Curious Expeditions posted a fascinating legend about Gloomy Sunday, a song written by Hungarian composer Rezső Seress in 1933. It is about a man who loses his lover to an untimely death and plans to commit suicide in order to join her.

“Hauntingly beautiful, the story goes that the song was so sad, so depressing, so completely soul crushing, that upon hearing it even once, Hungarians were driven to suicide. And not just a few, during its era, hundreds of suicides were attributed to the melody.

The legend grew. One story went that a young paperboy who had everything to live for heard the song in passing and immediately threw himself into the Danube. Rumors about the song that hypnotized any who heard it into walking straight out of the first open window became became so pervasive that Hungary is said to have responded with a nationwide ban of Gloomy Sunday.”

That being said, you can listen to the song here if you wish. I actually find it quite beautiful.

I always do a bit of extra searching beyond my original sources, and I discovered that Sarah McLachlan does a cover of Gloomy Sunday, also posted on youtube.