soon became detrimental to his health.

He wasn't sleeping, and he hadn't shown up for work in two days.

Both Sammy and the other friends he called would later describe how they could hear in his voice how utterly afraid he was.

And on the evening of the 16th, things only got worse.

Though there's no indication of exactly what happened, something clearly frightened Chris so much that he left his home in the early morning hours and went to stay at a hotel.

Because of this, Sammy, who had been calling her friend frequently throughout the ordeal, could not get hold of him the next morning.

After several tries, she decided to call the local police department and ask them to do a welfare check on Chris's property.

Upon arrival, they found the premises locked.

Unable to gain access, they left the scene and reported their findings back to the concerned friend.

Distraught and worried as she was, with her being on the other side of the country, there was little she could do but sit and wait.

That evening, Sammy came home to find a message stored on her answering machine.

Hi, Sammy.

This is Christopher.

Well, they just about got me.

You know,

they are trying to kill me.

So whatever it is I do to defend myself doesn't work anymore.

That's what it's coming down to.

I'm not looking forward to tonight.

It's serious.

It's very serious.

It's my life.

She was relieved to hear it was from Chris.

However, little did she know it would be the last time she ever heard from her friend.

To her surprise, there was an eerie calm to the young man's voice, almost as if he had resigned himself to his fate.

In the message he spoke about how they had almost got him the night before and that he believed this would be his last night on earth.

Chris also visited a Catholic priest that afternoon before returning to Evangel Incorporated.

Rodney Hoguchi later reported that Chris looked exhausted and desperate and that he had repeatedly asked for more advice on how to defend himself.

Whatever information he'd gleaned from the two holy men, neither had worked.

Chris would lose his life that night.

The intelligent, fit, and happy young man had left this world exactly as the witch predicted.

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Did Christopher Case somehow manage to convince himself that he had been cursed and then literally scare himself to death?

Or was there something far more mysterious and sinister at work?

Even after all this time, the jury is still out.

The coroner's report was very clear.

Chris had died of myocarditis.

This rare but potentially deadly disease affects roughly one in every 100,000 people.

It's not hereditary and therefore not based on genetics.

It can affect anyone at any time.

but most commonly occurs in people between the ages of 20 and 40.

Most important of all, it is not unheard of for myocarditis to afflict young men and women who are otherwise fit and healthy.

In fact, it has been the cause of many sudden deaths in young athletes around the world, especially of late.

The most common way that myocarditis develops is through an infection, typically bacterial, viral or fungal.

However, some medical research suggests there is a link between the disease and man-made supplements or injectables, such as vitamins, steroids and even vaccines, which they believe could aggravate an existing condition.

It's important to remember that Christopher Case was a fitness enthusiast.

Before he returned from San Francisco, he went to the gym to exercise daily.

He also took vitamin supplements and at the age of 35, he was well within the scope of being affected by this disease.

However, Close friends and relatives of Chris are not so quick to just accept the possibility that he died of natural causes.

There is a variety of other symptoms that usually manifest in sufferers of myocarditis such as chest pain, difficulty breathing and general fatigue.

Furthermore, before a fatal attack, the sufferer will usually display flu-like symptoms in the weeks leading up to their death.

Chris experienced none of these things.

He was otherwise a fit and healthy young man with a top-notch immune system.

The same can't be said about Chris's mental state during those last five or six days.

As we have already established, he was a stable individual and not prone to such flights of fancy regarding the paranormal.

So why did he so suddenly and inexplicably change?

Is it possible for someone to go from being a sane, rational individual one day to a desperate and obsessed wreck the next?

One might assume that he had suffered some sort of mental breakdown, but such events typically require intense mental or emotional stress.

Since he didn't believe in curses, it seems unlikely that Chris would take the so-called witch's curse so seriously.

Even his friends claim that he initially laughed the event off.

It's also important to note that mental breakdowns of this nature usually develop over weeks or even months, so this doesn't seem to make much sense.

However, the symptoms of mental breakdown do line up with what Sammy and Mr.

Haguchi mentioned.

They include withdrawal from work, sleep problems, panic attacks and intense anxiety.

Mental breakdowns are also associated with symptoms like chest pain, which could have exacerbated a heart condition like myocarditis.

In this scenario, Christopher may not have succumbed to a literal curse, but the overwhelming fear of one.

The psychological toll of believing oneself to be marked for death is not something to be underestimated.

The mind can play powerful tricks, and fear, sustained, unrelenting fear, can be as corrosive to the body as any physical disease.

As previously mentioned, this so-called nocebo effect is a well-documented phenomenon, and in the absence of any conventional explanation, it remains a strong contender.

Since the events first broke, there have been numerous reports that Chris may have been a closeted homosexual and that he might have been suffering from HIV or even AIDS.

This theory explains several parts of the story, including his disinterest in having a sexual relationship with the older woman as well as his death by myocarditis, which frequently stems from untreated infections which HIV patients are prone to.

However, there is no hard evidence to support this claim.

No medical records confirm that he was HIV positive.

No friends or relatives have ever spoken about his dating preferences, and it seems likely that such a theory has persisted largely because it offers a socially palatable explanation for behaviour that many still find hard to reconcile with logic.

It also does nothing to explain Chris's bizarre conduct, nor the manner in which his body was discovered.

Indeed, this remains a sticking point for a lot of people.

Police reports describe a fully clothed man kneeling in a bathtub, in a position that looked as though he'd been praying.

His apartment meanwhile had been filled with religious symbols and burning candles.

Marking boundaries with salt has long been associated with protection against witches, evil spirits and dark magic, and it just goes to show how far Chris had gone in just a few days.

Whatever caused his death, it was real to him.

And so, we must consider that the woman was telling the truth.

Through some means we do not yet understand, she was able to end Chris's life through a series of interactions involving supernatural torture.

After days of torment, his heart finally gave out, allowing the witch to get her revenge.

Though we tend to treat stories like this as pure fiction, There is a perfectly good reason why tales of witches and curses pervade cultures and time periods.

Perhaps they are real.

You may be wondering why the police never followed up on the identity of the woman who supposedly put this curse on him.

The truth is that despite the bizarre state in which his body was found, Chris's death was never seen as suspicious.

From an official standpoint, it simply did not warrant that kind of investigation.

To this day, nobody has come forward to report seeing him speaking to an older woman whilst at the conference, nor has anyone claimed to be that person.

Whatever the case, Chris took the woman's name with him to the grave, if he ever knew it at all.

Whether he died of a terrifying curse or whether it was simply all in his head, this case is no less heartbreaking for those who were close to him.

He was a rational, healthy and intelligent man.

He lived alone.

kept to himself and dedicated his life to music, fitness and work.

And yet, in the span of a single week, he was transformed from a confident professional to a paranoid recluse.

He sought help, he fortified his home, he prayed and pleaded, and then, on the very night he said he would die, he did.

Whether it was a psychological break, a supernatural assault or an undiagnosed illness, his terror was real.

And that terror left behind a set of circumstances so disturbing and so out of character that they continue to puzzle investigators and friends alike.

And perhaps, in the end, that's what curses really are.

Not spells or hexes, but the unanswered questions that keep us up at night.