A prop house from Tim Burton's Big Fish burns down after lightning strike
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The fictional town of Spectre just suffered a tragedy.
An Alabama prop house used in Tim Burton's fantastical drama Big Fish erupted in flames after a lightning strike sparked a fire on Sunday evening. The Millbrook Fire Department responded to the incident, but the house was reportedly destroyed.
"We lost a house in the Town of Spectre tonight after a lightning strike," reads a post on Jackson Lake Island's Facebook page. The goats that live on the island were unharmed, according to the post, which adds, "All the goats were safely under the church."
Columbia/courtesy Everett Collection 'Big Fish' prop house
The rest of the town is unharmed and remains open for visitors, says a second post.
Along with the fictitious town of Spectre, the home was constructed specifically for the 2003 movie. Filmed entirely in Alabama, Burton's film required a custom built set, created on the private island of Lake Jackson. The "town" was abandoned after production and has since become a tourist attraction for fans of the film. While the homes were intentionally made to look broken and decayed, much of the town has been renovated.
The film tells the story of father and son, Edward (Ewan McGregor and Albert Finney) and William Bloom (Billy Crudup), trying to mend a relationship fractured by the father's penchant for tall tales. Even on his deathbed, Edward can't help but blur the lines between fantasy and reality — but as William investigates his father's stories, he begins to understand him on a deeper level. The film was shot on location in Alabama, telling the story through a series of fairy tale vignettes that leaned heavily on the aesthetic of Southern Gothic fantasy.
Other structures used in the film continue to persist as locations of fan interest. In the town of Wetumpka, Alabama, the large house used for the film has become a prominent landmark. The home was even the subject of HGTV's Hometown Takeover, when it premiered in 2021. Originally built in 1874, the historic house required serious renovations that overwhelmed homeowners Shellie and Wade Whitfield, who handed off the reins to the HGTV crew.
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