I'm Goin' To Camp Crystal Lake!!

I'm back from my weekend Scout campout at No-Be-Bo-Sco, aka Camp Crystal Lake. Had an awesome time, and yes, I did have a complete and total horror nerdgasm when my son and I wandered down to the lake front and I saw the "beach" where Alice killed Mrs. Voorhees and the main cabin and lodge buildings where most of the action took place. I also found what I am 99 percent sure was the "shower house" where the female counselor took an axe to the head.

I took a bunch of pix and when I get a chance to Photobucket'em I'll post'em. For now, I'm exhausted, my feet hurt, and I am in dire need of a shower and shave.

Cool! Glad you had a good time...

So hey, here's some pix from Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco.


First, my son Matt posing in front of the sign at the front gate. We took this when we 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 used a few small areas of it. When we walked around Friday afternoon my son kept asking "Do you see anything from the movie?" and I was like, "Uhhh... not really." Haha. It wasn't till after dinner when we had a little more time to explore that I 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.


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).

A couple more (Photobucket is being wonky so I wanted to save my previous post before I lost it)


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 catches 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.

Awesome pics. I still kick myself for all the times I drove up to New York and thought I should make a side trip to Camp Crystal Lake. Are they cool with their connection to the movie or do they try and distant themselves from it?

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Are they cool with their connection to the movie or do they try and distant themselves from it?

They don't really play the connection up much at all from what I could tell. I thought that I might see some photos or memorabilia on display in the main dining hall or something, but nope, nothin'. The only "Friday" references I heard all weekend were from our tour guides.

You have to figure, the Boy Scouts is a very moral, straight-and-narrow, Christian-values kind of organization, so they're probably not crazy about being associated with a movie full of violence, gore and nudity.

I would bet that when the filmmakers rented the camp in 1979, the Boy Scouts probably needed the money and figured "Ehh, no big deal, nobody's ever gonna see this movie anyway, it's a low budget piece of crap," haha. I'm sure they never dreamed that they'd still be hearing about it 30+ years later.

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


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

Cool pics, Fred-O.

Never heard of that Boy Scout camp, which is weird because the time I spent in the scouts (Cub & Boy), we camped up & down the east coast. We hit plenty of camp grounds, far up as Lake Placid NY down through Virginia. But that name doesn't rig a bell at all.

Have you and your boys camped the Pine Barrens in NJ and looked for the Jersey Devil yet? That was a fun past time.

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Never heard of that Boy Scout camp, which is weird because the time I spent in the scouts (Cub & Boy), we camped up & down the east coast. We hit plenty of camp grounds, far up as Lake Placid NY down through Virginia. But that name doesn't rig a bell at all.

Maybe you were too far South, assuming you grew up in the Philly area. No-Be is the main Scout camp for Northern NJ, Upstate NY and the Delaware Water Gap area of Pennsylvania.

We haven't been to the Pine Barrens... cuz that's a little too far "south" for us! Maybe when they get a little older.

Your guys are Cub Scouts, right? Maybe when they step-up to Boy Scouts. That's when the real fun begins. Sending the new kid to the next campground over for a left-handed smoke shifter or No. 10 can of Blue Steam. Or taking a group out into the middle of the woods for "snipe hunting".

Oh, the shenanigans!!

It'll be cool when all the kids get old enough to see the movie and remember camping there.

I'm sure the guides have some crazy stories about fans who have visited over the years. I'd probably play down the connection too.

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I'm sure the guides have some crazy stories about fans who have visited over the years. I'd probably play down the connection too.

Nearly every mention of the camp I've ever seen on horror film web sites makes sure to warn you that the camp is property of the Boy Scouts Of America and any "outsiders" caught trespassing there will be prosecuted. I'll bet that doesn't stop the truly determined fanboys, though.

There's a famous story that Kane Hodder (Jason himself!!) drove out to see the camp while he was in New York City filming scenes for "Jason Takes Manhattan," supposedly his car got stuck in the mud and the local cops had to come to his rescue.

I mentioned it briefly in the article but the only time the camp has ever thrown "F13" fans a bone was in 2011, when they had a one-day "walking tour" of the camp for movie fans. I don't know how much the tickets for it were, but I bet they weren't cheap. Supposedly everyone who participated got to take home a bottle of water from the lake and some other souvenirs. Wish I could've been there!!

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Your guys are Cub Scouts, right? Maybe when they step-up to Boy Scouts. That's when the real fun begins. Sending the new kid to the next campground over for a left-handed smoke shifter or No. 10 can of Blue Steam. Or taking a group out into the middle of the woods for "snipe hunting".

Yep, they're Webelos right now, which is the "top tier" of Cub Scouts. They'll move up to Boy Scouts early next year. Funny you mention the "snipe hunting," I told my son about that old gag at the campout this past weekend.

Very cool! Thanks for sharing.

I meant to comment on this thread forever ago. I'm so jealous of your trip to Camp NoBeBoSco! The pictures were great. Too bad your trip was in April and not June, as the shots with foliage would have been even cooler. It's awesome that the place is still very much intact. Other a new paint job, it really looks like it did back in the day. One of the sad things about the older locations is everything from Part III is gone, due to the wildfires that took place in California. When new owners came in to the town of New Preston, CT where Part II was filmed a few years ago, they leveled Laurel Lodge, where the counselors hung out. Everything else was still intact, regarding where the counselors quarters were.