INQUISITR.COM / Entertainment

‘Silence Of The Lambs’ House Not Selling, Going For A Song [Video]

By Anne Sewell
Published on: 08:45 PST, Jan 11, 2016

Anyone looking for a real bargain can’t go too far wrong in buying the infamous house used as Buffalo Bill’s torture residence in the 1991 film Silence of the Lambs.

The Inquisitr reported a few months ago that the house — used as the set for Buffalo Bill’s home in the scary psychological thriller movie Silence of the Lambs — was up for sale.

Those who watched the film will likely remember that it was in the basement of that home that Buffalo Bill, a rather nasty and psychopathic serial killer, stored his victims, plying them with lotion to keep their skin soft before killing and skinning them.

It was the need to catch Buffalo Bill that led Jodi Foster, in her role as FBI agent Clarice Starling, to consult with Anthony Hopkins in his role as the cannibalistic serial killer cum psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter and then led her to visit the house.

According to TribLive News, the home was bought by its current owners, Barbara and Scott Lloyd, both now 63 years of age, in December 1976. They lent out their home as the aforementioned set of Buffalo Bill‘s nasty little lair for the Silence of the Lambs film, but recently decided to sell the house and basically downsize. The going price was originally a fairly reasonable $300,000.

Now, you would be forgiven for thinking a house with such a famous past history (if only in the movies) would sell easily. Turns out that isn’t exactly true.

Erik Gunther, a senior editor and expert on unique homes for Realtor.com has been trying hard to sell the house, but he says even though the home has a certain amount of notoriety, location is still a big deal and apparently the location just isn’t right.

“You hear the mantra: Location, location, location…. Even though it’s got notoriety, location still is a big deal.”

The house is located around an hour’s drive southeast of Pittsburgh in the tiny village of Perryopolis and reportedly this works against it. There is also the fact that the home only has one bathroom to serve its four bedrooms – definitely not enough plumbing facilities for the average large family.

Since the Lloyds listed the property last summer, they have now been forced to drop the price and the property is now going for $250,000. Well, actually, to be exact the price on the listing for the home on Realtor.com is $249,900.

While the house is the second-most viewed property on Realtor.com, Scott Lloyd says there are only lookers, but no buyers. The publicity definitely drew interest, but only from people who knew the house from Silence of the Lambs.

When the film was made a film crew reportedly spent three days shooting in the home. According to Time, the foyer and dining room are exactly as depicted in the Silence of the Lambs movie, but there is no grisly dungeon pit, used by Buffalo Bill (played by Ted Levine) for his killing and skinning purposes. Those scenes were apparently filmed on a sound stage. Whether it is the lack of the gruesome dungeon that is stopping people buying the home is anyone’s guess.

Now, the Lloyds, who were married in the foyer of the house on February 13, 1977, right on the spot where Jodie Foster’s character met the infamous Buffalo Bill, are planning on downsizing. They are reportedly building a ranch-style home a few miles away and want to offload the property and get on with their lives. However, their wish to offload the home isn’t coming true just yet.

As Gunther said, “The fact that a home gets a ton of publicity doesn’t necessarily add up to a quick sale.”

“Just because I want to gawk at something doesn’t mean I want to buy it.”

So, there you go. If you have an easy $250,000 and fancy owning a home with a little movie history, now is your chance — if you dare, of course.

Take a brief visit to the house in an extract from Silence of the Lambs included below.

[Photo via Realtor.com]

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