One Netflix film from 2017 has users so terrified they can’t sleep after rediscovering the chilling true story behind it.
British flick The Ritual, starring Rafe Spall, Robert James-Collier and Arsher Ali follows a group of old college friends reuniting for a trek across the mountains in Sweden.
But the group soon realise there’s a menacing presence stalking them through the woods after being forced to take a detour.
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From bizarre, demon-like creatures to ritual sacrifice, the film really is a cult chiller, based on the novel of the same name by Adam Nevill.
But what fans might not be aware of is the chilling true story behind the film.
(Image: Netflix)
The Ritual is based on the case of the Yuba County Five – five young men with intellectual disabilities who went missing the night before they were slated to play in a big basketball game.
Ted Weiher, Gary Mathias, Jack Madruga, Jack Huett and Bill Sterling were pals aged 24-32 who played for disabled team the Gateway Gators. Competing to qualify for the Paralympics, ‘the boys’ had their whole lives ahead of them.
However, the night before their big game in 1978, the five headed out to cheer on UC Davis at another college basketball tournament – but never made it home.
The only one of the group without an intellectual disability was Mathias, who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia after being honourably discharged from the army.
(Image: Netflix)
If he was off his medication, the condition could make him go ‘haywire’, according to his father.
Several days after the men disappeared, their car – a Mercury Montego – was found abandoned in the Plumas National Forest in California, up on a high dirt road that would have been miles out of the way of their route home.
The car was in good working condition and left police baffled – after all, why would they abandon a perfectly good vehicle to hike out in the cold?
After the snow around the mountain trail melted several months later, cops were able to forge further in and discovered a grisly sight – the corpses of some of the men.
Four bodies were discovered around a trailer camp used by backpackers, a good 20 miles away from the abandoned car. Three of the bodies left out in the woods were nothing but bones as a result of scavenging animals.
Tragically, Jack Huett’s own dad was the one to find one of his son’s bones underneath a bush – while not much else remained of the man’s body.
However, Ted Weiher was found inside the trailer, with investigators discovering he lived for around three months, slowly starving to death.
That’s despite the numerous cans of food sitting untouched in the trailer, along with matches and kindling for heating which had never been used.
(Image: Netflix)
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As for Mathias? His body was never found, though cops found his shoes in the woods – indicating he had also survived past the initial deaths of his three friends. Cops checked local psychiatric hospitals to see if he’d been picked up there, but found nothing.
It gets more confusing. Later, a witness came forward who had seen the men around their own car. Joe Shones had spent the night in his own car after getting stranded in the snow and suffering a heart attack, and called to the boys several times for help.
He got no reply, only flashlights turned off to disguise the group’s location. He also claimed to have seen a woman and heard a baby crying in the area.
As for the film The Ritual, creeped out fans have shared their reactions on social media, with one writing: “The Ritual on Netflix certainly exceeded my expectations when I first watched it. Fantastic movie. Definitely had me on the edge of my seat too!”
Another echoed: “So I just watched The Ritual on Netflix with some friends in the dark… I will now be sleeping on the couch with my dogs watching I Love Lucy to calm myself down! I’m not going camping any time soon.”
Someone else agreed: “The Ritual on Netflix… I stopped watching at the effigy scene I was so spooked!”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
