Inside Buffalo Bill’s House: The Real-Life Setting of The Silence of the Lambs

The Queen Anne Victorian house at 8 Circle Street in Perryopolis, Pa., (about 30 miles southeast of Pittsburgh) was integral to the 1991 thriller The Silence of the Lambs. It served as the cinematic home of serial killer Buffalo Bill/Jame Gumb (Ted Levine). As such, it was the backdrop for the breathless conclusion, in which FBI Agent Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster), acting on information from the ingeniously horrific Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), caught the psychopathic villain. 

The Real Buffalo Bill Home – Where B&B Doesn’t Mean Blood and Brutality 

The good news for fans of this five-time Oscar winner (Picture, Actor, Actress, Director, and Writer) is twofold: The site has gone generally unchanged since it was used for filming. And its present owners operate it as a B&B, meaning that the film’s most devoted fans can book a stay there for a memorable experience of its unsettling atmosphere. 

The cat-and-mouse interaction between Starling and Gumb at the climax of the film begins innocuously enough when she raps on his front door and, at his invitation, enters from the porch. 

From there, Bill welcomes her to the foyer, promising her the additional information she seeks on the house’s former owner.  

Although not shown directly on screen, the living room is just to the left of the foyer. 

Drawing Clarice in further and further—as a spider does a fly in its web—the two then proceed to the dining room. It’s here that she gets her first glimpse of the death’s head moth that is so integral to the plot. 

Take the Tour! 

When Clarice’s suspicions are sufficiently raised about who she’s interrogating, she draws her gun. Bill escapes into the adjacent kitchen. Note the fava bean artwork on the wall. 

The door to the infamous basement is in the kitchen. In pursuit of the serial killer she now knows Bill to be, Clarice cautiously descends. 

The workroom and the pit that served as the core of Buffalo Bill’s psychopathic fantasies were shot in the Orion Pictures studios in Los Angeles. The current owner of the Buffalo Bill home, however, has recreated them onsite for fans to enjoy. 

The authenticity of the pit—in which guests are welcome to descend for a photo if they’re brave enough—extends to a stuffed version of Darla, the Bichon Frisé named Precious in the movie. 

Take the night vision tour of the Buffalo Bill house, with your tour guides Starling and Gumb 

Booking Your Stay at Buffalo Bill’s House 

The Buffalo Bill’s House rentals start at $495 per night for a group of up to four guests; it includes the use of the entire home. Discounts are available on longer stays. Recreational activities include those provided by the Youghiogheny River (along which the home sits) and the Great Allegheny Passage hiking and biking trail nearby. Full details are on the Buffalo Bill’s House website. 

Tour our other Haunted High-End Homesteads below:

• Poltergeist (1982, 2015)
• Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) 
• The Exorcist (1973)
• The Shining (1980, 1997)