Jensen Ackles Reveals the Most Haunted Supernatural Location Eric Kripke Ever Used: «this staircase»

One real Supernatural location is still remembered for unexplained incidents and an unsettling detail the cast never forgot.

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When the Supernatural cast was asked to name its most haunted filming location, there was zero hesitation. Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Jensen Ackles immediately said “Riverview”, with Misha Collins backing him up immediately. The cast quickly filled in its darker history, including lobotomies and torture chambers.

Riverview Hospital, a former mental health facility in Coquitlam, British Columbia, has appeared in multiple genre productions over the years. According to Ackles, the cast asked the site’s liaison for a real tour. He shared:

We finally got ahold of the liaison of the facility and we were like, ‘We want to tour the place, like for real.’ And she was like, ‘Well, we can’t go to the fourth floor.’ And we were all like, ‘We’re going to the fourth floor.’

They went anyway. And that’s when the staircase came up. Ackles added:

She took us up there and she was like, ‘This is the staircase that I got pushed down.’

Jared Padalecki, who played Sam Winchester, later pointed out that the liaison was “so matter-of-fact about it.” Ackles added that the liaison insisted she’d been alone in the building and refused to enter certain rooms as the tour continued. For a show that spent 15 seasons chasing ghosts, Ackles said plenty of locations were creepy, but none left a mark like that staircase.

Jensen Ackles Admits Supernatural Messed With His Fear Instincts

Even after hearing the staircase story, Ackles still went back to work at Riverview, just one of many real locations Supernatural used again and again, one of many abandoned hospitals and institutions the series relied on throughout its run.

So it’s not surprising Ackles later admitted that playing Dean Winchester for 15 seasons rewired how he reacts to fear. Speaking on Inside of You, he joked that years of hunting monsters on screen left him with confidence he knows he didn’t earn. He said:

I have 15 years of training. And it’s given me a horribly false sense of security around anything that could possibly be supernatural. And so if there’s a bump in the night, in my mind, it’s not like, ‘Oh my god. What was that?’ In my mind, it’s like, ‘You picked the wrong house, motherf*****r.’

For a show that repeatedly sent its cast back into decommissioned hospitals and sealed-off buildings, reacting calmly became normal, and that staircase was just another day on the job.

Eric Kripke Made Supernatural One of the Most Location-Heavy Shows

That staircase story only happened because Supernatural was never meant to sit still. From day one, Eric Kripke built the show as a road series. Sam and Dean go where the case is, and once the show committed to that idea, the production followed it almost obsessively.

Especially early on, the series rarely relied on standing sets. While other network shows of the era stayed parked on familiar sets, Supernatural was regularly out on location. Fans still recognize places like Buntzen Lake from Season 1’s “Dead in the Water” or Cleveland Dam from Season 2’s “Simon Said.”

Ackles and Padalecki even joked about it in early commentary tracks, pointing out how unusual the show’s location count was compared to others they’d worked on. Ackles shared:

A lot of locations. Probably the most location show ever, that I’ve ever worked on.

When a show is built to keep moving, comfort isn’t part of the deal, and sometimes, that’s how you end up with a staircase story no one forgets.

Did the staircase story surprise you, too? Share your thoughts in the comments!

All seasons of Supernatural are available to stream on Netflix.

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