Laszlo Marosi

People in England, Germany, France, America, they were all singing it.

Sheris' dream of becoming famous had finally come true, and perhaps now he could win back his girlfriend's love.

But that's when it started to happen.

There's the story of a Hungarian shoemaker who left a note at the scene of his suicide, quoting some of the Gloomy Sunday lyrics.

One man shot himself after telling relatives he couldn't get that song out of his head.

A young shopkeeper in Berlin hung herself in her apartment, the sheet music to Gloomy Sunday in her bedroom.

At least 19 suicides have been linked to the song, although many claim hundreds.

We'll never know.

Others say the Great Depression had a role in the deaths as well.

Soon, the song became widely known as the Hungarian Suicide Song and was banned on BBC Radio.

So the story goes, Seresh tried finding his ex-lover who had inspired him to write Gloomy Sunday.

But to his horror, she too had taken her own life with poison.

Many years later, after World War II and disappearing from the spotlight, a heartbroken sheriff finally surrendered to the curse of his song.

Was that really necessary?

Cherish may now be dead, but his song's haunting legacy lives on.

Gloomy Sunday has been recorded over 80 times, covered by Billie Holiday to Elvis Costello to Bjork.

Although they've tacked on an extra verse to make the song PG, apparently the death mentioned in its lyrics was just a dream.