Netflix’ Haunted Slaughterhouse: the real story

Netflix’ Haunted Slaughterhouse: the real story

With Halloween coming up, my husband and I started looking around on Netflix for frightening series or movies. We decided to watch the Haunted series. What obviously caught our attention, was the claim that every episode contains real people telling their true story. It’s intriguing to see and hear about paranormal experiences that really happened. Real life ghost stories, do they even exist? According to producer Brett-Patrick Jenkins the answer is yes. Yet, due to episode 2: the Haunted Slaughterhouse viewers did start to question the authenticity of the whole show. 

The Haunted Slaughterhouse tells a horrible story. So terrible, many people have trouble believing it truly happened. 

I bet you did as well. That’s probably how you ended up here on this page. It’s the turning point when many decide to google ‘Haunted Slaughterhouse episode 2’. The moment to check out if the Haunted series really is about telling true stories. Somehow we all expect to find loads of information about real life cases. Even more when apparently we’re talking about one of the biggest serial killers in history.

Recap of Netflix’ Haunted Slaughterhouse episode

In case you don’t know what I’m talking about, here is a little recap of the episode. It starts with two sisters, telling about their horrific childhood. They were daughters of a serial killer and witnessed their father picking up ‘strays’ or ‘disposable people’ from the streets and out of bars. Numerous nights the girls spend hiding in their bedrooms, trying to avoid hearing the terrible sounds from what was going on downstairs. As they lived in Upstate New York, remote from their neighbours and the little town nearby, killer Dad could do whatever he wanted without anyone finding out. He owned a couple of acres of forest and simply disposed of the bodies in the woods. 

But, we’re watching Haunted. And Haunted is not about murders, it’s about paranormal events. The Haunted Slaughterhouse isn’t an exception. According to Terrilyn, one of the daughters, it could even get worse. At that moment I couldn’t even imagine how it would be possible to get worse. Things became darker and the bad energy got tenser. Killer Dad provoked the devil and she witnessed a few events that confirmed for her that her father became possessed. On top of all the evilness he already had within him. 

During the whole episode I watched with a mix of fascination, disgust and surprise. These two women were claiming their parents killed dozens, if not hundreds of people. Concluding this couple might have been the worst serial killers in the history of the United States. How is it possible this isn’t a famous story? 

What does the internet say?

After a little search on Google I found many websites that didn’t show anything more than the producers’ tweets, claiming the story was true and that he could jeopardize the safety of people if he would give any more information.

That didn’t satisfy me. How was it possible that nobody on Reddit, Twitter, or anywhere else on social media couldn’t find a single trace leading to the family. Or anyone else that knew the family?

A couple of ambitious people online had traced back real life profiles of a few other story tellers on the show. Yet, nobody had found this family. Terrilyn, Sadie and Jacob remained unknown. How could the family with such a terrible history be completely unknown? How was it possible that nobody knows them? 

It kept pounding around in my head. I knew I had to investigate this. And when I start investigating, I go deep.

And I found what I was looking for!

It wasn’t even that hard to find

Apparently even the producer himself gave away more information than the bigger websites wrote about. How could they even call a 10 minute surfing session on the internet an investigation? Anything for the views?

There is a book

My investigation led me to a book that can simply be found on Amazon. I was astounded. Nobody on the internet seemed to have found the family, while apparently Terrilyn even published a book, telling about her experiences. Of course, with only 20 customer reviews today on the 17th of October 2019 and ranking #102,649 in Amazons bestsellers store, you can’t call it famous. Apparently it never spread out to the big crowds. 

You can purchase the book here, in both Kindle and Paperback version.

I absolutely recommend you to buy the book, so you can read more about everything that happened. The story you’ve seen on the Haunted Slaughterhouse episode doesn’t even cover half of it.

Next question. 

If there is a book, then it must be easy to find the writer, as she tries to claim a place in the spotlight, right? That is, unless you use a pseudonym.

According to Amazon, the book is written by A. Tacked, who has lived in Dallas, Texas for thirty-five years. That might be the reason why nobody connected the dots between this story and the supposedly Haunted Slaughterhouse in Upstate New York. 

Where in Upstate New York? 

Upstate New York is big. Several users on Reddit mentioned they live in Upstate New York, but didn’t recognize any local stories that might have fit the Haunted Slaughterhouse episode. Which is kind of strange, as Terri’s social media profile simply states she went to college in Plattsburgh. So, apparently the Slaughterhouse can be found in or near Plattsburgh, New York. 

Has anyone living closeby ever heard of it? 

Social Media

Nowadays, with the luxury of the internet and social media, it’s almost unthinkable a whole family – and town – can remain unknown. Well, I have good news for you. They do have social media, and I found their profiles. 

Here you go. A couple of screenshots that’ll show they are normal people, just like you and me.

Perhaps quite contradictory with revealing the true story, but I decided not to show their exact profile names. I wouldn’t like to get stalked on my personal social media profiles neither – and I don’t think Terrilyn and her friends would appreciate to receive personal negative messages on their own accounts meant for family and fun.

My motivation behind writing all this, absolutely isn’t to ruin the internet for other human beings, only because they told their life story on Netflix. 

If you’re angry about the credibility of the Haunted show, you should aim that anger at the producer instead of the story tellers. But to be fair, why would you? After all, you can’t deny these are real people, telling their stories. The producer never claimed his show is about the investigation of real life cases. Probably his conditions to host someone on the show is that someone tells their true story. A story, real life experience, that is true for the guest. As long as the story teller truly believes this story really happened to him, we are talking about real people telling real stories.

Shouldn’t we really be aiming our disbelief at law enforcement, as it looks a lot like they haven’t been doing a great job?

A book doesn’t prove anything

I know, right? That the same person that told her story on the show, has written a book about the exact same story, doesn’t proof that this story truly happened. Anyone can invent a story, write a book and then start telling about it on a Netflix show. For that matter it could have simply been a stunt to arrange more sales of the book. 

That’s why I wanted to look a little further, to see if there were any incontinuities. One of the things I found, was Terri’s biography that was written a couple of years before she even published the book. As you can see here. 

When she wrote this, she was still hoping to publish her book by early 2016, while in reality it got published in January 2017. Nothing wrong with being later than planned, but it proves she didn’t have a ‘fully prepared game plan to fool the world with the Haunted Slaughterhouse story’. According to Terri herself it’s a heart-felt book about her childhood, her journey into the paranormal and her quest to be ‘normal’. On Amazon she mentions her book is a testimony of prayer, and it’s written to inspire faith and hope.

There is not a single moment she mentions ‘she needs her story to be told and famous’. Which definitely makes it a lot more credible.

So did the police investigate?

Of course the disbelief around the Haunted Slaughterhouse episode, also came to the eyes of Terrilyn and her loved ones. The family still kept quiet, but one of her dear friends could no longer keep her mouth shut. She decided to create a Twitter account and started to defend her friend Terrilyn ‘in public’. In between the messages of all the non-believers, there she is. Responding to a couple of people, telling them that all family members are obviously traumatized. Sharing the title of Terri’s book. Also she responded the question that daunted upon every single person who watched this episode: why isn’t the police investigating? According to Chrissy law enforcement did open a case, but closed it shortly after. The reason why is unclear, maybe Plattsburgh’ police could get more clarity on that matter?

Ask Terrilyn herself

Neither Terrilyn could take it any longer. Also she created a special Twitter account to respond to people. Visibly hurt and affected by the many ugly words people wrote about the case. According to Terri herself, it’s a misconception that they kept their story a secret. She even reaches out to all the skeptics and invites them to message her with questions. 

Apparently this whole ordeal has a very easy solution: ask Terrilyn about everything you doubt about and she will answer. I’m wondering why the biggest critics haven’t done that yet.

In case you do decide to get in touch with her, please be respectful. Just don’t forget you’re treating with a human being, that has been traumatized during her entire childhood. No matter if you decide to believe it’s true.

I’ll leave you with one more of her tweets, that’ll explain more about the police investigation.

Conclusion

Terrilyn and her family are real. And the Haunted Slaughterhouse story has been part of her life for a long time. Throughout her life, she has been telling her friends about her history, she even wrote a book about it, that was actually meant to explain why she got into the paranormal world. Apparently the police neglected to dive into a much needed investigation. 

In my own humble opinion, I think it’s too farfetched to be made up. Who would invent a story this horrible? Though many details on the Haunted Slaughterhouse episode might be exaggerated – I guess that’s an old Hollywood habit. My biggest question is why law enforcement doesn’t investigate and why this seems to be a pretty secretive story. 

Although I do understand the family doesn’t like screaming it from the rooftops. Everybody deals with trauma in their own way. Most probably Sadie and Jacob chose to take distance from this terrible childhood, while Terrilyn used it as a stepping stone for her paranormal career. Which is respectable, her experience woke her paranormal spirit and she wants to use it by doing good for others. 

It all does make sense

And who knows, as we can see in the Haunted Slaughterhouse episode, Jacob got groomed by his grandfather. He might as well be involved by terrible deeds he never wanted to do in the first place. This would make it a very sensitive matter for either him and his mother. Which could also explain why the producer decides to be dealing with it in a very discreet way. It might even be a very significant condition in the contract between Netflix and Terrilyn and her family. 

All in all, I think the family behaves like any ‘normal’ family would do after going through traumatic experiences.

What do you think after reading all this?

Is Netflix’ Haunted Slaughterhouse true or false?

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