Overview
They’re here! We just wanted to get that out of the way. We have all, hopefully, seen the classic horror film, Poltergeist, and thought, “Nice house.” The suburban home featured in the film housed the Freeeling family as they experienced a paranormal nightmare.
While the film’s plot involved a cursed house built on top of a cemetery, the real-life house has been poltergeist-free, at least that is what the current owners say.
Poltergeist Legacy: A Haunted Slice of Cinema
Released in 1982, Poltergeist is an American horror classic directed by Tobe Hooper and written by Michael Grais, Mark Victor, and some guy named Steven Spielberg. I wonder if he is still working? The film is about the Freeling family just trying to live their life and build a pool, but these malevolent spirits have other ideas when they abduct their youngest daughter, Carol Anne.
The home in Simi Valley was used as the real-world location for filming the Freeling residence. While only the exterior and some interiors were used in the film, the house is iconically recognizable because of scenes filmed in these parts of the home:
- Kitchen: Pretty much all of the scenes in the kitchen, like the iconic scenes of stairs stacking themselves and Carol Anne sliding with a football helmet on across the floor.
Photo by Steve Sieren
- Living Room: When Carol Anne had a totally normal conversation with spirits through the television.
Photo by Steve Sieren
- Pool: When mom took a quick dip with the dead.
Photo by Steve Sieren
The movie was a huge blockbuster, earning over $121 million at the box office and leading to two sequels and an unfortunate remake in 2015. It was even nominated for 3 Oscars and is constantly listed as one of the greatest horror movies of all time. Is there a better haunted house in a movie? Someone could argue that Poltergeist is the ultimate haunted house film, and they wouldn’t be wrong.
Where Is The Real Poltergeist House Located?
The house from the Poltergeist films is a real house located at 4267 Roxbury Street, Simi Valley, CA. Here is the spookiest part: the new owner has transformed the Poltergeist home into a vacation rental on Airbnb. That’s right, you can actually stay in Carol Anne’s home, but I hear there may be a problem with the TV.
