Haunted Houses: Horror Movie Filming Locations You Can Actually Visit
No matter how mentally tough you think you are, there is nothing eerier than going to an actual horror movie location. One of the coolest aspects of horror films is that sometimes the filming locations are at real places. This means that you can actually put yourself in the shoes of the characters in certain horror movies. You could even go as far as to replicate a particular scene if you are feeling daring enough! Even if you just wanted to see the location, though, it’s an indescribable feeling. Here are a few places you can still visit today:
Grand Central Cafe – The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Located in Kingsland, Texas is the infamous house in which Leatherface impaled Pam. However, quite a lot has changed since the days when Leatherface was terrorizing people. Funnily enough, it is now actually a cafe in which they serve chicken-fried steak. There is nothing like sitting down for dinner with the fear of Leatherface coming back from the dead and impaling you with a utensil. Imagine the amount of people who have probably tried to pull that off over the years! Outside of the eerie feeling, though, the cafe is actually beautifully constructed and you would have never guessed it was “that one house” in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Bates Motel – Psycho
Psycho is undoubtedly one of the most iconic horror movies of all-time. It was made over 50 years ago and remains a cult classic to this day. If you take a trip to Universal Studios, however, you will find that you can actually visit the infamous Bates Motel. The motel is located inside of the Studio Tour and loads of theatrics have been added to boost the eerie experience. Good luck not leaving Los Angeles with nightmares for weeks.
The Exorcist
The amazing thing about The Exorcist (the movie, not the upcoming TV adaptation) is that there are multiple locations that you can visit from the movie. For one, you can go to 3600 Prospect Street in Washington DC. This is the house that held the demon-possessed Regan MacNeil. You can also go to the Dahlgren Chapel at Georgetown University, which was one of the exterior buildings that was used during filming. Lastly, you can access the M Street Stairs in Washington DC, which was home to one of the most brutal deaths in cinema. If you are a fan of The Exorcist, then you have plenty of locations to visit to get your fill.
Overlook Hotel – The Shining
Going to the Overlook Hotel, which is the Timberline Lodge in Oregon, is probably the least frightening horror movie location to go to. The reason for this is the interior scenes of The Shining were shot at a different location. This particular building just appeared in the movie as the Overlook Hotel and nothing more. However, that doesn’t take away from the allure of staring at the Timberline Lodge from a distance. As long as you imagine the murdering psychopath Jack stalking you down while inside of this lodge, then you can enjoy the full experience!
The Cabin – The Evil Dead
There is absolutely nothing more bone-chilling than visiting an abandoned cabin in the middle of the woods. However, there is one thing that could make it even more bone-chilling. That is that the aforementioned cabin happened to be the same exact cabin in The Evil Dead. Now the question is how on earth do you get there? Amazingly enough, there actually are in-depth directions to the cabin. If you have a death wish (don’t worry, probably nothing will happen) and are interested in going there, then check out these directions.
The Blair Witch Project
If you are truly aiming to get the eeriest and most frightening experience possible, then you probably need to head on over to Burkittsville, Maryland. This is a very small city in Maryland and may still have the “Blair Witch” curse. While you’re there you can meet many of the locals who are no doubt aware of the effect the movie has had on the city. To get the full experience, however, you are going to want to head on over to the Seneca Creek Park. This is where most of the filming was done for The Blair Witch Project. While you’re there, you could even shoot a found-footage film for yourself!
Watching at the Scene
If you ever plan on going to any of these infamous locations, note that there is a way to spice it up.
Whatever location you choose to go to, watch the original movie while you’re there. So, for example, if you go to Grand Central Cafe then make sure to watch The Texas Chainsaw Massacre while you’re there. This will completely enhance the experience and it will make the movie so much more frightening.
The only thing you need to ensure is that when you’re doing this you take extra precautions because of the dangers of public WiFi. One specific precaution you can take is to use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) while you’re watching all of these movies, at their specific locations, over public WiFi. The reason for this is because a VPN will mask your IP address and encrypt all of your browsing data. It might even help you out down the road when you’re outside of the country and want to watch some of your favorite horror flicks.
Out of all of these locations, which one do you think you would visit? Have you visited any of these creepy locations before? If so, which ones? We would love to know your thoughts, so please leave a comment below.
About the Author: Cassie is an entertainment and online blogger who is a horror movie fanatic. She hopes that you enjoyed this piece and can visit one of the places listed above. Just try not to get too scared!
