The Evil Dead Movie

Five college students take time off to spend a peaceful vacation in a remote cabin. A book and audio tape is discovered, and its evil is found to be powerful once the incantations are read out loud and unknowingly release flesh-possessing demons.

The Evil Dead was filmed in a real-life abandoned cabin located in the mountains near Morristown, Tennessee. The Cabin used was located in a small valley around half-a-mile from the nearest public dirt road.

How many people knew that this classic 1980's horror movie was filmed just over an hour away from Jellico? What's even more interesting is that the actual location was said to be haunted. Several of the crew members fell unexplainably ill each time they entered the Cabin. Some of the actors was taken away from the set when they began running fevers and hallucinating during filming. (keep reading for more about the haunted cabin)

The actual cabin is still available to the public for visiting (IF YOU DARE). To find the Evil cabin you can go to Morristown, TN. You will turn off Andrew Johnson Highway onto Kidwells Ridge Road, which is right to the left of an Ingles supermarket (There are two of these in Morristown, so be sure to turn next to the new Ingles that's still open). On Kidwells Ridge Road, you will pass both an Amoco and a Texaco (I recommend you go here and ask for directions if you get lost). You should then be on the lookout for Inman Bend Road. You'll want to take a right onto it.

The entrance to the trail which leads to the remains of the cabin is about a quarter-mile down this road. It is right past Quail Hollow Road, but if you reach Greggs Road, you have gone too far. What you are looking for is a very small section of barb wire on the right side of the road. It is very easy to miss because the wire is stretched across a very small opening in the dense woods.

Once you step over the fence (It's got a lot of slack to it if you just hold it down with your foot), you will simply want to stay somewhat to your left as you walk into the woods. Although it is quite overgrown, you should see the path which leads downhill to the site.

The bridge that is shown at the beginning of the movie is also located in Tennessee. To find the old bridge you need to take interstate 40 and get off in Newport, Tennessee, go through Newport on the 25 that will take you to Bridgeport. You will see a rail road sign and then a old barn then the new Bridge. Don't blink or you will pass it. Cross the bridge and immediately on the left is bluff road at the end of the bridge. It is a one lane road so be careful There are several pull offs. The bridge is directly across from a white house. There is a fork in the road towards the river that leads to the old bridge.

Some scenes were filmed in the Clinch Mountain area of east Tennessee. You can also visibly see the Highway 25 E Gap that was cut into Clinch mountain in the background of the scene with the 2 fishermen and also see the old Highway 25 E bridge in the background of the Lazy Mary red truck scene on gravel road called Clinch River Road and Riverside Road.

I have to admit, this was one of the scariest movies that I have ever seen and knowing that it was created so close to home, added extra points. What I didn't know (until recently) was that the cabin in the movie was really haunted. A member of the film crew believes that they may have accidentally unleashed something sinister during the production of the movie. The movies director/producer Sam Raimi was so obsessed with every detail of the movie, he had the actors reading entries from a real book of incantations that was picked up as a movie prop from a vintage book store.

While filming the movie several members of the film crew grew violently ill and had to leave the property. After a few days when they returned, they began feeling unwell again. One member quit and left because he believed that the property was haunted. Other members claimed that they felt fine until they entered the cabin. Once inside, they began suffering from extreme sweating, nausea, chills and muscle cramps.

A few of the actors that you see in the movie also suffered unexplainable illness while filming. They was removed from the set when they reported running high fevers and suffering from hallucinations. When returning to finish the film, they fell ill again. It was decided to let them continue filming and many of the scenes that you see in the movie is not all costume makeup. Some of the footage is of actors who were extremely ill during the time.

On your next movie night I suggest that you turn off the lights and watch the original Evil Dead movie. If you're like me you've probably already watched it many times. But now that you know some of the facts, I guarantee that it'll go up on the scale of scariness.

Do you think that it's possible that the actors accidentally read a real book of incantations and unleashed some real evil into this movie and location?

While watching the movie are we truly witnessing some real life haunting action? The film crew swears to it.

Does knowing that this movie was filmed in our neck of the woods add any value to it?

Would you be willing to go visit the cabin for yourself?

Let us know how you feel about all of this and chime in with your thoughts and opinions.

Until next time, happy hauntings to our Jellico Mountain Community family and to all who stumble across this article on the classic, low budget horror movie, filmed in the Tennessee Mountains.