Imagine making a scary movie and while on set, spooky things actually start to happen. Or even worse, imagine it's not even a scary movie, and after the fact, everyone realizes the set was haunted. Seems outlandish, but people have actually spotted "ghosts" in a number of movies that have been released over the years, and other films have had cast and crew members claim that their sets were haunted — or that they themselves were cursed while filming. We're not just talking about horror flicks, either.
There are a number of strange phenomena that have been reported from the sets of horror films, as well as some strange sightings in the films themselves. There are also stories tied to films that have absolutely nothing to do with the supernatural. (Makes it even scarier, right?) Although some of these occurrences have just been reported and not recorded, there are a bunch of oddities that movie watchers can actually see in the films if they look closely enough.
Whether out of sheer curiosity or because it went unnoticed during the first watch, anyone into ghosts and spirits has to check out these eight films — especially since Halloween is right around the corner. Keep scrolling to see what they are and how they're haunted.
'Annabelle'
Even though it would be difficult to spot anything as a viewer being that the film Annabelle is positively brimming with spooky sights, the film's director claims the set was plagued with supernatural strangeness. While filming the movie — which is actually based on real-life case studies of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren — there were at least two notable incidents.
Demon Fingers
During an advance screening of the film in 2014, director John R. Leonetti said that while prepping the set, the crew spotted three fingers drawn through the dust in a window above the living room window, mirroring the three fingers and three talons the film's demon has. Peter Safran, the film's producer, also revealed:
"The first day that the demon was shooting in full makeup, we brought the demon up in the elevator. He walks out and walks around to the green room to where we're holding the talent, and just as he walks under — a giant glass light fixture is being followed by the actor playing the handyman of the building — and all of a sudden the entire glass light fixture falls down on his head, the janitor's head. And in the script the demon kills the janitor in that hallway. It was totally freaky."
'Three Men and a Baby'
In the 1987 film Three Men and a Baby — starring Ted Danson, Tom Selleck, and Steve Guttenberg — legend has it there's a certain scene in this totally unthreatening comedy classic where the ghost of a young boy can be spotted. Many claim that anyone can see the mysterious figure of the boy in the corner of the frame as Ted Danson and the actress who plays his mother exit the room holding the baby.
"Spirit Sighting"
Here's a clip of the scene in question, with a breakdown of the supposed spirit sighting. It doesn't look like much of anything when the actors are walking into the room, but as they are walking out, the same figure clearly looks like that of a young boy. It's pretty creepy, but there are probably a number of explanations. For instance, maybe someone's kid walked onto the set accidentally and no one noticed!
'The Nun'
Also a part of the film franchise about the findings of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, the cast and crew of the 2018 film The Nun is said to have experienced multiple hauntings. The director of the film said he saw not one but two ghosts on set while filming the movie in a castle in Romania. We can already imagine how creepy that must have been.
Mysterious Crew Members
The director of The Nun, Corin Hardy, said while filming in a long dark hallway, he stepped into a dark room off the hallway and noticed two men sitting in the back. He initially thought it was just two crew members he didn't recognize, because it was so dark. He turned around to watch the take they had just filmed on his monitor, and when he turned back, the men had completely vanished. He's now convinced they were actually ghosts.
'The Wizard of Oz'
Though not at all considered part of the horror genre, ask us and The Wizard of Oz is scarier than a lot of movies. That's even more true after learning that many viewers have actually spotted a ghost in one scene of the film, which is more than 80 years old. The scene in question features Dorothy and her new friends singing and skipping down the yellow brick road, totally oblivious.
Hanging Munchkin?
There's definitely something off to the side as Dorothy and crew disappear around the bend of the yellow brick road. Many viewers say it's the form of a man swinging back and forth from a rope as if hanging from a noose. Some have even proposed that it was one of the "munchkins" from the film who died by suicide. Check it out in this video clip.
'The Exorcism of Emily Rose'
The Exorcism of Emily Rose, starring Jennifer Carpenter, is a downright spooky film, and apparently the frights are not limited to the finished movie itself. Actors from the film have said they were suspicious there was a ghost — or some supernatural force at work — on the set as well. There were two rather clear signs that spirits may have been haunting the production.
Unexpected Wake-Up Call
Actress Jennifer Carpenter said in an interview that was published shortly after the film came out that while filming the movie, her radio would turn on completely randomly in the middle of the night. She also said that fellow actress Laura Linney had a similar experience with her television turning on by itself during filming.
Eerie.
'American Murder: The Family Next Door'
One of Netflix's newest true crime documentaries, the sensitive subject matter of American Murder: The Family Next Door certainly lends itself to supernatural speculation. The film is about a mother and her two daughters who disappeared and were later found to be murdered by their husband and father, Chris Watts.
Child Ghost Appearance
After the documentary premiered, viewers noticed that a small child resembling one of the murdered Watts children is pacing back and forth in the kitchen (blue and green walls) while Chris Watts and family friend Nickole Atkinson looked through his presumed missing wife's phone. We have to say, there's definitely something there … and it 100% looks like a little girl. Take a look.
'Rosemary's Baby'
Rosemary's Baby is a really scary movie, and it must have been totally spooky to be working on set when it was filmed. We're not surprised cast and crew members have reported strange occurrences that went on while the movie was being made, but the oddities go way beyond anything we could ever fathom.
… as in, the things that happened were a lot more like what we see in fiction than anything we could imagine happening in real life.
People Connected to This Film Died
People connected to this film actually died, leading many to believe that those involved with the production may have been cursed. First off, director Roman Polanski's pregnant wife, Sharon Tate, and their unborn baby were famously one of serial killer Charles Manson's victims. In addition, the film's composer suffered a tragic accident that caused a coma and his eventual death, mirroring a death that occurred in the movie.
'The Conjuring'
The first of the movies inspired by the real-life cases of Ed and Lorraine Warren is the 2013 film The Conjuring — starring Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga. It's said to have been plagued with a haunted set while filming. The movie is about a family being terrorized by a dark force in their remote farmhouse, so we can imagine the cast and crew might have caught the heebie jeebies once or twice, but there may have been more going on.
Eerie Situations
Most notably, there was an incident with director James Wan's dog. "She would just be growling away and she would be just tracking whatever this thing is across my office, just looking at it, following it. She did this many, many nights in a row and it just freaked me out," he said of his pup's behavior while he was working on the film.
Patrick Wilson also told the Jakarta Post of an incident that he caught on video of curtains blowing inexplicably and "violently" as he was leaving the set one day, explaining that there was no open door or fan or anything else that could have caused it.
Boo!
