Crystal Lake – A Spooky Destination In Friday The 13th Franchise.

Camp Crystal Lake, or Camp Blood, is a fictional summer camp in the Friday the 13th film series. It is located in Crystal Lake, Cunningham County, New Jersey (previously Forrest Green County and Wessex County). Camp Crystal Lake is most famous for being the home of serial killer Jason Voorhees.

Friday The 13^th – A Legendary Franchise.

Friday the 13th is a horror franchise comprising twelve films and a television series. The film series focuses on fictional character Jason Voorhees, who was thought to have drowned as a boy at Camp Crystal Lake due to the negligence of the camp staff. Decades later, the lake is rumored to be “cursed” and is the setting for a series of mass murders.

The original film was created to cash in on the success of 1978’s Halloween, which featured Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode battling Michael Myers. It was written by Victor Miller and was produced and directed by Sean S. Cunningham. It grossed over $68 million at the box office worldwide (adjusted for inflation).

Producer Frank Mancuso, Jr., who created the film series Friday the 13th and its television adaptation, also developed the television series Friday the 13th: The Series. The television show was not connected to the franchise by any character or setting; however, it was based on “bad luck and curses”, which were symbolized by Paramount’s film franchise.

While Paramount owned the franchise, four novels were adapted into novels with Friday the 13th Part III penned by two separate authors. When New Line Cinema acquired the rights to produce films in association with Paramount, Cunningham returned as a producer to oversee two additional films in addition to a crossover film with Freddy Krueger from A Nightmare on Elm Street film series. Under New Line Cinema’s banner thirteen novellas and various comic book series featuring Jason were published.”

Although the films were not well-received by critics, Friday the 13th has become one of the most successful media franchises in America—not only for their success but also due to their extensive merchandising and repeated references to the series in popular culture. The franchise’s popularity has generated a fanbase who have created their own Friday the 13th films, fashioned replica Jason Voorhees costumes and tattooed their bodies with Friday the 13th artwork.

Of course, Tom Savini and his team’s special makeup effects were another important factor in the movie’s popularity. Poor Annie has her throat cut in the woods, Marcie (Jeannine Taylor) suffers an ax wound to the face, and Jack (Kevin Bacon), who was shot in the throat after coitus, dies an iconic death. Even the murderer met a fairly brutal end after being beheaded. A horror movie’s body count is important, and Friday the 13th launched with a monstrous nine victims—Mrs. Voorhees excluded—right off the bat.

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The History Of Crystal Lake.

Camp Crystal Lake, founded in 1935 by the Christy family, operated peacefully until the summer of 1957. That year, when Pamela Voorhees was hired as a cook at the camp and her deformed son Jason was in attendance, he was bullied and harassed by other children. One day while counselors were not supervising him, other children threw him into the lake. Unable to swim, Jason presumably drowned. Hoping to avoid a scandal, the Christys closed the camp for the season and allowed an investigation into his death. Authorities determined that it was an accident.

The camp reopened in 1958, and Pamela was rehired by the Christys. Counselors Barry Jackson and Claudette Hayes, whom Pamela blamed for Jason’s drowning, were also rehired for the year. Pamela, seeking revenge, murdered Barry and Claudette one night as they were preparing to have sex. These murders could not be covered up nor deemed as accidental deaths; therefore the Christys shut down their camps indefinitely. Pamela was never suspected of any involvement in these murders; they remain unsolved to this day.

There were multiple attempts to reopen Camp Crystal Lake throughout the 1960s. It is unclear if the Christys made these attempts or if the camp had changed hands; however, none of these attempts succeeded. A series of fires in 1959 prevented the summer debut, as did the discovery of poisoned water in 1962. Although it was never known who committed these acts, Pamela Christy was responsible for them due to her sick mind and over-protective nature toward her son, Jason.

By living close by, Pamela kept a watchful eye to make certain that no other child would share Jason’s fate by living near Camp Crystal Lake. This fueled local gossip that the camp was jinxed or on cursed land and residents nicknamed it “Camp Blood.” Sometime in the 1970s both Mr., Mrs., and Jason Christy died; they had reportedly been broken and crazy at some point prior to their demise.

In 1979, Steve Christy made another attempt to reopen Camp Crystal Lake. This time, he had Pamela Voorhees—Jason’s mother—stalk and kill nearly all the new counselors. Pamela failed in preventing the reopening of the camp but lost her own life in the process. As Jason never drowned during the massacre, he witnessed his mother’s death at the hands of Alice Hardy, the only survivor of the massacre. This event marked the beginning of a new and far more deadly streak of murders that would plague Crystal Lake for over twenty years.

After the massacre, Camp Crystal Lake was closed to the public by law. However, that did not stop trespassers like Jeff and Sandra from going there or people dying either on the property or places near it like Packanack Lodge and Higgins Haven.

The camp remained closed until 1990, when it was renamed Camp Forest Green. This time it was Jason himself—recently resurrected by Tommy Jarvis—who prevented its reopening with another massacre of counselors in 1984. A school was built nearby with the purpose of training adults to be counselors in 1984; however, after several attacks by Jason Voorhees on staff members and students at the school, including a death at its doors, this effort also failed and was abandoned after only a short time.

It appeared that new construction had begun on the camp in yet another attempt to reopen. However, the massive damage caused to the camp by the battle between Jason and his rival/nemesis named Freddy Krueger would most likely have been sufficient to ensure that it remained closed. It appears that Pamela Voorhees’ wish that the camp never reopen has been fulfilled. Since the trail of devastation and wildfire of 2003 destroyed the construction site, there have not been any recent attempts to reopen it.

Camp Crystal Lake: Real Or Just Fiction?

Camp Crystal Lake is featured in many films in the horror franchise, though it is the location of Jason Voorhees’ origin story. As a young camper, he drowned at camp and caused his mother to go on a killing spree. Plus, it is out of that same lake where an undead Jason springs up at the end of 1980’s Friday the 13^th.

While some of the most iconic horror sets do not actually exist, Camp Crystal Lake is a real, functional summer camp. Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco is a privately owned Boy Scouts camp located in the hills of Hardwick, New Jersey. The camp is closed to the public but offers occasional tours for “Friday the 13th” fans to visit filming locations, take photos, and participate in camp life. In the past, guests have received exclusive souvenirs and been joined by celebrity guests like Adrienne King and Ari Lehman. They even offer nighttime tours for fans with a more adventurous streak.

In addition to pleasing horror fans, the tours help raise money for the camp’s youth programs and various projects. The location is significant, and the playful answer “Will I be able to run around like a maniac wearing a hockey mask?” on their website.

The answer is no. The camp is for children, and the trauma would be too much.

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