Three Men and a Baby Ghost: (Paranormal Cardboard)
This is an urban legend I once fell hook, line and sinker for.
I first heard of the ‘ghost boy’ who appeared in the film Three Men and a Baby when my dad told me about it after reading the story in a magazine. The story said that if you went to a certain part of the movie, a little boy could be seen in the background and that little boy had died in the apartment the film was shot in.
In short, the little boy in the background of the film…was a ghost.
So my dad put in his Laserdisc copy (yes, I said Laserdisc) of the movie, scanned his way to the proper scene and I saw the little ghost boy staring out at me from behind the curtains. So as much as I loved ghosts story’s and Halloween, this scared the hell out of me.
For years I would show the scene to my friends when they came over, with most having the same awestruck reaction I did. In the age way before You Tube, I was doing my part to share this modern born urban legend.
Because there is no ghost in Three Men and a Baby, just a cut out of Ted Danson, which might actually be scarier.
The cardboard cutout was used for a part of the film where Ted Danson’s Character Jack gets a job promoting dog food, but that aspect of the film never made it to the theaters, although the cardboard cutout remained in some scenes. Another sequence the cut out is seen in comes near the films conclusion and is pictured here:
If you are wondering why the cutout looks so much smaller and creepier in the infamous clip from the film, the cutout is at a distance and it’s arms are blocked by the curtains. The cutout also has perfect position, with it’s head peering out from the part in the curtains.
Besides the incriminating cutout, there is also the fact that those scenes, and all the scenes in the apartment shown in Three Men and a Baby were shot on a sound stage in Toronto.
Some speculated that the film company’s that made the film pushed the ghost boy rumors a bit as Three Men and a Baby went on to get record video rentals. The rumor also became poplar as the film’s sequel, Three Men and a Little Lady was set to come out.
So the Three Men and a Baby ghost, although a bit creepy looking and a neat little part of film history, is less of a amazing spectacle then Tom Selleck‘s mustache.
– Thomas Spychalski
(Via Snopes)
Discuss This Article At Death By Posting
davidmdunaway
D.A Lascelles
fingerjack
Philip Bates
Patrick Keller
Thomas Spychalski
News From The Spirit World 
This reminds me of the person supposedly hanging himself in the background of The Wizard of Oz. I was obsessed with that one in college. 🙂
April 20, 2012 at 6:32 AM
Yeah that is another film that has a few weird legends associated with it.
As said though I recall this incident so well when it was happening and so there is a definite nostalgia factor for me with this one.
April 20, 2012 at 5:12 PM
SWEPT UNDER THE RUG….
yup..this is real folks…
that cardboard standee story does not match up…
one thing EVERYBODY has missed is this…
that was ONE uncut scene!
if it was’nt a gun…what was it?
and did someone run onset,while filming,and change the “gun” to a “standee”….
…two feet behind the actors ?
i believe the original story 100%
all these lame-o,cover-up stories are damage control
November 11, 2012 at 2:24 AM
Interesting Joe…how do you explain away the fact that there is no apartment building but just a set on a stage in Toronto?
Just curious…
November 14, 2012 at 2:47 AM
I agree with Joe…the one thing that most people don’t notice is that the figure in the window is not as tall as the half-way point in the window, and in the part of the movie that does actually show the cardboard cutout (standee) with Ted, the standee is way past the halfway point on that window. Also, I saw the original VCR release and the boy was wearing a plaid shirt in it. It looks like the more recent dvd has been photoshopped to look like a tux.
December 7, 2012 at 11:04 AM
I think the “memory cheats” in this case Stan. I was a shut in who watched eighties comedies over and over as a kid, and this is how I recall it. 😉
Plus, why bother to cover this up? If the film contained proof of the paranormal the film would become a genuine part of history. That certainly would have been a positive for all involved with the film, minus the grief of the parents of the boy [sic].
Again, how do you explain away the fact that there was no apartment, hence no boy to have lived or died there? It was a sound stage in Canada…
You guys are free to believe what you want and I wish this was real, but it is a card board cut out of Ted Danson….before his career became a ghost. 🙂
December 10, 2012 at 5:50 PM
also in the window scene of the ghost he is not wearing a top hat. like the one ted is looking at of himself. and also the one in the window looks Asian and nothing like ted.
November 6, 2014 at 3:48 PM
Sorry Heather it looks like the cutout to me in that scene…thanks for reading and commenting! 🙂
November 8, 2014 at 1:41 PM
Exactly — there is no top hat on that ghost boy!
August 15, 2016 at 2:39 PM
I totally agree. There is NO top hat on that boy ghost and he does not look a thing like Danson. Why cover the truth? Ghosts are nothing to be ashamed of.
August 15, 2016 at 2:37 PM
i belive that we all belive in something diffrent and we all have our own view. but something about this doesnt add up. There are still things that cant be explained.
March 8, 2013 at 10:11 AM
I don’t think it was a ghost but if it was the same cardboard cutout how come they have different color pants?
May 9, 2013 at 5:15 PM
If I understand what shot in the film you are talking about I think those are the curtains??
But I’m not sure when you mean..could you expand on that comment? 🙂
May 10, 2013 at 9:36 PM
The shot with the cutout between curtains the cutout appears to have black or dark colored pants. The one with Danson and the cutout in front of the window the cutout appears to have white or light colored pants. Or am I mistaken?
May 11, 2013 at 12:05 AM
Red: I think that is just the end of the white tux shirt/vest. You can kind of see the start of the tux slacks on the right side of the cut out.
😉
May 11, 2013 at 5:59 PM
I agree that the ghost story is unlikely but the cut outs are different. Ted Danson is wearing white trousers, a shirt with a collar and a hat. The “ghost” is wearing dark trousers, t shirt and no hat.
December 9, 2013 at 5:36 PM
From my view it is the same cut out blocked by curtains and at a different angle and depth, but I can see how you could see it that way and respect your opinion.
Thanks for taking the time to comment! 🙂
December 9, 2013 at 6:32 PM
Also notice that the image is not as tall as the half-way point of the window…the cut-out standee is way taller than that. Look at the face, it is different than the cut-out. And if you were an actress or actor, wouldn’t you say something if you visually saw something that wasn’t suppose to be there?
December 9, 2013 at 6:57 PM
But the story id certainly not true and there is no little boy nor a residence it was a sound stage…And perspective and camera angle is everything.
But thanks for taking the time to comment.
May 28, 2014 at 5:53 PM
No, it’s certainly not true, but I’m just stating the little things that people should notice, but don’t 🙂
May 28, 2014 at 5:56 PM
As creepy as a tale that is, that is clearly not a ghost. I doubt anyone has ever managed to capture a full coloured and clear apparition of any spirit. Best they can come up with is the smoky, shadowy hazy image that such things are famous for.
Goes to show how easily you can make things seem mysterious. 🙂
As a side note, I tried to take a video (and sound recording) of Omen the other day. Both came up with zero. Was worth a shot, though. lol
May 28, 2014 at 4:48 PM
My comment above was directed at the commenter Stan, who I must have missed somehow before..but I agree, this one is fake… 🙂
May 28, 2014 at 6:20 PM
lol too early for me!
May 28, 2014 at 6:21 PM
Exactly..as I said in the other post you commented on, this is too good to be true…
May 28, 2014 at 5:54 PM
I agree with Joe…the one thing that most people don’t notice is that the figure in the window is not as tall as the half-way point in the window, and in the part of the movie that does actually show the cardboard cutout (standee) with Ted, the standee is way past the halfway point on that window. Also, I saw the original VCR release and the boy was wearing a plaid shirt in it. It looks like the more recent dvd has been photoshopped to look like a tux.
——————————————
I remember seeing the clip on VHS as well, and the shirt was plaid or striped like the kind boys around that age wear, and now it’s white. I also read the altered the scene on dvd to remove the shotgun image, If that’s true that’s pretty weird.
June 16, 2014 at 7:37 PM
Again I think this is another case of the memory cheating us…
But may I ask where the edited DVD info came from? Source please if you have it handy? 🙂
July 11, 2014 at 10:36 PM
Pingback: News From The Spirit World with Thomas Spychalski | The Big Séance
What about the gun in same window first you see the gun and then as they pass back by you see the boy in the same window
September 23, 2014 at 8:11 PM