Haddonfield, New Jersey: The Real Town Behind Halloween

Photo: Haddonfield, New Jersey by Dougtone, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Halloween week calls for one place: Haddonfield, New Jersey, a small borough outside Philadelphia with a big name in horror.

Halloween's Hometown

John Carpenter's Halloween, released in October 1978, takes place in the fictional town of Haddonfield, Illinois. The name came from co-writer and producer Debra Hill, who grew up in Haddonfield, New Jersey.

The movie wasn't filmed in either Haddonfield. It was shot in South Pasadena and Hollywood, California, in the spring of 1978 on a budget of about $300,000. Watch closely and you'll spot palm trees and fully green leaves in a movie set in late October.

Debra Hill's Haddonfield

Hill was born in Philadelphia and moved around a lot as a kid before her family settled in Haddonfield in 1965. She graduated from Haddonfield Memorial High School in 1968. Carpenter has said the movie's town was inspired by his own childhood hometown of Bowling Green, Kentucky, but the name was all Hill. "Basically, I used the name to pay homage to the town where I grew up," she said.

The real Haddonfield still leans into the season. Each October brings a Halloween parade down Kings Highway, and the Historical Society of Haddonfield has hosted haunted walking tours starting at Greenfield Hall. The movies have a place in town tradition too. In 2022, Camden County's public affairs director called them a "rite of passage" for residents.

The Other Monster from Haddonfield

Photo: Hadrosaurus foulkii Leidy Site by Smallbones, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Haddonfield has a second claim to fame, and it's a real one. In 1858, William Parker Foulke dug the bones of a huge animal out of a marl pit in town. Paleontologist Joseph Leidy named it Hadrosaurus foulkii. It was the first dinosaur in North America known from more than a few teeth, and in 1868 it became the first dinosaur skeleton ever mounted for display.

In 1991, after a campaign by a class of New Jersey fourth graders, Hadrosaurus became New Jersey's official state dinosaur. A statue of it stands in the center of town on Kings Highway East.

If you're keeping up with our Halloween run, we've already visited the Ghostbusters firehouse in Tribeca and the real Sleepy Hollow.

Rep Haddonfield

Live in Haddonfield, grew up there, or just love it? Grab the Haddonfield Neighborhoodie. Nearby, we also make the Collingswood Neighborhoodie and the Cherry Hill Neighborhoodie. Not your neighborhood? We make Neighborhoodies for more than 21,000 neighborhoods across the country, so find yours or browse more South Jersey Neighborhoodies.

Know a neighborhood with a story we should tell? Email us at hi@704shop.com and it could be next.

Sources: Mental Floss: 15 Terrifying Facts About John Carpenter's Halloween; Wikipedia: Hadrosaurus; The Philadelphia Inquirer: 'Halloween Ends' and its real-life connection to Haddonfield; Wikipedia: Debra Hill; Patch: Haunted Walking Tours Pave A Path Toward Halloween In Haddonfield