There are only a handful of Hollywood directors who could, if it really came down to it, survive in a haunted house for a night. Tim Burton would be fine at first, though he would try to befriend the ghosts with disastrous consequences. James Cameron would probably try to reason with the ghosts by throwing a few million at them and the promise of a sequel, but ultimately be unsuccessful. But Guillermo del Toro… he would be the one to survive. At least, he should be, based on his resume.
The iconic filmmaker is currently in Scotland, presumably getting some shots for his upcoming Frankenstein adaptation, where he revealed that he would be staying at a supposedly haunted establishment.
Earlier this week, the director posted the following (filled with typos for dramatic effect — we’ll get to that later) on social media:
Whilst in Aberdeen, I am staying in an old 1800’s hotel. i am in the Most Haunted room of it- which was vacated this morning by one of our producers. Odd electrical and physical occurences scared her into leaving asap. Stay tuned- if anything happens I will report. I always stay in “the most haunted rooms“ but onlybonce did I experience anything supernatural- the rest of the time: nothing. I have high hopes.
I love Scotland- and, even when my links to it are not by bloodline, I feel close to it. My mother’s family side, has lineage going to Ireland- the O’Colligan family. My Grandfather (after whom I am named) was Guillermo Gomez O’Colligan.
It appears that one of the producers with del Toro had been too spooked to stay in a seemingly haunted room, so he took over and wanted to see the place for himself. This was on Tuesday.
Then, by Thursday, del Toro was clearly distressed, as evident by his increasing number of typos:
UPDATE-. I can only say:. Nothingbhas happened yet, but the atmosphere in the room is opressive and I am not gonna spend much more time there. It may be suggestion, but at this point I kept it but am sleeping in another room- I need 6 hours of sleep to have a good shooting day- Im stopping there early and late in the day- but something is in that room with me… If anything happens or Nothing does expect one or two more updates.
It’s concerning that we don’t quite know what we’re up against here. Is it a demon? A ghost? Hellboy? Unclear. But hopefully we can raise enough awareness to that del Toro will opt for a Marriott hotel next time.
Del Toro is safe (for now), and he posted one more update: “6:28 Scotland. Finished the shooting day. Going into the room now- dinner at 8:00 Anything happens and I will update. the room has more than vibes there is something angry and teritorial there. A shred of rage. Room #4” Maybe the “vibe” is just a entity asking for a cameo in Pans Labyrinth 2.