“Based on a true story” or “inspired by actual events” are words that the horror movie industry has been using to put people in seats for decades. If we’re being totally honest about it though, how many scary movies actually have that much truth to them? It’s more than likely an 80/20 ratio of fiction and fact.
That being said, there are several characters in the realms of horror cinema that pull from real-life figures and events. After all, truth is stranger than fiction. Here are ten creatures from the vaults of horror that have real-life counterparts.
Imhotep/The Mummy
Ever wonder how the idea for a mummy’s curse got started? Though there actually was an ancient physician named Imhotep in Egyptian culture, Universal’s mummy took a page from the golden boy himself, Tutankhamen. The curse of King Tut’s Tomb was a legend linked to the death and injury of nine members of the expedition.
“Death shall come on swift wings to whoever disturbs the tomb of the pharaoh” was supposedly a warning written on a tablet discovered during the expedition and has since been used in both the 1931 classic and the 1999 remake. An urban legend mostly, but one that gave us a great monster.
The Blob
A gelatinous alien lifeform spawned from a meteorite crashing to earth? Surely that far-fetched scenario is from a slab of ’50s sci-fi shlock, right? Wrong. This insatiable intergalactic amoeba monster is actually inspired by a police report from 195o, claiming the presence of a dissolving UFO.
Police officers John Collins and Joe Keenan claimed to see a strange object fall to earth in Philadelphia. When authorities were contacted, the mass of purple gel seemed to disappear and dissolve onsight. Though it made a laughing stock of the two policemen and a sensational headline in 1950, it also made for a very famous sci-fi shocker.
The Amityville House
To call a haunted house a character or a monster might be a little bit of a stretch, but it’d be a bigger insult if we didn’t. The Amityville Horror is one of the most iconic hauntings in the genre. Though the original film and book might be true or might be sensationalized storytelling, the house itself does exist and so does its backstory.
In 1974, the house was the sight of the DeFeo murders when Robert DeFeo shot and killed his family with a .35 Marlin rifle. The Amityville House has since been regarded as the most haunted house in America after the paranormal activity experienced by the Lutz family some thirteen months later.
Regan McNeil
William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist is regarded as the scariest movie ever made, but what some may not know is that it was inspired by true events. The perils of Regan McNeil were supposedly based on the brutal possession and excruciating exorcism of Roland Doe.
The boy known as Roland Doe or simply R was the victim of possession in 1949. Jesuit priests reported a violent entity residing in the child’s body for a long period of time. Reports of demonic voices, attacks, and scars on the boy’s body were what inspired the very similar Regan McNeil, right down to the interaction with the Ouija board.
Annie Wilkes
There are actually three inspirations behind this iconic Kathy Bates role from Stephen King’s Misery. Two of the factors of inspiration from the author himself are claimed to be King’s former drug habit and the ferocity of fans and critics towards his novel Eyes of the Dragon. The historical counterpart of Annie Wilkes, however, is much more sinister.
King’s Annie Wilkes was supposedly inspired by former nurse, Genene Jones, who was convicted of murdering children with anesthesia and muscle relaxers in the ’80s. This chilling tale of murder is enough to get under the skin of the most avid King fans, ourselves included. Definitely not a number-one fan.
Annabelle
Though a lot less creepy than her movie counterpart, the doll known as Annabelle really does exist. In the ’70s a vintage Raggedy Ann doll was the subject of several instances of paranormal activity, including the possible murder of a motorcyclist. The doll has been reported moving about and standing up on its own before it was contained by both Ed and Lorraine Warren.
The doll itself is now on display at the Warren’s Occult Museum, trapped behind glass blessed by catholic priests where she can do no harm. An evil entity supposedly has latched on to the doll as a vessel, making it the most dangerous artifact on display.
Dracula
Definitely one we’re sure you’ve heard before, but one we couldn’t possibly leave off our list. Anyone who’s even vaguely familiar with the name Count Dracula has more than likely heard the name Vladamir Tepes, Vlad Dracul, or as he’s more commonly known, Vlad the Impaler, the infamous monarch of Walachia.
Prince Vlad was a fearsome warrior who fought against the Ottoman Empire. He’s most famously known for two things, inspiring Bram Stoker to create his famous vampire novel, and impaling his prisoners and captives on wooden stakes on the castle lawn. This guy definitely needs his own horror flick.
Freddy Krueger
According to horror icon, Wes Craven, the idea for a dream-killing murderer came from an LA Times story about a young Cambodian refugee suffering from night terrors who died in agony in his sleep. Though this story is definitely more than enough to inspire a horror story or two, what about the Springwood Slasher himself?
Supposedly, the look for our favorite sweater-wearing, one-liner-spewing psychopath came from an old homeless man in a dirty fedora Craven caught watching him from across the street in his California home. Paired with a clashing red and green sweater, and a personality inspired by a childhood tormentor, and the rest is history.
Pennywise
Yet another Stephen King creature of darkness makes our list, but one with an inspiration that could come straight from one of his own horror stories. Nearly every killer clown in the media owes their very existence to the criminal who first helped coin the term, John Wayne Gacy.
He might have been Pogo the Clown to friends and neighbors, but to his victims, Gacy was nothing less than a monster who committed unspeakable acts. The idea of horror in the guise of something familiar or friendly is definitely present in both King’s novel and the film adaptations.
Buffalo Bill
Though a number of villains use the notorious Ed Gein as their inspiration, particularly Leatherface and Norman Bates, it’s this sinister slasher from Silence of the Lambs that takes the cake. Where Leatherface made his victims into masks and meat, Buffalo Bill went more accurate by making an entire suit.
There are few movies as intense or shocking as this Oscar-winning thriller, but its grisliest horror elements definitely come from Buffalo Bill’s lair and methods of murder. Definitely taking further inspiration from the Butcher of Plainfield, this movie madman definitely gets more than skin deep.
