4 typical horror movie stories that were based on real cases
Horror movies are full of stories with sinister affairs, whether demonic, the presence of spirits, crazy assassins or many other kinds of scary beings. Fortunately, these stories are created by the imagination of the creative writers of Hollywood - or not. Fear! Many of the horror movie storylines have had some inspiration in real cases - of course, with the appropriate changes here and there to make the stories more interesting to the general public. See some of these real legends that invaded the movies:
1 - Robert The Doll and Chucky
The classic movie "Toy Killer" of 1988 is remembered today by many adults as one of the terrifying movies of the 1980s. The mother of a boy gives a child a gift doll, which is later revealed to be possessed by a serial -killer and do wrong things to blame the poor boy. The result? Well, the name of the movie already says.
It turns out that this plot is partly based on a story that took place in the early 1900s in Key West, Florida. The lonely boy Gene Otto received from his parents a life-size doll made especially for him. Gene named him Robert and spent a lot of time with the toy, dressing it like himself, sleeping with it and making the doll sit with his family at mealtimes.
A curse-shaped revenge
Legend has it that things got weird when one of the Otto family maids got angry at her bosses for being treated unfairly, and so she cast a voodoo spell to make the doll come alive (something similar to what happened to Chuck). After that, Gene Otto's parents would hear him talk to Robert and the doll respond with an ominous voice. In addition, objects in the house began to be broken and disappeared, causing Gene to blame Robert for such actions.
Startled, the parents locked Robert in the attic so that he would be forgotten. After Gene's parents died, the boy retrieved the doll from the attic and continued to take care of it, even after he was an adult - reports say the two had dinner together every night. After Gene's death, Robert was handed over to the city's museum, given the strange circumstances surrounding his history.
2 - Poltergeist and the ancient Romans
Steven Spielberg's iconic movie "Poltergeist" was quite successful when it was released in 1982, bringing a group of family members who lived in a house that hides a terrible secret - and therefore has spirits and paranormal manifestations. As much as haunted houses are relatively common in horror movies, it is interesting to note that they originated centuries ago, more specifically with the ancient Romans.
Ancient Roman writings dating back to the beginning of the first century reveal that spirit-haunted houses have been around for over two thousand years. A writer named Pliny, known as “The New”, was responsible for writing an account of something very strange that occurred when a philosopher moved to the village where Pliny was living.
The typical haunted house
The philosopher was informed of a cheap old house that people did not live in because they thought it was abandoned. Without options, man chose to live in such a place temporarily. Reports say that the philosopher woke up at night with the sound of currents dragging through the corridors and ghostly moans. The ghost of a man with a long beard appeared in front of him, gesturing for the philosopher to follow him.
In the mansion's garden, the ghost pointed to a spot. The next day, the philosopher dug up the indicated space and found the body of a chained man. After giving his own burial to the unknown corpse, Pliny wrote that the house was no longer haunted. And this story was written about two thousand years ago! Really, it seems the stories of haunted houses aren't even more original ...
3 - Serial Suicides and the song Gloomy Sunday
The Japanese movies “Suicide Club” and “Suicide Music” have one thing in common: Both speak of songs that encourage people to commit suicide as if they were hypnotic. These two movies are extremely similar and as much as you think which one is copying which one, know that they had the same inspiration: the song "Gloomy Sunday" by Hungarian singer Rezso Seress - who also committed suicide.
We have already detailed this case in Mega Curioso, as you can see here. The real story of this song says it was responsible for the suicide of over 100 people who killed themselves in different situations, all but stimulated by the sounds of sinister music. The song dates back to the 1930s and quickly became popular in Hungary, which is also the country with one of the highest suicide rates in the world. Whether music really has supernatural power or not we cannot say, but it is certain that its content is rather funeral.
4 - The Zombie Apocalypse and the Mesopotamian Writings
Admittedly, the Zombie Apocalypse is not exactly original, as countless movies, series, books, and games have dealt with the subject exhaustively - even more so today when zombies are in vogue. However, this undead-filled end of the world is a far older concept than you can imagine (more specifically, four thousand years old), originated in Mesopotamian beliefs and legends.
In the "Gilgamesh Epic, " one of Mesopotamia's oldest poems, there is a passage in which Ishtar, goddess of love, fertility, war, and sex (a somewhat eccentric combination), is rejected by Gilgamesh. In revenge, she threatens to throw an army of the undead into the world. "I will let the dead rise to the earth and eat the living, and the numbers of the dead will outnumber the living, " say some of the poem's phrases.
***
Yes, it seems that almost all horror movies and stories are based in some way on real-world aspects, always neat at certain points to make the stories more sinister. Anyway, good thing the cases mentioned were never exactly proven or happened as prophesied (well, the Zombie Apocalypse can still happen any day). And do you know any other real-world stories that may have influenced the horror fiction fiction?
* Originally posted on 07/03/2014.
***
Do you know the Mega Curioso newsletter? Weekly, we produce exclusive content for lovers of the biggest curiosities and bizarres of this big world! Register your email and do not miss this way to keep in touch!
Recommended
