10 Horror Movies You Didn't Know Were Based On True Stories

1. The Blob

Freddy Krueger
TriStar Pictures

As ludicrous as it sounds, The Blob - both the 1958 and 1988 versions - is based on a real-life incident. Yes, that film about a giant squirt of alien jelly eating its way around a small American town was inspired by an odd occurrence that took place in Philadelphia in 1950.

On September 26th of that year, two police officers reportedly saw a shape that resembled a parachute falling from the sky. Upon investigating this object, they found something really strange; something that seemed alien. Roughly six feet in diameter and giving off a strange mist, this purple... thing, was touched by one of the officers, leaving an odourless sticky residue on his hand.

And that was pretty much the end of it. Whatever this thing was, nobody was able to determine, and it dissolved into nothingness shortly after. The filmmakers behind The Blob then used the basic idea of a sticky extra-terrestrial mass and turned it up to eleven, resulting in the two Blob films we have today - with another remake incoming.

Watch Next


Contributor
Contributor

Danny has been with WhatCulture for almost nine years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. He has been writing and video editing for 10+ years, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers and uploading them to YouTube (they're admittedly a bit rusty by today's standards). If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order or to tell you about the making of 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks, Danny is the person to ask.