Was the Set of Peacock’s Hysteria! Cursed? Actors Recall Flickering Lamps, Black Cats & Holy Water

Was the Set of Peacock's Hysteria! Cursed? Actors Recall Flickering Lamps, Black Cats & Holy Water

As a seasoned paranormal enthusiast who’s had my fair share of ghostly encounters, I can confidently say that the set of Peacock’s Hysteria! seems to be a hotspot for spectral activity. The tales from the cast members are chilling, and I find myself envious of their experiences. If only I could’ve communicated with a night-light spirit or been stalked by black cats in my own career!


Dabbling with the supernatural or mystical, even when it’s just for storytelling purposes, can prove to be extremely risky, as a matter of fact.

For decades, actors and crew members working on supernatural-related horror projects have recounted eerie tales of unexplained occurrences throughout production. The most famous “cursed” set of them all, of course, was that of William Friedkin’s The Exorcist, which basically created the demonic possession genre as we know it today. Hysteria!, the new Satanic Panic series streaming exclusively on Peacock, owes much to the 1973 classic, and may have even conjured the same sinister entities.

The set of Peacock’s Hysteria! might have been cursed and/or haunted

Was the Set of Peacock's Hysteria! Cursed? Actors Recall Flickering Lamps, Black Cats & Holy Water

During a Zoom chat with USA Insider, actress Anna Camp (Tracy Whitehead) shares an odd experience: a mysterious lamp on the Campbell family set would occasionally flicker when she and Nikki Hahn (Faith Whitehead) were nearby but not filming. “We’d be chatting,” Camp explains, “and then, all of a sudden, the lamp would start to flicker. We’d approach it, and it would stop. As soon as we moved away, it would turn back on again.

Hahn interjects, “I began posing questions to it,” he says. “I was attempting to converse with the spirit of the night-light. It seemed to respond, ‘Blink if you’re present.’ There was a momentary pause, but then it did blink. Whether someone was pranking us remains uncertain. I personally think that it was a ghost.

Meanwhile, Camp believes the show’s success is due to a cheerful spirit from the ’80s who wishes it to be a huge hit. Indeed, both the team and this ghostly figure have their wish fulfilled: Hysteria! is currently ranked among the top 10 shows on Peacock and boasts a 75% fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes.

In Episode 4, “Dance Macabre,” Hahn thought the prom dress she wore was haunted by a bumbling spirit. She explained, “I would often spill things on it, but fortunately, there were multiple copies. I felt as though the previous owner, given its authentic vintage status, had been quite clumsy too. I guess the dress and I shared some clumsy energy.

In another location, several up-and-coming actors encountered an unusual surge of the most notorious ill-omen – black cats – lingering outside their apartments in the quaint Georgia town of Covington, where the series was being shot. As Chiara Aurelia (the lead vocalist and bassist for Dethkrunch) recalls, “One dark night, just before we began filming, I discovered a black cat at my doorstep. Upon opening the door, this black cat darted straight into my apartment.

As a fervent admirer, I wholeheartedly concur with Judith’s sentiment about the eerie presence of black cats during our filming. In the unlikeliest of spots, these felines would appear, contributing significantly to the unsettling atmosphere we all experienced while making this series.

Was the Set of Peacock's Hysteria! Cursed? Actors Recall Flickering Lamps, Black Cats & Holy Water

Hold up! Here’s an interesting twist: Before filming started, a truck transporting vintage cars, as per Kezii Curtis (drummer for Dethkrunch), collided with a train. So, the vehicle you see in the finished product isn’t the one he learned to drive on. “The car I initially learned on was on that truck,” he clarifies, “and it was that truck which got hit by a train.

As Emjay Anthony, the Dethkrunch guitarist and notorious cult leader Dylan Campbell, I found myself in an unexpected predicament. The situation unfolded when we encountered a halt on our journey due to a vehicle being stuck on those pesky train tracks.

Aurelia sums it up best: “This show is haunted, but in the best way.”

Was the Set of Peacock's Hysteria! Cursed? Actors Recall Flickering Lamps, Black Cats & Holy Water

In an attempt to protect himself against any potentially harmful supernatural entities conjured during the filming of the seductive Satanic rite in the school’s underground shelter (featured in Episode 4), Anthony apparently looked for potent spiritual defense mechanisms. “We were definitely quite anxious about that,” Treska recalls. “This was one of the scenes where we were applying holy water beforehand. Emjay had a small bottle of holy water from the Vatican that he brought to set.

While the steamy sequence forced Treska out of her personal “comfort zone,” she ultimately decided to go through with it, “because I think it made sense in the show,” the actress concludes. “It really did progress the story and took Judith’s character — and the way that she’s pursuing Satanism — to the extreme. I think it was necessary for the show to get to that place. And then obviously with Chief Dandridge [Bruce Campbell] coming in, that was hilarious to film; just to watch his reaction coming into that room because it felt so real. I felt so exposed … it almost felt like we weren’t acting.”

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2024-10-24 21:01