Chills and Thrills: Haunted Homes on the Big Screen

The movies that always scare me the most are haunted-house flicks, where ghouls and ghosts invade your personal space. Needless to say, I saw Paranormal Activity 3 yesterday...spooooky! While the story does not take place in a traditional haunted home (spider-webs, dusty attics, long empty hallways, etc.), the homes of all the Paranormal Activity movies were family suburban homes... plus one angry demon.

The trailer alone gives me goosebumps:

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In the spirit of Halloween, 

a countdown of some of the creepiest dwellings ever to haunt the big screen:

#8. The Haunted Mansion (2003)

Gracey Manor

Based on the Disney theme-park ride, Jim Evers(Eddie Murphy) brings along his wife Sara(Marsha Thomason) and their children for a late-night viewing of a bayou property going up for sale...but all is not what is seems.

#7. Casper (1995)

Kat Harvey (Christina Ricci) checking out the new digs.

The friendly ghost! The friendliest ghost you know! Kat Harvey (Christina Ricci) and her father (Bill Pullman), a paranormal therapist, move into a haunted mansion. The father, Dr. James Harvey is hired to exorcise the ghosts, so that the owner may search for secret buried treasure in peace. I remember my brother and I watching this movie only a zillion times when we were younger.

#6. Monster House (2006)

Neighbourhood kids discover, on All Hallows' Eve, the creepy house down the street is actually alive...based on a true story.

#5. Beetlejuice (1988)

There's a Beetlejuice house copycat in my town.

Newly deceased couple, Barbara and Adam, (Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin) are horrified with what the new owners have done to their now-vacant-home.

Decor at it's finest (if you're blind).

They decide to scare them out of the house, to the new family's delight. Desperate, Barbara and Adam summon Beetlejuice(Michael Keaton) to get involved... and "it's showtime".

#4. Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (2010)

Blackwood Manor

Sally (Bailee Madison) has come to live with her father Alex (Guy Pearce) and his girlfriend (Katie Holmes) in the old manor the couple are renovating. Mysteriously, the famous painter that once lived their disappeared soon after his son went missing. Time passes, and Sally discovers that the current residents, herself in particular, are not safe either from what took the painter and his son.

My favourite part of the house: the staircase.

#3. The Others (2001)

Grace Stewart (Nicole Kidman) has strict household rules about light. Her two children are sensitive to natural light. So to prevent any injury, Grace closes all curtains and locks every room before moving on to the next room in her giant of a mansion. When she hires new servants, and the doors begin to mysteriously unlock themselves (among other strange behaviour) she naturally believes it to be them. It isn't.

#2. The Amityville Horror (2005)

The most famous haunted house in America.

In 1974, this Long Island home was the site of a horrific murder of 6 family members, by the eldest son's hand. He claims "voices" told him to do it. A year later, this movie follows the events described by George(Ryan Reynolds) and Kathy Lutz(Melissa George) of the 28 days after they moved in to the same home. Lots of good scares in this movie, the house itself was a (evil) character, so you're never really safe.

And Finally...

#1. The Sixth Sense (1999)

The mother of all terrifying movies. Cole (Haley Joel Osment) and his mother's (Toni Collette) apartment doesn't seem scary, initially. We soon learn it's not the apartment that's haunted, it's the little boy. Thanks a lot M. Night Shyamalan, I didn't sleep for a week after I saw this movie.

Cole's fort.

Poor Cole endures haunts in school, at parties, but mostly in his own home. His behaviour is recognized as needing a counselor, and so along comes Dr. Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis). I love this movie, because it doesn't use gore. There's a lot more substance than that. Shyamalan plays mind games with you, and gives you signals to get anxious. For example, when a ghost appears it gets cold. Sometimes, this is signaled with cold breath, but the scariest signal was in the dead of night at Cole's house and we just see the thermostat go down like crazy.

Me: Don't get up, Cole. Don't, don't, don't, don't....GO BACK TO BED!

Honourable Mention:

Men In Black (1997)

James (Will Smith) is recruited by Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) to become an agent for the best keep secret organization in the world, the Men in Black, to protect the world against hostile aliens. While not actually a scary movie, I think it's pretty awesome that the alien in one of the beginning sequences is climbing up the Guggenheim Museum.

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Happy Halloween!

Haunted Castle Kilbride

Another eerie tale...

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Castle Kilbride is a historical landmark and pride of small-town Baden, Ontario, although rumours of a restless ghost surround this stunning example of Italianate architecture.

Castle Kilbride

James Livingston, industrialist and politician, 

built Castle Kilbride in 1877.

One of the most notable features is the dominating cupola.

Legend has it a little Livingston boy cousin was playing in the cupola with the other kids and is said to have accidentally fallen down the cupola's steep stairs, meeting an untimely end.

Visitors over the years claim to have heard soft steps bounding up the same staircase, 

with accompanying giggling and laughter. They say he whispers that he wants to play.

But, the stairs have always been found deserted.

Is that someone (or something...) peeking through the shutters!?!

Home to the Livingston's for three generations, Kilbride was eventually purchased

by the Township in 1993 and now serves as a museum.

Enter...if you dare!

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I'll be sharing my spooky story at:

Type A Anything Goes Party

Kissing Bridge Legend

It's Sunday morning, which seems as good a time as any to tell a ghost story...

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Local legend has it that the Kissing Bridge of West Montrose is haunted.

West Montrose, Ontario

West Montrose is a sleepy town, surrounded in acres of farmland and solitude. The town was largely settled by Old Order Mennonites. Many of the town's descendents continue to live and practice traditional Mennonite customs, including the use of horse and buggy.

The bridge was built by two brothers in 1880. 

Many young couples would meet under the bridge, out of sight of any prying eyes.

Until one night...

A young couple agreed to meet at the bridge, under the cover of dark. But the ill-fated couple did not meet that night, and instead the young girl's life was tragically cut short when she trampled by a horse and buggy, passing beneath the bridge.

To this day, she has been known to roam the bridge at night, looking for her sweetheart. 

Residents hear the clatter of horse-hooves when the bridge is empty.

100 years later, and no one will walk alone on the Kissing Bridge.

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I'll be sharing my spooky story at
Saturday Morning's No Rules Link Party
It's A Very Cherry World's Rednesday

Pictures courtesy of Wikipedia.