For nearly four decades, the small town of East Corinth, Vermont — population around 1,500 — has drawn fans of Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice eager to see where the beloved 1988 horror-comedy came to life.
“It was like one of those coming-of-age films for me,” said fan Lisa Pinkerton, who traveled with her family from England to visit the filming sites. “It brings back all those memories of watching it with friends at the time. It’s nice to put it all into place and see the sort of Hollywood magic that happens.”
According to The Associated Press, though the movie was set in the fictional Winter River, Connecticut, Burton chose East Corinth, near the New Hampshire border, as the backdrop for the now-iconic scenes — including Miss Shannon’s School for Girls and the red covered bridge where Adam and Barbara Maitland (Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis) meet their fate.
Resident Sarah Polli, who lives beside the bridge, recalled that her garage was transformed into the Winter River Fire Department. Her uncle, Maurice Page, was the only local to appear in the movie. “He was supposed to be the barber, but he kept ad-libbing, which frustrated Tim Burton,” Polli said. “So, he gave him a nonspeaking part basically and he became Ernie dusting off the statues in front of the library.”
Burton returned decades later to film the sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, reigniting tourism. Polli said visitors — nicknamed “juicers” — now come from across the world. “It’s just been a continuous stream. I’ve met people from France, Germany, Spain, Denmark, Belgium, Great Britain, all over Canada and all over the United States. It’s just amazing.”
Local resident Wade Pierson even created a self-guided walking tour highlighting filming spots. “People say, ‘Where’s the house?’ It was a movie set, so it was taken down,” Pierson explained. “We do have a picture on a pole that if you stand in the right place and squat down, you can line it up with the hill across the river.”
Now, with a “Beetlejuice” museum in the works, East Corinth continues to thrive as a real-life Halloween destination where Burton’s movie magic lives on.
