Episode 7
Night of the Living Dead - Visiting the Cemetery Where it All Happened
🎙
Scott and Jenn visited the Evans City Cemetery. The very place where The Night of the Living Dead was filmed in 1967.
This film was so iconic and groundbreaking for its time, that it DEFINED the Zombie Movie Genre...forever being known as the father of the zombie film. However, what is the HISTORY of those iconic graves? Who was actually buried there?
We talk about why we filmed this YouTube video there and answer those very questions in our video.
Video: Famous Graves at Night of the Living Dead Filming Location
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Transcript
[Music]
Speaker:greetings and welcome back to the talk
Speaker:with History Podcast I'm your host Scott
Speaker:here with my wife and historian Jen
Speaker:hello on this podcast we talk about
Speaker:history's continuing impact on us today
Speaker:in our personal journey through YouTube
Speaker:as we continue to explore record and
Speaker:share our history walks with you
Speaker:you know before we start
Speaker:um this is the section where we will
Speaker:have the five-star question of the week
Speaker:[Music]
Speaker:and we're still looking for those five
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Speaker:leave us a review that helps the show
Speaker:helps us grow and get the word out
Speaker:[Music]
Speaker:you may not know this movie we're going
Speaker:to talk about today
Speaker:but you've probably seen many pictures
Speaker:of it
Speaker:this was a groundbreaking film that
Speaker:defined and gave birth to a film genre
Speaker:that lived stronger today than ever
Speaker:but did you know that it was produced on
Speaker:a shoestream budget at a no-name
Speaker:cemetery outside of Pittsburgh by two
Speaker:filmmakers who had never made a motion
Speaker:picture so Jen what film are we talking
Speaker:about today
Speaker:in keeping in accordance to Halloween
Speaker:coming up in a couple weeks we're doing
Speaker:Night of the Living Dead Night of the
Speaker:Living Dead so
Speaker:if nobody's ever seen Night of Living
Speaker:Dead tell us a little bit about that and
Speaker:then we'll kind of talk about you mean
Speaker:someone like you Scott yeah I had no
Speaker:clue
Speaker:so you know Scott and I have been
Speaker:married for 15 years and one of the
Speaker:first things we did on our first dates
Speaker:was a haunted house I don't think Scott
Speaker:was excited about it but since we're
Speaker:newly dating and I said let's go to a
Speaker:haunted house he was he was all game for
Speaker:it
Speaker:little did I know he had really never
Speaker:seen a horror movie let alone go to
Speaker:haunted houses and as we're standing in
Speaker:line for this haunted house they're
Speaker:playing scenes from horror movies
Speaker:so Nightmare on Elm Street Friday the
Speaker:13th
Speaker:and I'm I'm naming off these newbies as
Speaker:they just show in little scenes I'm
Speaker:naming them off and I'm like don't you
Speaker:know this and he didn't know any of them
Speaker:I didn't know a single one it was just
Speaker:we didn't watch those kind of movies
Speaker:yeah and I did
Speaker:and um we need us to say going through
Speaker:that haunted house was one of an
Speaker:experience I'll never forget
Speaker:um because I was pushed through at Mock
Speaker:speed because Scott was right behind me
Speaker:and as much as I enjoy a good haunted
Speaker:house and the thought that goes into
Speaker:making a room and making someone scared
Speaker:I didn't get a chance to really even see
Speaker:anything because I got just pushed
Speaker:through
Speaker:and I'm so glad that Jen brought this up
Speaker:because I'll probably edit out this
Speaker:entire bed when I think it's
Speaker:I think it's never seen it and
Speaker:I was raised on it so I was raised on it
Speaker:not only because my parents
Speaker:are big movie Buffs and enjoy all types
Speaker:of movies but it was because it was
Speaker:filmed close to where my dad grew up
Speaker:Pittsburgh Pittsburgh and so he always
Speaker:talked about it and he didn't talk about
Speaker:it in the regards of this is a great
Speaker:horror movie he talked about in regards
Speaker:that this was just an amazing movie made
Speaker:by college kids on a shoestring budget
Speaker:that just changed horror movies in
Speaker:general was a huge influencer and so he
Speaker:was I think always proud of that and
Speaker:this now no not a living dead just for
Speaker:anybody who has never seen it before is
Speaker:not familiar with it it was made in the
Speaker:60s so it was filmed in 67 it was filmed
Speaker:from June to December of 67 released in
Speaker:68. okay and and there was nothing else
Speaker:that had been done like that before you
Speaker:know so they're very much influenced by
Speaker:I Am Legend that book I Am Legend that
Speaker:comes out in the 50s and that book
Speaker:influences their writing oh yeah yeah
Speaker:that's the book that eventually Will
Speaker:Smith made the movie Will Smith make the
Speaker:movie so nothing had really been made
Speaker:like this but things have been written
Speaker:kind of like this okay and
Speaker:if you've never seen Night of the Living
Speaker:Dead we're gonna give some spoilers away
Speaker:so just be ready and it's a like a 60
Speaker:year old movie so you know it's it's
Speaker:been out for a while it's been out for a
Speaker:while and it's it's been done over and
Speaker:over and over again now but it's it's
Speaker:basic and that's what's so great about
Speaker:it black and white it's black and white
Speaker:it's it leaves more to your imagination
Speaker:than actually shows you it's just these
Speaker:the whole premise is they don't really
Speaker:go into it but something has happened in
Speaker:this area where people have been
Speaker:infected by this virus and this virus
Speaker:has basically reanimated recently dead
Speaker:and they went with recently dead because
Speaker:they said they figured they couldn't
Speaker:have the makeup budget to reanimate
Speaker:long-term dead so most everybody is I
Speaker:mean their makeup process is just dark
Speaker:underline makeup and white faces and
Speaker:boom you're a you're a ghoul yeah it was
Speaker:is not uh
Speaker:you know with The Walking Dead you know
Speaker:level of production now this like it's
Speaker:not even like Thriller with like arms
Speaker:falling off or anything nothing like
Speaker:that it's literally just like hunch over
Speaker:a little bit walk slow sort of that
Speaker:walking's super slow wasn't even really
Speaker:a thing yet they kind of defined yeah
Speaker:with this movie one thing that I learned
Speaker:with you and we'll get into the history
Speaker:aspect of of why of what we did filming
Speaker:the the video but they they really kind
Speaker:of for film they defined the genre they
Speaker:did because even if you've seen the
Speaker:movie the very first ghoul because they
Speaker:use ghoul and they even adamantly say
Speaker:they never use the word zombie in the
Speaker:whole movie even though it's the father
Speaker:of the zombie film and the zombie
Speaker:movement they don't use that word I
Speaker:don't think I realized that and so
Speaker:Google is the word they use but the very
Speaker:first ghoul they'll encounter just looks
Speaker:like a normal person yeah right he's
Speaker:like wearing a business so they just see
Speaker:him in the back of the cemetery going
Speaker:who's that guy walking around back there
Speaker:so it's not like they even see someone
Speaker:looking and there's some there's some
Speaker:relatively famous lines that come out of
Speaker:this like they're coming to get you
Speaker:Barbara like you'll probably see that on
Speaker:T-shirts if you're and I am not a horror
Speaker:movie fan or history fan so this was a
Speaker:very interesting one for me to make
Speaker:once I started once I saw the the clips
Speaker:right making the video I saw these and I
Speaker:was like some of these actually sound
Speaker:familiar to me and I am not a horror
Speaker:movie you know film guy at all no and it
Speaker:was um
Speaker:it was a lot of the script was ad-libbed
Speaker:a lot of it was written as they were
Speaker:doing it and like I said it was just
Speaker:it was the basics which sometimes the
Speaker:basics can be more scary right so when
Speaker:you think of things like jaws and you
Speaker:don't see the shark but you can imagine
Speaker:the shark it's scarier for the viewer
Speaker:and they they kind of banked on that
Speaker:same thing you don't see everything you
Speaker:don't see what they're doing to people
Speaker:you're being told they're flesh eaters
Speaker:but you don't see it yeah so they're so
Speaker:really their film Ted the technique they
Speaker:brought with that that's a technique yes
Speaker:was was not as common then yeah that
Speaker:keeping the big parts off screen for the
Speaker:viewer to imagine it right and your
Speaker:imagination is sometimes worse than what
Speaker:you could be shown on screen and the
Speaker:film kind of had like an extra kind of
Speaker:punch at the end yes and they fought for
Speaker:that so the punch at the end is um
Speaker:they their their main character makes it
Speaker:through the night yeah he survives he
Speaker:survives the night he survives he he
Speaker:does away with all the zombies the
Speaker:ghouls or whatever and basically you
Speaker:learn like no one else survives who he
Speaker:was with yeah but he survives and at the
Speaker:end there there are people who are
Speaker:coming out helping because I guess I'm
Speaker:the town sheriff yeah because it was it
Speaker:was localized right didn't go far it was
Speaker:in a worldwide yeah and so they're
Speaker:rounding them up and burning them the
Speaker:ghouls and they see movement in the
Speaker:house and they think it's a ghoul and
Speaker:he's coming around yes it thinks it's a
Speaker:goal and he's coming out going I've
Speaker:survived and as he comes out they shoot
Speaker:him yeah and they fought for that ending
Speaker:because a lot of people said oh they
Speaker:needs to be a happy ending and they're
Speaker:like no this is not a happy movie this
Speaker:needs to have this ending so and that in
Speaker:that when you were telling me about that
Speaker:this was there weren't a lot of films
Speaker:that had done that now it was I was kind
Speaker:of like the really the kick in the
Speaker:stomach that everybody walked out of the
Speaker:theater was like
Speaker:what just happened yeah like and even
Speaker:you can you can look it up on YouTube
Speaker:you can if if anybody's curious you can
Speaker:Google neither Living Dead ending scene
Speaker:and you'll find it and I look and I
Speaker:watched it I was like
Speaker:yeah that's not a movie you would walk
Speaker:away like feeling happy about but again
Speaker:that's kind of the genre
Speaker:and it influences movies because now
Speaker:it's more common to watch a movie that
Speaker:is realistic in the way that it's not
Speaker:always happy in the end and you get to a
Speaker:real dose of you know what could be a
Speaker:real moment and
Speaker:some tragedy and so that is more real
Speaker:nowadays in movies and so they're kind
Speaker:of when the first people to do that and
Speaker:they influence so there's a couple
Speaker:things their main character is also
Speaker:African-American that's right and so
Speaker:they did not set out
Speaker:for their main character to be
Speaker:African-American but the actor who
Speaker:auditioned was so good that they just
Speaker:said yeah make it him and what was also
Speaker:interesting is their main character was
Speaker:supposed to be a truck driver and kind
Speaker:of
Speaker:I wouldn't say uneducated but basic
Speaker:basic dialogue and this this man who
Speaker:plays Ben Ben is that lead character
Speaker:is educated and so he doesn't he he
Speaker:doesn't want his lines to be dumbed down
Speaker:so he he plays him as if he was him
Speaker:so he gives and people have to remember
Speaker:the time yeah right the 6768 like Martin
Speaker:Luther King had not been assassinated he
Speaker:had not been assassinated but that like
Speaker:Civil Rights Movement was in full swing
Speaker:right so like the the marches and the
Speaker:bus protests and all that stuff was
Speaker:going on so this is a big deal to have
Speaker:your main actor and and the movie just
Speaker:exploded it was made for what a hundred
Speaker:thousand hundred and fourteen thousand
Speaker:so they got six people together and they
Speaker:each put in like a thousand and then
Speaker:that was like six thousand dollars and
Speaker:and then they got like 10 more people
Speaker:that put in a couple thousand more and
Speaker:then they just kept like asking people
Speaker:for money and that's why it took so long
Speaker:for it to film and one of the reasons
Speaker:why they use the Evan City Cemetery
Speaker:which where we filmed the YouTube video
Speaker:at and where it's really what like half
Speaker:an hour outside of Pittsburgh yeah and
Speaker:it's it's a little Cemetery but they
Speaker:chose it because it's off the road and
Speaker:you can't really see it so they could
Speaker:film there without being bothered by
Speaker:people and and they really didn't have
Speaker:to ask permission to use it
Speaker:now you'll see a lot of YouTube videos
Speaker:going to that cemetery and tons of
Speaker:people want to recreate the iconic
Speaker:scenes of they're coming to get you
Speaker:Barbara and Barbara runs away and she
Speaker:leans on a tombstone and at one point
Speaker:her brother
Speaker:um fights the ghoul and he gets hit
Speaker:um his head gets hit and he dies and he
Speaker:dies yeah he dies and he becomes a ghoul
Speaker:which is probably one of the scariest
Speaker:things so it's interesting he puts on
Speaker:gloves at one point when he's talking to
Speaker:her and then when he becomes a ghoul and
Speaker:he breaks into The Farmhouse that
Speaker:they're in he puts his gloved hand up on
Speaker:the wall just to make sure you know it's
Speaker:him and so um
Speaker:people love to recreate those scenes but
Speaker:I wanted to do a video where I actually
Speaker:talked about who was buried in those
Speaker:Graves that they used for the movie yeah
Speaker:so you so you researched the actual like
Speaker:when she's leaning against The Headstone
Speaker:like headstones there and and who is
Speaker:Kramer that's the heads other headstone
Speaker:she's leaning on so who are those people
Speaker:so that's that's what I want to do
Speaker:because no one had done that and here
Speaker:are these Graves like I tell people
Speaker:these are iconic Graves but who are the
Speaker:actual people that are in these Graves
Speaker:so um that's what they that's what I
Speaker:really wanted the YouTube video to focus
Speaker:on as I talked about this history of the
Speaker:movie so if you're interested in that
Speaker:the video really goes into the history
Speaker:of those people and
Speaker:um
Speaker:but yeah the movie
Speaker:is just so influential and I nobody
Speaker:realized it was going to be
Speaker:that influential so it it breaks I think
Speaker:it makes
Speaker:from what I read it's
Speaker:12 million domestically in an 18 million
Speaker:internationally so again this is the
Speaker:late 60s it's late 60s so that's what 30
Speaker:million dollars it makes total on a
Speaker:hundred and fourteen thousand dollar
Speaker:budget it premieres October 1st 1968 in
Speaker:Pittsburgh
Speaker:and that's 53 years ago so and it was
Speaker:filmed like I said the year before
Speaker:and yeah they they just really they
Speaker:wanted
Speaker:it went through some rewrites so you
Speaker:have like Romero is who wrote and
Speaker:directed it and he had gone to Carnegie
Speaker:Mellon he had worked in Pittsburgh he'd
Speaker:actually filmed some stuff for Mr Rogers
Speaker:Neighborhood oh okay and then it's
Speaker:co-written by Russo who went to
Speaker:University of um West Virginia or West
Speaker:Virginia University but he had friends
Speaker:of Carnegie Mellon so he went he would
Speaker:visit Carnegie Mellon and we always talk
Speaker:about pittsburghers call it Carnegie
Speaker:Mellon it's not Carnegie melon it's yeah
Speaker:I remember the first time he ever
Speaker:started talking about Carnegie Mellon
Speaker:and you kept saying Carnegie I was like
Speaker:what are you talking about I don't like
Speaker:why do you keep saying it that way it's
Speaker:Carnegie mail and I've heard it that way
Speaker:my entire life pittsburghers say
Speaker:Carnegie we put in the extra syllable
Speaker:um and so Russo
Speaker:who was his friend had actually been in
Speaker:the Army for two years and so he had
Speaker:this idea of black and white
Speaker:documentary style that's right because
Speaker:make it cheaper make it feel realistic
Speaker:make it feel like they're actually
Speaker:filming a documentary about something
Speaker:that's happening in this small town to
Speaker:these people and you would feel like you
Speaker:are breaking that fourth wall with them
Speaker:right so that was his vision
Speaker:yeah and it's so funny when I I start
Speaker:learning about this because of the video
Speaker:you know you think about the Blair Witch
Speaker:Project that wasn't the first movie of
Speaker:its kind to film this like realistic
Speaker:documentary style right Night of the
Speaker:Living Dead you think of uh all the pop
Speaker:you know The Walking Dead TV shows like
Speaker:these were shows that were kind of
Speaker:raised and inspired by this movie and
Speaker:the spin-offs of this movie yeah so it
Speaker:was once I started learning that I was
Speaker:like oh my gosh like this
Speaker:this movie is just like so seminal in
Speaker:this entire huge genre I mean scary
Speaker:movies have just grown and grown and
Speaker:grown and grow I mean they're much more
Speaker:common and popular nowadays than they
Speaker:were when even when I was growing up
Speaker:sure and they they wanted to capitalize
Speaker:on the Contemporary commercial interest
Speaker:of that genre as well so you have like
Speaker:psycho coming out around that time and
Speaker:psycho's also shot in black and white so
Speaker:they're capitalizing on like I wouldn't
Speaker:say it's a new genre because horror
Speaker:movies were kind of you know think of
Speaker:Dracula and Frankenstein but something
Speaker:that was more contemporary like you're
Speaker:not telling us a story like this could
Speaker:happen
Speaker:in your hometown right and that's kind
Speaker:of what horror is kind of reversing when
Speaker:you think of psycho when you think of
Speaker:United Living Dead these stories are
Speaker:using real people and real scenarios
Speaker:that are undergoing something that's
Speaker:scary and um
Speaker:at first they kind of like had they
Speaker:wrote kind of like horror comedy
Speaker:like the these ghouls hang out with
Speaker:teenagers and stuff oh really yeah like
Speaker:and they so but then they had changed it
Speaker:to this and again it all really came
Speaker:down to what they could afford to film
Speaker:and they couldn't afford ghoul's makeup
Speaker:they had to make it very basic yeah and
Speaker:you talked about it being off the beaten
Speaker:path I mean we went there and there's
Speaker:not a lot that's changed in the past 53
Speaker:years no the graves look the same
Speaker:there's no tree beside the first grave
Speaker:anymore there's no tree beside I think
Speaker:like the the entry sign to the cemetery
Speaker:is ever so slightly different but we
Speaker:were able to match up shots the
Speaker:gravestones are obviously all still
Speaker:there the headstones like
Speaker:there is very little that has changed at
Speaker:this off the beaten path Cemetery that
Speaker:was you know basically the home base for
Speaker:an incredibly famous movie yeah and so
Speaker:the Farmhouse is no longer there that's
Speaker:been torn down and I think at one point
Speaker:they're over a covered bridge The
Speaker:Covered Bridge is no longer there but
Speaker:the bridge is still there and then the
Speaker:when they filmed the basement of The
Speaker:Farmhouse they actually filmed that in
Speaker:there like
Speaker:office basement so like where they're
Speaker:working yeah oh wow where they're
Speaker:working from they're like we're just
Speaker:gonna film it downstairs in the basement
Speaker:so you can actually still go there and I
Speaker:think that's in Evan city as well and um
Speaker:one of the things they had said if you
Speaker:remember that scene it's the daughter
Speaker:had gotten bitten
Speaker:by one of the ghouls and her parents are
Speaker:sitting with her very concerned and
Speaker:worried and then
Speaker:the father gets attacked by the daughter
Speaker:and then the daughter attacks the mother
Speaker:and the I said I don't know if it was
Speaker:Russo or Romero who was like that's
Speaker:every girl's dream to attack her mother
Speaker:I don't remember that I thought that was
Speaker:so funny I was like oh my gosh she
Speaker:thinks that that's why he wanted to keep
Speaker:that in there and so that's another
Speaker:realistic moment they really show
Speaker:because neither the mother of the father
Speaker:fight back yeah right because that's
Speaker:their child and so this is something
Speaker:again basic to film but very strong on
Speaker:the psyche because you're realizing that
Speaker:the ghoul has taken over the mind
Speaker:because the child is killing the person
Speaker:they love and the person they love can't
Speaker:fight back because they love that person
Speaker:so it's one of those things that's so
Speaker:hard to work around
Speaker:um but has such a lasting impact that it
Speaker:did and it's I mean people still watch
Speaker:90 Living Dead it burns all these movies
Speaker:all these sequels and even today I mean
Speaker:Walking Dead and things like that but
Speaker:neither Living Dead has been remade a
Speaker:couple times and I even love the
Speaker:basicness of the title yep it's just
Speaker:Night of the Living Dead so it's night
Speaker:time dead
Speaker:who are alive which is completely polar
Speaker:opposite and even the the typography is
Speaker:very iconic right so so if you're
Speaker:listening to this Google really quick
Speaker:Night of the Living Dead look at the
Speaker:typography and that's been used and
Speaker:reused so many times in horror movies or
Speaker:at least used as as inspiration for you
Speaker:know that kind of stuff and again this
Speaker:was 1967-68 when they came out so again
Speaker:it was a super fun one to make because
Speaker:it was just outside of Pittsburgh easy
Speaker:to get to if you ever want to visit it
Speaker:you can just look up Evan City Cemetery
Speaker:zombie apocalypse zombie movies all that
Speaker:stuff came from Night of Living Dead so
Speaker:scary movies and zombie story lines
Speaker:abound in today's Cinema Escape all
Speaker:thanks to two film school graduates who
Speaker:dreamed big
Speaker:asked big and made something even bigger
Speaker:Night of the Living Dead is the father
Speaker:of zombie the zombie film genre and we
Speaker:were lucky enough to be able to visit
Speaker:the location where American Cinema was
Speaker:changed forever
Speaker:so again thank you for listening to talk
Speaker:with History Podcast and please reach
Speaker:out to us at our website talk with
Speaker:history.com that's talk with history.com
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Speaker:talk to you next time
Speaker:[Music]
