Welcome back to Behind The Scenes Saturday!!! Since this is the final Saturday of Spooky Season, I was going to give you a BTS post dedicated to one of the films in the Halloween franchise. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find exactly what I needed, but have no fear! I instead decided to close out this series with a fan-favorite, Thir13en Ghosts! Thir13en Ghosts was a thrilling adventure filled with fantastic stories and plenty of scares. So, don’t forget your special glasses, stay out of the basement, and enjoy these fun pictures and bits of trivia!!

(Trivia provided by IMDb.com)

(Pictures provided by google.com, facebook.com, and IMDB.com)

(WARNING!! PICTURES CONTAIN GRAPHIC SPECIAL EFFECTS!!)

(SPOILER ALERT!!!)

• Herbert Duncanson wasn’t actually the first choice for the role of The Hammer, he was originally a stand-in for reference and test shots. The actor who was initially cast for the role never showed up, and since it was too late to hold auditions for a replacement, Duncanson was cast at the last minute.
• To achieve the special effects for The Torso, Daniel Wesley, a double amputee was cast for the part, and he wore a special black hood that was used to digitally remove his head.

• One detail that was kept from the original film was the special glasses. Like the characters in the original film, the characters in this one needed special glasses in order to see the ghosts.
• Of all of the ghosts’ makeup, The Angry Princess’s (Shawna Loyer) and The Juggernaut (John DeSantis) took the longest to apply. They both took at least 5 hours to apply, and The Juggernaut’s makeup took another 3 hours to remove.

• On one of the walls in the glass house, the writing etched translates into The Lord’s Prayer.
• There were a lot of strobe lighting and flashy editing in the film. So much so, that many viewers complained, saying that it was physically painful to sit through.

• This was the only film Shawna Loyer ever appeared in. There was a rumor that porn actress, Aria Giovanni portrayed The Angry Princess under a pseudonym, but that was later debunked. However, Giovanni was in the adult parody of the film, titled Thirteen Erotic Ghosts.
• The film was originally planned to be in 3-D. It was also going to have the same gimmick as the original film, where viewers would need glasses to see the ghosts in the film. Both ideas were later scrapped.

• As of 2025, Steve Beck only directed 2 feature films: this film and Ghost Ship.
• After filming wrapped up, the film’s production gifted John DeSantis a finished life cast as a memento.

• This was the first film from an American studio to have 3 Arab-American Leads: Tony Shalhoub (Arthur Kriticos), Shannon Elizabeth (Kathy Kriticos), and F. Murray Abraham (Cyrus Kriticos).
• After doing this film, Rah Digga (Maggie) didn’t act again for a long time. Until 2025, she mostly stuck with her passion for music.

• In this film, C. Ernst Harth plays The Great Child, a large ghost dressed as a baby. 6 years later, in Trick ‘R Treat, Harth once again played a character dressed as a baby.
• In the original film, the character, Elaine (Margaret Hamilton) was the dead uncle’s psychic assistant who was also the housekeeper. In this film, she was separated into 3 different characters: Dennis (Matthew Lillard) the psychic, Kalina (Embeth Davidtz) the assistant, and Maggie the housekeeper.

• One of the days that they filmed reshoots was September 11, 2001. When news about the terrorist attack hit production, the cast and crew held a moment of silence before going back to filming. Steve Beck was understandably uncomfortable continuing filming that day.
• This was Alec Roberts’ (Bobby) final film. He decided to take a hiatus from acting in order to focus on his school work. He didn’t really want to pursue a full-time acting career, so he ended up never returning to it.

• The Torn Prince’s (Craig Olejnik) name was Royce Clayton, who was an aspiring baseball player. In real life, there was a major league player named Royce Clayton, who played for several teams between 1991 and 2007.
• In the film, Maggie is Kathy’s nanny. In real life, Shannon Elizabeth is actually 2 years older than Rah Digga.

• In the film, the ghosts sometimes teleported in and out of frame. This effect was accomplished by the film’s cinematographer, Gale Tattersall. He would quickly turn an Arri camera on and off while the film would “ramp up, or slow down.”
• F. Murray Abraham admitted that he only did this film for the money.

• Shannon Elizabeth had no idea until partway through filming that this film was a remake. She didn’t even know there was a 13 Ghosts made in 1960.
• Matthew Harrison plays Damon, Kalina’s friend who died in the beginning of the film. Damon is a name derived from the Greek word “Daimon,” which means “Demon” or “Devil.”

• Nudity was one of the main reasons the film received an R-rating. Before the film was released, audiences believed that Shannon Elizabeth was the one going to appear nude in this film after she did a nude scene in American Pie. To get away from people assuming this about her, Elizabeth focused on projects without this kind of content.
• Kalina’s death scene was going to be a lot gorier, with her eyes popping out and her brains spurting out as she’s being squished. Steve Beck was afraid it was going to give the film a NC-17 rating, so the scene was cut down.

• In the beginning, Kalina gathered her materials, seemingly to prepare to stop the culmination of Cyrus’s work. When she packs her recorded spells, you can see Drawing Spells and Containment Spells. Kalina packs the Drawing Spells, a major hint that she was working for Cyrus all along.
• There were many script changes for the film. For instance, the original story was going to take place over the course of a few days, as opposed to it all happening in a single night. A subplot included Kathy falling in love with Cyrus’s lawyer, Benjamin Moss (JR Bourne). Steve Beck disliked these ideas and ultimately cut them. One thing he considered egregious was having Maggie be Cyrus’s mole and her luring Arthur and his family to the house. This was of course changed and Kalina ended up being the mole instead.

• The filmmakers were actually surprised that they got away with filming Benjamin’s death the way they did without using any discretion shots.
• The Withered Lover (Kathryn Anderson) is the 4th ghost in the Black Zodiac. She walks around with an IV in her. The number 4 in Roman Numerals is IV.

The 12 ghosts in the Black Zodiac all have their own unique backstories. Although their stories are not described in the film itself, the DVD has given us all of their profiles. You can also check out the stories of the 12 ghosts below!

GHOST #1 – The First Born Son

Billy Michaels (Mikhael Speidel) was a little boy who was a big fan of cowboy films. One day, one of his neighbors found a steel arrow in his parents’ closet. He challenged Billy to a duel and Billy accepted, using his toy gun. The toy gun was no match, of course, as the neighbor shot the arrow through the back of Billy’s head. Billy’s ghost now forever dons his cowboy suit and wields a tomahawk with the arrow still protruding from his head as he whispers, “I want to play.”

GHOST #2 – The Torso

Jimmy “The Gambler” Gambino was a man with a gambling addiction who spent most of his days at the track. One day, he made the mistake of making a bet with a wealthy business man. He bet heavily on a boxing match and lost, so he tried to welsh on what he owed and skip town. The mob and the winning boxer, who Jimmy owed, tracked him down and cut him into several pieces. They then wrapped those pieces in cellophane and dumped them in the ocean. Jimmy’s ghost is now just a torso, pulling himself all over the place using his hands, while his severed head could only scream by his side.

GHOST #3 – The Bound Woman

Susan LeGrow (Laura Mennell) was a typical privileged cheerleader who chewed people up and spit them out. She seduced many men and broke a lot of hearts. When her latest boyfriend caught her cheating on him, he snapped, killed her lover and then strangled her. He then buried her body at the 50-yard-line of the local football field. When he was sent to death row for it, the only thing he had to say on the matter was, “The b***h broke my heart, so I broke her neck.” Susan’s ghost can be seen wearing her prom dress, hanging suspended by the strangling implements with her arms forever tied behind her back.

GHOST #4 – The Withered Lover

Jean Kriticos was a devoted wife and mother. When her house was suddenly engulfed in flames, she became severely burned while saving her family. She didn’t die right there, but later in the hospital. Her ghost wears a hospital gown and is connected to an IV. Unlike the other spirits, she is not angry or vengeful. Her ghost can be seen completely healed after her family was saved for a second time.

GHOST #5 – The Torn Prince

Royce Clayton was born in 1940 and was a gifted baseball star in high school. Unfortunately, that talent came with attitude issues and a superiority complex. In 1957, he challenged a greaser named Johnny to a drag race. During the race, his car spun out of control and flipped, killing him. Turns out that his brake line was cut before the race and he was buried in a plot of Earth that overlooked the baseball diamond. Royce’s ghost now carries a baseball bat, a remnant of his past. His ghost is torn to shreds from when he was dragged under his car.

GHOST #6 – The Angry Princess

Dana Newman was a beautiful woman who spent her whole life not believing she was. Abusive boyfriends constantly tore her down, fueling her low self-esteem. This led to a lot of unneeded surgeries. She got a job working for a plastic surgeon, but instead of getting paid in cash, she was paid in treatments. Alone at the clinic one night and desperate, Dana tried to perform surgery on herself. She ended up blinding herself in one eye and completely mutilating herself beyond repair. She committed suicide in a bathtub, repeatedly slashing her body with a butcher knife. When her body was found, people noted that she was beautiful in death as she had been in life. Her ghost will always be bare, showing the cuts she felt she had to make on herself, whispering nothing but, “I’m sorry.”

GHOST #7 – The Pilgrimess

Isabella Smith (Xantha Radley) was an Englishwoman who traveled across the Atlantic to settle in New England during colonial times. Due to being an outsider, she was immediately isolated from the other townsfolk. After some livestock began to die mysteriously, the town believed it was witchcraft, and all the fingers pointed to Isabella. She was found guilty of being a witch after emerging from a burning barn unscathed. She was sentenced to the stocks with no food or drink until she died. Her ghost is still trapped in those very stocks.

GHOST #8 & #9 – The Great Child & The Dire Mother

Margaret Shelburne (Laurie Soper) was a 3-foot tall woman who worked at a side-show at a carnival. She was raped by another performer, the “Tall Man,” and 9 months later, she gave birth to her child, Harold. When Harold grew up, he ended up weighing over 300 pounds. Harold was spoiled and raised as his mother’s protector. He always had a child-like mindset and he never stopped wearing diapers. One day, some of the carnival workers wanted to play a practical joke on the mother and son, so they kidnapped Margaret. Harold searched for her in a rage, and when he found the kidnappers, he saw that his mother accidentally suffocated in the bag that they kept her in. Harold grabbed an axe and hacked up the kidnappers, then he displayed their remains for paying customers to see. When the carnival’s owner found out what Harold did, he had an angry mob tear Harold apart. Margaret and Harold’s ghosts are now bound together for eternity. Harold still has the ax and he wears a bib as his mother continues to spoon-feed him.

GHOST #10 – The Hammer

George Markley was a blacksmith who lived in a small town in the 1890s. One day, a racist white man wrongfully accused him of stealing, and when the town tried to exile him, he refused to leave. A gang, led by his accuser, then hung his wife and children and set their bodies on fire. George swore revenge, and he beat all of the culprits to death with his sledgehammer. The rest of the townsfolk gave George a cruel punishment for it. They chained him to a tree and drove railroad spikes into his body using his sledgehammer. If that wasn’t enough, they then cut off his hand and attached the sledgehammer to the bloody stump. His ghost still has the railroad spikes imbedded in his body and the sledgehammer as his left hand.

GHOST #11 – The Jackal

Ryan Kuhn (Shayne Wyler) was born in 1887 to a prostitute. As he grew up, he developed an insatiable lust for women, rape, and murdering prostitutes. He actually wanted to be cured, so he committed himself to Borehamwood Asylum. After attacking a nurse, he was put in a straight-jacket and thrown in a padded room. After spending years in that room, Ryan went even more insane, scratching at the walls so violently, he tore his fingernails clean off. He was then kept permanently bound in the straight-jacket, and the hospital staff made it tighter every time he acted out, causing his limbs to contort horribly. Ryan resorted to gnawing through the jacket until the hospital locked his head in a metal cage and sealed him away in a dark basement cell. His hate for people grew as he was down there, screaming madly and cowering away at any human contact. When a fire broke out in the hospital, everyone escaped but Ryan, who chose to stay and face the fire. His ghost is still wearing the jacket and metal cage, however, his hands and face are now free, most likely due to the heat of the fire.

GHOST #12 – The Juggernaut

Horace “Breaker” Mahoney was a brutal serial killer. Due to his enormous height, he was ostracized by society as a child. His mother abandoned him when he was a baby, and his father raised him, having him work at the junkyard, crushing old cars. After his father died, Horace went completely mad. He started picking up female hitchhikers, bringing them to the junkyard, tearing them apart with his bare hands, and feeding their pieces to his dogs. One day, he picked up a woman who turned out to be an undercover police officer and it didn’t take long for SWAT to have the junkyard surrounded. They tried to arrest him, but he broke out of the cuffs and killed three officers. Five SWAT officers then took out their guns and shot Horace down, putting an extra bullet in him just to be safe. His ghost can be seen still riddled with bullets all over his body, plus the final shot.