It all started quite harmlessly. During the filming of his adaptation of “Frankenstein” in Aderdeen, Scotland, Oscar-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro was warned about a haunted room in the hotel where the crew was staying. The monster lover was not repulsed, but fascinated. On X, formerly known as Twitter, del Toro documented his ghostly adventures as if he were on a mission.
“While in Aberdeen I’m staying in an old 19th century hotel,” he wrote in a post last week. “I’m in the most haunted room – which was vacated this morning by one of our producers. Strange electrical and physical occurrences scared her so much that she left as soon as possible. Stay tuned – if anything happens I’ll report.”
This is apparently not the first time del Toro has faced ghosts and spirits. In his post he continued: “I always stay in the ‘most haunted rooms’, but only once have I experienced anything supernatural – otherwise: nothing. I have high hopes.”
In an update the next day, del Toro shared that while nothing physically disturbing had occurred, he found the atmosphere in the room “oppressive” and decided not to spend “much more time” in it. He specifically clarified that while he was investigating the room, he was actually “sleeping in another room,” and explained that he “needed 6 hours of sleep to have a good day of shooting.”
“I stop there early and late in the day – but there’s something about me in that room…” del Toro wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Between the end of his day’s filming on Thursday and dinner, del Toro decided to stop by the room one more time. At this point he wrote: “The room has more than just an atmosphere. There’s something angry and territorial about it. A hint of rage.”
To document his experience, he took the following picture.
Del Toro took his research a step further and even tried using EVP (electronic voice phenomena) through an app on his phone.
The Crimson Peak director followed up that post with a written one seemingly confirming his belief in an afterlife, saying, “No sounds or sights happened – just a depressing mood – room number 4, I will return… Life is unstructured – no grand finale.”
At the end of his adventure on the Friday after the day of filming, del Toro wrote an epilogue to his experience in which he said that although he himself had not seen any concrete evidence of the existence of a ghost in Room No. 4, a member of the crew had.
“One of our actors had a similar feeling in the room and one of our staff saw someone outside the window … on the second floor,” del Toro wrote.
Del Toro is currently completing production on his Frankenstein adaptation for Netflix, which was shot in both Toronto and Scotland and stars Jacob Elordi as the monster and Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein, along with Mia Goth, Christoph Waltz, Charles Dance and others.
