It Is Just Not Believable That These Terrifying Events Happened On Horror Movie Sets.
Oct. 24, 2024

 

Horror films can be really frightful. But occasionally, real-life incidents on horror movie sets were scarier than the made-up movies they produced. In truth, a number of genuinely bizarre and terrifying occurrences occurred either during the making of, or shortly after, many of the largest and most popular horror films of all time. These instances frequently entailed fatalities. It's debatable if the tragic incidents that have occurred on horror film sets were just unfortunate coincidences, heartbreaking turns of fate, or a bad omen. 

 

Via Giphy

 

However, the occurrences listed in the following list of 10 horrifying things that happened on horror movie sets cannot be disputed. If you dare, keep reading.

 

 

The Possession (2012)

 

Via Google

 

The 2012 film The unusual horror film The Possession features rabbis, Judaism, and a cursed Dybbuk box that attaches itself to a little girl. One of the movie's stars, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, is no stranger to appearing in supernatural films and television. In the television series Supernatural, he played the father. Mr. Morgan, however, was extremely uneasy about what occurred on the set of The Possession.

 

Via Giphy

 

Lights exploding for no apparent reason and icy gusts randomly blowing into closed sets were just a few of the strange things that occurred. The storage facility (where all the props were kept) catching fire and consuming itself was the most terrifying incident, though. The cause of the fire was determined to be neither arson nor an electrical problem after an inquiry.

 

Via Google

 

What then started the fire? Investigators concluded that it was "undetermined". However, it's important to note that the fire completely destroyed the Dybbuk box that was utilised in the film. Later, the actors and crew objected to the movie's producers replacing the Dybbuk box because they believed it was cursed.

 

 

The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)

 

Via Google

 

Jennifer Carpenter, a Dexter actor, claimed that while filming The Exorcism of Emily Rose in 2005, her hotel room's radio would erratically turn on and off. The song "Alive" by Pearl Jam was playing every time the radio turned on. The radio and/or television on other cast members' devices allegedly turned on for no apparent reason as well. They had also heard the popular Pearl Jam song, just like Carpenter had. The cast and crew were so upset by the incidents that they eventually requested that the radios be taken out of their hotel rooms. Scary.

 

Via Google

 

 

The Conjuring (2013)

 

Via Google

 

The Conjuring is a film based on the actual account of the Perron family, who in the 1970s in Rhode Island, saw unexplained supernatural activity in their house. The family actually made several trips to the filming location. However, nothing could persuade the family's mother, Carolyn Perron, to enter the set. And with good cause. While this movie was being filmed, a lot of strange and unexplainable things happened.

 

The Perron family was once filming when a powerful wind suddenly appeared and looked to swirl around them. The crew members who were close noted that the trees directly across from them were still. It would get worse. A few days later, the hotel where the actors and the film team were staying caught fire, forcing everyone to flee. The film's director, James Wan, recalled working late one night in his office when his dog began growling at something. Wan got up to look, but he couldn't locate anything that might irritate the dog. However, the dog persisted in snarling and appeared to be fixated on an apparition across the room.

 

Via Giphy

 

The actress who portrayed a paranormal investigator, Vera Farmiga, insisted on not taking the screenplay with her because she felt nervous reading it. She was also unable to read it at night since every time she tried, she was overcome with fear. When she once opened her laptop, the screen had three slashes on it, as if a creature had dragged its paw across the screen. Creepy.

 

 

Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)

 


Via Google

 

Vic Morrow, the actor Jennifer Jason Leigh's late father, was killed while working on the 1983 film The Twilight Zone. Morrow foresaw his own demise, which makes this tragedy all the more bizarre. Morrow took out a $5 million life insurance policy on himself a year before Twilight Zone: The Movie's filming got underway, informing his friends and family that he had a premonition that something horrible was going to happen to him on a forthcoming movie.

 

Via Google

 

Indeed, Morrow was beheaded by a chopper that crashed when it was being used to film a scenario for The Twilight Zone. The disaster also claimed the lives of two minor performers, sparking a protracted inquiry and legal battle. It was then discovered that the producers had unlawfully hired the two Vietnamese kid actors who perished in the tragedy. The concept designer for the movie accidentally sketched a burned-out helicopter in the midst of a river in his sketches, basically hinting at the mishap, it was also disclosed in court.

 

 

The Amityville Horror (1979 and 2005)

 

Via Google

 

The Amityville Horror, a 1979 horror film, was based on a real-life haunting, and the events that took place on the set were almost as terrifying as what had happened. James Brolin and Margot Kidder starred in the first Amityville film, which was based on a real-life event. Brolin was hesitant to participate in the film and only agreed after an odd event. A pair of pants for Brolin to wear in the role unexpectedly fell off a hanger while he was reading the screenplay one morning, making the actor literally leap out of his chair in panic.

 

Via Google

 

In 2005, this movie was remade with Ryan Reynolds assuming the part originally played by Brolin. Just before filming was due to start, a dead body washed up on shore right by the movie set. Throughout filming of the movie, Reynolds, along with other members of the cast and crew, each kept waking up at a 3:15 a.m. each morning. It just so happens that this was also the time that the real life murders took place during the actual events of the Amityville Horror.

 

Via Giphy

 

 

Poltergeist (1982)

 

Via Google

 

It is very terrible and awful what happened to the cast of the 1982 film Poltergeist. Both Dominique Dunne, who played the older sister Dana, and Heather O'Rourke, who played young Carol Anne, passed away while contributing to the Poltergeist movie series. When she was just 12 years old and working on the third instalment of the Poltergeist film series, O'Rourke passed away on the operating table. An ex-boyfriend killed Dunne one day after the first movie's debut.

 

Via Giphy

 

The two on-screen friends are currently interred at the same California cemetery. The Poltergeist cast and crew were so alarmed by what happened that producer Will Sampson had the set of Poltergeist II: The Other Side exorcised before shooting ever started because he believed it to be "evil." Shortly after the conclusion of Poltergeist II, Sampson himself passed away during an operation.

 

 

The Exorcist (1973)

 

Via Google

 

The Exorcist, arguably the best-known horror picture of all time and a landmark of the 1970s, is well-known for carrying a curse. There were a number of spooky things that happened on the shoot. A few days after finishing filming his role as Burke Dennings, Irish character actor Jack MacGowran unexpectedly passed away. Other deaths that occurred during the film's production included a security guard and a special effects technician. The entire set also burned down for no apparent reason, necessitating its reconstruction.

 

Via Google

 

Finally, director William Friedkin arranged for a priest to visit the set and conduct an actual exorcism. The curse, however, appeared to persist despite the religious rite, appearing to impact viewers of the finished film as well. When the movie first shown in theatres, some viewers suffered heart attacks.

 

 

Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

 

Via Google

 

Once filming for the 1968 classic Rosemary's Baby began, things on the set swiftly turned violent. William Castle, the famed producer of horror films, got an anonymous letter during production stating that he would "slowly decompose throughout a lengthy and agonising sickness."

 

Via Google

 

Soon after, Castle had surgery to address an issue that would keep him from functioning for months. That's not all, though. The film's musical score's composer, Krzysztof Komeda, passed away from a brain haemorrhage after jumping over an escarpment. The entire group contracted food sickness while filming, and one of the producers had a stroke as he was on his way home from the set.

 

 

Psycho (1960)

 

Via Google

 

In 1960, the movie Psycho terrified people to death, but an incident that happened on the set was far scarier than anything that was included in the final product. Myra Jones, the uncredited body double for the lead actress Janet Leigh, was murdered on the set while filming was still going on. Kenneth Dean Hunt, a handyman who was also employed on the project, confessed to the murder to the police, saying he had done it to please renowned suspense and horror director Alfred Hitchcock with whom he claimed to be obsessed. It appears we now have all the incentive we need to finish this project, Alfred Hitchcock told the actors and crew after the terrible killing.

 

 

The Omen (1976)

 

Via Google

 

One of the most watched and influential movies of the 1970s, The Omen is a classic of the horror genre. However, a curse that surrounded the movie's filming nearly prevented the story of a little boy named Damien who is the Antichrist from being finished. According to legend, The Omen's filming set experienced as many awful things as the finished product.

 

A crew member was severely hurt in a car accident on the way to the set, the scriptwriter's plane was struck by lightning while flying to the location of the movie, and, as if those tragedies weren't enough, an aeroplane in which Gregory Peck and the movie's executive producer were travelling was also struck by lightning in a separate incident. However, none of these events were the greatest catastrophe to strike The Omen's cast and crew.

 

Via Google

 

The crew had decided to use a private airplane to get from one film location to another. However, just after the plane took off with a number of crew on board, something went wrong and it crashed onto a road, hitting a car, which then crashed at high speed into another vehicle. Everyone involved in the accident (11 people in total) was killed. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Peck refused to do any publicity for The Omen prior to it being released in theaters.