The inspiration for movies can come from a lot of places. For some movies, the inspiration is a real-life person or event. And for some other movies, that inspiration comes from a real location. Whether it's a single event that happened in that location that made it famous or the movie is simply set there, there are some locations around the world that have inspired some truly spooky movies.
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From houses that are said to be haunted to a mysterious cave system that is said to house the spirit of an ancient witch, there are a ton of locations around the world that are so creepy, they've inspired a movie.
Want to see 10 locations that have inspired movies? Keep reading!
10 10. Catacombs Of Paris
The Catacombs of Paris are an underground network of burial grounds that have become the final resting place for millions of people. The bones of over six million people are delicately stacked up and arranged in the Catacombs where they've been since the 18th century.
As Above, So Below is a movie that was released in 2014. This movie follows a talented archaeologist who is on the search for Flamel's Philosopher's Stone. When a tip leads her to believe that it's located in the Catacombs below Paris, she goes looking. Unfortunately, what she finds is anything but what she had hoped for.
9 9. Aokigahara Forest
Aokigahara Forest is a forest in Japan that has gained a pretty nasty reputation. Since the 1950s, this forest has sadly become one of the most popular places in the world for people to take their own lives. Although there are signs encouraging people to rethink this choice scattered through the forest, volunteers remove dozens of bodies from the forest each year.
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The Forest is a movie that was released in 2014 and stars Natalie Dormer as a young American woman who is forced to enter Aokigahara Forest after her sister mysteriously disappears. The movie follows her journey through the forest and everything she encounters there.
8 8. Stanley Hotel
The Stanley Hotel was opened in 1909 in Estes Park, Colorado by Freelan Oscar Stanley and his wife, Flora Stanley. He built the large, grand hotel with his wife as a taste of what he was used to on the East Coast in the very different landscape of Colorado.
Unfortunately, by the 1970s, the Stanley Hotel wasn't exactly what it was once. But a stay in this hotel inspired Stephen King to write a novel called The Shining about a man who brings his family there for a job during the winter. The novel was turned into a horrifying movie set in this iconic hotel.
7 7. Amityville House
In 1974, this Long Island house became the home of a horrible event when a man named Ronald DeFeo Jr. took the lives of his entire family while they slept. Just over a year later, George Lutz, his step-children, and his wife Kathy Lutz moved into the house. After living there for under a month, the Lutz family made the decision to leave the house, citing intense paranormal activity in the home.
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This house and the stories of these two families has been the subject of a number of books and movies. Several films, most notably one from 2005 that stars Ryan Reynold as George Lutz, have been made about the Lutz family's 28 days in the Long Island house.
6 6. Gainesville, Florida
Danny Rolling, also known by the name of The Gainsville Ripper, is a man who took the lives of eight people in the town of Gainesville, Florida in 1989 and 1990, most of which happened during a period of a few days in 1990. Luckily, Rolling was caught and arrested in 1990.
Even though the Scream movies, the first of which was released in 1996, were all set in the fictional town of Woodsboro, California, screenwriter Kevin Williamson has cited The Gainsville Ripper as the main inspiration behind the first movie in the series.
5 5. Bell Witch Cave
In Adams, Tennessee, there's a local legend about a supposed spirit that goes by the name of the Bell Witch. According to this urban legend, the Bell family began being haunted by a mysterious presence in the early 19th century. Family members would hear strange noises around their house at all hours and eventually, started to be physically harmed by the presence. People believe that after this spirit left the family, it went to live in this cave.
The Blair Witch project is a movie that was released in 1999 that follows a group of friends that go searching for the spirit of a legendary witch that allegedly resides in the forest. The friends experience some strange things before stumbling upon the witch's home. This movie was inspired by the Bell Witch, making this cave super creepy.
4 4. Wolfe Creek Crater National Park
Wolfe Creek Crater is a meteor impact crater located in Western Australia. It was spotted during an aerial survey in 1947 and scientists estimate that it's around 300,000 years old. There are several Aboriginal stories about the formation of this crater and it's a significant location for Australia's Aboriginal population.
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In 2005, an Australian horror film called Wolf Creek was released. This movie features Wolfe Creek Crater as a group of friends go there for a hike that goes horribly wrong. Along with featuring this location, the movie is based on Ivan Milat, a man that took the lives of seven people between 1989 and 1993.
3 3. Point Pleasant, West Virginia
Point Pleasant is a town in West Virginia that is quite a popular tourist destination for people that enjoy things that are a little more on the creepy and eerie side. In the 1960s, several people in the Point Pleasant area claimed to have seen a human-like figure flying past them. This figure became known as the Mothman and became a widely-known urban legend in the Point Pleasant area.
In 2002, a movie called The Mothman Prophecies, starring Richard Gere, was released and based on a book written about the creature in the 1970s. In the film, Richard Gere plays a journalist who travels to Point Pleasant to try to learn the truth behind this legend.
2 2. Texarkana, Texas
Texarkana is a city located in the northeast part of Texas. In 1946, the town was the site of the still unsolved Texarkana Moonlight Murders. An unknown person took the lives of five people and injured three others in Texarkana during the spring of 1946. When the sun went down, the inhabitants of this city would retreat into their homes and lock the doors.
In 1976, a movie called The Town That Dreaded Sundown was made based loosely on what the town of Texarkana had faced 30 years before that. In 2014, the movie was remade. Like the original, the remake was loosely based on the events that plagued Texarkana in 1946.
1 1. Centralia, Pennsylvania
Centralia, Pennsylvania is a ghost town that was once a booming mining town. In 1962, one of the coal mines below Centralia caught fire and the fires in the mines below the cities have been burning since then. As of 2013, only seven people lived in the town as part of an agreement with the state to let them live out the rest of their lives in Centralia.
When Roger Avary was writing the screenplay for the Silent Hill movies, it's said that he did a lot of research on the town of Centralia. Silent Hill is a movie series based on a series of video games by the same name. In both the movies and the games, the setting is an eerie town with a super ominous feeling, similar to that in Centralia.