
These Horrific Oklahoma Murders Helped Inspire ‘Friday the 13th’
If you're a fan of horror movies and Jason Voorhees then you might find it fascinating that the "Friday The 13th" movies were inspired by actual events in Oklahoma. It was a couple of gruesome murders that took place at an Oklahoma campsite.
Yes, the Sooner State has its very own Camp Cyrstal Lake!

So how exactly did an Oklahoma campsite help inspire one of the single greatest horror movie franchises in history? Have you heard of the Oklahoma Girl Scout murders? It's a terrifying and tragic tale that took place back in 1977 at Camp Scott in Locust Grove, OK where a homicidal manic named Gene Leroy Hart killed 3 children.
All of the victims were at the camp for Girl Scouts. Prior to the murders camp counselors found threatening notes and mysterious messages that campers would be brutally murdered. Sadly, the threats became a reality.
Watch the video below to learn more about Camp Scott and the OK. Girl Scout murders.
Camp Scott is now abandoned and is rumored to be haunted by the souls of the children who lost their lives there. The case went unsolved for over 45 years and was just recently solved. The prime suspect in the murders was escaped prisoner, Gene Leroy Hart who was hiding out in the woods and caves in the area during the time of the murders. He was eventually arrested but found not guilty of the crime until years later.
Unfortunately, a lack of evidence at the scene and the unavailability of DNA testing weren't available back then, but times have changed. Thanks to DNA testing investigators finally identified Gene Leroy Hart as the killer. He died in prison back in '79.
It's been almost 50 long years, but the families of the 3 little girls finally know who was responsible.
True Hollywood Inspiration.
The Oklahoma Camp Scott Girl Scout murders drew national attention from the very beginning as people everywhere were both horrified and wanted answers. Like all legends, the more people talked about it, the more terrifying and gruesome the story became.
The original "Friday the 13th" hit the silver screen in 1980 just 3 years after the murders so by that time the story of Camp Scott was widespread and fairly well known.
While the 2 stories are very different, it does follow and was certainly inspired by some of the more exaggerated legends of what happened at Camp Scott despite being pure folklore. The more it was told the worse and bloodier it got, imagination had gone wild!
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