Final Destination creator Jeffrey Reddick reckons he was almost abducted by a serial killer as a child.
It’s no surprise, then, that the Hollywood screenwriter submitted his first horror script – a prequel to Nightmare On Elm Street – aged 14. He found himself so spooked by Salem’s Lot, the first horror movie he can remember watching, he had to crawl in bed with his mum for three nights. And eventually, he created one of the most iconic horror franchises in modern memory.
In fact, Jeffrey is the reason we don’t drive too close to logging trucks, or why we take care while stepping off escalators, or why some people just downright refuse to ride rollercoasters.
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And it might be logical after all, because it turns out Jeffrey’s love of horror might stem from a real-life creepy experience he had when he was younger and growing up in Jackson, Kentucky.
(Image: Getty Images for Netflix)
The screenwriter told Daily Star exclusively: “When I was younger I was going to a religious camp for the summer. Like I said, we’re hillbillies. We were at a KFC and my mom was sitting inside with my sister, and I was standing right outside the window, because my friends were gonna come pick me up.
“This car with these three guys pulled up to me – and they were really hot. They started trying to get me in the car, and I just had a weird feeling about it. I was like, ‘I should not get in the car with these guys’. They offered to give me a ride, but as soon as my mom noticed what was going on, they took off.
(Image: YouTube)
“That’s always stuck with me because I just know something bad would have happened. There were a couple of serial killers running around at that point in time, so I probably would have ended up murdered. That was probably the creepiest real-life thing that happened to me.
“But they were so handsome! That’s how the serial killers get you – they never send out the ugly serial killers to get you!”
There were indeed plenty of active serial killers operating in Kentucky in the 70s and 80s. The I-65 Killer was eventually identified as Harry Greenwell, who killed motel clerks along Interstate 65 – but was also linked to murders in the 80s and 90s in Minnesota, Kentucky and Illinois.
(Image: Getty Images)
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Donald Harvey admitted to murdering more than three dozen hospital patients between 1970 and 1987 in Ohio and Kentucky, and he pleaded guilty to taking 37 lives. Harvey died in 2017 after being attacked and beaten in his prison cell by another inmate.
Even Samuel Little – the most prolific serial killer in the whole of the US, active from 1970 until 2005, took one victim from the state. Little died in a California prison aged 80 in 2020.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
