You can visit these historic horror landmarks, but would you want to?
Horror movies are full of fictional aspects; made-up protagonists, unrealistically indestructible villains, buckets of gore from the makeup department, and often fake settings. As much as people wish they were real, Elm Street, Derry and Haddonfield just don't exist.
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But in some cases, real-life buildings and houses are used during filming and can still be found by horror fans today. So, if you've ever wanted to dive into Crystal Lake, cast a spell at Old Town Hall, or visit some haunted hotels, you're in luck because plenty still exist for horror aficionados to check off their spooky bucket lists. Though even the prospect of visiting some of these might seem too creepy for many.
Camp Crystal Lake was the scene of the murders in the 1980 slasher Friday the 13th, and remained a hotspot for several sequels as Jason Voorhees reigned terror on local teens for decades.
If you've ever wanted to visit Jason's killer crime scenes, the real-life Crystal Lake exists in Cunningham County, New Jerseyand offers walking tours of the filming locations, including the campgrounds, the infamous lake, and that famous welcome sign.
It may not actually be called The Overlook Hotel, but if any Stephen King fans want to see the eerie hotel in real life, it can be found in Estes Park, Colorado where it's called The Stanley Hotel.
The Standley Hotel opened in 1909 and was used as the filming location for The Shining in 1980. And while you probably won't find the Grady twins looming in the halls, the hotel continues to operate and offers rooms that guests can actually stay in.
For 1978's Halloween, when John Carpenter was searching for filming locations for his slasher, he stumbled upon an old, abandoned house in the middle of South Pasadena, California that was later used as the infamous Myers house where Michael committed his first murder.
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After being declared a landmark, the house survived a planned demolition and was moved to a different street and has since become a sort of office building, with several local businesses using the rooms as offices. Aside from a paint job, the house remains exactly how it did in the film and can be found on 1000 Mission Street.
When a possessed Regan forces Father Damien Karras out the window in The Exorcist, he falls to his death down a 75-step staircase that still stands as a landmark in Washington D.C.
During the movie's filming, Georgetown University students would charge people $5 to watch the scenes from the surrounding rooftop, and the staircase is often used today as a training spot for sports teams.
Night of the Living Dead opens with brother and sister Johnny and Barbara arriving at a cemetery to visit their father's grave just before they encounter a zombified man who has risen from the dead.
The cemetery used in the 1968 film is the historic Evans City Cemetery and can be found in Butler County, Pennsylvania, and while there are no commemorative signs within the graveyard, fans of the iconic zombie movie may recognize some familiar tombstones.
The gas station that Sally Hardesty runs for her life to while being chased by Leatherface in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one horror fans can still find in Bastrop, Texas.
This former fuel stop simply named The Gas Station has kept its creepy exterior, but is now home to a slew of horror movie memorabilia, a delicious barbecue menu, and sometimes even special events with horror film fame.
When Peter, Ray and Egon go on their first ghostbusting job and Peter gets an epic sliming from Slimer in Ghostbusters, it's at The Sedgewick Hotel in New York City.
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Sad to say The Sedgewick doesn't actually exist, but scenes from the Halloweentime classic were filmed at a hotel called Millennium Biltmore in Los Angeles, California, which remains a popular filming location for TV shows and movies.
Despite Drew Barrymore's character's brutal murder at her house and Sydney's scare in her bedroom, the most recognizable house in 1996's Scream is Stu's, home of the party where several teens are murdered by Ghostface.
Stu's house doesn't reside in the fictional tow of Woodsboro, but you can find it sitting on Tomales Petaluma Road in Tomales, California. The house is the only one in the franchise to appear in both the original Scream and its 2022 reboot.
In 1975's The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Dr. Frank N. Furter's Frankenstein Place is a creepy, old castle that Brad and Janet sing about.
In real life, the exterior of Frankenstein Place came from a decrepit, Victorian mansion that has since been renovated into a hotel and renamed Oakley Court in Windsor, UK, mere miles from Windsor Castle.
The infamous Bates Motel was where Marion met Norman Bates before she met a fatal end in one of the most memorable horror movie scenes in history in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho.
While that scene was filmed on a soundstage, the real Bates Motel set used for the movie can still be found on Universal Studios backlot tours, along with the Bates mansion peering in the background.
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Ashley Amber is a Senior List Writer and Peer Mentor at Collider. Ashley also writes for MJ's Big Blog and The DIS, as well as authored a self-published fantasy/romance series of novelettes, and made her poetry debut in 2021's LGBTQIA+ anthology Deviant: Chronicles of Pride by InkFeathers Publishing. As a former pro ballroom dancer, when she's not writing, you can find Ashley on Youtube and TikTok where she posts dance videos featuring her own choreography and tutorials.

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