The 2013 film by Brett Donowho, A Haunting at Silver Falls, explores family bonds through the lens of a haunting that is based on the true story of murdered twin girls. The plot follows the story of Jordan, a teen girl who has been orphaned after her father es away from leukemia. She moves to the rural town of Silver Falls, Oregon to live with her aunt and uncle, but soon becomes wrapped up in a deadly mystery when she finds a silver ring that causes her to start seeing visions of a ghostly girl.
The further Jordan progresses in her investigation of her visions, who this girl is, and what she wants, the more her aunt and uncle and everyone else in town turns against her, assuming she’s just a distraught young girl suffering from death row where he gives her his own ring that matches the one she found. Now that she has both rings, she starts seeing both ghostly twins.
The story of the ghostly twins is allegedly twins, there isn’t just one case that stands out as being more likely than any other to have inspired the events of the film, and certainly none that include reports of ghostly visions. However, there are a few potential options for which story Donowho might have read.
The True Story Behind A Haunting at Silver Falls Explained
The first of the potential cases that could have inspired the story of A Haunting At Silver Falls is that of three-year-old-twins, Caroline and Madison King. In Richmond, VA, Robert King and his estranged wife Kristina Hooper were going through a bitter custody battle over their three-year-old twin daughters, Caroline and Madison King in January of 2012. On a Sunday afternoon when the twins had been staying with their father, Hooper went over to retrieve her daughters after calling the house several times and receiving no answer. She found the house filled with exhaust and immediately called the police. After ventilating the home, police discovered both King and his daughters unresponsive in the front bedroom.
Another possible case is the 2012 murder of Lily and Tori Ball. Also known as the 'samurai sword' case, this slaying took place in Fairfield, CA, closer to the filming locations in Oregon. After many years of methamphetamine abuse, mother Monica McCarrick stabbed her daughters and then herself with a samurai sword before lighting their apartment on fire and ing out from her wounds. Three year old twins Lily and Tori Ball ed away from their wounds. McCarrick was convicted of first-degree murder and judged to be in control of her faculties during the murder.
A Haunting at Silver Falls could have also been based on the disappearance and murder of Ashley Pond and Miranda Gaddis, which happened in Oregon City, OR. In January 2002, twelve-year-old Ashley Pond disappeared en route to her bus stop in Oregon City. Two months later, her classmate Miranda Gaddis also disappeared. In August of that same year, the remains of both girls were found on the property of Ward Weaver III after his son Francis called the police. Weaver tried to assault Francis’ girlfriend, which led him to tip off police about his suspicions. It's unclear what story Donowho read to inspire this film, but there are a few Acts of Violence, he clearly has an interest in true crime.