Report: Camp Crystal Lake Tour 9/13/2013

On May 13, 2011, Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco opened it's door, officially, to Friday The 13th fans to take a guided tour of the camp grounds that served as Camp Crystal Lake in Friday The 13th 1980. We wrote up a little review of the 1st Camp Tour with some pictures supplied to us a by a few fans at that time, and everyone anxiously waited for the announcement of the second tour. Unfortunately, 2012 came and went, but with a promise of the second tour for 2013. Sadly, the promoted Spring 2013 date could not be met, but last month brought great news that the Boy Scouts of New Jersey would be holding their second tour of the camp on Friday September 13th!

Image Courtesy Daniel Désilets

Unfortunately, this writer was not able to attend, but a slew of fans that did attend offered their images for us to use for this review. There was a much larger turn out for this camp tour with positive word of mouth from the first tour setting many fan's minds at ease. One of our Forum members, wanting to be named only with handle from the forums, agreed to let us post his review of his experiences. So, enjoy his review and the many images of this unique fan experience!

Review By Forum Member "nothimagen"

I attended the tour on Friday and it was killer. It looks like I was the only person to return from the first tour in 2011. I wrote this review back in 2011 and I thought I would share it on here (instead of writing a new one that would essentially be exactly the same)

In Town They Call This Place Camp Blood

Sometimes you have great days, and for me Friday May 13th 2011 was a great day. For the first time ever Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco offered a tour of the camp. No-Be is a boy scout camp in Blairstown NJ, to the rest of the world it is Camp Crystal Lake from the original Friday The 13th.

The boy scouts were having a fund raiser and allowed a small group of fans to tour the camp. I really was not sure what to expect, but I have to say that all my expectations were blown away.

We were not supposed to get to the camp until around 11am and I was running a little early so I decided to take the 10 minute ride over to Fairview Camp where I went when I was in 6th grade (the whole class went) the reason I am telling you this, is because on my way back to No-Be from Fairview I had an animal run in front of my truck. Not a deer, not a fox, not a turkey, not a squirrel, A FUCKING BEAR, a black bear, thank god I was in the truck and not walking around. I stopped the truck and grabbed my camera but he was already in the woods, I could still see him but could not get a picture. Now this may not be a big deal to some people but it was my first ever bear sighting.

After that I continued back to No-Be and was met by a group of boy scouts, I would say they were college age kids. They took the tour group over to the mess hall, and they served us hot dogs, chips, iced tea etc. The heads of the camp explained how the tour would work and explained where the money would go to help with repairs etc. around the camp.

This was actually the first stop on the actual tour, At the very beginning of the film a bunch of camp counselors are singing folk songs around a fire place. Well that fire place is in the mess hall.

Then they split us up into smaller groups. My group’s first stop was the main cabin used in the film, this was the cabin that the counselors played strip Monopoly in, it was also the cabin that had the kitchen in it, which had a few scenes, and it was also the cabin Mrs. Voorhees explained the whole Jason story to Alice.

The inside of the cabins were not setup like they looked in the movies anymore, now they mostly had bunk beds and tables, the kitchen was totally gone and just had tables. The pantry that Alice hid from Mrs. Voorhees in and Crazy Ralph was hiding in, was no longer part of the cabin, that door now just went outside. They told us that that pantry was only built for the film,and then removed.

Image Courtesy Daniel Désilets

Our next stop was down to the waterfront, this is the holy grail for a Friday the 13th fan, they had a canoe anchored out in the water as close as they could figure to the location that the canoe was in at the end of the film when Alice is out in the lake and Jason jumps out of the water. A bunch of stuff was filmed at the water. The whole part where the counselors are taking the float docks out into the lake and most importantly the final part of the “chase” when Alice kills Mrs. Voorhees. Right next to the water is a little cabin, this was the cabin that Brenda gets out of bed to investigate the mysterious voice she hears. Unfortunately they were working on the cabin so we couldn’t go inside that one (2013 tour we got to go in so that was great!!)

Next they took us to another cabin which in the movie was the bathroom\shower cabin. This was the cabin that Marci got killed in, the film company had added all the stalls and sinks to that cabin, in reality it is not a bathroom cabin.

Then they took us across the lake (actually called Sand Pond) and they showed us the location where they filmed Alice in the canoe at the end of the film, and also showed us approximately where Mrs. Voorhees was standing when she was spying on the counselors when they were swimming (that is how complete this tour was it was awesome!!)

Then they took us up to the archery range (wanna see my trick shot?) they filmed a couple scenes up there, this is where Brenda get’s killed.

Next we went to another cabin, this was the cabin that Mrs.Voorhees walks through at the very beginning of the film looking at all the sleeping kids. This was also the cabin that the “snake” scene was in.

After that they took us to where one of the cabins used to be, the scene where Alice is hanging the gutter and Steve asks her to stay is no longer standing. Another building that is no longer there is the cabin where Ned sees Mrs. Voorhees and follows her inside.

Image Courtesy Christian Schmehl

The next few stops we could only see from the outside, the office cabin, this is where Alice and Bill break the window and try to call for help (but the lines have been cut), next was a utility shed, this was the building that Alice had the rifle and was trying to find the bullets but Mrs.Voorhees found her first. After that we went to another storage building and this was the one I really wish we could have gone inside, this was the building that at the very beginning of the film, the two counselors go upstairs to fool around, only to be interrupted. If you looked into the window you could see the stairs but the building was so full of stuff it wouldn’t have been safe I guess to let people in. After that we walked over to the Power shed, where the emergency generator was in the film. This was where Alice found Bill and realized that she was in deep shit.

Next we went to the entrance of the camp, you can see this spot in the movie, when the counselors first arrive at the camp in the red Ford Pickup, and this was also the spot where Steve after finally making it back to the camp runs into an old friend (Oh, Hi)

Then they walked us over to see a totem pole that is still at the camp, the pole can be seen in the film.

Then we went back to the mess hall to use the rest room and get a drink, they have one guy on staff who was working at the camp when the movie was being filmed so he spoke to us he was a pretty cool guy. They also had a guy (Cliff) who was at the camp as a boy scout when they were filming and he told us some stories as well.

Then we went back down by the main cabin, which was where the scenes when Steve was digging out the stump and the Officer Dorf scene was filmed (I told you to sit on it Tonto)

At the beginning of the tour the head scout guy told us that they had something at the camp that nobody had scene in 31 years. So they took us to a cabin that was not used in the movie but can be seen a few times in the background, they said they were going to take 2 of us in at a time and that when we came back out to not say anything to ruin the surprise for anyone else.So they said who wants to go first and I raised my hand and went in first with another guy. So in the back room of the cabin they had the original Camp Crystal Lake sign from the film. The movie people left it there after filming.This was really cool.

Image Courtesy Christian Schmehl

After that was done they asked us questions and looked for feedback regarding the tour. Then they brought the sign outside and we all took photos with the sign. They had given us all these little bottles with these custom labels on them “Angry Mother Bottling Company” which we went and filled with lake water (A little piece of Crystal Lake to take home) I have to say I love this little bottle, it is really cool.

So some of the tour group started to leave and some of us that stayed talked the younger boy scouts into taking us out in canoes on the lake hahaha. Such nerds but we had such a good time.

It was almost 5:00 and the remaining people headed to our cars, but we made plans to meet in Blairstown to eat at the diner which is in the film. The inside of the diner is totally different then it was in 1980 but we sat in the booths that were approx. where Steve sat in the film. We had about 2 hours to kill before the next awesome event.

So we went and ate, then headed out to Hope NJ to take some photos with some of the film locations that are in Hope (Crazy Ralph intro, and Moravian Cemetary).

Then it was back to Blairstown for the 7:00 showing of Friday The 13th in the tiny Blairstown Theater, the theater by the way in seen in the film.

The place was full, they were also having a 9:00 showing, I could not believe how many little kids were in there with there parents. I have to say this was a great environment to see the film in. At the beginning of the film when they show some of scenes shot in Blairstown the whole place cheered. As the film went on I began to realize that probably more than half of the people in there had never seen the movie before. So it was all new to them they would cheer, scream, laugh it was really a cool atmosphere. When Alice beheaded Mrs. Voorhees the place went nuts.

But the real goose bump moment for me was at the end of the film , Alice is in the canoe and we all know what happens, but when Jason jumped out you should have heard the screams it was amazing. There was a family sitting next to us from Easton PA, they had three teen age kids, the youngest I would guess was around 13 years old, was crying she was REALLY upset. After the movie we were walking out and there was a huge line for the 9:00 showing. We ran into the family that was sitting next to us with the crying kid and I said “Is she alright” they said she was already in the car ready to go home. Her brother and sister were laughing, I felt bad for her.

Then we hung out in Blairstown for maybe an hour and a half and then I headed home.

For a horror nerd like me this was just an incredible day. Like when I went to Haddonfield IL (actually Pasadena CA) a few years ago this was a huge thing to cross off my bucket list.

If you aren’t doing anything and have the movie , throw it in and remember a time when horror movies were still great. Before Jason went to Space or Michael Myers met Busta Rhymes or Freddy killed people using a Nintendo game glove.

As with the reports we heard last year, the Camp Tour sounds like a fan's dream come true with even more unprecedented access to cabins and information about the original shoot of the film. A great big thank you to Christian Schmehl and Daniel Désilets for the use of their photos from the Friday September 13th, 2013 Camp Tour 2 event. And a great big thanks to Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco for offering the tour event and Forum member nothimagen for lending his review of the experience for this website! This writer is going to make it number one priority to get out to their next tour event. Hopefully, June 13th 2014!

Image Courtesy Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco Tour