1980’s Friday the 13th solidified itself as a horror classic, to the extent where 11 sequels have been made since. The additions to the franchise have become progressively more extreme, with some being straight-up sci-fi fantasies. But the simplicity of the original movies still remain some of the scariest of them all, as they depict a horror that’s somewhat feasible in real life. And so, it raises the question of whether or not the original Friday the 13th movies were based on a true story.
Many who worked on the production of the franchise have been asked this question, and each of them has denied taking inspiration from any real-life events. However, a massacre in 1960s Finland shares eerily similar details with the movies. As such, some speculate it’s where the origin of the Friday the 13th story began.
During a Finish summer, two 15-year-old girls took their 18-year-old boyfriends on a camping trip. Their chosen location was the isolated area of Lake Bodom, where they decided to set up tents along the lake’s edge. Already, this bears similarities to Friday the 13th‘s Crystal Lake, where the movie’s group of young adults go to visit a campsite. But unfortunately for the real-life campers, the stories’ likeness doesn’t end there.
The next day, a local carpenter stumbled upon the campsite but looked inside to find a bloody crime scene. Three of the campers had been stabbed to death, and one of the boys, Nils Gustafsson, was found alive but unconscious. Once police arrived, Nils claimed that someone broke into their tent in the early hours of the morning and attacked. And with his severer injuries matching up with his story, Gustafsson was cleared as a suspect.
The randomness of the attack meant there was little for police to go off of. Although, strangest of all was Gustafsson’s description of the attacker. As he was awoken in a tired state, he claimed to have seen a man dressed in black with bright red eyes. Of course, this didn’t help the police in their investigation, and given their crude methods at the time, much of the crime scene was ruined by people casually walking over it. But with Gustafsson’s creepy description, combined with the brutality of the seemingly unprovoked murders, it seems as though these unfortunate teens had met their own Jason Voorhees.
The Friday the 13th murders at least had clear culprits, whereas the 1960s attack was a complete mess when it came to suspects. One was local resident Valdemar Gyllstrom, who was known to be aggressive toward campers. In the end, there was no evidence to show it was Gyllstrom, and his wife claimed he was in bed at the time. However, confusing things further, Gyllstrom suffered from mental health problems and wrote a suicide note nine years later, confessing to the murders.
The next suspect was Hans Assmann, a KGB spy who had recently moved into the area. Police let him go after he claimed to be in Germany at the time, although more recent evidence suggests he was seen in Finland the morning of the murders. And then finally is the survivor, Nils Gustafsson himself, who was accused in 2004 after no sign of his blood was found anywhere in the evidence. However, he was later let go as there were few facts to criminalize him with.
From the brutal lakeside murders, to the creepy suspect description, the event bears much resemblance to Friday the 13th. And even if this tragic event wasn’t taken as inspiration, it just goes to show that often the creepiest horror stories are the ones that could happen in real life.
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