I Went to Camp Crystal Lake this weekend!!!

[FatFreddysCat]

My son's Cub Scout den went to Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco in Blairstown, NJ, this past weekend for the annual "Weboree" event. Of course, any horror geek worth his or her salt knows that No-Be-Bo-Sco is also known as "Camp Crystal Lake," because the first "Friday the 13th" film was shot there in the fall of '79....so when we arranged for this weekend I was geeked beyond belief. I'm the Den Leader for my son's group but I told my co-leader flat out, "I'm going to be totally useless all weekend, I'm going to be too busy geeking out." Hahaha.

So hey, here are some pix from our weekend at Camp Crystal Lake!!


First, here's my son Matt posing in front of the sign at the front gate. We took this when we first got there on Friday afternoon. We were the first ones from our group to arrive so we had some time to wander around and check the place out a little.

... mind you, this campground is f**king HUGE and the Friday the 13th crew only filmed in a few small areas of it. While we walked around Friday afternoon my son kept asking "Do you see anything from the movie?" and I was like, "uhhhh...no." Haha.
It wasn't till after dinner when we had a little more time to explore that I finally saw the lake out of the corner of my eye and sez "Well, most of the action in the movie took place by the lake, so let's go that way."

So we go down a hill and around a bend and BAM! There's the main cabin the counselors were staying in throughout the film. I start freakin' out like "HOLY CRAP, THIS IS IT! THIS IS IT!", I whip out my phone and start snapping pix like a total fanboy.



About a hundred yards down the road from that is one of the Lodge buildings. I believe the counselors spent most of the movie running between this building and the cabin. They're separated by a creek with a small bridge over it.


Right across from these two buildings is the lake, and of course the beach, where final girl "Alice" had her battle royale with Pamela Voorhees at the end of the movie. As you can see, the wooden lifeguard stand is still there (though I believe it was white in the movie; it's painted brown now).




Here's another view of the Lodge building, from farther away. One of the camp guides told me that the ending scene of "F13" with "Alice" in the canoe was shot in this corner of the lake.



I'm not 100 percent sure but I think this is the "shower house" where one of the girl counselors caught a hatchet with her face.


These "log steps" went down the hill towards the beach. They looked familiar so I figured they must be in the movie somewhere. Even if they're not, they looked cool so I took a pic. :D

It was a great weekend all around. The weather was gorgeous, my son and his fellow Scouts got to light stuff on fire and do all sorts of cool Scouty stuff, and I got my horror geek on.  

The only site that I wanted to get a pic of but didn't have the chance to was the archery range, which is also featured in the movie. Maybe next year?

[Chainsawmidget]

Oh, that is awesome.  Although for the true geek experience, you really should have brought youyr won hockey mask for picture taking purposes.   

[indianasmith]

Nerdvana!!!!!

[FatFreddysCat]

you really should have brought youyr won hockey mask for picture taking purposes

Oh believe me, the thought was there. I used to have a hockey mask that I bought for Halloween years n' years ago but I have no idea where it is, or even if I still have it.

Nerdvana!!!!!

Indeed! When we came down that hill, rounded the bend, and I saw the cabins and the beach, it was total Nerdgasm!!! 

[Jack]

That's awesome    Did you sleep a bit uneasily that night?   

I'm a huge F13 geek too, they should declare that place a national monument and have guided tours lol.

[FatFreddysCat]

That's awesome    Did you sleep a bit uneasily that night?   

Actually, I slept very well. Spending all day in the fresh air running back and forth across this sprawling camp ground took a lot out of me. 

I'm a huge F13 geek too, they should declare that place a national monument and have guided tours lol.

Surprisingly, they didn't play up the F13 connection at all, aside from a few comments from our tour guides during workshops and such. You'd think there'd be some photos or memorabilia on display somewhere in camp, but nope. Maybe when the movie was newer, but I get the feeling they're tired of hearing about it 30+ years later, haha.

It's also Boy Scout property and since the Scouts are a very straight-and-narrow organization I can understand why they might not want to be closely associated with the violence, boobs and blood of F13 - if it were a privately owned campground, though, I bet they'd play up the connection for all it was worth. Imagine the possibilities for horror themed weekend camping packages, especially around Halloween. Haunted hayrides complete with Jason attacks!! Get Betsy Palmer out there to sign autographs!! They'd make a frickin' mint!!!

[FatFreddysCat]

Of course, you all knew I was gonna write a piece about my Camp Crystal Lake Experience on my blog didn't ya? :D


http://fatfreddyscat.hubpages.com/hub/I-Survived-Camp-Crystal-Lake

[Archivist]

Thanks a lot for the report and cool photos.  I once did a F13 marathon that they aired on cable, all the way through the part 7 or 8.  It was very, very cool.

[Umaril Has Returned]

That's just too cool Freddy! Thanks for the photo shoot. What a rare opportunity to see the birthplace of one of the most popular horror icons on the history of the word horror. 

[FatFreddysCat]

That's just too cool Freddy! Thanks for the photo shoot. What a rare opportunity to see the birthplace of one of the most popular horror icons on the history of the word horror. 

Yup, it was very cool that my Scout Leader duties and Horror Geek interests were able to intersect like this. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity!!