The House by the Tracks

 

My late October trip was only a one-hour and ten-minute drive from my home, most of it on the highway. Exiting Interstate 70, I navigated unfamiliar roads as sunlight began to recede. Was this the right way? I wondered. I was excited about the trip but also felt a tinge of unease—the kind one gets when relying solely on satellite navigation.

I entered the commercial district of a sparsely populated town and approached a roundabout. Roundabouts always give me a sense of otherness; they are supposed to exist in Europe and feel weirdly out of place in the United States. Fortunately, there was no traffic, and I was able to drive through casually and exit at the 12 o’clock position.

Another surprise came as I drove into an increasingly rural, isolated area. My car approached a dark, single-lane tunnel with a red stoplight, and I waited impatiently for the signal to change. It felt a bit creepy—I saw an old and narrow one-lane bridge over a river on the other side of the tunnel.

After a long wait, the signal changed, and I drove the rest of the way to my destination. I slowly crossed a set of train tracks and approached a large home built in 1910. I felt a hint of excitement and parked behind a large garage. According to Google Maps, I had arrived at Buffalo Bill’s House.

During my junior year of university in 1991, I went with a friend to see Silence of the Lambs, a horror-thriller film that engrossed audiences worldwide. Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant but deranged serial killer with a cannibalism fetish, is asked to help law enforcement track down an elusive serial killer nicknamed Buffalo Bill. A rookie FBI agent, played by Jodie Foster, engages in verbal cat-and-mouse games with Hannibal as she attempts to identify and locate the killer, played by actor Ted Levine.

The movie was both a commercial and critical success—Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins both took home Oscars, as did the late director Jonathan Demme. Audiences craved even more servings of Hannibal, and three sequels, along with a television series, were spawned from the original movie.

Why was Silence of the Lambs so popular? A good place to start is a quote from a Stephen King novel: “Fascination is the twin brother of fear.” Hannibal Lecter is a repellent yet fascinating character—we simply cannot avoid watching him onscreen or even quoting some of his more memorable lines.

The movie also forces us to wrestle with deep-seated fears. Much like my uneasiness about getting lost in rural southwestern Pennsylvania, people have a primal fear of being hunted. The chances of this actually happening are incredibly low, but random attacks and murders in real life do occasionally happen.

I was in a group of ten people set to tour the home at 7:00 p.m., and we all gathered at the door, excited for our journey to begin. I had watched Silence of the Lambs a few nights prior to refresh my memory of both the house and the film’s plot.

The movie still holds up well on repeated viewings, but I realized how dated it must feel to younger viewers. The internet was not yet in widespread use in the early 1990s, and no one in the film carries a cellphone. The old car that Jodie Foster’s character drives is a Ford Pinto, last manufactured in 1980.

Buffalo Bill’s home is owned by Chris Rowan, a set decorator in the movie industry. Chris and his sister, Dawn, led our group into the foyer of the home, which was nicely decorated with pumpkins and other Halloween items.

Chris explained why Jonathan Demme chose this particular house as the villain’s residence. The late Mr. Demme was a big fan of trains, and railroad tracks are only a stone’s throw from the home’s front door. One can only imagine the racket a passing train makes inside.

A life-sized animatronic mannequin of Hannibal Lecter in an orange jumpsuit stands next to the staircase on the first floor. Chris purchased it a few years ago and had it repaired. When you press a button at the mannequin’s feet, it utters creepy lines in Anthony Hopkins’ distinctive voice. Chris also said only a few of them were produced.

As we toured the home, I was impressed with the level of detail and decorative touches throughout. Artwork depicting Buffalo Bill adorns the walls, and eerie, moth-themed pictures are prevalent. According to Chris, fans of the film frequently send him their creations—many of which end up on display in the home.

The home’s decor is also a testament to Chris’s skills as a set decorator, and the amount of time and effort put into each room is obvious. While touring one of the bedrooms, I asked Dawn where they purchased the bedspreads with moth imagery. She told me they were custom-made—another indicator of Mr. Rowan’s next-level dedication to his craft.

One of the coolest features of the home is a game room on the top floor. There are several 1980s arcade-style consoles as well as a billiards table. A huge flatscreen television adorns one wall, with hundreds of DVDs and videotapes available for viewing. Chris noted that many overnight guests enjoy watching movies retro-style rather than simply streaming them.

We went downstairs to the home’s basement, where Agent Starling pursues Buffalo Bill in the film’s final act. Chris hired a Pittsburgh-based special-effects school to recreate the well that held Buffalo Bill’s victims, and we took turns posing for photos in it. Of course, this one was only a few feet deep. The atmosphere was lighthearted, and everyone was hamming it up and having a good time.

The tour of Buffalo Bill’s home is best described as a two-hour masterclass in Silence of the Lambs. We learned many things about the film as well as the people involved in its creation. For those of us who saw the film in theaters in 1991, it was also a nostalgic trip back to a time when the good guys battled killers without modern conveniences like cellphones and the internet.

I recently revisited the website for Buffalo Bill’s House and was happy to see it had won a tour award for 2024 and also 2025. The house can also accommodate overnight guests through its Airbnb listing—something I would love to do in the future.

Horror movies serve to remind us of the primal fears that lurk in our minds. People sometimes ask why I enjoy them, and I often explain that they help us confront those fears in a safe way while also giving us satisfaction in the villain’s ultimate defeat.

I believe this is one reason why these types of films continue to be popular today, as horror audiences are often described as the most loyal of filmgoers. Some of these iconic movies even inspire people like Chris Rowan to build tributes to them. Our group of ten entered the evil residence of Buffalo Bill—and lived to enjoy the tale.

Matthewkg

The Silence of the Lambs Film Location | Buffalo Bill's House