It's true! Isn't it?

Every time someone famous dies the inevitable response is for people to look for two more. Despite evidence to the contrary the “Celebrities Die in Threes” myth goes on. In part, I believe because it is so easy to make it work. It all depends on where you start counting.
This week we had Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. But people were already saying it before Jackson, and linking in David Carradine.
What is the time restriction on the counting? Hendrix and Joplin were within three weeks, but Morrison was nine months later. Why not include Brian Jones (14 months earlier) and make it “They always die in fours”? Ooo, spooky.
So, I tried to limit my research to celebrities who died on the same day. That might be something. Here’s what I found:
July 4, 1826: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson
February 3, 1959: Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, The Big Bopper
November 23, 1963: CS Lewis, Aldous Huxley, JFK
May 16, 1990: Sammy Davis, Jr., Jim Henson
As you can see hitting the “three” threshold with out stretching the length of time to get there is tough.
Undoubtedly, these are notable people, but what is the definition of “Celebrity?” I think that if you want to make the rule of three stick, you can call just about anyone a celebrity. This is a case of making the facts fit the evidence.
Don’t believe me? Just look at the Wikipedia recent deaths list. Are these people celebrities? Sure, or else they wouldn’t be listed, but the “three” business is hard to support when you see how many people die everyday.

All that said, it’s been 26 years and I still can’t Moonwalk.