When we watch horror films, we’re effectively transported to a world in which nightmares come true. But there’s always that thin screen protecting us. The monsters aren’t real, the killers are just in our imagination, and those haunted houses don’t actually exist. Not so fast with that last one. The structures that serve as the setting for our favorite scary movies are often very real. In fact, it’s pretty common to find your favorite horror house on the corner of some unassuming Los Angeles street. Today, we compile a few of the most iconic examples (along with a bonus or two)!
Update – October 2024:
While this one didn’t make our original horror house list, we thought it would be worth a… errr, posthumous mention considering the recent news. The Poltergeist house (yes, the original home from the 1982 horror classic directed by Tobe Hooper and written by Steven Spielberg) sold in September 2024 for a cash offer of $1.28 million. It was the first time the Simi Valley home hit the market since the original owners moved in 45 years ago! And there’s good news for anyone wanting to immerse themselves in the authentic Poltergeist experience. The new owner has plans to take advantage of the property’s vintage look by converting it into a Poltergeist-themed Airbnb.
(1.) Nancy Thompson’s House (A Nightmare on Elm Street – 1984)
1428 N. Genesee Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90046
Who could forget Nancy’s house from Wes Craven’s classic 1984 slasher A Nightmare on Elm Street? Or that final moment when Freddy Krueger’s razor claw rips Nancy Thompson’s mother through the window of their home’s blue front door? Well that blue door is gone. But the house? It’s still very much there. Where exactly? In the upscale suburban paradise of Spaulding Square in West Hollywood.
That’s right, the 1919 Dutch Colonial beauty where Nancy secured her spot as the very first Dream Warrior is just a stone’s throw from the legendary Chateau Marmont. While this horror house was the stuff of nightmares for Nancy, it’s a dream home in the eyes of many others. In fact, it just sold for nearly $3 million earlier this year!
(2.) The “Thriller” House (1983)
1345 Carroll Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90026
If you walk the storied ground of LA’s Angelino Heights on Halloween night, you’ll hear cars passing by blasting Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”. But there’s a good chance you’ll hear it on any night of the year. Especially if you’re walking (or maybe even moonwalking) up the 1300 block of Carroll Avenue. That’s because the iconic “haunted” Victorian manor that features prominently in Jackson’s “Thriller” video looms ominously at 1345 Carroll Avenue.
Many aficionados of early 1980s MTV will clearly recall hordes of zombies chasing the screeching protagonist up the yard of this horror house. For some of us ‘80s babies, it may have even been our introduction to the horror genre. After all, the video was notably more frightening than any other music videos on the channel at the time. Though the Victorian home didn’t feature on the silver screen, it’s still instantly recognizable.
(3.) The Charmed House (1998)
1329 Carroll Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90026
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The “Thriller” house isn’t Carroll Avenue’s only brush with the otherworldly. Just up the block stands another Victorian home directly from the TV-Land Territories. It was in this home that three not-so-wicked witches spellbound prime time audiences for nearly a decade. Piper, Phoebe, Prue (and later Paige) made up the sorcery-savvy Halliwell sisters on hit show Charmed. It may not be the most frightening horror house, but it’s just witchy enough to make our list.
Angelino Heights, where both the Charmed and “Thriller” houses sit to this day, boasts the most concentrated amount of authentic Victorian homes in the city. The Charmed house was actually constructed sometime in the late 1880s. You’ll easily find it under its official name: the Innes House. Since 1976, it’s been protected as part of the National Register Historic District. In fact, the entirety of the 1300 block of Carroll Avenue, including the “Thriller” house, is protected.
(4.) The House on Haunted Hill Home (1959)
2607 Glendower Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90027
The original House on Haunted Hill features one of the most memorable mansions in film history. Officially dubbed the Ennis House, it was built from a Frank Lloyd Wright design in 1924. While its appearance in The House on Haunted Hill solidified its spot as a bonafide horror house of the silver screen, it’s been featured in many other films and shows. Along the horror vein, it was also featured in Predator 2 and as the residence of brooding love interest Angel in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series. Like many of Wright’s surviving structures, the Ennis House is considered a historical landmark.
(5.) The Michael Myers House (Halloween – 1978)
1000 Mission St, South Pasadena, CA 91030
John Carpenter arguably created the quintessential slasher movie with his 1978 film Halloween. Set in the fictional Haddonfield, Illinois, the cinematography captures all of the hallmarks of a northern town complete with crunchy, dead leaves strewn about the sidewalks. Except Carpenter shot the majority of the film in South Pasadena.
The horror house where it all began can be found at 1000 Mission Street today. This served as the Myers home where the soulless maniac returns 15 years after murdering his sister on Halloween night. Yet, while the home remains the same, the location is actually different. When Carpenter first committed the “Myers residence” to film, it was an abandoned structure. Sometime after filming, the home went through extensive remodeling and was physically moved a few blocks away to where it sits today.
People in the Pasadena community know it simply as the Century House today. It’s currently used as a commercial office for an architecture company. Like many of the homes on our list, the Century House enjoys protections as a cultural landmark.
(6.) Laurie Strode’s House (Halloween – 1978)
1115 Oxley Street, South Pasadena, CA 91030
The Myers home wasn’t the only iconic horror house to come out of 1978’s Halloween. Fans of the film will recall that much of the mayhem goes down at protagonist Laurie Strode’s house. This is one of those rare occasions when spatial distance in films mirrors real life. Because the home that served as the Strode residence is within the same South Pasadena neighborhood as the Myers house.
The residents of 1115 Oxley Street have historically been good sports about their home being a legendary horror house. They’ve even been known to leave prop pumpkins out, leaning into the home’s iconic status. Whatever keeps the bogeyman away!
(7.) Bonus: The Michael Myers Hedge (Halloween -1978)
Between 1019 and 1025 Montrose Avenue, South Pasadena, CA 91030
It’s definitely not a horror house, but there’s a very special hedge that still stands in the South Pasadena neighborhood where Halloween was filmed. Fans of the movie will remember this as one of the film’s creepiest appearances of Michael Myers. Today, the hedge still looks very much as it did in the film, prompting legions of photo recreations.
(8.) Bonus Horror House: The Former Glenn Danzig House
4544 Franklin Avenue, Los Feliz, CA 90027
The Misfits were arguably the nexus of horror punk, from their Crimson Ghost mascot to their songs inspired by classic Hollywood horror films. But Misfits singer Glenn Danzig is no act. And nothing makes this more obvious than the dilapidated home he owned for years. While he put the ramshackle residence up on the market for $1.2 million in 2017, he used it as a secondary home well into his fame. And you can still see it to this day.
From the untamed flora and chipping paint to the ever-crooked blinds, Danzig’s former home looks every bit the part of a classic haunted house. It’s rumored he would stay in the chaotic casa on rare occasions. But his primary residence remains a Cheviot Hills home formerly owned by Lucille Ball.
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