Music - Ambient Background Music - Cicada 3301 - CO.AG Music

The story behind the screams - The Seaford Poltergeist - Poltergeist 1982

Movie Plot -

The Freelings are a typical suburban family. Husband Steve sells real estate in their ever-expanding subdivision and Diane is a stay-at-home mom caring for their three kids, Dana, Robbie, and little Carol Anne. Strange things begin to happen in the house, however: cupboard doors open on their own, furniture rearranges itself and chairs go sliding across the kitchen floor. It's a bit of whimsy at first but soon becomes deadly severe when Carol Anne vanishes into a nether world where, oddly, she can only be communicated with through the white noise on their television. A team of paranormal investigators moves into the house. Still, the forces that kidnapped are evil and powerful requiring the services of Tangina, a woman who has dealt with this situation before.

Real-life Story

The Seaford ‘poltergeist’ was an episode of unexplained disturbances reported by a family in Seaford, Long Island, New York, in 1958. The incidents, which were widely publicized, included bottles losing their tops and spilling contents, and household objects and furniture moving with no apparent cause. Investigating parapsychologists attributed the cause to psychokinesis centering on a 12-year-old boy, while skeptics offered explanations in terms of trickery.

Crazy Movie Trivia

Two of the film's cast members were subsequently murdered: (1) Dominique Dunne (Dana Freeling) was strangled by her former boyfriend John Thomas Sweeney in the driveway of her West Hollywood home on October 30, 1982, and, having been declared brain dead, died five days later at the age of 22 and (2) Lou Perryman (Pugsley) was killed with an ax by a 26-year-old man named Seth Christopher Tatum in Austin, Texas on April 1, 2009. He was 67 years old at the time of his death.

JoBeth Williams had a supernatural experience during the making of the film. Whenever she came home from filming, the pictures on the walls of her house were crooked. Every time she fixed them they would hang crooked again. Zelda Rubinstein also had an experience when a vision of her dog came to her and said goodbye to her. Hours later, her mother called her and told Rubinstein that her dog had passed away that very day.

Julian Beck (Kane in Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986)) died in 1985 after a long battle with stomach cancer; Will Sampson (Taylor in Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986)) died of complications from a heart-lung transplant; and Heather O'Rourke (Carol Anne in all three movies) died in 1988 at age 12 from cardiac arrest caused by septic shock from a bowel obstruction caused by intestinal stenosis after being misdiagnosed with Crohn's Disease in 1987.

Leave a rate/review if you enjoyed this episode. Make sure to reach out on social media @firstclasshorror with feedback, suggestions for future episodes or just say hi!

Thanks! Stay spooky!!

-Aran