13 Really Creepy Movie Locations

It's not too hard to scare up a nightmare on a movie set, but it takes extra effort to find a spooky location to go with your tale. Although not all of these places are haunted, they look like they could be!

1. Danvers State Hospital, Mass.

Brad Anderson shot his terrifying horror film Session 9 on location at the Danvers State Hospital, an abandoned mental asylum in Massachusetts haunted by the pain of its former residents and the treatments they endured. A host of underground tunnels connected the castle-like buildings, the perfect location for five men brought in to clean up the place to slowly lose their minds. Anderson said about the location, "We found all sorts of creepy medical instruments and a straitjacket and stuff. We also got a sense of the asylum's history. Even if you're a very skeptical person about the supernatural, that place is so emotionally heavy. Hundreds of thousands of people were wrongfully committed and lived out their lives locked in these tiny little rooms that they call 'seclusions.' It's tragic."

Danvers is now an apartment community. Welcome home! Just watch out for those hydrotherapy tanks in the corner.

2. The Dakota, New York City

Courtesy of TheNails

This posh Upper West Side apartment building was the setting for Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby, and later was the tragic scene of John Lennon's assassination. Whether you believe in tales of paranormal activity or not, there's no doubt that this giant Gothic edifice looming over Central Park West is unforgettable.

3. Roosevelt Island, N.Y.

Courtesy of OnTheSetofNewYork.com

This beautiful island just minutes away from Manhattan was the home to several creepy hospitals around the turn of the century, like the Smallpox Hospital known as Renwick Ruin. Although Walter Salles' Dark Water didn't take full advantage of its eerier locations, screenwriter Rafael Yglesias was inspired by the island. "When I was thinking of shooting a movie in the rain in New York, when you drive along the FDR Drive and you look at Roosevelt Island in the rain, which I guess you can probably do today, it looks a little bit ghostly."

4. Georgetown, D.C.

Courtesy of Mark's_DC_Pictures

A tween possessed by the devil wasn't the only scary thing in The Exorcist, especially if you are a little out of shape. Father Karras met his untimely end on a series of disturbingly steep steps that are used by locals to amp up their workouts.

5. St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, New Orleans

Courtesy of Greg Headley

Are these tombs gorgeous or creepy? Whatever your taste, there's no denying the cemetery's place in history, both as the resting place of many famous people (reportedly including Voodoo priestess Marie Laveau) and plenty of movie scenes. Perhaps the most infamous of these is Easy Rider, when Wyatt (Peter Fonda) and Billy (Dennis Hopper) drop acid and do…other stuff in the cemetery with some lady friends.

6. Hanging Rock, Victoria, Australia

Courtesy of Nuffcumptin

In the film Picnic at Hanging Rock, based on the novel by Joan Lindsay, a host of curious schoolgirls go exploring on a field trip to the famous Australian geological formation (which is actually a former volcano) in the Macedon Ranges. Petticoats and corsets can't stop them from exploring, but their Valentine's Day trip turns to disaster when several disappear without a trace. Perhaps they went spelunking in those creepy caves?

7. Devil's Tower National Monument, Wyoming

Courtesy of Lietmotiv

Steven Spielberg used this incredible formation in Close Encounters of the Third Kind as a possible hub of alien activity, but it's also packed with religious significance for the Lakota and a number of other Native American tribes. And it looks awesome. 

8. Amargosa Opera House and Hotel, Calif.

Courtesy of David's-Photos

It's in Death Valley. It was the Lost Highway Hotel in David Lynch's Lost Highway. And it may be haunted. This strange, adobe-style hotel is full of incredible murals and other paintings that only add to its strange desert presence.

9. Bagdad Cemetery, Leander, Texas

Courtesy of jimmywayne

Is any cemetery not creepy? Well, this one is a famous creepy cemetery, for horror fans at least. It stars in the opening scenes of Texas Chainsaw Massacre (narrated by none other than John Larroquette) as the victim of graverobbing and other unsavory activities. 

10. London, U.K.

Courtesy of Fox Searchlight

In 28 Days Later, poor Cillian Murphy wakes up all alone in the hospital—yes, all alone, because there's been a zombie outbreak and he's one of the few remaining humans. The eeriest scene in the movie is when his character, dressed in medical scrubs, walks across one of London's busiest intersections without a soul in sight.

11. Monroeville Mall, Penn.

Courtesy of MonroevilleMall.com

The mall can be stressful, but it's downright scary in Dawn of the Dead. George A. Romero's sequel to Night of the Living Dead was primarily shot on location at the Monroeville Mall, where four survivors of the zombie apocalypse have taken refuge. It is now a destination spot for both shoppers and horror lovers, as well as the occasional zombie crawl.

12. Yankee Pedlar Inn, Conn.

Courtesy of Historic Buildings of Connecticut

Director Ti West was staying at the Yankee Pedlar Inn while he was in production on his horror film The House of the Devil, and the strange goings-on at this little rustic inn inspired his next film, The Innkeepers. He ultimately filmed The Innkeepers at the Pedlar. He said, "Weirder stuff would happen back at the hotel than on the set…I don't believe in ghosts, but the TV would go off and on, the phone would ring and there was no one on the other end, I had really vivid dreams. It's just a weird vibe in this kooky old place."

13. Santa Cruz Boardwalk, Calif.

Courtesy of irene

In The Lost Boys, the vampires of Santa Carla love nothing more than a good trip to the amusement park after dark. After all, what's the use of being young forever if you can't have fun in between feedings? The Lost Boys was filmed in and around Santa Cruz, with its colorful boardwalk the stand-in for where the undead mix, mingle and fight at night.