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10 Spooky Real-Life Locations From 10 Real Spooky Movies
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The exterior of the Neibolt House from It. (Photo: Warner Bros./New Line)
Some of the most iconic settings from Hollywood horror classics do not belongto the movie set but to the real world. They are structures. They arelandmarks. They may even be somebody’s home (so, be ever mindful of yourmanners). Here’s a look at our favorite Halloween sights — which you canliterally see for yourself.
The abandoned house from ** it ** Toronto
For the 2017 big-screen blockbuster, Hollywood converted this historic105-year-old Canadian mansion, known as the Cranfield House, into Pennywise’sinfamous 29 Neibolt St. spook house. While a run-down facade was built for theexteriors, the Cranfield was used for interiors. Formerly a home for unwedmothers, the currently unoccupied house (and soon-to-be condo) in Toronto’sRiverdale neighborhood does a lot of movie work these days, to the annoyanceof some neighbors.
the ** Conjuring house ** Currie, NC
In Rhode Island, where the reputedly haunted farmhouse that saw its story toldin the 2013 hit movie is located, the owners of the Conjuring house are verymuch over The Conjuring. In North Carolina, where the welcome mat seems tobe always out for Hollywood, Pender County’s tourism site gives you theaddress to the 4,840-square-foot single-family home in Currie that stood infor the original possessed house: 405 Canetuck Road.
The abandoned pavilion from ** Carnival of Souls ** Magna, Utah
Should you find yourself on the southern shores of Utah’s Great Salt Lake, besure to swing through the township of Magna (population: 26,505) and up to theconcert venue known as the Great Saltair. If you’re a cult movie buff, thenyou’ll think you recognize the pavilion’s Moorish spires from the bleak 1962black-and-white film, but you’ll be wrong. The Saltair featured in that movieburned down in 1970; the current structure (the third version of the formeramusement park site, actually) was erected in 1981. In any case, you’ll bestanding where movie ghouls stood, so… Score!
The Bates Motel and ** Psycho house** Universal City, Calif.
Yes, these are exterior facades, and yes, they’re located on the UniversalStudios backlot, and yes, they’ve been nipped and tucked and moved around thelot, but they’re included here because they’re still the real deal . They werebuilt for Alfred Hitchcock’s original Psycho movie and used in sequelsthereafter (though not in the recent Bates Motel series), and they’reaccessible to the public nearly every day via the Universal Studios Hollywoodtram tour.
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the ** Exorcist house ** Washington, DC
The brick house on Prospect Street in the capital’s stately Georgetownneighborhood has been called a tourist mecca. In another lifetime, it servedas the exterior of poor, possessed Regan MacNeil’s home from 1973’s TheExorcist. according to USA Today the black fence that now surrounds theproperty was erected to keep the movie-curious public at a distance.
Michael Myers ‘s Halloween **house ** South Pasadena, Calif.
In Halloween lore, the franchise slasher hails from Haddonfield, Ill. Inreal life, Haddonfield doesn’t exist, and filmmaker John Carpenter shot hisoriginal 1978 movie on a shoestring budget in the Los Angeles area, mainlySouth Pasadena. The key landmark is the Myers family abode, located back inthe day on Meridian Avenue and now, after being saved from the wrecking balland relocated down the road, on Mission Street. Formally known as the CenturyHouse, the structure is a local historic landmark and a business office.
The hotel from ** The Shining ** Government Camp, Ore.
In Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 adaptation of the Stephen King horror classic, JackNicholson’s writer character lost his mind at Colorado’s creepy OverlookHotel. You might lose your mind too, at the awesome sight of the PacificNorthwest’s 55,000-square-foot Timberline Lodge, which appeared in exteriorshots as the Overlook. If you want the hotel that inspired King’s tale, thenyou’ll want to book a room at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colo.
the Blair Witch Project village Burkittsville, Md.
It’s long been reported that the townsfolk of Burkittsville were not pleasedwhen the original Blair Witch Project name-checked their humble home andmade it a tourist destination — even though “very little” was filmed there. Ifyou visit the village, about an hour’s drive east of Baltimore, then pleasemind your manners and seek out a “Welcome” sign — that’s a rare piece ofBurkittsville that was actually in Blair Witch. We’re afraid the signs don’tlook like they did in the 1999 movie. The original ones were, sight, stolen.
the ** Paranormal Activity house ** San Diego, Calif.
The only thing supernatural about Oren Peli’s former four-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath house with a “tidy, tidy front yard” in San Diego’s RanchoPeñasquitos neighborhood is the abundance of good fortune it brought thefilmmaker, who shot his 2009 breakout blockbuster here.
The apartment building from ** Rosemary ‘s Baby **New York City
This imposing 19th-century co-op at Central Park West and 72nd Street inManhattan’s Upper West Side is the famous Dakota. It was already notable forits exclusivity and its tenants, including Hollywood legend Lauren Bacall,when it played the Bramford (in exterior shots) in the 1968 demonic hit. In1980, the Dakota’s legend took a sad real-life turn: John Lennon, who lived inthe building with his wife, Yoko Ono, was shot to death at the 72nd Street