History Main / CuriosityKilledTheCast

* The crew of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Airlines_Flight_27 National Airlines Flight 27]] got curious about how the autothrottle (kind of like a cruise control for jet engines) worked - did the system read the engine RPM from the tachometers, or directly from the engines? Well, why not [[WhatAnIdiot pull the circuit breakers for the tachs and see what happens]]? Unfortunately, one of the engines over-revved and disintegrated. A piece of the engine hit a window, and the hapless passenger next to the window was sucked out to his doom. The NTSB report remarked that "[[CaptainObvious This type of experimentation, without the benefit of training or specific guidelines, should never be performed during passenger flight operations]]."

* Pretty much the moral of half of Creator/HPLovecraft's stories.

* Pretty much the moral of half of Creator/HPLovecraft's stories. The roleplayer jokes are that the only worthy treasure in a Lovecraft game are untranslatable crusty old books that permanently removes your character from play if you accidentally look at the pictures; reading any of it aloud may doom the reader, the group, humanity, the universe, all universes, or all that and beyond; that there are entire hierarchies of threats beyond that who will wipe out the merely-universe-killing threats without even noticing them, only to do the ultimate everybody dies (as soon as the stars are right). While the players have 1920's guns and would probably all die if they were against a single baby shoggoth, with the survivors going permanently insane.

* In the episode of ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' involving the retrovirus "Monkey Business", the protagonists stumble across a box containing a receptacle of the virus and are told not to open it. Faye is intrigued and opens it anyway, and Spike's use of brute force and firearms to separate the receptacle from its container -- evidently based solely on curiosity - causes their hostage (who knows what is inside) much nervousness.

* ''Series/{{Merlin}}'': A non-fatal example in "[[Recap/MerlinS03E03GoblinsGold Goblin's Gold]], when Merlin releases the goblin.

* In ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'', [[TheProfessor Ogilvy]], [[WeHardlyKnewYe Stent]], and [[RedshirtReporter Henderson]] were all minor characters who were interested in the Martians and tried to talk to them. Needless to say, their plan [[DeathRay didn't]] [[ViolenceIsTheOnlyOption work out]] [[WhatASenselessWasteOfHumanLife very well]].

* ''Film/TheRizzle'': If Elena had just not clicked on that video of The Rizzle, she never would have seen it, tried the dance, and [[spoiler:ended up trapped [=INSIDE=] of the video]].

* The main character of ''Film/TheSpiderwickChronicles'' just can't help but read the book, especially after a note tells him not to. Considering he's a teenaged boy, this is understandable.

* Ildith should really have listened to her husband Lot when he told her "DontLookBack" at the destruction of the title cities in ''Film/SodomAndGomorrah''. But a combination of her lack of faith in the god he says will destroy the cities and her own curiosity causes her to look back at the fiery explosions engulfing her former hometown... and one flash of light later, there's [[TakenForGranite a pillar of salt]] where she was standing seconds earlier.

* ''Film/TheBox'': If that kid just left [[TitleDrop The Box]] in the woods where he found it, he wouldn't have [[spoiler:read that spell to summon a doppleganger to replace him, and trick the kid's mom into doing the same]].

* ''Film/TheCabinInTheWoods''. In this case, it's played straight by the main cast, as well as lampshaded by the [[PunchClockVillain ambiguously villainous]] organization behind it all.

* ''WebAnimation/MysterySkullsAnimated'': A group of three armature paranormal investigators and their "dog" enter an eerie CaveMouth to poke around despite the clear warning on the sign outside and the ''human skulls'' littering the cave. One of them ends up dead, another, who did not want to go in the cave in the first place, loses his arm and his memory of the events in the cave, and the third also loses part of her memory.

* ''Film/{{Alien}}'': Kane's overzealous impulse to investigate the eggs leads to [[spoiler:himself and then almost the entire crew being killed]]. Also Ash, for his insistence on keeping the face-hugger for scientific study, [[spoiler:until it's revealed that he knew exactly what it was and was prioritizing bringing it to Earth over saving the crew]].

%%* ''Film/TheCabinInTheWoods''. In this case, it's played straight by the main cast, as well as lampshaded by the [[PunchClockVillain ambiguously villainous]] organization behind it all.

* ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'':
** There's ''Film/GodzillaVsMechagodzillaII''. "Hey, guys! I found this huge egg! I wonder what's inside. Let's take it back to the lab and...Wait, why is Godzilla attacking us?" [[PapaWolf The egg contains Godzilla Jr.]]
** Occurs in the film ''Film/{{Godzilla 2000}}''. Long story short, some curious scientists come across an ancient spaceship in the middle of the ocean. And, well, not surprisingly, it wakes up after 65 million years of dormancy and now wants to create a "new body" (The Millennian aliens inside somehow turned into pure energy after crashing) to become the dominant species on the planet.
** In ''Film/GodzillaVsMegaguirus'', a kid finds a large egg left behind by a giant dragonfly that came out of an artificial wormhole. It making a mess of the bag he put it in when he and his mother moved to Tokyo makes it impossible to hide for much longer, so he decides to dump it into a sewer. Turns out that the the Meganulons that hatch from such an egg thrive in water....
** In ''Film/{{Godzilla 2014}}'', curiosity caused a lot deaths at least. In prehistoric times, monsters dove to the depths of the ocean and burrowed past the mantle, far away from human habitat [[spoiler:in search of radioactive material that was becoming scarce on the surface.]] A mining accident leads to the discovery of one of their eggs, which is brought up to the surface for study. [[spoiler:A surface where there are new sources of radioactive material to feed on.]]
* The film ''Film/Gamera3AwakeningOfIrys'' also has this when Ayana and some other curious students enter a forbidden shrine said to contain a "demon". Congratulations, Ayana! You've just unleashed an ancient evil unto the world that wants to devour you so it can become strong enough to kill the only thing that can stop it and wipe out all of humanity!

* The original ''Digimon'' Inverts this with Izzy. His curiosity drives him to acquire knowledge and understand the digital world, and when he has that stolen he becomes a zombie until his partner snaps him out of it.

* ''Series/BlakesSeven''. Just because they're rebels doesn't stop the crew of the Liberator checking things out from sheer boredom or curiosity, usually [[OnlySaneMan against the advice of Avon]]. In "Sacrophagus" they investigate a mysterious alien craft whose inhabitant nearly takes over the ship, [[AesopAmnesia only to have the exact same thing happen in the next episode!]]

* Non-fatal example: in ''Discworld/{{Hogfather}}'', Ridcully opened the locked door to a steam-bath invented by "Bloody Stupid" Johnson, despite a sign posted on the door reading, [[SchmuckBait "Do not, under any circumstances, open this door."]] Indeed, this was why Ridcully wanted the door opened; [[TooDumbToLive to find out why it was locked.]] He survived the ordeal, but just barely.

* ''Film/TheCabinInTheWoods''. Full stop. In this case, it's played straight by the main cast, as well as lampshaded by the [[PunchClockVillain ambiguously villainous]] [[{{Puppetmaster}} organization behind it all.]]

[[caption-width-right:299: "His curiosity sealed his fate."]]

** A related issue with even games like ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' is to create reluctant adventurers that constantly need "motivation" for why they would go on any particular quest. One recommended solution is to tell the player that if their character doesn't want to go on an adventure, that character has now become an NPC and they now have to roll up a character that ''does'' want to go adventure.

** A related issue with even games like DungeonsAndDragons is to create reluctant adventurers that constantly need "motivation" for why they would go on any particular quest. One recommended solution is to tell the player that if their character doesn't want to go on an adventure, that character has now become an NPC and they now have to roll up a character that ''does'' want to go adventure.

* Combine this with IdiotBall, and you get a cage (made out of Kryptonite bars) that was used to capture [[Comicbook/{{Superman}} Superboy]], with a sign reading "LUTHOR'S TRAP TO CAPTURE SUPERBOY" written on it in giant letters... And Superboy, naturally, falling for it, and [[http://superdickery.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&catid=30%3Aframes-and-panels-index&id=793%3Asuperboy-is-a-colossal-dumbass&Itemid=24 getting captured.]] His logic may have been that [[ReversePsychology "no one would actually put a sign like that on a real trap"]]. Although a trap should've been expected, the one with the big sign on it would normally be the decoy, a written version of SarcasticConfession. However, even if it isn't a "real" trap, it's still a ''cage'', with no obvious reason to fly into it -- there's nothing in there. And the bars are made out of Kryptonite. Fortunately for him, this was AllJustADream.

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/ThePath'': The entire premise of this psychological horror game, based on Little Red Riding Hood, is guiding a young girl through the woods and off the path until she encounters her "wolf".
* In ''VideoGame/AoOni'', a group of teenagers decide to explore an old abandoned house and end up being chased by big purple monster. Most of the versions, only the protagonist survives. (There are versions that gives the player the option to save some of their friends.)
** There's also the surprise end near the start; the first time the player passes the bathroom, a shadow is shown moving behind the fogged glass door (which happens to be locked). Guess what happens if you continually try to open it?
* ''VideoGame/CryOfFear'' has a pedophile who wrote a short poem about three children. Two of them went home, but the third one stayed, and was tricked into going close up to a bush. The final line concludes that, indeed, Curiosity killed the cat.
* In ''VideoGame/MenOfValor'', there's a marine who fell for a blatantly obvious BoobyTrap in a jungle in the first arc.
* In ''Franchise/MassEffect'' this occurs to anyone who studies Reaper tech heavily. The inevitable side effect is indoctrination. This notably occurs in [[spoiler:The Arrival DLC, in which the Reaper invasion nearly occurs before anyone is ready.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Scratches}}'' has this happen with James Blackwood. His curiosity about African tribes led to him likely getting cursed and bring ruin to his family, before he dies under mysterious consequences. And player character Michael's curiosity about the mystery of Blackwood Manor ''could'' lead the same way...
* ''VideoGame/{{Calling}}'' has this occur to majority of the cast. Their curiosity about The Black Page and talking in that chatroom leads them into being pulled into the Mnemonic Abyss and ultimately leads to Shin's death and that of others.
* Many character in the ''VideoGame/FatalFrame'' franchise are prone to this, heading into haunted places (some of them do so on purpose). Since those who die in this series become ghosts that players must fight to survive, it's safe to say few of them survive their encounters -- [[AnyoneCanDie even main protagonists aren't immune to this consequence.]]
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