Since 2011, Crystal Lake Tours has given Friday the 13th fans the unique opportunity to visit the filming locations from the original 1980 movie. More than 80% of the scenes featured in the series’ first entry were shot at Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco in Hardwick, New Jersey—a 380+ acre Scout camp that’s been around since 1927. However, the property is privately owned and only open to visitors on official tour dates. Even still, those tours have been known to sell out in as little as eight seconds.

Among the events the camp has hosted over the years include guided tours, canoeing on the lake, cast reunions, and movie screenings. They’ve also, on occasion, offered a VIP experience, which allows guests to spend the night in one of the cabins. This is all in addition to the various souvenirs they have available—assuming, of course, that you’d be in the market for an “I Survived Crystal Lake” sticker or a jar of sand taken from the beach area where Mrs. Voorhees was decapitated.

Yes, You Can Actually Visit Camp Crystal Lake From ‘Friday the 13th.’ Here’s How.

Past tours have welcomed such stars as Adrienne King (Alice Hardy in Friday the 13th), Jeannine Taylor (Marcie Cunningham), Ari Lehman (the first Jason), makeup effects artist Tom Savini, and composer Harry Manfredini (who came up with the iconic theme music). The camp’s 2019 reunion event made history by hosting the largest gathering of the original film’s cast and crew since 1980.

Each tour supports restoration and maintenance projects at No-Be-Bo-Sco as well as youth camping programs throughout Northern New Jersey. But be warned: they aren’t too cheap. As of right now, the remaining tickets for 2026 will cost you between $159 and $169—and they’re going quick. You can check out the upcoming event listings on the official Crystal Lake Tours website by clicking right here.

The post You Can Visit the Real Camp Crystal Lake From ‘Friday the 13th,’ but There’s a Catch appeared first on VICE.

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William Peter Blatty’s 1971 novel The Exorcist—later adapted into the 1973 William Friedkin film of the same name—was inspired by the story of Roland Doe. Blatty had heard about Doe—who’d evidently undergone several exorcisms—from one of his professors at Georgetown University. In 1949, the 14-year-old Doe claimed to have heard knocking and scratching sounds coming from inside his bedroom walls. But that would only be the beginning of his supposed paranormal experiences.

After visiting Doe in March 1949, Reverend Luther Schulze reported that chairs would move while Doe was sitting in them and that the boy’s bed would shake whenever he was in it. Schulze also wrote that the family’s floors were “scarred from the sliding of heavy furniture,” and remembered a picture of Jesus shaking when Roe was nearby. 20 exorcisms were eventually conducted on Roe throughout the course of three months, with Doe traveling from Maryland to St. Louis for further treatment. William Bowdern, a Jesuit priest who performed those rituals, noted in his diary that Roe once entered a trance-like state in the presence of 14 witnesses.

The Disturbing True Story of the Boy Who Inspired ‘The Exorcist’

“On one evening the word ‘Louis’ was written on the boy’s ribs in deep red [scratches],” Bowdern recalled. “Next, when there was some question of the time of departure, the word ‘Saturday’ was written plainly on the boy’s hip,” he continued. “As to the length of time the mother and boy should stay in St. Louis, another message was printed on the boy’s chest, ‘3 ½ weeks.’ The printing always appeared without any motion on the part of the boy’s hands.”

Following his trip to St. Louis, Doe was said to have finally had the demon cast out of his body. In the process, he allegedly “broke into a violent tantrum of screaming, cursing, and voicing of Latin phrases.” Although there’s been much debate as to the validity of the story and what became of the boy in question, Skeptical Inquirer positively identified him as Ronald Edwin Hunkeler in 2021. It turns out Hunkeler went on to become a NASA engineer and even contributed to the Apollo missions.

According to a former acquaintance, Hunkeler often worried that his NASA colleagues would discover he was the inspiration for Blatty’s book. Hunkeler died from a stroke in 2020, a month shy of his 86th birthday.

The post The Boy Behind ‘The Exorcist’ Became a NASA Engineer, and His Story Is Fascinating appeared first on VICE.

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Although a priest was brought in to bless the set of The Conjuring 2 before filming began, it apparently didn’t prevent one of the production’s creepier behind-the-scenes incidents. According to Patrick Wilson, who played Ed Warren in the movie, a crew member captured footage of a soundstage curtain at Warner Bros. Studios that seemingly came to life while he was working nearby. This was reportedly while the unidentified person was painting after shooting had wrapped for the day.

“It was a huge curtain that went from the floor to the ceiling, which was just sort of waving violently and there was no door open or no fan on; no nothing,” Wilson explained. “One of the painters went behind it and couldn’t figure out where the movement was coming from,” he continued, adding that the unexplained episode lasted for about a minute.

‘The Conjuring 2’ Set Was Blessed by a Priest, but IT DIDN’T PREVENT THIS INCIDENT FROM OCCURRING

Wilson went on to say, “That was a very, very odd occurrence because nothing else was moving around it and nothing else was blowing. You didn’t even hear any air, but you watched these curtains sort of violently going. It was pretty trippy.” He also claimed that he’d been sent the video at one point. Director James Wan confirmed its existence in an interview from around that same time, but so far, it doesn’t appear to have been made public.

Despite clearly believing that something paranormal happened that evening, Wilson revealed that working on horror movies didn’t bother him. While he admitted that he finds ghost stories fascinating, he insisted that he isn’t actually scared by them. “If spirits are out there I don’t think that they’re bad,” said Wilson. “I feel sorry for more of them, I guess. That’s curious to me.”

The post The Creepiest Thing About ‘The Conjuring 2’ Might Be What Happened Behind the Scenes appeared first on VICE.

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There’s something so comforting about watching a Christmas classic on television that makes the holiday season feel official. This year, Disney is bringing back a little piece of holiday nostalgia that millennials and Gen X viewers might remember fondly.

Mickey’s Christmas Carol, Disney’s beloved 1983 animated adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic novella, is returning to ABC on November 25 as part of The Wonderful World of Disney holiday lineup. It marks the special’s first broadcast on the network since 2003, making this a particularly exciting moment for anyone who grew up watching Mickey Mouse and friends bring a little Christmas magic into their living rooms.

The half-hour special reimagines Dickens’ A Christmas Carol with some of Disney’s most recognizable characters. Scrooge McDuck plays Ebenezer Scrooge, Mickey Mouse plays his underpaid clerk Bob Cratchit, and Goofy appears as the ghost of Jacob Marley. Donald Duck, Minnie Mouse, and Jiminy Cricket also join the festivities, transforming the familiar Victorian ghost story into a distinctly Disney affair.

Directed by Burny Mattinson, the film was a major moment for the mouse house, marking Mickey’s return to theatrical animation after a three-decade absence. It was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, cementing its rightful place in Disney animation history.

‘Mickey’s Christmas Carol’ Is Returning to ABC After 23 Years, and Fans Won’t Want to Miss It

There’s a reason that people still talk about the short decades later. Mickey’s Christmas Carol captures the spirit of Dickens’ story without losing the charm of the characters audiences already know and love.

It introduces younger audiences to a literary classic without sacrificing the darker elements that make Dickens’ original story compelling. From the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come to Scrooge’s lonely, miserly existence, the special doesn’t shy away from the story’s more haunting moments, even through the familiar faces of Disney characters.

For years, the short has remained available to audiences through home video and streaming, but there’s something undeniably nostalgic about its return to broadcast television. Before streaming services made holiday movie marathons available at the click of a button, catching a seasonal favorite on network television was an event in itself. You watched when it aired, gathered around the television, and let the familiar story become part of your holiday traditions. Now a new generation can experience that same tradition.

How To Watch Mickey’s Christmas carol

Mickey’s Christmas Carol airs Wednesday, November 25, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC, kicking off the network’s holiday programming. While you’re prepping all your Thanksgiving favorites, don’t forget to add a little Christmas magic. It’s a bit sacrilegious, like putting your tree up before December 1st, but who is going to argue against Mickey Mouse?

The post Disney Is Bringing Back a Beloved Christmas Classic to ABC for the First Time in 23 Years appeared first on VICE.

In 1977, Mel Brooks directed and starred in High Anxiety, an homage to Alfred Hitchcock’s films. Brooks plays Dr. Richard Thorndyke, who’s framed for murder after he discovers that the institute he works for has been exaggerating the illnesses of their wealthy patients in order to cheat their families out of money.

During one scene, Thorndyke calls up his patient’s daughter (played by Madeline Kahn) and an assassin tries to strangle him in the process. Listening to this on the other end of the line, Kahn’s character mistakenly thinks she’s receiving an obscene phone call:

Less than a year later, John Carpenter’s Halloween premiered in theaters. Toward the end of the movie, Michael Myers strangles Lynda Van Der Klok (P.J. Soles) with a phone cord as she attempts to call Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis). Laurie, much like Kahn in High Anxiety, initially suspects a dirty prank by a friend.

You can take a look at the sequence for yourself right here:

While we can’t say for sure whether Carpenter was inspired by Brooks’s movie, it’s worth pointing out that Carpenter is a Hitchcock fan and paid homage to the iconic director in Halloween. For example, Dr. Sam Loomis’s name is clearly a reference to John Gavin’s character from Psycho. Oh, and the original Loomis’s girlfriend, Marion Crane? She was, of course, portrayed by Janet Leigh, who was Jamie Lee Curtis’s mother.

Is that proof that Carpenter borrowed the strangulation sequence from Brooks? No, but it’s pretty coincidental. Given Carpenter’s appreciation for Hitchcock, you’d think he would’ve checked out Brooks’s movie prior to beginning production on Halloween. Carpenter and co-writer Debra Hill reportedly cranked out the Halloween script in a very short time, and the final shooting draft was dated April 10, 1978; High Anxiety had been released just four months earlier.

The post Did Mel Brooks Accidentally Inspire One of the Most Disturbing Scenes in ‘Halloween’? appeared first on VICE.

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Before Child’s Play director Tom Holland settled on Brad Dourif as Chucky’s voice, he gave Arrested Development actress Jessica Walter the chance to play the part. “I thought Jessica was absolutely brilliant in Play Misty for Me, and I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be interesting to try a woman’s voice behind Chucky? Let’s see how that works,’” Holland told the New York Post following Walter’s death in 2021. 

“So I had her in, and she voiced him, and she was terrific,” Holland continued. “But when I looked at it in a preview situation, it just didn’t work with the character, because the doll was obviously a boy.” According to screenwriter Don Mancini, Holland was inspired to try for a female Chucky as he knew the voice of the demon Pazuzu in The Exorcist was performed by a woman (Mercedes McCambridge).

Holland said that McCambridge made him realize it could be done, but McCambridge was tougher than Walter, who didn’t have the same “masculine, [mean] presence.” Ultimately, Holland explained that Walter was “too feminine and too much a sweet, sweet lady to make this foul-mouthed male character believable. She was just too damn nice!” Test audiences agreed, and Dourif ended up voicing Chucky.

As for whether a director’s cut featuring Walter is possible in the future, Holland doesn’t seem to think so. If he’s to be believed, the original audio tracks are long gone. However, Mancini claims otherwise. As he tells it, they’ve been locked up in a vault somewhere as “a public service”—in his opinion, Walter’s performance “didn’t work at all.”

The post Chucky Was Almost Voiced by a Famous Sitcom Actress. Here’s Why It Didn’t Happen. appeared first on VICE.

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At least seven people are known to have portrayed Michael Myers in John Carpenter’s 1978 classic Halloween. Will Sandin played young Michael, but the hand shown stabbing his sister, Judith, at the beginning belongs to co-writer Debra Hill. Nick Castle then played adult Michael for most of the film. However, an animal trainer stepped in for the scene in which Michael strangles a dog, editor Tommy Lee Wallace appeared as Michael during the closet sequence, and stuntman James Winburn stood in for Castle when Michael falls off the balcony at the end.

As for the face you see when Michael gets unmasked by Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), that was an actor named Tony Moran. According to Castle, Carpenter and Hill chose Moran for that brief segment because he had an “angelic” look that contrasted well with the character’s evil behavior. Moran was sleeping on a friend’s couch at the time and had landed very few acting gigs leading up to that. His iconic turn as one of cinema’s greatest horror villains earned the up-and-coming performer a whopping $250.

The Actor Behind Michael Myers’ Unmasked Face in ‘Halloween’ Was a Sitcom Star’s Brother

And it was through Moran’s agent, whom he shared with his sister, Erin, that he got the opportunity to interview for the part. If the name Erin Moran isn’t ringing any bells, it might help to know she played Joanie Cunningham on the hit 1970s sitcom Happy Days. That’s right, the sassy but lovable younger sister of Richie Cunningham, sometimes referred to as “Shortcake,” was the real-life sibling of Carpenter’s personification of evil:

Tony and Erin’s brother, John, is also an actor, and had an uncredited role on Happy Days in the Season 3 episode “Football Frolics.” Neither Tony nor John went on to have the kind of success that Erin did, though. In fact, Tony didn’t get cast in another movie until 30 years after Halloween. He’s since popped up in a few horror films, including 2018’s Death House, written by Texas Chain Saw Massacre star Gunnar Hansen.

Following Erin’s death in 2017, Tony told The Sun on Sunday that Erin, who’d gotten less work in her later years, was “a tortured soul,” and that Hollywood “chewed her up and spat her out.”

The post The Surprising Connection Between ‘Halloween’s Michael Myers and ‘Happy Days’ appeared first on VICE.

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The third and final entry in the Dune film trilogy is slated for release on December 18, and of course it’ll have yet another accompanying popcorn bucket. You may remember the first one looked like a Fleshlight brought over from a hell dimension, depicting a sandworm with a large, gaping, frilly mouth that a theatergoer was expected to reach deep within to pull out popcorn, as if they were reaching into a walrus’s bearded mouth.

It was disturbing, to put it mildly, and that’s exactly why it became a viral hit.

The popcorn bucket for ‘DUNE 2’.

(via: @3CFilmss) pic.twitter.com/FzNZjGJiTC

— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) January 26, 2024

Now, logically, the only way to top the first popcorn bucket’s success is to do it again, but more: instead of one sandworm, now you and a friend can both fist a sandworm at the same time with the double-mouthed Dune: Part Three popcorn bucket.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, AMC is doubling down on the pervy smash hit popcorn bucket with two main options: a Sandworm Thumper container featuring a single sandworm turgidly towering over a Thumper, the in-universe device that summons a sandworm.

A new ‘DUNE: PART 3’ popcorn bucket has been revealed that includes a working thumper device.

(via: @AMCTheatres) pic.twitter.com/4xmU6VgR6t

— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) October 29, 2026

The New ‘Dune’ Popcorn Bucket Has Two Mouths. Do With That What You Will.

And then there’s the Double Sandworm collectible: two stubby but thick sandworms popping out of the ground, each mouth pointed at different angles so, conceivably, two theatergoers can easily reach in from their respective seats.

The popcorn bucket arms race has been raging for a while now, and it’s hard to tell if they’re only getting more innovative, dumber, worse, or some foul combination of all three. Just a few weeks ago, we all bore witness to the majesty and agony that was the Street Fighter Guille hair popcorn bucket, which brought in a whole new realm of innovation in that it had a chin strap so you could wear the bucket on your head as you grab fistfuls of popcorn from the tippy top of your preposterously tall bleach blonde military-style plastic flattop.

The excessive stupidity of it all is why these things sell like hotcakes, often going for anywhere between 25 and 50 bucks, and then significantly more on eBay. So if you and your friend/partner want to double-fist some sandworm mouths while watching Dune: Part Three, you better act fast.

The post The New ‘Dune: Part Three’ Popcorn Bucket Is Somehow Even More NSFW Than the Original appeared first on VICE.

Last night, my boyfriend and I were working our way through Season 1 of the science-fiction horror show From when I had a confusing realization: Despite being one of the most anxious individuals on this planet, I somehow love horror shows and films.

Of course, that thought only further disturbed me, because how could I possibly get enjoyment from watching such a morbid series? I mean, most horror films involve torturous scenes and horrific traumas for the characters. Certainly, if I witnessed these scenarios in real life, I’d be running to the bathroom to puke, not snacking on Sour Patch Kids in bed, loading the next episode or movie.

Why, then, do so many of us get such an addictive rush from consuming such content? To better understand myself and the common love of horror, I decided to explore the psychology behind it. Here’s why some people love scary movies and shows.

1. They Can Maintain a Sense of Control

According to Vinay Saranga, MD, child, adolescent and adult psychiatrist and founder of Saranga Comprehensive Psychiatry, scary movies allow us to experience fear in a controlled environment.

“In other words, when we watch a scary movie, we still get the adrenaline rush and that feeling of being on the edge of our seats, yet deep down we know that despite the feelings we are really safe sitting in a movie theater or at home on the couch,” he continues. 

That’s much different from experiencing fear something in our own lives that could potentially manifest in our reality.

2. They’re Drawn to Suspense

For some scary movie lovers, it’s more about the suspense than the actual horror of it all.

“I think the other thing that is intriguing for people about scary movies is the suspense, trying to figure out what comes next and if there will be some big twist that no one saw coming,” Saranga says.

That edge-of-your-seat feeling, while in the comfort of your own home next to your partner or loved ones, can add a healthy dose of entertaintment and even excitement to your otherwise mundane routine.

3. They Enjoy the Adrenaline Rush

According to Saranga, some horror film connoisseurs are drawn to the adrenaline of it all. You know the rush you get when you’re on a rollercoaster or—for a more extreme example—skydiving? Many people experience that same rush while watching a scary movie.

“They enjoy the sensations that come when stress hormones are released, and they feel alert or full of energy,” Saranga says.

4. It’s Simply Human Nature

Instead of judging yourself for your horror film addiction, understand that it often boils down to human wiring.

“People have a sense of curiosity and are drawn to the unknown, the unusual, mysterious things, anything that is potentially threatening or even dangerous,” Saranga adds.

5. It Allows Them to Explore the Dark Sides of Human Behavior

According to Saranga, horror and fear let us explore the darkness that lurks in many humans—but is often repressed and controlled, of course.

“Violence and death are disturbing and uncomfortable subjects, but there is often a bit of curiosity around them,” Saranga says. “This is a way to learn more about these topics without actually experiencing them for ourselves.”

The post 5 Reasons Why Watching Horror Movies Feels So Good (Even When You’re Terrified) appeared first on VICE.

Sir Patrick Stewart, the beloved actor known for his roles in Star Trek and X-Men, as well as for multiple iconic stage performances, has died. He was 86 years old.

His longtime spokesperson, Kelly Bush Novak, first confirmed the news of Stewart’s passing. Bush Novak stated that Stewart died Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles after “a brief and poignant journey with Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia”

“He has been held in the warm embrace of family and friends, surrounded by live music, prayer, tears, laughter and the kind of profound emotion that only he could inspire after a lifetime of devotion to us all,” Bush Novak’s statement read. “We will forever cherish the peaceful ease and reflection on his face, an enduring reminder of his invincible grace.”

Kevin Feige Pays Tribute to Sir Patrick Stewart

Once news of Stewart’s passing broke online, Kevin Feige posted a heartfelt tribute to the late actor on social media.

“I’ll never forget the first time I saw Sir Patrick Stewart on the set of the first X-Men,” said Feige, president of Marvel Studios. “After years of knowing him as the inimitable Captain Picard, I was in awe — and he turned out to be everything I had seen on screen and more: brilliant, charming, warm, generous, with a quiet strength and gravitas.”

“Away from the cameras, he was even more remarkable, with a wonderfully sharp sense of humor,” the statement continued. “It was a true privilege to know him and to work with him. His legacy lives on not only in decades of extraordinary work, but in the many, many people he mentored. He will be deeply missed.”

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to:
Johns Hopkins Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center Fund   https://t.co/luC5CdcWDy
Alzheimer’s Foundation of America Caregiver Resources    https://t.co/zvNptfyuNd

Photo Credit: Tommy Garcia pic.twitter.com/XNncEVq56X

— Patrick Stewart (@SirPatStew) October 29, 2026

The post Sir Patrick Stewart, Star Trek and X-Men Star, Dies at 86 appeared first on VICE.

Apocalypse Now was an extremely troubled production that nearly cost both Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Sheen their lives, but it also came close to featuring a few people who were already deceased. According to the film’s co-producer, Gray Frederickson, rumors that human corpses would be used in the movie were going around early on, and he initially dismissed them as being “ludicrous.” Then a prop guy said something one morning that made it clear this wasn’t just some tall tale.

After Sheen’s wife complained that there were dead rats on the temple set, production designer Dean Tavoularis told Frederickson that they were being kept there for “real atmosphere.” That’s when the aforementioned prop guy chimed in, saying, “Wait till he hears about the dead bodies.” Frederickson was then taken to the prop store, conveniently located behind the tent where everybody ate dinner. Inside, he was shown a row of cadavers laid out on the floor.

The Time Police Found a Room Full of Human Corpses on the Set of ‘Apocalypse Now’

The source of the corpses was a man who supplied bodies to medical schools to use for autopsies. However, it was later discovered that he was a graverobber. “The police showed up on our set and took all of our passports,” Frederickson recalled during a 2009 interview with The Independent. “They didn’t know we hadn’t killed these people because the bodies were unidentified,” he continued. “I was pretty damn worried for a few days, but they got to the truth and put the guy in jail.”

Eventually, a large truck full of soldiers showed up and the bodies were thrown inside. “Where do we take these?” one of the men asked. Frederickson suggested a cemetery, but that was off the table because nobody was willing to pay for their burial. “Oh, don’t worry, we’ll dump them somewhere,” Frederickson was informed, just before they drove away. In the end, he never did find out what became of the mystery cadavers, but thankfully they didn’t wind up in the movie.

The post The Unbelievable True Story of How Actual Human Corpses Ended Up on the Set of ‘Apocalypse Now’ appeared first on vice.

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Horror movies have never gotten much love at the Academy Awards. And even when they do get some attention, it’s rarely in the Best Picture category. To date, only nine films in the genre have been nominated for the highly coveted award: The Exorcist, Jaws, The Silence of the Lambs, The Sixth Sense, Black Swan, Get Out, The Substance, the 2025 version of Frankenstein, and Sinners. To make matters worse, just one of those actually went home with the Oscar.

The lone winner in question was The Silence of the Lambs, which pulled off another extremely rare feat at the 1992 Academy Awards: it swept the so-called “Big Five” categories. For the record, that includes Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay. That evening, the Jodie Foster-Anthony Hopkins classic became the third film in history to accomplish that. It Happened One Night and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest had done so previously (in 1935 and 1976, respectively).

The Oscars Have Snubbed Horror for Decades, but One Movie Broke the Curse

But while the members of the Motion Picture Academy have shown a significant lack of interest in horror over the years, it isn’t the most snubbed genre there is, believe it or not. For instance, no animated or comic book film has ever won Best Picture, though three movies of each kind have received nods. And as far as disaster films go, Titanic remains the single, solitary Best Picture winner. That’s more than we can say for documentaries, which haven’t even been given the opportunity to walk away with the sought-after trophy.

Why Oscars are so elusive for certain genres is unclear. Circling back around to scary movies, it seems like a huge oversight that films like Psycho and The Shining weren’t major winners—in fact, The Shining was nominated for a whopping zero Academy Awards. At the end of the day, very few horror movies have won Oscars since the ceremony began in 1929—some of the more notable examples being Rosemary’s Baby, The Omen, and Alien. However, this past year Frankenstein, Sinners, and Weapons were all surprisingly victorious, so maybe things are finally starting to change.

The post This Is the Only Horror Movie to Ever Win Best Picture at the Academy Awards appeared first on vice.

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On June 7, 2016, James Wan’s first sequel to 2013’s The Conjuring, fittingly titled The Conjuring 2, had its world premiere at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. 10 days later, two Indian men attending an evening screening of the film in Tiruvannamalai became the subject of a creepy mystery that doesn’t appear to have ever been solved. According to a report from The Times of India, one of the men complained of chest pain during the movie’s climax and fainted.

The 65-year-old was then rushed to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead. For whatever reason, the hospital staff asked the man’s friend to bring his body to a medical college on the outskirts of town for postmortem, instead of transporting him themselves. And that’s where things get even eerier. You see, as it turns out, the corpse never arrived at its destination, and we still don’t know why.

The Bizarre Story of a Man Who Died Watching ‘The Conjuring 2,’ and Then Vanished

Evidently, both the living man and his deceased friend’s body disappeared after leaving the hospital. Police were said to have been inquiring with the different hotels in the area to try and figure out who the dead guy was. However, they don’t seem to have had any success identifying either of the two men.

The New York Post noted that the friend was seen hurriedly bringing the body to an auto-rickshaw that the pair had apparently been staying in. No additional information has come to light since. Naturally, this has led to some speculation as to whether or not the story was real, but it’s worth pointing out that it was covered by several reputable news sources at the time.

The post A Man Died While Watching ‘The Conjuring 2,’ and Then His Body Mysteriously Disappeared appeared first on vice.

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The Poltergeist series has long been rumored to be cursed, reportedly due to the fact that real human skeletons were used in a scene from the original film. Since then, five actors who were involved with the franchise have died, some under circumstances that sound straight out of a horror movie. Take Dominique Dunne, who played Dana Freeling in the first entry, for example. Five months after Poltergeist premiered in 1982, Dunne was strangled by her ex-boyfriend, John Thomas Sweeney, outside of her West Hollywood home; she never regained consciousness. 

Then there’s Julian Beck, best known to Poltergeist II fans for portraying Reverend Henry Kane. Beck died from cancer eight months before the 1986 sequel hit theaters. His co-star, Will Sampson—a real-life shaman hired to play one in the movie—followed suit in 1987, a result of post-operative kidney failure (he’d just undergone a heart and lung transplant). Sampson also apparently felt the need to perform an exorcism on the set of the film at one point.

Why People Believe the ‘Poltergeist’ Movies Are Cursed

Heather O’Rourke (Carol Anne in the original trilogy), like Beck, didn’t live to see the release of her final entry in the series: 1988’s Poltergeist III. O’Rourke began exhibiting flu-like symptoms in January of that year and went into cardiac arrest on the way to the hospital. She later died from septic shock caused by congenital stenosis of the lower intestine, which doctors at the time called “distinctly unusual” because she lacked prior symptoms. O’Rourke was only 12 years old.

Lastly, we have Lou Perryman, a character actor who had a small role as Pugsley the construction worker in Poltergeist. On April 1, 2009, Perryman was murdered in his home by a man he’d met a little while earlier. Seth Christopher Tatum, who’d recently stopped taking his prescribed medication, had attacked his mother’s ex-boyfriend and fled to Perryman’s neighborhood. Shortly after striking up a conversation with Perryman, Tatum entered Perryman’s house and repeatedly struck him with an axe.

However, one person who isn’t buying the whole curse angle is Robbie Freeling himself, Oliver Robins. In 2022, Robins told Yahoo Entertainment, “I do believe in the paranormal to some degree, but I don’t think there’s a curse because those deaths can be explained.” He went on to say, “You had these tragedies happen, but they were going to happen whether [the actors] were in the movie or not. Like with Heather, she had a medical condition for which she wasn’t treated. So I don’t think they are interconnected.”

The post 5 Tragic Deaths That Convinced People the ‘Poltergeist’ Movies Were Cursed appeared first on VICE.

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2005’s The Exorcism of Emily Rose was inspired by the story of Anneliese Michel, a young German girl who was believed to have been possessed by demons. As a teenager in the late 1960s, Michel started having convulsive seizures and was diagnosed with epilepsy. Before long, she was suffering from depression and suicidal thoughts. Eventually, Michel began experiencing hallucinations and hearing voices that would tell her she was damned.

In the midst of her alleged possession, Michel would display bizarre behavior, such as ripping off her clothes, barking like a dog, eating spiders, biting the head off of a dead bird, and licking her own urine from the floor. After turning to the Catholic Church, fathers Arnold Renz and Ernst Alt performed 67 rites of exorcism on Michel over the course of about 10 months, with some lasting as long as four hours. More than 40 audio recordings were made during that time, in which Michel could be heard growling in the voices of Satan, Judas, Cain, Nero, Adolf Hitler, and a priest named Valentin Fleischmann:

The Bizarre True Story Behind ‘The Exorcism of Emily Rose’

By the spring of 1976, Michel was refusing to eat and subsequently dropped down to just 68 pounds. However, at her own request, doctors were never consulted, and she continued to slowly deteriorate. Michel died on July 1 from what her autopsy deemed “malnutrition and dehydration.” She was 23 years old.

Michel’s parents, Anna and Josef, were put on trial for murder alongside the two priests. They were all found guilty of negligent homicide for letting her starve herself and were each sentenced to six months in jail. Following the release of The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Michel’s mother told The Daily Telegraph that she didn’t regret her actions. “Anneliese was a kind, loving, sweet and obedient girl. But when she was possessed, it was something unnatural, something that you can’t explain,” she insisted.

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In July 1974, while Steven Spielberg’s Jaws was still being filmed in Martha’s Vineyard, the decaying remains of a young woman were discovered in the nearby Race Point Dunes of Provincetown, Massachusetts. The mystery victim was almost decapitated and both of her hands had been removed—presumably to prevent anyone from identifying her. Tucked beneath her head were a blue bandana and a pair of Wrangler jeans. For close to 50 years, the girl was known only as the “Lady of the Dunes.”

Despite having been exhumed several times between 1980 and 2013, police were unable to determine who they’d found that day in Provincetown. This led to numerous theories regarding the woman’s killer, with some even suggesting that mobster “Whitey” Bulger was responsible. The decades-old cold case ended up back in the news around 2018, when an earlier blog post from Stephen King’s son, fellow author Joe Hill, resurfaced. In it, Hill pointed out that a female extra in Jaws was wearing the same outfit found underneath the Lady of the Dunes.

Did Steven Spielberg Accidentally Film a Murder Victim in ‘Jaws’? The Mystery Explained.

At about 54 minutes and 2 seconds into the film, the woman in question briefly pops up during a crowd sequence sporting a blue bandana and jeans. This young lady, according to Hill, bears a “striking resemblance” to a composite sketch of the unidentified murder victim. Though Hill acknowledged that there were several problems with his theory, like the fact that the woman in the scene doesn’t appear to be wearing Wrangler jeans, he still ran the observation past an FBI friend of his. “Odder ideas have cracked colder cases,” he was told.

We may never know for sure if the Lady of the Dunes was in Jaws, but in 2022, the FBI finally identified her as Ruth Marie Terry of Tennessee (born September 8, 1936). The following year, the case was officially closed and Terry’s husband, Guy Muldavin, who died in 2002, was named as her killer. “I’m sort of fascinated by the idea that, for decades afterwards, every time Jaws came on TV, he saw his dead wife turning her head to stare out of the screen at him,” said Hill while speaking with Inside Edition, “There’s something sort of chilling in that notion.”

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Granted, I'm not the world's biggest Resident Evil fan. The only one I've played in full was Resident Evil 7, a grimy Texas Chainsaw Massacre-inspired ordeal that's about as close to disconnected from the series' convoluted overarching plot as it gets. — Read the rest

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