Whether you love horror films or not, there's something infinitely fascinating about them. But nothing's scarier than real life, right? From the town that has inspired Stephen King to Hitchcock's classics, we take a look at the scariest and spookiest real life filming locations you can visit (if you're brave enough).

The Gothic vampire movie Nosferatu is one of the most important films of the 20th century as it firmly established the horror genre, significantly influencing later productions. In the film, the Salzspeicher (salt storehouses) in Lübeck, Germany is where Nosferatu lived. A UNESCO World Heritage Centre, the town's tightly-woven streets lined with medieval buildings are the perfect backdrop for any horror movie.

Another Hitchcock classic, Strangers on a Train, tells the story of psychopathic socialite Bruno who attempts to force tennis star Guy to commit murder to prove his theory that two strangers can get away with murder. Much of the film features scenes from Washington D.C. – the opening scene shows the Union Station Metro Station entrance and scenes from outside Guy's house feature the Capitol in the distance. But one of the most memorable and chilling scenes takes place at the Thomas Jefferson Memorial where Guy sees the ominous outline of Bruno on the steps. 

Known as the Witches House due to its peculiar design, it was originally built in Culver City in 1920 for a silent film studio but was later moved to its current location in Beverly Hills. It appears in the 1957 film The Undead, starring Pamela Duncan as a woman who undergoes hypnosis and relives her former life as a woman accused of witchcraft in the Middle Ages.

The peculiar-looking Ennis House in Los Angeles has appeared in several films and TV shows, most notably as the home of Rick Deckard in Blade Runner (1982). However, horror fans will recognise this as the place where Frederick Loren invites five strangers to stay the night, promising $10,000 to anyone, who can survive until dawn in House on Haunted Hill. Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. the house is privately owned and has been recently restored.

A prominent feature of the studio tour, the Bates Mansion has stood on the Universal Studios backlot since 1959, when Psycho was filmed. Over the years, the house has been renovated, expanded and almost completely rebuilt (as it has ever only been a facade) and has featured in films a lot less scarier too, like Big Momma's House.

If Bates Mansion isn't enough to get your adrenaline going, Bates Motel used in the film also features on the Universal Studios tour complete with a Norman Bates impersonator. The motel set is typically incorporated into the theme park's annual Halloween Horror Nights.

It's Bodega Bay where Melanie Daniels is terrorised by a massive flock of aggressive birds that descend on the seaside town in Alfred Hitchcock's classic The Birds. Bodega Bay is a real town in California and between here and nearby Bodega, you'll be able to find the restaurant, the schoolhouse and many other locations featured in the film.

Based on a Stephen King novel, Stand by Me follows a group of boys as they set out to find the body of a missing boy in the woods. In one scene, the boys try to cross a train bridge that sits over a stream when a train comes barreling along. Though the 1986 film is set in a small town in Oregon, this scene features Lake Britton Bridge in Burney, California.

For years known as one of the most iconic residences in New York, The Dakota served as the exterior of the fictional Bramford building where several of the film's characters, including Rosemary and her husband Guy, resided. In reality, the building has an equally chilling vibe – stories of ghost sightings have loomed for years and it's where John Lennon was murdered.

Although George A. Romero’s horror flick Night of the Living Dead came out 50 years ago, the film's fans still flock to the Evans City Cemetery where the film begins. The old chapel looks almost identical to how it appeared in the film and many fans seek out the tombstone of Nicolas Kramer to recreate the scene of the film where Barbara clings to it in panic. 

Shot in a variety of locations in mainland Scotland to double up as the fictional Summerisle, the 1973 classic follows a Christian policeman investigating a mysterious disappearance of a girl in a remote pagan community. Lord Summerisle's mansion in reality is the Culzean Castle near Ayr. Owned by the National Trust for Scotland and open to the public, the opulent castle also has a swan pond and formal gardens to explore.

One of the most important and recognisable locations from the 1973 fright fest The Exorcist are the M Street Stairs in Georgetown, Washington D.C. In the film, this is where Regan's demon throws Father Karras to his death. The stairs are marked with a commemorative plaque and many visitors of the site often encounter the Georgetown University track team who use these stairs for practice. 

Although the iconic Steven Spielberg film is set on the fictional Amity Island, it was Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts that served as the backdrop for the film. The beach scenes were filmed at Sylvia State Beach and in the coming years after the release of the film, tourism to the area tripled.

Michael Myers from John Carpenter's Halloween is certainly one of the most recognisable and feared horror film characters. His house from the original 1978 release was moved, albeit just across the street and is now an office building. Although it doesn't quite look like it did in the film, fans still come to South Pasadena to photograph it. 

The Monroeville Mall is a functioning shopping centre that looks like any other mall in America but it's also the setting for George Romero's 1978 horror classic Dawn of the Dead. It's here that a group of human survivors attempt to barricade themselves away from the zombies that have taken over the planet. Fittingly, visitors can play zombie laser tag there now. 

This famous home at 112 Ocean Avenue, Amityville, New York is the real-life location of horrific events after Ronald DeFeo, Jr. killed his family and then himself during the 1970s. The film is inspired by the Lutz family, who moved into the house thirteen months after the killings and were terrorised by paranormal phenomena. The five-bedroomed house has been on the market for £648,000 ($850,000) since 2016.

The 1979 version of Dracula, portrayed by Frank Langella, played out in Whitby, Yorkshire but in reality it was filmed in the dramatic landscapes of the far southwest in Cornwall. The asylum is now the Camelot Castle Hotel, the village, where Dracula tries to board ship is Mevagissey and St Michael's Mount played the part of Count Dracula's castle. 

Located on the outskirts of the Rocky Mountain National Park, this 142-room colonial revival hotel in Colorado served as the inspiration for the Overlook Hotel in Stephen King's novel The Shining and Stanley Kubrick's subsequent 1980 film adaptation. King began to form the plot when he spent a night here with his wife in the Seventies and they were the only guests, eating alone in an empty dining room and wandering through empty corridors. The hotel featured in the 1997 US TV series The Shining, however, it never made it to the big screen.

In the film version, the exterior shots of the Overlook were of Timberline Lodge in north Oregon. The hotel, a popular ski resort, had to persuade Kubrick to change the haunted room number from 217 (as it is in the book) to 237, which doesn't exist in the hotel, fearing that guests would never want to stay in it.

Although Ghostbusters is set in New York, it was the downtown L.A. hotel The Biltmore that played the part of the Sedgewick Hotel. It was here that the Ghostbusters capture the ectoplasm blob Slimer. Happily this designer hotel in Downton LA is still taking bookings – with all rooms 100% free from green slime...

A horror fan's pilgrimage of sorts, the town of Bangor in Maine is the home of writer Stephen King and has also served as the inspiration for many of his books and as a filming location for the on-screen adaptations. Start by visiting King's house (pictured), then snap a picture of the Thomas Hill Standpipe that inspired the water tower in the evil clown flick It, before visiting the Mount Hope Cemetery featured in Pet Sematary.

Back in 1990 children of all ages were scared by Angelica Houston and Rowan Atkinson in the film version of Roald Dahl's classic The Witches. The film tells a story of a convention of witches staying in a seaside hotel, planning to kill all children by turning them into mice. The Hotel Excelsior, no doubt haunting many children's dreams since, is actually The Headland in Cornwall – a 4-star luxury spa hotel by the sea in Newquay. 

Oak Alley Plantation's real-life role in slavery is in many ways more disturbing than any of the horror films that were shot here. Today it's a hotel and a restaurant, however, in the 1994 film Interview with the Vampire, it was the home of vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac played by Brad Pitt.

A popular location for day trips from Tokyo, Mount Mihara is a stunning volcano that also doubled up as the location for Japan's most famous horror film Ringu, or The Ring. In the film, psychic Shizuko Yamamura predicts a volcano eruption and eventually throws herself into the crater. In real life there's no need for such dramatic gestures on a gentle hike up the 758 metre mountain. 

As a lover of the arts and a man of refined tastes, Hannibal Lecter has a very strong connection to Florence, the capital of Italy's Tuscany region. The city forms a key setting in both the book and the film series and one of the most prominent locations in the film is Palazzo Vecchio, the City Hall, built in the 1490s. This is where Hannibal works as Dr Fell and also where he hangs Rinaldo Pazzi.

Originally built for the 1990 film Eye of the Storm, this dilapidated motel film set in the Californian desert city of Lancaster appeared in The Devil's Rejects. In the film the antagonists from a previous zombie film, House of 1000 Corpses, flee to the motel after the brother of a police officer they killed storms their home seeking revenge.

An eerie ghost town itself, Belchite in the Spanish province of Zaragoza is a stark reminder of the brutality of the Spanish civil war. The remains of the town were used in the Oscar-winning film Pan's Labyrinth, which ties fantasy with the brutal reality of General Franco's rule. The town isn't free to explore anymore and can now only be visited with a guide from the local tourist board.

Out in the Californian desert, the town of Victorville and the edge of the Mojave Desert skirting the town has served as a backdrop for a long list of films that revolve around ordinary people being stuck in an unforgiving place. One such film is the 2006 hit The Hills Have Eyes where a road accident traps a family of six in the desert, near a nuclear test site where mutant monsters have developed taste for human flesh. 

Sam Raimi's 2009 horror film Drag Me to Hell opens with panicked parents who bring their ailing son to a beautiful mansion for help only to learn that he's seriously cursed. This house is the Doheny Mansion – once a family home and now a popular filming location – in Los Angeles built in 1899. Today you can tour the property on selected days throughout the year. 

In the 2012 remake of 1980's Maniac, Elijah Wood plays Frank Zito, a serial killer who attacks and scalps young women. In a particularly terrifying scene, Zito chases a dancer through an empty train station full of neon artwork. In real life, it's Pershing Square, a Metro stop on Los Angeles' Red Line, located in downtown L.A.

Thanks to the hit Netflix show Stranger Things, Hawkins, Indiana is now one of the most famous fictional locations in America. The show's creators found many places in and around Atlanta, Georgia that reminded them of their childhood and they served as the inspiration for the town of Hawkins. This includes the Georgia Mental Health Institute that stands in as The Hawkins National Laboratory. 

Love a spooky spot? Check out our spine-chilling round-up of the world's most haunted hotels too.