Horror Movie Stars Share Terrifying Real-Life Experiences on Set—‘It Was Totally Freaky!’
From curses to eerie events, these horror stars had real scares while filming
Nobody who signs up to star in a horror film has ever agreed to participate in a literal horror film, but sometimes circumstances beyond their control have other things in mind. Actors and actresses, along with movie crews, have shared their own personal paranormal moments experienced while on the set of a horror flick. From believing a production was haunted, to isolated incidents, these are some of the scariest things that have occurred on the set of horror movies.
Joey King and Vera Farmiga on ‘The Conjuring’
It’s terrifying enough to realize that the events in The Conjuring were based on real happenings, but knowing that the film’s stars have experienced unexplainable things while on set is a whole other story. Vera Farmiga, who portrayed paranormal investigator Lorraine Warren, allegedly discovered claw marks on her laptop with no understanding of where they came from. The same marks later appeared on her thigh just one day after wrapping on the film.
Joey King, who portrayed Christine Perron, one of the family’s daughters, reportedly suffered from a rare blood disorder while filming, which ultimately sent her to the hospital. Tests showed that King had a high risk of internal bleeding.
“I developed this bizarre, rare, out-of-nowhere blood disorder, and basically my body, like all the red platelets from my body were drained,” King explained. “They were just gone. Then, all of a sudden I got home [after filming wrapped], and I’ve never had a problem with my blood since.”
Other stories from the set of The Conjuring include the cast and crew allegedly waking up each morning at 3 AM, something that occurs in the film.
The cast of multiple ‘Annabelle’ films reported strange occurrences
Not only did weird things happen on the set of the first Annabelle film, but the stars of the sequel reported strange occurrences as well. In 2014, during the filming of the first movie, the actor who portrayed a demon had a giant glass light fixture fall on his head while in full makeup for the first time. The eerie part of this is that a similar event occurs in the film.
“And in the script the demon kills the janitor in that hallway,” producer Peter Safran shared. “It was totally freaky.”
Another incident shared by Leonetti was when he noticed “three fingers drawn through the dust along the window,” which he explained was strange “because our demon has three fingers and three talons.” Although slightly terrifying to many, Leonetti was impressed. “[The markings] were being backlit by the moon. I have a picture! It was sick.”
On the set of the sequel, Annabelle Comes Home (2019), the film’s stars had some strange, unexplainable experiences. Madison Iseman, who portrayed Mary Ellen, shared a few weird moments experienced with the Annabelle doll (the set version).
“At the end of the scene, we’d run up the stairs and go past the Warrens’ bedroom,” Iseman explained. “And every time we ran past the door, Annabelle was in a different position. There was not enough time for someone to go up there and move the doll. So … we don’t know how that happened.”
As for McKenna Grace, who portrayed the Warren’s daughter, Judy Warren, she had a scary personal experience as well.
“On one of the first days…we were doing our rehearsal, and my nose was pouring blood, all of a sudden,” Grace explained. “The lights were off because they had to re-set something, and I was like, ‘There’s blood!’ And then, as soon as I stepped outside to go to the restroom to get a tissue, it stopped. It was creepy.”
Following the incident with Grace, the Annabelle Comes Home set was blessed by a priest to prevent any further paranormal experiences.
Many believe the ‘Poltergeist’ set was cursed
Ever since the Poltergeist film series began in 1982, many of the cast and crew have faced terrifying circumstances, including four untimely deaths. One of the most shocking deaths was that of Dominique Dunne, who portrayed Dana in the first film, after she was strangled by an ex-boyfriend just a few months after the film’s release.
The next most stunning loss of a cast member was Heather O’Rourke, who played the young girl Carol Anne. The 12-year-old actress died of severe bowel obstruction prior to the release of the third Poltergeist (1988) film. Other stars from the franchise that faced unfortunate deaths include Julian Beck, (Kane), Will Sampson (Taylor) and Lou Perryman (Pugsley): Beck passed from cancer before the second film was released, Sampson died of kidney failure and Perryman was disturbingly murdered by an ex-con with an ax.
Another strange moment from the Poltergeist set was the use of real human skeletons during one of the movie’s scenes, unbeknownst to star JoBeth Williams (Diane Freeling). She didn’t find out they were real until many years later. See the creepy scene here:
Horror films are thrilling to watch, but maybe not so much to star in. We’ll stick to being viewers, especially after discovering these terrifying moments that occur on the film sets.
Conversation
All comments are subject to our Community Guidelines. Woman's World does not endorse the opinions and views shared by our readers in our comment sections. Our comments section is a place where readers can engage in healthy, productive, lively, and respectful discussions. Offensive language, hate speech, personal attacks, and/or defamatory statements are not permitted. Advertising or spam is also prohibited.
