Here's Where You Can Visit The House From Halloween
If you are a fan of the horror movie genre, you might know that there are few film franchises that can withstand the test of time. Brain-eating classics like George A. Romero's groundbreaking 1968 zombie film, "Night of the Living Dead," spawned a whole series of movies, including "Dawn of the Dead," Day of the Dead," and "Land of the Dead." These films spun into countless remakes and paved the way for the smash-hit television franchise, "The Walking Dead."
If roaming corpses aren't your idea of entertainment and you tend to lean toward the macabre slasher series, then there is no better start than John Carpenter's 1978 masterpiece, "Halloween." The film centers around the unstoppable, blank-stare masked killer, Michael Myers, who is kept locked up in a mental institution after slaying his sister when he was just a child, according to IMDb. After escaping the confines of the institution, Myers goes on a murderous rampage in his old hometown of Haddonfield where he terrorizes the locals.
While revisiting his childhood home, Myers meets the new inhabitants, including Laurie Strode — played by a then 19-year-old Jamie Lee Curtis — who resists the hulking killer as she fights for her life, enveloping the premier idea of what it is to be the final girl. Mega-fans of the slasher franchise — that to date comprises 12 films, including the most recent installment, 2021's "Halloween Kills" — can relive the experience of the original film and actually stalk the home of Michael Myers.
The former home of Michael Myers is a historical site
If you were to look up where to find Haddonfield, Illinois, so that you could possibly get a glimpse of the cinematic killer's old slaying grounds, you would be left scratching your head. Haddonfield is a made-up Illinois suburb; the actual gray-white paneled siding rustic home is located in South Pasadena, California. When filming the slasher-horror classic, director John Carpenter had to make every cent of his meager $325,000 budget count, according to Entertainment Weekly. Although the film was a hit and went on to make $47 million in domestic sales, there wasn't much in the budget for fancy sets, and many of the scenes were actually filmed within the home itself.
Originally located at 709 Meridian Avenue, the Midwestern Greek-style two-story home that was built in 1888 was set to be demolished in order to make way for new construction, according to Myers House North Carolina. However, the home was saved by a local city council member named David Margrave, who purchased it from the original owner for a silver dollar and had it relocated to its current spot at 1000 Mission Street. Now that the site has gained South Pasadena Historic Landmark status, it can be visited for decades to come, according to the Los Angeles Times. And although the home has since been painted a pale blue and now inhabits office space as opposed to a knife-wielding maniac, fans of the film can still check it out.