If, like me, you have watched all the horror films available on Netflix, you begin to get used to the similar and predicatble story lines. It usually starts with a family moving into a new home, and finishing with some type of exorcism and a happy ending. If not, then it is some deranged killer who seems to walk just as fast as someone who is sprinting away from them. However, some of the most famous horror movies are based around even more terrifying events which no one could have predicted.
Here are my top four:
The Amityville Horror.
November 13 1974- Amityville, Long Island.
Ronald Defeo Jr left work around noon and met his friends at a bar. He began constantly calling his home, with no answer, and complained about it to anyone who would listen. Soon after, he left the bar.
Around 6.30am Ronald Jr re-entered the bar yelling "You got to help me! I think my mother and farther have been shot". Bar-goers accompanied him back home to be greeted by the nightmare that he had earlier witnessed.
Six bodies were found in their beds, laying on their stomachs and appeared to be shot by a high powered rifle at around 3:15am. The victims were that of mother and farther Louise and Ronald Sr, sisters 18 year old Dawn and 13 year old Allison, and brothers 12 year old Marc and 9 year old John Matthew. Ronald Jr's whole family had been slaughtered. Strangely, there were no signs of a struggle, and neighbours did not report hearing any gunshots or screams, only their dog barking through the night. Police were puzzled as to why each family member were found in their beds, with no signs of struggles, even though the first gunshot would have woken the rest of the household.
Ronald Jr changed his alibi multiple times, from stating he was at the bar, then stating that he was forced to watch as someone killed his family. In the end, he confessed to massacring his family.
At his trial, Ronald Jr's attorney William Weber mounted an insanity plea stating that Ronald Jr was hearing voices telling him to murder his family. However prosecution argued that even though he was a drug abuser, he knew exactly what he was doing at the time of the murders. He was sentenced to 6 concurrent sentences of 25 to life.
The next family to buy and move into this home, at a significantly cheaper price due to the murders, reported that it was haunted. Despite these reports coming out as fake, mainly publicity stunts for money, there was still local belief that this house was haunted. It is believed that the evil spirits in the home made Ronald Jr to kill his family.
2. The Conjuring.
The Conjuring is based around the story of a real life family called the Perron's and the chilling events of when they moved into their new home. In the film, the mother is depicted to be possessed by the evil spirit of a witch who used to own the house, named Bathsheba.
Whether you believe in the 'true' events of the hauntings and possession of the Perron family, Bathsheba was in fact a real woman.
Bathsheba Sherman lived on the Perron's property in the mid 1800's. She was rumoured to be a satanic witch by the locals, with this sparking after the death of a child. Bathsheba was caring for her neighbours young child went it met a brutal death, caused by a large sewing needle being impaled into the base of its skull. Despite never being held accountable for this death, the locals believed that Bathsheba killed the child in a sacrifice to the devil. To add fuel to the fire, most of her children reportedly did not live past the age of 7, with locals again accusing her of sacrificing them. She also reportedly beat and starved her farmhands and was extremely anti-social.
After her death, she was buried in a nearby Baptist cemetery.
The property since has been a host of many tragic events, with just some of these including 2 suicides by hanging, 1 suicide by poison, the rape and murder of an 11 year old girl, two drownings and four men who froze to death.
Due to the tragic history of the property, and the accusations of Bathsheba being a satanic witch, it is not hard to see why these events were turned into a blood-curdling horror movie.
3. A Nightmare on Elm Street.
A classic horror, known by many, so popular it has seen many remakes and spin offs. How, I imagine you are wondering, could this possibly be based from a true story?
During the Khmer Rouge reign from 1975-1979, an estimated 1.7 - 2.5 million Cambodians died from execution, starvation or disease, in what is now known as 'The Killing Fields'. These Killing Fields dot the country, with more than 20,000 mass grave sites.
An L.A Times article wrote about a family who had survived these Killing Fields and made it to the United States. Despite now being safe, their young son was plagued by nightmares. He told his parents that if he slept, whatever was chasing him would finally catch him, and forced himself to stay awake for days on end. After a few days, the parents convinced him to sleep, and once he finally drifted off, they believed the crisis was over. However, in the middle of the night, the parents woke to their sons nightmare induced screams. By the time they got to him, he was dead. He died from fright.
4. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
If you do not know who Ed Gein is, this is your warning, as this can be disturbing.
Ed Gein is a murderer who killed several people between 1954 and 1957.
This sadistic killer was the inspiration behind the well known horror movies and its main character, nicknamed Leatherface.
Gein wore the flesh of his victims, including human scalps, faces and even a vest with female genitalia, which he constructed. However, this was to fulfil his desire to be a woman, not due to a skin disease as depicted in the movies.
Other sickening items found in his home made from human flesh included, a curtain pull, lampshade, chairs, bowls, ashtrays, belts and masks. Gein wearing the faces of his victims as masks is a clear inspiration behind 'Leatherface' and these horrific items found in his house of horrors are clearly reflected in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre films.
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