Is Stranger Things 4's Creel House A Real Place You Can Visit?
Over the course of its first four seasons, Netflix's "Stranger Things" has emerged as an enormous hit. Not only is the show among the streamer's most critically acclaimed offerings, but it is also Netflix's most watched English language series (via Deadline). The science-fiction story takes place in the '80s and, as such, is filled with nostalgia for the era.
Clever nods to the most iconic pieces of the decade's pop culture are dispersed throughout the plot and structure of each and every season. While Season 1 takes a very "E.T" approach to the arrival of a strange young girl named Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), later seasons have since spun out to encompass a variety of other inspirations for supernatural threats, including everything from "The Thing" to "A Nightmare on Elm Street."
Of course, the most notable inspiration for the series is the role-playing game "Dungeons & Dragons." Throughout the series, the protagonists identify creatures of the Upside Down by their "D&D" equivalents. For example, "Stranger Things" Season 4, Volume 1 largely focuses on a creature that the residents of Hawkins come to call Vecna. The monstrous creature terrifies its victims before violently murdering them with its powers.
Although the creature seems entirely otherworldly, it is eventually discovered to have a connection to the real world through the abandoned Creel House. Being that it's such a notable location in Season 4 of "Stranger Things," fans of the show might be wondering if this is actually a real place that they could visit.
The Creel house is a real place
As it turns out, the Creel House from "Stranger Things" is absolutely a real place. Situated in Rome, Georgia, this estate is roughly a 90-minute drive from Atlanta (via Google Maps). However, there's another detail about this house that, given its creepy appearance in Netflix's science-fiction drama, might surprise you even more. According to Expedia, the house was previously known as the Claremont House Bed & Breakfast. Reviews left on the site indicate that it was open for business as recently as 2018. This means people actually paid to sleep there, something no one from Hawkins would likely be willing to do.
According to Netflix, "Stranger Things" production designer Chris Trujillo chose this location because it immediately reminded him of the Bates residence from the Alfred Hitchcock classic "Psycho." Additionally, the house's architecture and third-floor attic were vital to scenes planned for the Creel House. Of course, the creepiness factor was upped considerably once the "Stranger Things" team added their own uniquely sinister vibes.
While fans of the show might like to visit the real-life location behind the Creel House, Mashable notes that the house is located on private property, meaning you probably don't want to go "running up that hill" anytime soon (or ever). Still, it's certainly cool to know that this iconic place exists in the real world and isn't just a fake house on a Hollywood backlot somewhere.