operation:

Evil Dead Uproot

The Rescue and Recovery Operation of the Evil Dead II Filming Site

The following is the recovery process as told by the Operation: Evil Dead Uproot founder and the restoration engineer of the Evil Dead Workshed project and exhibit.

Portions of The Evil Dead II filming site are coming to public view. How??

I have been in contact with the property owners of the Evil Dead II filming location since 2011. Ever since receiving permission from them to enter thier property, I have been dying to make the trip to Wadesboro, NC to finally see the cabin in the flesh. I finally decided to make the trip this year to visit the site. Keeping in contact with the owners, I have been speaking to them alot for the past few months due to what they informed me of. Unfortunately, the owner of the farm property will be clearing the area where the cabin ruins are located in order to harvest the trees for local firewood businesses. Ultimately, the landscaping will be altered and the cabin will be destroyed once they start cutting down trees surrounding the site.

At the time the owners asked me to keep this quiet because they do not want to cater to guests constantly asking them to see the site. The owners are elderly people that have not seen nor do they care to see any of the Evil Dead movies. In fact, when talking to the owner, he walked into the woods to see the site for himself for the first time after owning the property for the past 18 years. He confirmed with me everything that I believed was still there. Unfortunatley, as most of us know, the Cabin collapsed around 2014, which the owners believed was the result of a micro burst that hit thier property. That same micro burst also destroyed another historic structure located on thier property unrelated to Evil Dead II.

So, came up with a plan. After having a long conversation with the owners, I have been given permission to come to the site and remove ANY and ALL Evil Dead II structures that are able to be saved prior to the devestation of the site area.

Using money out of my own pocket and a donation from a past customer (Thank you Harry), I bought the tools I needed, rented an SUV, drove to Charlotte NC. My friend Scott Himmel and I arrived in Charlotte NC around 2:00am on April 1st. We slept in the Budget rental parking lot until it opened at 8:00am. At 8:00, we dropped off the rental car and rented the biggest, smelliest, slowest, piece of shit 24 foot moving truck that Budget rentals had in thier fleet. After another hour of driving at the trucks maximum speed of 65 mph, we headed to the property. When we got to the house we met up with the owner whos name wont be revealed. The 77 year old owner was probably one of the nicest people ive ever met. Not only did he give me access to do this but he considered what we were doing was a big favor to him. Prior to taking us to the cabin location, the owner took us down the driveway to his shop. He showed us around and informed us that we were welcome to all of his tools and restrooms if we needed them. He even gave us the option to use his backhoe!

We proceeded to follow him in his pickup truck to the entrance of the woods where the cabin was located. He then un strung his electric fence to make it easier to bring the items to the top of the hill. Before he left us, he asked my friend to drive him back to his house. Dumbfounded at first, the owner insisted that since were were going to be there for 2 days, it was stupid to load up the 24 foot truck, leave and come back the next day. The owner told us he wanted us to use his pickup truck for motel travel, lunch travel, etc instead of lugging that big ass truck around. His exact words were "I want you to use my truck, and you're welcome to it as long as you promise you wont try to pay me". I could not thank him enough for his kindness. We shook hands and he went on with his day. Scott and I headed into the woods for 2 long ass days.

Upon entering the area, we immediately noticed the massive amount of flood damage that has been done to the area. Even the landscaping has been severely altered by the flooding. Its hard to believe that they even had a Delta 88 back there. Theres even a small dried up stream that runs under the cabin, right where the rear stairs would have came down and touched the ground. There is no more ground. The cabin is completely destroyed and the foundation washed away. See the photos below to see the extent of the damage.

Day 1: Entering the woods for the first time:

Day 1: Entering the cabin for the first time, examining the fake trees, and a quick walk around:

Day 1: Entering and Crawling through whats left of the living room:

Day 1: A 360° view from the roof of the Evil Dead II Cabin:

Day 1: A 360° view of the area in front of the Evil Dead II Cabin:

Day 1: Evil Dead II Site - Inside of one of the fake trees:

Day 1: Evil Dead II Site - My attempt at recreating the camera view of "the force" backdoor entry:

Dismantling The Workshed:

The initial plan for the workshed was to label each plank and framing wood and take it down piece by piece. Prior to even starting we noticed how unstable the structure was and that it was leaning over the hill toward the cabin. It was a dangerous process. After removing the outter exterior pieces the shed began to slowly tilt furthur down the hill toward to West wall of the Cabin. Unfortunatley, it collapased before our eyes. The framing was so rotten, I stepped on a 6x6 and it snapped in half.

Almost any wood in that valley crumbled in your hands upon picking it up. There was a severe amount of termite damage done to the workshed and obviously the Cabin as well. We decided to leave the original workshed framing behind due to the rotting and will build a newer identical sized frame for the resurrection of the workshed. After the workshed fell, We climbed the roof and fought off bees until we got the remaining tin roofing removed from the frame.

Items From The Cabin:

All of the wood turns to dust. I was able to crawl inside of the confined spaces of the collapsed Cabin to recover alot of items. The Cabin, from the front porch to just beyond the kitchen is completely collapsed. The only place you can enter is the rear door or an open window on the West wall about 10-12 feet in. And even in that area the floors are completely rotted. I fell through once already. All of the tounge and grove floor boards were removed and saved. I was able to save a break away door that was in the front living room area by cutting away the roofing beams that were pinning it to the floor. I also removed parts of another break away door that are pretty much underneith of the cabin where the flooring collapsed.

We were able to remove and save the East upper wall intact. This wall would have been right above the cellar door area. This was the biggest pain in the ass we faced since it weighs around 300 lbs and very awkward. There was one rear stair that suffered severe termite damage that I also saved. The stair frames were also recovered. The entire rear door frame and trim was recovered along with very large sections of interior walls and baseboards. The rear window on the left upon entering the rear door was removed and saved. A window from what appeared to be from the kitchen was also recovered. Upon searching the area around the cabin we recovered a 55 gallon drum and a large piece of interior wall that was washed away from the flood. These items were found about 100 feet from the cabin rear door. Large planks of exterior cabin wood as well as the plaster between the planks were also recovered.

Recovered Items:

Please visit the "Recovered Items" page to view each item individually by clicking the button below.

The following items were recovered from the Evil Dead II Site:

The entire Workshed (Complete Exterior and Roof Metal) Due to framing rot, the workshed collapsed during this process)
The fake foam tree (180 degrees of the lower 5 feet of one tree)
1 large Cabin window (kitchen area)
Cabin rear door frame with one door hinge and one screen door hinge still attached
Rear interior and exterior door trim
Interior base boards
Interior window frame (next to back door)
1 Cabin window (rear room left of the rear door)
5 bundles of cabin flooring
3 large sections of interior walls
Cabin roofing
Roofing nails from the workshed
Cabin roofing cap
3 remaining chimney stones (painted styrofoam)
Exterior Cabin wood (various locations)
Exterior Cabin plaster
One 55 gallon drum inside of the workshed (Resin labels - possibly used for the trees)
One 55 gallon drum found 100 feet from the back door (apprears to be the one Ash tripped over)
The complete upper West wall of the living room (above where the cellar door would have been)
Roofing slats from the Workshed
One break away Ram-O-Cam door with a hinge attached
90% of all remaining coal rocks where Ash buried Linda
A very large amount of window glass
The rear stairs framing
One rear stair
Small and Large pieces of white interior wall

Before we left on Day 2, I made a sign and pounded it into the ground where the Workshed sat. After we got on the road we stopped to see the J R Faison Gymnasium where the interior shots were filmed. We spent time inside taking pictures and looking around to see if by slim chance anything could be recognized or recovered from when the movie was shot. There was nothing but piles of garbage. It appears to be a local indoor dump if there is even such a thing.

So there you have it.

Call me crazy but I wasnt going to sit back and just hear that all of what the production crew left behind 30 years ago was going to be trashed, trampled and destroyed when the timber is harvested from the entire area. I am not making any money off of this. I spent a shit load of money to do this. Im doing this for everyone. Bringing the secret and private site out of the woods and into public view. I plan on trying to bring some these structures to some of the Western Pennsylvania Comic-Cons.

So its official, the real ruins from the Evil Dead II site in Wadesboro NC have been rescued and relocated to the Greater Pittsburgh area.

You welcome...

Enjoy..

Recovered Items Page