{"id":1149,"date":"2026-04-10T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leoloves.co.uk\/?p=1149"},"modified":"2026-04-07T21:16:40","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T21:16:40","slug":"hauntings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leoloves.co.uk\/index.php\/2026\/04\/10\/hauntings\/","title":{"rendered":"Hauntings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WARNING:<\/mark> <\/strong>This Article May Contain Spoilers<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is probably a really contentious article to write as the idea of hauntings being true in the first place is a highly debated topic. However, whether the idea of hauntings is true or not, the below films are based on \u201creal\u201d events that were believed to have taken place\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The House on Laura Anne Dr.<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

              Of course, to write about these films \u2013 it\u2019s good to know the story behind the actual true event that they are based on but in the case of this film, even with several Google searches, I was unable to find anything, which made me a little suspicious that they are only claiming it\u2019s based on a true story to add to the fear factor. Using that term is being kind, seeing as for such a short film nothing happens for so long that I started to wish I had used this for a future article on two actors films! Don\u2019t get me wrong, a doorbell ringing several times with no one there at any point is a little weird, but it isn\u2019t scary. It actually feels a little bit more like the kind of film where the husband is trying to gaslight his wife so that he can leave her based on her going mad, especially as things only seem to be happening to her! Having said that, the only thing that doesn\u2019t seem to quite fit that narrative is the old lady. I appreciate that they lent into the typical trope of the house they live in being built on top of a graveyard \u2013 however the film on the whole is rather weak. Well, I guess if we start off with a bad one, the only way is up from here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Savannah Haunting<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

              So, this is not something you get every day. Not only is this film written and directed by William Mark McCullough, who was a victim of the happenings that take place in this film, it is also filmed in the same house where they took place! It even opens with genuine interviews before cutting to the death of Rachel\u2019s daughter \u2013 setting the scene for the viewer straight away. It is that tragedy that gives way to the experiences faced by the Rancourt family, those who represent the McCullough family, which explains why it all starts off with their son having what can best be described as an imaginary friend. This style of poltergeist haunting is one that those who use Ouija boards need to be wary of, the spirit using the guise of someone special to you to make its way into our world. Only, the film is a little more messed up than that \u2013 as there is no Alice Rancourt. A little like the film above, very little seems to happen for a long time other than weird phone calls and some creepy doll that keeps reappearing in the house. A doll, we later see burnt and being rocked by Rachel. What I found hard to find out at first is if Eric or Andrew Rancourt is supposed to be the interpretation of William McCullough but judging by the look of him, and that it took place in the 1970s, Anthony is supposed to be the representation of a young William. What confused me towards the end however is if Lilath and William were even real!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An American Haunting<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

              This probably seems like a crazy film to choose considering it can\u2019t be proved whether it\u2019s true or not as the events of this are believed to have taken place in 1800s America. What confused me at first was the fact that the film starts in modern day but the journal made it all start to make sense. I don\u2019t know if they used the opening scene to make the idea feel more realistic but, for me, it slightly took away from what followed especially given the success of a film like The Witch <\/em>that has followed and is set around the same time. Given the fact that nothing is really known about these happenings, the director could have made the film a little more terrifying than jump scares and imaginary wolves. Maybe I have watched too many of these types of films, because I can see how the scenes of Betsy being attacked by the spirit may be terrifying for some, but I wasn\u2019t shaken by them at all – some desensitizing by The Exorcist <\/em>and Evil Dead <\/em>perhaps? I also didn\u2019t feel it was needed to bring the relationship between Betsy and her teacher into the storyline. Why wasn\u2019t it possible for him to care for her platonically?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Haunted<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

              OK, so the events of this film were believed, by the Smurl family that were afflicted by it, to have been caused by a demon instead of a ghost or poltergeist but I guess a \u201chaunting\u201d is a haunting right? What I found interesting about this is that the most recent The Conjuring <\/em>film is actually believed to be loosely based on this as well as the fact that Ed and Lorraine Warren turned up in this film! What is nice, is unlike The Conjuring: Last Rites<\/em> this film is more focused on the family rather than the Warrens considering they do not appear until half way into the film. This film was made for television, so it surprises me that the sexual assault (I\u2019m being gentle here) of Jack Smurl is so unbelievably disturbing! And it\u2019s very rare that scenes like this are shown being done to a man! Now, I\u2019m never one to wish harm on an animal but if you\u2019re going to go that far, you may as well throw the dog into the wall too! I wonder if that shows the change in the bravery of film making as The Conjuring: Last Rites <\/em>did include it \u2013 and no surprise, I hated it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Haunting in Connecticut<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

              This film comes at the idea of a true story in a different way, starting with an interview with Sara Campbell, based on the real Carmen Snedeker, instead of jumping straight into the story, almost like they\u2019re trying to keep it realistic. Films like this have a habit of changing things, like names, and I worried that this happened here \u2013 changing the reason they move is to get treatment for their son\u2019s cancer instead of maybe making him a drug addict \u2013 which is how it slightly comes across when you first meet them. Of course, there is only so far that you can believe tales like this, but Carmen did say that the water when she was mopping turned to blood. Having read a few things about the \u201creal\u201d occurrences \u2013 it turns out they distributed the incidensts around the family a little bit in this film \u2013 for example both the plate incident and the shower curtain don\u2019t happen to the son and niece \u2013 they only happened to Carmen. Of course, for cinematic effect there were other things added to the film \u2013 like the dead people with carvings on their skin and Matt\u2019s other hallucinations \u2013 didn\u2019t take place. I wasn\u2019t too sure about the chair staking, especially as it seems very Poltergeist. <\/em>This film definitely fell short of what I was expecting, it just wasn\u2019t very chilling for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the Lights Went Out<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

              The incidents dramatized in this film are believed to have taken place in 1974 when the Pritchard family, represented here by Len, Jenny and Sally Maynard, were haunted by \u201cThe Black Monk of Pontefract\u201d. Now, unlike the film, the original incident only references the one spirit \u2013 instead of the two shown. Even though there\u2019s nothing mentioned in the original account, the spirit starts off seeming to have a fascination with Sally, especially considering there is a moment when it pulls her sheets back and runs its hand along her arm \u2013 almost feeling like it\u2019s leading to something disturbing! Thankfully, what we\u2019re all thinking right now doesn\u2019t take place! However, the events that happen in the house, the lights going out and the crazy noises fit with the real events. Of course, the director admitted to embellishing parts of the story to make it more terrifying, and he clearly got a few ideas from The Amityville Horror<\/em>. I think we\u2019re supposed to believe that the rose and the writing on the etch-a-sketch are being left by the young girl whereas the more extreme happenings are caused by The Black Monk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WARNING: This Article May Contain Spoilers This is probably a really contentious article to write as the idea of hauntings being true in the first place is a highly debated topic. However, whether the idea of hauntings is true or not, the below films are based on \u201creal\u201d events that were believed to have taken … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-truth-is-truth-to-the-end-of-reckoning","latest_post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/leoloves.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/leoloves.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/leoloves.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leoloves.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leoloves.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1149"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/leoloves.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1149\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1150,"href":"https:\/\/leoloves.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1149\/revisions\/1150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leoloves.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leoloves.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leoloves.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}