When it comes to cemeteries, certain things often come to mind: tombstones, mausoleums, and sinister looking trees.
Often times, horror writers and directors rely on the creepy associations most people make when it comes to cemeteries in order to provide natural (and inexpensive) scenes for their work.
Daniel (Name changed for privacy), a young professional living in Lake Worth, was hell bent on using the South Florida National Cemetery as part of an independent film he was making last October.
Are Lake Worth residents being abducted by aliens? Photo: Val Astraverkhau/flickr
Scenes for a Horror Film
Updated 2/9/2020 – “A lot of successful directors get their big break by earning recognition in independent film festivals,” Daniel said.
“Obviously, I’d like to be next James Wan, but I have very little money to work with.
Creating and executing a storyline around a cemetery seemed like the ideal way to make a horror movie on a tight budget.
“I had hired five actors for my film, and we had spent three days at the cemetery, shooting multiple scenes.
Everything went extremely well, but as I reviewed the footage I realized there weren’t enough shots of the natural landscape and beauty of the cemetery,” Daniel recalled.
“So I decided to go back one evening by myself to get a couple more quick shots.
“I managed to evade detection and ventured to the farthest corner of the cemetery to set up my camera.
I was all alone, but I had just spent a lot of time at South Florida, and nothing about the cemetery actually creeped me out.
It was a very beautiful, very peaceful place, really,” he nodded.
“I quickly got a few shots of some trees and headstones when I began to hear this rustling noise behind me, like someone was walking around in the grass nearby.
Thinking it was a security guard, I fumbled to put my tripod and things away in a hurry.
As I was wrapping up, I began to hear whispers, like two people having a conversation.
“I strained to listen and I was shocked to realize two things: one, that the conversation wasn’t in English.
And two, it wasn’t a language I had ever heard before.
Dread began to bubble up from my gut,” he said, gesturing towards his torso.
“I grabbed my bags and turned, only to look into a pair of solid black eyes.
After that, everything went dark, and I somehow lost consciousness,” Daniel shuddered.
“When I woke up, I could tell that several hours had passed.
Extraterrestrials in Lake Worth
“I was in a fetal position on the ground of the cemetery, and my body ached all over, as though I had spent the day playing a rough game of football or something.
My thoughts were fuzzy and incoherent, and I struggled to make sense of what had happened to me.
Had I tripped and hit my head?
“And how much time had passed?
I shakily got to my feet and grabbed my things.
The moment I turned to walk to my car, I saw a bright blue light shining from behind a stand of trees.
“A massive—but quiet—dark shape rose up out of the foliage in the distance and silently zipped across the sky at an alarming speed.
I’m sure it sounds nutty to other people, but I’m truly convinced that a UFO visited Lake Worth that night…and that they had experimented on me somehow.”