Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco

Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco is a historic Scout camp at 11 Sand Pond Road in Hardwick Township, Warren County, New Jersey, USA. Established in 1927, its unusual name is derived from North Bergen Boy Scouts, reflecting the organisation that originally operated the property. The camp occupies approximately 380 acres of woodland in the Kittatinny Mountains, beside Sand Pond, a small freshwater lake surrounded by forested slopes. Its grounds contain traditional wooden cabins, lodges, a dining hall, archery and rifle ranges, workshops, a boathouse and recreational facilities. Several of the original buildings date from the camp’s earliest years, including Van Dusen Lodge, constructed in 1928. The property remains an active Scout camp operated by the Northern New Jersey Council of Scouting America. Since 2011, it has also hosted occasional guided tours under the name Crystal Lake Tours, allowing visitors to explore locations used during the filming of Friday the 13th. The grounds are privately owned and are not accessible to the general public outside organised events.

Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco appears in Friday the 13th (1980), directed by Sean S. Cunningham, where it represents the fictional Camp Crystal Lake. More than 80 per cent of the film was shot on the property, including scenes inside the cabins, along the woodland paths, at the archery range, in the shower building and around the generator shed. The camp’s main lodge provides the setting for several important confrontations, while Sand Pond represents Crystal Lake itself, where Alice Hardy battles Pamela Voorhees beside the water.

In Friday the 13th (1980), Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco first appears during the opening sequence set in 1958. A group of summer camp counsellors gather around a fireplace, singing together before Barry (Willie Adams) and Claudette (Debra S. Hayes) slip away to be alone. They enter a storage building, unaware that someone is following them. The unseen killer interrupts the couple and murders them, establishing the violent history of Camp Crystal Lake. The opening fireplace scene was filmed in one of the camp’s communal buildings, while the murders took place inside a storage shed that normally served as the camp’s quartermaster building.

The main story begins more than twenty years later, when camp owner Steve Christy (Peter Brouwer) attempts to reopen the abandoned summer camp. The entrance road and its surrounding woodland appear as the new counsellors arrive to help prepare the buildings for the coming season. Ned Rubenstein (Mark Nelson), Jack Burrell (Kevin Bacon) and Marcie Cunningham (Jeannine Taylor) travel to the property in a pickup truck, passing the wooden Camp Crystal Lake sign erected for the production. The scene introduces several of the camp’s original roads and clearings, with the wooden cabins and wooded hillside visible as the three approach their new workplace.

One of the most extensively used buildings is the main lodge, known as Comanche Lodge or Van Dusen Lodge. Its large communal room, stone fireplace and adjoining kitchen appear repeatedly as the counsellors prepare for the camp’s reopening. Steve works with Alice Hardy (Adrienne King) inside the building, while the other counsellors move between the lodge and the surrounding cabins. The gravel path outside the lodge appears when motorcycle policeman Officer Dorf (Ron Millkie) arrives to investigate reports that Crazy Ralph (Walt Gorney) has been wandering around the property. Dorf questions the young counsellors before warning them against causing trouble and riding away. The real Sand Pond is visible beyond the surrounding buildings in some of the exterior shots.

Another recognisable location is Fox Lodge, also known as the Mechanics Lodge, which represents Alice’s cabin. After returning from the lake, Alice discovers a snake beneath one of the beds and calls for help. Bill (Harry Crosby) arrives carrying a machete, followed by the other counsellors, who attempt to drive the animal out from underneath the furniture. The situation becomes increasingly chaotic as they overturn furniture and jump onto the beds, before Bill finally kills the snake. The scene was filmed inside the actual wooden cabin, whose interior and surrounding woodland were used without extensive alteration.

Sand Pond appears throughout the daytime sequences, with the wooden swimming dock, beach and lakeside buildings forming the waterfront of Camp Crystal Lake. Jack, Marcie, Brenda (Laurie Bartram), Ned and the other counsellors spend time swimming and relaxing while Steve is away collecting supplies. During one sequence, Ned pretends to be drowning, prompting Brenda to swim out and attempt to rescue him. The joke angers the others, while the camera repeatedly cuts to the surrounding trees and shoreline, suggesting that someone is secretly watching the group. The wooden lifeguard tower and the small waterfront buildings remain recognisable features of the location.

The waterfront also appears when Ned notices a mysterious figure moving inside a cabin near the lake. He approaches the building and enters to investigate, unaware that the person inside is the killer. This particular cabin, used for Ned’s disappearance, stood near the boathouse but was subsequently lost through deterioration. Other waterfront structures remain standing, including the boathouse and the buildings surrounding the swimming area.

One of the film’s most recognisable murder locations is the wooden cabin used by Jack, Marcie and Brenda, known at the camp as Seneca Lodge or the Waterfront Cabin. After spending time together during a thunderstorm, Jack and Marcie lie in bed, unaware that Ned’s body has been placed on the upper bunk. Marcie eventually leaves to use the bathroom, leaving Jack alone. As he lies on the lower bunk smoking, the killer reaches from beneath the bed, restrains his head and drives an arrow through his throat. The sequence was filmed inside the actual cabin, with the special effect created by makeup artist Tom Savini and his assistant Taso N. Stavrakis. The effects crew used a prosthetic neck and concealed equipment beneath the bed to create the apparent penetration.

Marcie’s subsequent murder takes place in the camp’s bathroom building, Price Lodge, constructed in 1956. During the storm, she enters the communal washroom and stands in front of a mirror, amusing herself with an impression of Katharine Hepburn. Hearing a noise, she begins checking the shower cubicles, pulling back the curtains before discovering the killer. She is then struck in the face with an axe. The sequence was filmed in the existing bathroom building, although additional shower and toilet fittings were installed for the production.

Later that evening, Alice, Bill and Brenda gather inside the main lodge to play strip Monopoly while the storm continues outside. The room’s fireplace, wooden walls and large windows are visible throughout the game. Brenda eventually leaves and returns to her own cabin, where she prepares for bed. She hears what sounds like a young boy calling for help outside and ventures into the darkness to investigate. Following the voice through the camp, she reaches the archery range, where the floodlights suddenly illuminate the targets. Brenda is left exposed in the clearing before being attacked by the unseen killer.

The archery range was an existing facility at Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco, with its raised wooden shooting platform, target stands and surrounding woodland incorporated into the sequence. It had been constructed in 1968 and remains one of the camp’s recognisable filming locations. Earlier in the film, Brenda is also seen working at the range, where Ned frightens her by firing an arrow close to her position. The repetition of the location connects this daytime encounter with her disappearance later that night.

As the remaining counsellors begin to realise that something is wrong, Alice and Bill search the cabins and attempt to contact the authorities. They discover that the telephone line has been cut and find a bloodied axe in Brenda’s bed. When the electricity fails, Bill leaves the main lodge to investigate the generator shed. The production used the camp’s actual mechanics building, which housed the electrical generator, for the sequence. Alice later approaches the same building with a flashlight and discovers Bill’s body pinned to the wooden door with arrows. The doorway and surrounding exterior are identifiable features of the real structure.

Alice flees back to the main lodge and barricades herself inside. As she attempts to determine what has happened to her friends, Brenda’s bloodied body is suddenly thrown through one of the windows. Shortly afterwards, Pamela Voorhees (Betsy Palmer) arrives at the camp and initially presents herself as a concerned acquaintance of Steve Christy. Their conversation takes place in the lodge’s main room, where Pamela reveals that her son Jason drowned at Camp Crystal Lake because the counsellors responsible for supervising him were distracted. Her increasingly erratic behaviour exposes her as the murderer, and she attacks Alice.

Their confrontation moves through several parts of the main lodge and surrounding grounds. Alice attempts to escape through the kitchen and adjoining rooms while Pamela pursues her with a knife and later a machete. In one sequence, Alice locks herself inside a pantry, only for Pamela to break through the door. Alice strikes her attacker with a frying pan and escapes towards the lake. The kitchen, fireplace room and exterior of Comanche Lodge were used for these sequences, although temporary fittings, including part of the pantry, were constructed for the film and removed afterwards.

The final confrontation between Alice and Pamela takes place on the shore of Sand Pond. Alice reaches the water after fleeing the lodge, but Pamela follows her and attacks again. The two women struggle on the lakeside ground before Alice gains control of a machete and decapitates Pamela. The scene was filmed beside the actual lake, with the wooded opposite shoreline and the open water forming the setting. The violent climax was created with practical makeup effects, including a specially constructed prosthetic used for Pamela’s decapitation.

Following the confrontation, Alice climbs into a canoe and drifts out onto Crystal Lake. The calm water and surrounding forest bring the film back to the lake that has been central to the story from the beginning. At dawn, she awakens to see police officers arriving on the shore, apparently bringing the ordeal to an end. Suddenly, the decaying figure of young Jason Voorhees (Ari Lehman) rises from the water behind her and pulls her out of the canoe. The closing sequence combines the lake setting associated with Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco with additional filming at Turkey Swamp Park in Freehold, New Jersey, where the sudden canoe attack was photographed. The two locations appear as the same body of water in the completed film.

Filming at Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco took place between September and October 1979. Much of the production was completed within a comparatively small section of the property, allowing the filmmakers to move between the cabins, waterfront, shooting range and utility buildings without constructing an entirely new camp. Several cast and crew members stayed on the grounds during filming, including Savini and Stavrakis, who also used a camp building as their special-effects workshop. Although some cabins and temporary structures have disappeared, many of the principal filming locations remain, including the main lodge, Seneca Lodge, the archery range, Price Lodge, the generator building and the waterfront of Sand Pond.

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