In 1975, Virginia Beach was well on its way to becoming one of the nation's top ten beach destinations. But that July, an odd change occurred. Fewer people were entering the water. Those who did stayed close to the shore. This bizarre behavior was also noticed on all beaches along the East and West Coasts. People suddenly seemed afraid to go in the water. But why? The answer could be found at local movie theatres.

Traditionally, summer movie attendance had always been low. Why spend a beautiful summer day in a dark theatre? But that changed forever in the summer of 1975. A new movie was playing, unlike anything audiences had ever experienced: intense, suspenseful, thrilling, terrifying, genuinely human, and, in a few spots, laugh-out-loud funny. Traditionally, most moviegoers had been older adults, but this film attracted a new demographic: thirty million Americans, ages 18 to 35, returned to see it three to five times. Repeated viewings were as thrilling as repeated rides on a roller coaster. Nationwide, every theatre showing the film reported record lines daily at the box office stretching for blocks-earning the movie a nickname: “The Summer Block Buster."  

The film was, of course, “Jaws"-Stephen Spielberg's suspenseful masterpiece about a small New England beach town terrorized by a series of deadly Great White Shark attacks. “Jaws" unprecedented success made going to the movies as much a part of summer vacation as beach trips. But “Jaws" also tapped into its audiences' deepest fears about what dangers lurk beneath the ocean's surface, influencing a generation of Americans' attitudes about the beach.

“After seeing that movie, I never ever went back into the ocean more than ankle-deep," Virginia Beach native Chris Mitchell says.

“My wife hasn't gone in the water since then-and we were teenagers then," Chesapeake's David Alger notes.

“In 1975, I was a 10-year-old California girl," Kerri Lynn recalls. “'Jaws' terrified me so much that I was afraid even to go in lakes because someone said they had found sharks in some. I wasn't comfortable in the ocean until almost ten years later."

“I grew up on the water in Poquoson, Virginia, and was 13 when 'Jaws' came out," J' Marie Watkins-Hamann of York County recounts. “I went to see it with my brother and his wife. The line to get in wrapped around the entire theatre. We got 'nice' third row seats, a big tub of buttered popcorn, some Goobers, a soda, and I was set. Needless to say, when the head of one of the shark's victims fell out of the ragged gash in a sunken boat, there was a popcorn shower in row three! On the way home, all three of us rode in the front seat of our Volkswagen. I was so terrified, I slept with two of my six batons in my hand, my cocker spaniel, and my cat. To this day, I watch 'Jaws' just to punish myself."

An Indiana high school senior at the time, Kerry Harding recalls going to Florida that summer with friends: “It was the first time I'd ever seen the ocean, but after 'Jaws,' I refused to go out into the water any further than knee-deep. To this day, I won't go swimming or waterskiing in lakes with cloudy water or in the ocean where the water is too deep to see the bottom."

Bill Canady of Chesapeake recalls a 1975 visit by relatives from the Blue Ridge mountains: “My aunt took them to Virginia Beach, and they would not get in the water because of seeing 'Jaws.' The way I understand it, some of them still aren't fond of the ocean."

“The day after my wife and I saw 'Jaws,' we went to the beach with visiting friends," recalls Jonathan Reid of San Luis Obispo, California. “Only yards into the water, I stepped into the middle of a dead jellyfish. It quickly floated up around my foot and ankle. The thought that flashed into my mind was that I had stepped into the mouth of a Great White! In a nanosecond, heart pounding and stomach in my throat, I launched myself vertically free of the unseen predator. I might have made a less-than-manly, somewhat scream-like utterance!"

In 1975, Kristen Spivey of Newport News saw “Jaws" with her then-boyfriend. “I think he was counting on my being a bit freaked out at some point in the movie. I'm not sure he was expecting me to end up in his lap," she laughs.

“I was always afraid to swim in the ocean," California native Jill Hazard explains. “After watching 'Jaws,' my fears were validated."

“I have never gotten over the effect 'Jaws' had on me as far as ocean swimming," says Sandi Floyd Belcher of Waynesboro, Virginia. “I used to paddle along out past the wave breaks until that movie. I've never really gone back in since. I love to walk the shore and dip my toes in, but ankle-deep is as far as I go. Later, drone pictures of sharks lazily circling just feet away from beach swimmers only intensified my permanent fear."

Lee Canipe of Kinston, North Carolina, was not traumatized by the film, even though he saw it at age six. “My mother and aunt took my cousin and me to see 'Jaws' at the Paramount Theater in downtown Kinston, North Carolina," Lee remembers. “Part of the reason they wanted to see this particular film is because they were living in Morehead City in 1957 when local resident Rupert Wade was killed by a Great White at Salter Path. They remembered how shocking it was to the community. Despite this scary movie and having known someone killed by a shark, they still let me and my cousin swim in the ocean! We practically lived in the water as kids. Years later, my mother admitted, 'Taking y'all to see Jaws at that age probably wasn't the best decision.'"

“Jaws" also had no long-term effect on Portsmouth native Jeff Joyner: “By the next summer, when several attractive friends from school began scuba diving off Virginia Beach and Hatteras and invited me along, sharks couldn't have been farther from my mind. 'Jaws' was no match for teenage hormones inflamed by the tiny bathing suits of the late 70s."

“My family was vacationing at Myrtle Beach when 'Jaws' opened," North Carolinian Marina Hunley-Graham remembers. “My mom thought it would be great to see it one night because of all the hype. I remember her covering our eyes through the scary parts. Needless to say, I was in the pool on all vacations from 1975 until…well, now. 'Jaws' made me not want to swim in the ocean ever!"

Nevertheless, Marina has found a way to calm her “Jaws"-inspired fears: “These days, I sit with my toes in the water, a good book, and a glass of vino."