5 Real Summer Camps That Became Horror Movie Sets

The film Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, which premieres on August 7, 2026, takes viewers into the twisted heart of one of the most famous horror movie settings of all: the haunted summer camp. 

The film, which is the latest from I Saw the TV Glow director Jane Schoenbrun, follows a young queer filmmaker (Hannah Einbinder) who signs on to direct the newest film in a tired summer camp-based horror franchise called Camp Miasma.

She manages to find the final girl from the original Camp Miasma film, a woman named Billie (Gillian Anderson) who now lives at the defunct camp where the movie was made. The pair develop a complicated and charged romance as the killer from the films threatens to surface into reality.

Camp Miasma is ultimately a layered meta-commentary on the long, strange tradition of summer camp-based horror films. Of course, the movie franchise that laid the foundation for all this would be Friday the 13th, which first premiered in 1980 and kicked off a wave of horror films that took place at lakeside, densely forested camps. 

It’s not hard to see why summer camps can so easily become scary. They’re secluded places where children are often left in the care of teens far away from their parents, in close proximity to the woods. And scary stories were campfire traditions long before Friday the 13th. 

Many horror movies that take place at summer camps weren’t actually filmed at real camps, with their production teams opting instead for film sets and uninhabited forests. Yet some chose to film at actual summer camps—some of which still welcome campers today, and some of which are reportedly haunted in real life.

1. Friday the 13th (1980) // Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco - Hardwick, NJ
2. Friday the 13th Part II (1981) // Camp Kenmont - Kent, CT 
3. The Burning (1981) // Camp Stonehaven and Camp Scouthaven - Ransomville and Freedom, NY
4. Sleepaway Camp (1983) // Camp Algonquin - Argyle, NY
5. They/Them (2022) // Camp Rutledge - Rutledge, GA

Friday the 13th (1980) // Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco - Hardwick, NJ

The iconic original Friday the 13th’s Camp Crystal Lake was filmed at Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco, a Boy Scout camp located in Hardwick, New Jersey. It remains in active use, and occasionally offers tours of the filming locations used throughout the camp. 

Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco was established in 1927 and ran steadily through World War II. In 1979, the producers of Friday the 13th happened to stumble upon the location, and history was made.

Friday the 13th Part II (1981) // Camp Kenmont - Kent, CT 

The second Friday the 13th installment was filmed at Camp Kenmont, a Connecticut summer camp. After filming was over, its owner, Lloyd Albin, reportedly discovered a prop version of Mrs. Vorhees’ mummified head dangling from one of his trees—and kept it in his closet for decades, sometimes pulling it out to scare campers. 

The crew used the camp for many shots in the movie, and also specially constructed Jason’s shack for the property on site and left it there. Today, the camp still operates as a brother-sister residential camp. 

The Burning (1981) // Camp Stonehaven and Camp Scouthaven - Ransomville and Freedom, NY

1981’s The Burning drew from the horrifying legend of Cropsey to create an iconic slasher flick. 

According to the legend, Cropsey was an escaped mental patient who murdered children on Long Island. Eerily, his story has been connected to the real-world child kidnapper Andre Rand, who abducted and murdered local Staten Island children.

The Burning moves the Cropsey story to a summer camp, turning him into a looming figure who seeks revenge after being disfigured by a terrible fire. Scenes at the movie’s fictional Camp Blackfoot were filmed at Ransomville’s Camp Stonehaven and Freedom’s Camp Scouthaven. 

The latter remains privately owned, but the former has become a nature preserve. In 2024, the camp held a special screening of The Burning that allowed fans to explore filming locations and to watch the movie by the lake.

Sleepaway Camp (1983) // Camp Algonquin - Argyle, NY

Another early ‘80s summer camp-based slasher, Sleepaway Camp follows a young girl named Angela who survives a boating accident that kills her father. It then flashes forward to her time at a sleepaway camp called Camp Arawak, where horrible accidents start to occur. 

The movie was filmed at Camp Algonquin in Argyle, New York, which was active from 1927 to the mid ‘80s. Director Robert Hiltzik actually attended this very same camp as a child, and his time there helped inspire much of the movie. In particular, the lack of supervision and freedom that characterized the environment made him realize that a summer camp was the perfect setting for unhinged slasher action.

They/Them (2022) // Camp Rutledge - Rutledge, GA

2022’s They/Them stars Kevin Bacon as the owner of a conversion therapy camp that winds up being tormented by an axe murderer. It turns out that movie was filmed at a camp that has a reputation for being quite haunted. 

Much of the movie was filmed at Georgia’s Camp Rutledge, which has been subject to many reports of ghostly activity over the years—so much so that it was the site of an episode of Ghost Hunters, who visited the camp after children complained of unusual and terrifying spectral visitations.

Ghosts reportedly sighted on the property include that of Lewis Brantley, the patriarch of the family who owned the land, and a young boy named Ethan who might happen to roll a little red ball your way if you spot him. The camp, like much of America, has a very well-documented bloodstained history; Camp Rutledge was built on land that belonged to the Creek people, a Native American tribe, and disagreements over who owned it led to a massacre during the American Indian Wars.