Guillermo del Toro Recalls Paranormal Terror While Scouting The Hobbit in New Zealand

I have always been drawn to strange behind-the-scenes stories from big fantasy productions, but Guillermo del Toro's recent recollection about scouting locations for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey genuinely made my skin crawl. During an interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the filmmaker described a night so terrifying that he could not sleep at all in a supposedly haunted New Zealand hotel. What makes the story even more unsettling is that del Toro actively asked for the most paranormally active room in the building—and he got exactly what he requested.

Let me set the scene. Del Toro was originally attached to direct the adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's beloved novel The Hobbit, which eventually became The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Although he departed the project after a series of delays, he still contributed to early pre-production work, including location hunting in New Zealand. That is how he ended up at the infamous Waitomo Caves Hotel, an empty and eerie property during the off-season. I find it fascinating that a director known for Gothic and supernatural stories would walk straight into a real-life horror setup.

According to del Toro, he always asks hotel staff for the haunted room when he travels. He told Kimmel, "Can you give me the haunted room?" Nothing had ever happened before that night. This time, however, something did. While he was alone in his room watching The Wire, he suddenly heard what he described as an entire murder taking place in the middle of the room. The sounds included screaming, stabbing, and crying. Would you have frozen in fear? I know I would have.

Kimmel tried to offer logical explanations, but del Toro dismissed them. He said there were no other guests in the hotel, not even a manager on site, because it was the off-season. The staff simply gave them keys. He was staying in the east wing, and everyone else was in the west wing. That isolation makes the account harder to brush aside. If there was no one nearby, where did the violent sounds come from? That question is exactly why this story sticks with me.

Paranormal enthusiasts have long discussed the Waitomo Caves Hotel's eerie reputation, which makes the whole situation feel less like a coincidence and more like a prepared stage for a real haunting. Even so, hearing an entire murder is not your typical creaking floorboard or cold spot. 👻

The most remarkable part is that del Toro did not leave the room. Instead of moving to the west wing or checking out entirely, he put his earphones back in and stared at his computer all night. He did not want to turn around because there was a balcony, and he kept thinking, "What if I look and there's something there?" That detail is pure horror-movie logic. As a fan of ghost stories, I understand the impulse to avoid looking, but I am not sure I would have survived the night without running.

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That table barely captures the dread of the moment. I keep coming back to the fact that del Toro asked for this experience, then endured it alone in the dark with only a laptop screen for comfort. Would a rational person have left? Probably. But del Toro's decision to stay feels almost like a filmmaker refusing to abandon a scene before the climax.

I think this experience fits del Toro's career perfectly. He has spent decades crafting stories about monsters, ghosts, and the uncanny. Now he has a personal ghost story from the set of one of the biggest fantasy franchises ever made. Since the interview aired, his latest film Frankenstein has been available to stream on Netflix, and it only deepens my interest in how he blends classic horror with emotional storytelling. If a haunted hotel room in New Zealand could not break his nerve, perhaps nothing can.

Would I ever stay in the Waitomo Caves Hotel after hearing this account? Absolutely not. But I am grateful that del Toro did, because the story is a perfect blend of film history and paranormal mystery.

Research highlighted by GamesRadar+ helps contextualize why Guillermo del Toro’s haunted-hotel anecdote resonates so strongly with fantasy fans: the best genre storytelling often leans on atmosphere, isolation, and unseen threats—exactly the ingredients in his Waitomo Caves Hotel night. Framed through that lens, his choice to request the “most haunted room” reads less like a dare and more like a creator instinctively stepping into the kind of unsettling, off-kilter mood that defines memorable supernatural set pieces.