I survived! I visited Camp Crystal Lake and made it out alive! Okay, I might’ve looked over my shoulder a time or two but turns out, no Jason and no Mrs. Vorhees…

For Halloween this year, I decided to do something different. Considering we are at the point that Covid is still prevalent, there was not much going on. As I’m sure you guys know by now, I was supposed to go to Camp Crystal Lake tours a few months ago when Covid was at it’s height. It got canceled…

I was pretty disappointed by this too because this is the 40th anniversary from when the movie was released. I think little things like that make an experience more special. But luckily we received updates on a few different occasions, and eventually we just caved. Once I checked and saw that there were available tours for Halloween, how could this not happen? And I am so glad it did.

After I bought the tickets, there was just over a month to go until I would finally make my way to Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco. This is the camp the original Friday the 13th took place. This is located in Hardwick Township, New Jersey, only two hours away! Although it is just a short two hours from here, I didn’t want to make the whole day consumed with walking and driving. It wouldn’t be worth it to be that exhausted so I decided to make it into a little getaway! A weekend away for Halloween weekend… yes, please! I also wrote a blog about the weekend so click HERE to check it out 🙂 .

Halloween day rolled around and I could not have been MORE excited! I have been anticipating this for months, even years, since that’s when I first heard about these tours. When I arrived at the destination, I knew I was at the right spot since there was a line of cars waiting to get in. Once it started moving, I followed the trail that led under Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco sign and continuing on through the trees. I was ready with tickets in hand and didn’t even actually need them, just by name. I parked the car and got myself ready for the hike.

The start of the tour was a drink stop, where they gave us free hot chocolate (yummm!), a bathroom break and a visit to the gift shop. There was also an area that had a replica Jeep showcased with the signatures of the cast on the back and the original Camp Crystal Lake sign that was hung in the movie! I got a Polaroid picture by the sign and checked out the gift shop right away. I wanted to be sure I secured any souvenirs 🙂 .

I lucked out SO much this day, weather wise. The day prior and the day after it was rainy and pretty cold but day of was beautiful! It was sunny and maybe only had a little chill in the air.

I started this journey with a group and tour guide. I was given so much information about the movie, about the camp, exact filming locations, what they did to make scenes happen, etc. They quizzed us along the way and made it very interactive. We were shown each spot where a death took place and a canoe (not THE canoe) where Jason made his first appearance.

We walked the grounds looking at the woods, the cabins, the lake, and everything in between. We got to walk through a few of the cabins to see where they chopped the head off the snake, the shower that one girl got an axe to the face, the bunk beds that Mrs. Vorhees made two of her kills, even the beach that Mrs. Vorhees got decapitated! On that beachy spot, I along with the others on the tour got to sit in a canoe on the side of the lake to get a photo op. We also got the opportunity to fill a souvenir bottle with water from the lake! That was probably my favorite thing to bring home because it was something to do personal to the trip.

Something also exciting with going on Halloween of this year, it was the first time that the tour allowed costumes! I was basically the only one to dress up. I didn’t do anything crazy so it wasn’t completely out of place. There were some people that had a Jason mask with them, wore a Jason jersey and just things like that. It was still cool though! For me it will be a little way to really remember it was Halloween day 🎃 .

I’m sure some of you are curious about the Covid precautions that Camp Crystal Lake tours took. So let’s get into that!
I felt completely safe from the moment we entered the site.
– they provided us with hand sanitizer
– they divide up groups so that there are less people in the same area
– there is so much room on the grounds that the six feet is no issue.
I will say, people are people and take that six feet how they want to but that wasn’t exactly the fault of the camp.
– masks were required of all the visitors, as well as the workers
– for pictures, you were allowed to take masks off but they did tell us it’s preferred to be at a distance and when they lined us up to take pictures with the sign, we were distanced so the mask was no issue.
– when the tour guide talked at times he would take the mask off just so it would project better but he made sure to be at a distance.
Overall, they did their best to ensure a Covid “friendly” environment!

In my opinion, it was worth the experience! I would absolutely recommend this to anyone who is a horror fan, Jason Vorhees fan or overall Friday the 13th fan. To see the filming locations up close and in person for yourself is a different involvement. The facts and knowledge you learn from this tour and how seeing how knowledgeable the guides are is amazing. We were also gifted a free reusable bottle, a little hand sanitizer, and with it being Halloween a free mug with candy! For myself, I was ecstatic that maybe we didn’t get to be there the weekend of the 40th anniversary but still had the chance to make it the year of!

Something to note, this camp is an actual up and running campground! Kids have been coming each year since 1927. This camp has been active even before the Friday the 13th franchise ever began! I’m sure that could be a little eerie for some of the parents now but hey, it makes for a pretty cool story!

I hope you enjoyed reading along my journey, even though I got it up basically a week later than I had hoped 🙂 . If you have visited Camp Crystal Lake, or plan to at some point, let me know! I would love to talk about it with you!

See ya,
Samm 🌻