The movie Poltergeist is inspired by true events

It's the creepy cult horror film that terrified cinema-goers in the Eighties and now Poltergeist is due to scare a whole new generation as the remake hits the big screen tonight.

But very few of today's fans will know the petrifying real life events that inspired the film - or the curse surrounding it.

Steven Spielberg's 1982 film sees an ordinary family tormented by an evil apparition which later takes the youngest daughter Carol Anne into another realm. The reboot follows a similar format.

But the reality behind the fiction is equally as frightening. The film is loosely based on events at a house on Long Island, New York, where a family called the Hermann's were plagued by a so-called poltergeist.

Between February and March 1958, bottle tops and lids inexplicably popped, ornaments flew around the house, a heavy bookshelf mysteriously fell over and a Virgin Mary figure soared through the air and struck a mirror 12ft away.

A police officer came to investigate but was almost hit by a flying globe while a British press photographer who went to cover the story witnessed his flashbulbs lift off a table.

A priest was called and ministers from all sorts of faiths conducted rituals on the front lawn but still the strange happenings went on as parents James and Lucille and their two children Lucille jnr, 13, and James jnr, 12, became increasingly scared.

Experts confirmed the house was structurally sound, the fire brigade checked water levels in an old well and equipment set up in the basement confirmed there were no land vibrations. It was a mystery.

Read Full Story: Mirror UK