Wes Craven Instagram – #30YearsofNightmare Celebrating the 30th Anniversary of A Nightmare on Elm Street all month. I’ll be posting fun facts about the film daily. INSPIRED BY ACTUAL EVENTS I read an article in the LA Times of a teenage boy who was suffering from horrible nightmares and began fighting sleep by any means possible. The boy’s parents, concerned for his well being, got him sleeping pills. Finally getting him to sleep, they took him up to his room only to hear him moments later thrashing, screaming, and eventually dying. The parents found a coffee maker as well as all the sleeping pills hidden in the room. I thought it would be interesting if there was something or someone in the dreams that actually killed him, thus Freddy was born.