15 Terrifying True Events That Were Turned Into Movies
There's some comfort to be found in horror movies that we know can't possibly exist in real life. Movies about demons that can be summoned through a board game, or evil spirits that can kill us in our dreams, or men who wear masks of skin while brandishing a power tool.
Oh.
Wait a moment.
On second thought, every single one of those films has been based on true stories, real events, or some combination of the two! Of these 15 films, every single one has some basis in reality or history. Even if some have since been debunked, who is really to say that some measure of those stories didn't happen? While we know that serial killers, home invasions, and random murders are a terrifying - although possible - part of life, we made the mistake of getting a little too comfortable when it comes to shrugging off some of the paranormal films we can't imagine ACTUALLY happening to us. If you're reading this late at night, or alone in your house, you might want to double check your doors and windows and flick on a few lights before going any further. Don't say we didn't warn you.
15 The Hills Have Eyes - 1977, 2006
It's a common horror movie trope: family heads out on a cross-country trip, car breaks down in the middle of nowhere, family takes advice from a creepy stranger, and immediately afterwards, danger and death befalls them. In The Hills Have Eyes (both the original and the remake) the family becomes the victims of savage cannibals who have been grotesquely deformed thanks to nuclear radiation and years of inbreeding. While it sounds like a pretty far-fetched premise, it actually has a basis in history that is just as creepy as its fictional portrayal!
The Hills Have Eyes is based on the story of Alexander “Sawney” Bean, who was the head of a clan of 48 cave-dwellers in 13th or 16th century Scotland. Allegedly, Bean was a mass murderer and cannibal who grew his clan through years of incest, and the group would set traps to rob and kill travellers. Then, the bodies would be dismembered and consumed. Pretty creepy stuff, right?
14 The Strangers - 2008
If you've seen The Strangers, then you've probably made it your mission to lock all your doors and windows every night, lest some masked individuals break in to terrorize you and your family. The film was inspired by a couple of real-life invents, including the Manson Family murders, specifically the Tate-LaBianca murders. Director Bryan Bertino stated that what really frightened and interested him about those murders was that “none of the victims really knew about the Manson Family or why it was happening to them… You read obituaries every day where someone is killed for a random reason. Yes, we may eventually find out why, but sometimes we don't.”
In addition to the famous Manson Family murders, Bertino had an even scarier real-life inspiration behind his film. As a child, a group of people were skulking around his neighbourhood, knocking on doors and asking for someone who didn't live there. This same group began breaking into houses if they found that no one was home to answer the door!
13 Psycho - 1960
This won't be the first time you'll be hearing about serial killer Ed Gein, whose gruesome history was used as inspiration for many horror films over the years. One of the most famous of those is undoubtedly the 1960 Alfred Hitchcock classic, Psycho.
Loosely based on Gein, who terrorized a small Wisconsin town in the 1950s, murdering women and digging up graves, Psycho follows motel owner Norman Bates as he battles with his “Mother” and his own murderous impulses. Initially, Psycho was actually a novel by Robert Bloch, who changed the character of Bates from a grave-digger with mother issues (Gein reportedly had an abusive childhood and a mother who forced him to wear dresses) to a serial killer who - SPOILER ALERT - is dressing as his dead mother to kill any woman or man who dares to set foot in the Bates Motel and upset “Mother”. If you haven't seen this cinematic masterpiece, prepare to never look at motels the same way again.
12 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - 1974, 2003
The second film on this list to draw inspiration from Ed Gein, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre piled on the gore where Psycho chose to be a bit more artistic in its execution. While the plot of this film is entirely fictional, featuring a group of young people are on a road trip, the creepy character of Leatherface was directly inspired by Gein.
Leatherface, known for wearing a mask made of skin in order to cover up his own horribly disfigured face and wielding a chainsaw, drew upon Gein's creepy habits of using all the parts of the bodies he dismembered - and we mean ALL of them. When Gein was arrested, lampshades, masks, and leggings were found made of human skin! That one mask worn by Leatherface doesn't sound so terrible now, does it?
When the film first came out in 1977, publicity convinced viewers that what they were watching was entirely based on a true story. While we know that's not quite the case, the part that IS inspired by real life is still terrifying.
11 A Nightmare on Elm Street - 1984, 2010
When you consider the fact that A Nightmare on Elm Street is about a serial killer who murders innocent people in their dreams after he was burned alive for being a suspected pedophile and child-murderer, it might leave you wondering how it could possibly have any basis in reality. Well, be prepared to be scared, because this entry might have you staying up all night!
Directed by Wes Craven - one of the most famous directors of the horror genre - the basis of the film came from an article he read in the 1970s regarding Southeast Asian refugees who fled to the United States to be safe from war and genocide. While in the U.S., these refugees suffered from incredibly disturbing nightmares, to the point that they refused to sleep. However, sleep became a necessity, and while some of these men did fall asleep, they ended up dying in the middle of their nightmares! Called “Asian Death Syndrome”, it has also been referred to as “sudden unexplained death syndrome” and “Brugada syndrome”.
10 The Mothman Prophecies - 2002
Based in legend, the story of the Mothman caught steam when it was reportedly seen in Point Pleasant, West Virginia from November 1966 to December 1967. The Mothman was described exactly as his name would have you envision it: a man-like creature with 10-foot wings and eyes that glowed red. Before long, many people in the area claimed to have seen the Mothman, and eventually the figure became the stuff of legend following the collapse of the Silver Bridge, which saw the death of 46 people. From then on, the Mothman was connected to the bridge collapse.
In the 2002 film, starring Richard Gere and Laura Linney, follows these same events from the point of view of Gere's character, including the Silver Bridge collapse, although in the film, only 36 people are killed.
While there have been plenty of skeptics owing to the supernatural element of the Mothman, Point Pleasant seems to enjoy its brush with the unknown: a statue of the creature was erected in 2003!
9 The Amityville Horror - 1979, 2005
One of the many cases dealt with by Ed and Lorraine Warren (who will appear a few more times on this list), The Amityville Horror involved a newlywed couple (a family featuring a shirtless Ryan Reynolds is in the remake) who unwittingly moved into a house that was haunted by the spirits who had been killed inside its walls.
The film was based on events that took place in 1975, and drew inspiration from the real-life murders committed by Ronald DeFeo, Jr. DeFeo brutally shot and killed his family in their beds, 13 months before the arrival of the Lutz family and the horrors that happened afterwards. At the time of his arrest, he claimed that he was possessed, but the Lutz family claimed to have other paranormal occurrences happen within the home, like green slime seeping from the walls and red-eyed pigs staring at them through their windows. Much of the Lutz family's claims have been debunked and called a hoax, but DeFeo's crimes are a matter of historical record, so you be the judge!
8 The Conjuring - 2013
The second instance featuring paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, The Conjuring was heralded as one of the scariest movies in recent horror history, owing to its creation of atmosphere instead of relying on gore and jump scares. Well, to add some creepiness to the already frightening movie is this: it's based on true events!
Inspired by the Perron family who moved to a new home in Rhode Island in 1971, The Conjuring shows what the Perron family claim to have witnessed in the ranch house that was situated on land that had previously belonged to a woman named Bathsheba Sheran in the 19th century. According to the Warrens, Bathsheba had cursed the land and anyone who dared to live on it. Like The Amityville Horror and other true-life events involving the Warrens, much of the story has been subjected to scrutiny and considered a hoax. The current owners have said the only disturbance they've endured is vandals since the film was released.
7 Wolf Creek - 2005
Another story of a trip gone awry, Wolf Creek is an Australian production that focuses on three backpackers in the Australian outback who find themselves the subject of a deranged madman's sick interests near Wolf Creek National Park. The movie is definitely more of the blood and gore variety that was so popular in the mid-2000s, but the true story is even more stomach-churning.
Based on two different Australians who would kidnap and torture hitchhikers, Wolf Creek is the fictionalized account of murderers Ivan Milat in the 1990s and Bradley Murdoch in 2001. Milat's killings were known as the “backpacker murders” and saw him claim at least seven victims, who were beaten and stabbed to death, although police believe that number to be much higher. Milat was found guilty in 1996 and sentenced to seven consecutive life sentences plus 18 years without parole. Murdoch was only charged with the death of one person, Peter Falconio, whose body has still never been found.
6 Annabelle - 2014
The Warrens are at it again! A prequel to the popular Conjuring series, Annabelle follows the destruction left in the wake of an evil doll given to a pregnant woman who has a weird interest in collecting dolls. While Annabelle in the film is an expensive antique doll with a china face, the real-life Annabelle was actually a Raggedy Ann doll, and looks much less frightening.
However, while her physical appearance may be less terrifying, the true story behind her will still send shivers down your spine. According to the Warrens, Annabelle was given to a student nurse, who contacted a psychic medium who then informed her that the doll was inhabited by the spirit of a dead girl named “Annabelle Higgins and ghost-killing psychic”. Convinced of the doll's evil possession, the student reached out to the Warrens, who took the doll and placed it in their “museum” of similarly possessed objects, like those we've seen in the other Conjuring films. Keep an eye out for more scares, though: an Annabelle sequel is due out this summer!
5 The Conjuring 2 - 2016
The second-last time we'll have Ed and Lorraine Warren on this list, The Conjuring 2 dealt with the experience of a poltergeist suffered by the Hodgson family in Brimsdown, Enfield, England in 1977. It later became known as the Enfield Poltergeist.
Like in the film, Peggy Hodgson was a single mother of four children who contacted police after her children complained of furniture moving and loud noises in the walls. Later claims involved the children levitating and demonic voices. While many dismissed the claims as a hoax started by the children, citing evidence such as a video of the daughters bending spoons and using vocal tricks to change their voices, while still using the same vocabulary of a child. Nevertheless, the Warrens believed it to be a case of demonic possession, which is how the second Conjuring film came to be! Since its release, though, those present during the Enfield case stated that the Warrens had much less of a role in the actual events than what the film portrayed.
4 The Haunting in Connecticut - 2009
The final film to draw upon the cases of Ed and Lorraine Warren, The Haunting in Connecticut followed the fictional Campbell family, based upon the Snedekers, as they moved into a new home in 1986. The home had previously existed as a funeral parlour, and mom Carmen Snedeker found tools in the basement used by morticians and their eldest son began to suffer from terrifying visions. Both Snedeker and her husband, Al, claimed that they had been assaulted and sodomized by ghosts and Snedeker stated that one day, while mopping the floor, the water turned red and began to smell of decaying flesh.
After calling in the Warrens - who promptly declared that the house was infested with demons - the Snedekers, for whatever crazy reason, still chose to stay for another two years! The Snedekers' ordeal was put into a book by novelist Ray Garton, who worked closely with the Warrens, but who has since distanced himself from the book since its release in 1992.
3 The Exorcist - 1973
Considered one of the scariest movies of all time, The Exorcist is what introduced most people to the idea of possession and how it can happen to anyone, even an innocent young girl (although that idea has now become a popular horror film trope). While The Exorcist was based on the novel of the same name, the source material has its roots in real life!
Based on the possession of “Roland Doe”, a young boy in Maryland who was allegedly possessed after playing with an Ouija board, four separate priests tried to exorcise the demon in the 1940s. According to the priests, Doe exhibited many of the same behaviours that would carry into the film: speaking in tongues, bed-shaking, levitating, and objects flying around. Like the character Regan's mother, Doe's family sought the help of doctors and psychologists before turning to the Church, and the exorcism became one of three official Church-sanctioned exorcisms in the United States at that time.
2 The Exorcism of Emily Rose - 2005
Another case of exorcism, the title of this film sounds almost like a documentary. While the possessed girl in question was not named Emily Rose, her story is indeed thought to be a true one, and one of the most frightening examples of demonic possession in modern history.
The girl's name was Anneliese Michel, a 16-year-old in Germany who was believed to be possessed for seven years before an exorcism took place in 1975. Like Emily Rose, Michel was epileptic and had a history of psychosis, which was used to explain her behaviour. Soon, Michel's condition worsened, and people believed that she was possessed, as she was unable to walk past a crucifix or drink holy water. Two priests were called in to exorcise Michel, a process that took almost a year. At the time of her death, she weighed only 68 pounds and had broken knees from constantly praying. We don't know if she saw the visions that the fictional Emily Rose did, but the before and after photos of Anneliese Michel are enough to give anyone nightmares.
1 The Girl Next Door - 2007
Unlike the other films on this list, which feature ghosts, poltergeists, evil spirits, demons, or psychotic murderers, the true story that inspired The Girl Next Door sounds almost mundane. Instead of any of those extreme examples of evil, the villains in this story were regular neighbourhood children.
Based on a novel of the same name, The Girl Next Door is inspired by the death of Sylvia Likens, a girl who, in 1965, was brought into the home of a woman who had too many children of her own to look after, not enough money, and a cruel, sadistic streak that she focused entirely on her new charge. Eventually, the woman, Gertrude Baniszewski, her children, and a couple neighbourhood kids inflicted an immense amount of torture on Likens, including burning her with cigarettes, beating her, forcing her to be chained to a chair or the ceiling for hours on end, starving her, making her ingest her own bodily fluids, and carving a crude message into her stomach. Before long, Likens died of a combination of malnutrition and a brain hemorrhage.
