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Homes Built on “Lost” Florida Cemetery

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The 1982 movie Poltergeist has become a real life nightmare for a Tampa, Florida community when they discovered their homes were built on top of centuries old Zion Cemetery where the headstones were moved, but the bodies were not.

As if it was a line from the haunted house movie itself, Vice President of the tenant council Clark Simmons gasped “Those people are still there, Jesus Christ.”

1982 classic ‘Poltergeist’

Residents of the Robles Park Village were shocked to discover the African American cemetery was the first to have been built during the segregation-era in Tampa, and the place they called home was sitting right on top of it.

The burial ground was established in 1901 and spans 2.5 acres, and about one hundred years ago the land was parceled off and sold for white developments.

Back in June 2019, local church pastor Byron Pressley claimed when walking the grounds “I don’t know how to explain it to people, but there’s a feeling you get. As if there were people there. Their spirit was kind of still there because I could feel it. I stood there in awe. There used to be a cemetery there, and it just gave me chills.”

still from ‘Poltergeist’

The search for the “lost” cemetery began about nine months ago, earlier this year. With the help of technology, radar images have revealed reflections of rectangular objects four and six feet beneath the ground.

Archaeologist Eric Prendegrast explained the images show these rectangular reflections “are arranged in rows and orientated east-west within boundaries of a former cemetery.”

Once thought to be lost, radar images have rediscovered the remains of so many who are still there.

A bit more than 120 coffins have been found, but there were originally at least 386 bodies buried in this cemetery. However, even that number may be low.  Zion had room for 800 individuals to be put to rest.

In addition, records at the time were very inaccurate as African Americans were seen as second class citizens. There could very well be more than 400 remains in this area.

Furthermore, if the bodies were not buried in coffins and instead were laid to rest in cloth shrouds, the radar cannot detect bone decomposition, nor can it see through the floors of the homes where more coffins may be buried.

For a site such as iHorror, you have to wonder if any paranormal related activity has occurred in the homes developed on Zion Cemetery.

The apartments only occupy about 40% of the land Zion Cemetery covers, and as of now all plans to develop the land in the surrounding area has come to a cease. It will have to be determined if bodies are at a rest before any establishment can begin breaking ground. If there are bodies, they have to be respectfully relocated to another cemetery before the land can be built upon.

Read how the search for Zion Cemetery began here.

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Editorial

7 Great ‘Scream’ Fan Films & Shorts Worth a Watch

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The Scream franchise is such an iconic series, that many budding filmmakers take inspiration from it and make their own sequels or, at least, build upon the original universe created by screenwriter Kevin Williamson. YouTube is the perfect medium to showcase these talents (and budgets) with fan-made homages with their own personal twists.

The great thing about Ghostface is that he can appear anywhere, in any town, he just needs the signature mask, knife, and unhinged motive. Thanks to Fair Use laws it’s possible to expand upon Wes Craven’s creation by simply getting a group of young adults together and killing them off one by one. Oh, and don’t forget the twist. You’ll notice that Roger Jackson’s famous Ghostface voice is uncanny valley, but you get the gist.

We have gathered five fan films/shorts related to Scream that we thought were pretty good. Although they can’t possibly match the beats of a $33 million blockbuster, they get by on what they have. But who needs money? If you’re talented and motivated anything is possible as proven by these filmmakers who are well on their way to the big leagues.

Take a look at the below films and let us know what you think. And while you’re at it, leave these young filmmakers a thumbs up, or leave them a comment to encourage them to create more films. Besides, where else are you going to see Ghostface vs. a Katana all set to a hip-hop soundtrack?

Scream Live (2023)

Scream Live

Ghostface (2021)

Ghostface

Ghost Face (2023)

Ghost Face

Don’t Scream (2022)

Don’t Scream

Scream: A Fan Film (2023)

Scream: A Fan Film

The Scream (2023)

The Scream

A Scream Fan Film (2023)

A Scream Fan Film
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Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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Part Concert, Part Horror Movie M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Trap’ Trailer Released

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In true Shyamalan form, he sets his film Trap inside a social situation where we aren’t sure what is going on. Hopefully, there is a twist at the end. Furthermore, we hope it’s better than the one in his divisive 2021 movie Old.

The trailer seemingly gives away a lot, but, as in the past, you can’t rely on his trailers because they are often red herrings and you are being gaslit to think a certain way. For instance, his movie Knock at the Cabin was completely different than what the trailer implied and if you hadn’t read the book on which the film is based it was still like going in blind.

The plot for Trap is being dubbed an “experience” and we aren’t quite sure what that means. If we were to guess based on the trailer, it’s a concert movie wrapped around a horror mystery. There are original songs performed by Saleka, who plays Lady Raven, a kind of Taylor Swift/Lady Gaga hybrid. They have even set up a Lady Raven website to further the illusion.

Here is the fresh trailer:

According to the synopsis, a father takes his daughter to one of Lady Raven’s jam-packed concerts, “where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event.”

Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Trap stars Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills and Allison Pill. The film is produced by Ashwin Rajan, Marc Bienstock and M. Night Shyamalan. The executive producer is Steven Schneider.

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