Do you enjoy classic horror films? Renting a unique Airbnb for a quick getaway? Fava beans with a nice chianti? Then have we got the ultimate getaway destination for you: Buffalo Bill's house from "The Silence of the Lambs."
Located in the rural Pennsylvania town of Perryopolis southeast of Pittsburgh, film scouts decided the ramshackle 1910 house with its long hallway and creepy basement was the perfect setting for serial killer Buffalo Bill's lair, complete with a front porch where Clarice Starling and Buffalo Bill first meet in the film.
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The house was occupied when the movie was shot — the family stayed upstairs during filming — and remained a private residence until 2020 when it went on the market. That's when it caught the attention of TV and film production professional and horror-film aficionado Chris Rowan. He quickly became obsessed with the home, and he and his wife purchased it for $290,000 with the intent to make it a horror-film destination and macabre bed-and-breakfast.
Considering it was a family home for decades after filming, little in the way of props remained when Rowan purchased the home. But the floorplan remained unchanged, so he set out on a mission to recreate the space as it appears in the film by collecting as much "Silence" memorabilia and props as he could find. The result is a creepy but fascinating house replete with original woodwork, scratches on the front door that are visible when Buffalo Bill opens the door to Clarice, and an interactive basement "workshop of horrors" set, with a vintage sewing machine, American flag, mannequins dressed in ‘80s outfits, kimono, and a working disco ball.
Buffalo Bill’s House, a now spooky hotel, that once served as a film location for “The Silence of the Lambs,” now has a replica well 😃
— Mr Pål Christiansen 🇳🇴😍🇬🇧 (@TheNorskaPaul) September 18, 2022
Guests can get in if they want to reenact scenes from the movie & in
Perryopolis, #Pennsylvania & has other recreated movie props too.🥴 pic.twitter.com/HnHgBgNSqA
Though you book an overnight stay on the destination's website, it's set up like an Airbnb with only one party able to book at a time. If you're brave enough to stay, you'll have the run of the place with four bedrooms for up to eight guests; a fully outfitted kitchen where you can prepare fava beans and serve them in the dining room with chianti; a parlor with antique organ and harp; a clawfoot tub in the bathroom; "Buffalo Bill's playhouse" in the attic with arcade games, murder mystery board games, and air hockey; a fire pit; and some of Buffalo Bill's body lotion, a souvenir Rowan makes himself.
Overnight bookings are still available for Halloween weekend, but you'll pay almost $600 for the pleasure (though spread between you and seven of your closest friends, that's pretty reasonable). If an overnight is not for you, tours of the house are available for all your Instagram pic needs as is a paranormal hunt event on Oct. 30.
And since we're all wondering: No, this isn't the location where the well scenes, which were in Buffalo Bill's basement in the movie, were filmed. But Rowan decided that the house needed a well, so he had special-effects artists create a replica in the basement, complete with bloody scratches on the walls. You can even get in the (shallow) well for photo ops and yell for Precious the puppy while rubbing some of that Buffalo Bill branded lotion on its skin.
