Is Below Based on a True Story? The Real Snook’s Arm and Newfoundland Resettlement Explained

Netflix’s Below brings an extraordinary mystery to the isolated fishing communities of Newfoundland, where generations of families have depended on the Atlantic Ocean for their livelihoods. Created by Jesse McKeown, the six-part thriller follows Calvin Penney (Josh Hartnett), a widowed fisherman struggling to preserve his hometown as an unusual discovery in the harbor disrupts everyday life. While the giant sea creature gives the series its supernatural premise, the proposed relocation of Snook’s Arm provides an equally important conflict. The residents face the prospect of leaving their ancestral homes, reopening difficult questions about their community’s history and who gets to decide its future.

Although Below tells a fictional story, its depiction of Newfoundland’s resettlement history has a remarkable connection to real events. The tradition of transporting entire houses across the water was once common in the province, and Snook’s Arm itself was a real community that underwent relocation. McKeown’s story draws upon these historical circumstances without presenting the Penney family’s experiences as a documented account. Understanding what happened in Newfoundland makes the series’ central struggle considerably more meaningful.

Is Below Based on a True Story?

Below is not based on a single true incident, and there is no documented case matching Calvin Penney’s encounter with an enormous squid near Snook’s Arm. The characters, the mysterious creature, and the conspiracy involving the Crocker family belong to the show’s fictional narrative. However, the circumstances surrounding the community’s economic decline and proposed resettlement reflect genuine experiences from Newfoundland and Labrador. The province has a long history of smaller coastal settlements losing residents as employment opportunities, public services, and traditional fishing industries changed.

McKeown has spoken about his interest in Newfoundland’s landscapes, folklore, and local history, all of which helped shape the series. In an interview with The A.V. Club, the creator explained that the region’s resettlement stories were particularly important to his original idea. The image of a family transporting its house across the water became one of the first elements of Below to take shape. Rather than adapting one family’s experience, he used that historical practice to establish the emotional circumstances of Calvin’s childhood.

Also Read: Will There Be a Below Season 2 on Netflix? What the Final Icebergs Mean for the Series

Is Snook’s Arm a Real Place?

Snook’s Arm is a real coastal settlement on Newfoundland’s Baie Verte Peninsula, although its history differs considerably from the fictional community depicted in Below. The location appears in Canadian geographical records, including Statistics Canada’s 2016 geographical classification, which lists both Snooks Arm and Snook’s Arm among recognized place names. The area was historically connected to Newfoundland’s maritime industries, with the fishing economy playing an important role in its development. Its small population and relative isolation eventually made it part of the province’s long-running discussions about rural resettlement.

The most striking difference between the actual location and its television counterpart is that the real community has already undergone relocation. During an April 2018 Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly committee hearing, Deputy Minister Jamie Chippett indicated that the relocation of Snooks Arm was completed. Provincial records also show that financial payments associated with the move were reflected in the 2017-18 budget. The series therefore imagines an active community confronting a relocation decision, rather than reconstructing the real town’s final years.

Newfoundland’s Real Resettlement History

The resettlement programs depicted in Below have their roots in the years following Newfoundland’s entry into Canadian Confederation in 1949. Beginning in the 1950s, the provincial government introduced policies encouraging residents of smaller, isolated communities to move into larger settlements with better access to transportation, education, healthcare, and employment. Under Premier Joey Smallwood, these programs became closely connected to efforts to modernize Newfoundland’s economy. Government officials considered the consolidation of scattered communities a practical way to improve public services and reduce costs.

For the families involved, however, relocation was often far more complicated than the government’s economic calculations suggested. Residents were asked to leave places where their relatives had lived for generations, sometimes abandoning established homes, fishing grounds, and community traditions. According to Newfoundland and Labrador’s heritage records, more than 200 communities were closed and approximately 28,000 people were relocated under the major mid-century programs. Although some families welcomed the opportunity to move, others felt that they had little meaningful choice.

That conflict is central to the fictional Snook’s Arm. Calvin’s refusal to accept another resettlement is not simply a matter of stubbornness, since his family has already experienced the consequences of leaving one home behind. His father, Leo Penney, disappeared during the relocation of Little Pot Rock in 1986, leaving Calvin with a painful association between the ocean and the loss of his family’s former life. The television storyline is invented, but the feelings of displacement and resentment surrounding resettlement have substantial historical roots.

Did Families Really Float Their Houses?

One of the most memorable scenes in Below shows Calvin’s family attempting to transport their house across the water during the 1986 relocation. Although the supernatural circumstances are fictional, moving houses by sea was a genuine part of Newfoundland’s resettlement history. Rather than abandon a valuable building, some families placed their homes on floating platforms or barges and arranged for boats to tow them to another settlement. The practice allowed residents to preserve their houses, even as they were forced to leave the land on which those buildings originally stood.

Memorial University’s Maritime History Archive preserves photographs documenting these remarkable journeys. Among them are images of Mike and Hilda Symmonds’ house being moved from North East Crouse to Conche in 1965, along with records of houses transported through Trinity Bay and Placentia Bay. The Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage website also describes how government relocation grants helped families cover the costs of moving their buildings and possessions. The process required considerable preparation, and difficulties along the journey could leave families facing serious financial losses.

These historical images provide a particularly strong connection between Below and Newfoundland’s past. The show’s opening sequence transforms an authentic regional practice into a dramatic family tragedy, giving Calvin a personal reason to fear another relocation. His determination to protect Snook’s Arm becomes more understandable when viewed against a history in which an entire community could disappear from the map within a relatively short period.

Is the Crocker Conspiracy Based on Real Events?

The Crocker family’s attempt to acquire land containing valuable copper and cobalt deposits is a fictional element of the series. There is no verified historical evidence connecting the real relocation of Snooks Arm to a scheme like the one presented in Below. The show uses the mineral deposits to create an additional conflict between the financial interests of a powerful business family and the residents who want to preserve their community. It also complicates the idea that relocation is always an uncomplicated solution to rural economic difficulties.

Also Read: Netflix’s Below Ending Explained: Does the Giant Squid Survive and What Do the Final Icebergs Mean?

This storyline nevertheless reflects broader questions that have surrounded Newfoundland’s resettlement policies for decades. Historians have examined the financial arguments supporting relocation and the social consequences experienced by families who moved. The real programs involved government decisions, community voting, and economic incentives, rather than the fictional conspiracy shown in the series. By introducing the Crockers, Below gives those historical tensions a recognizable antagonist without presenting its fictional events as factual history.

What Inspired Below’s Newfoundland Setting?

McKeown’s familiarity with Newfoundland extends beyond researching the location for the show. The Canadian screenwriter has spent time living in the province, which is his wife’s home region, and has described its combination of dramatic scenery and close-knit communities as a strong setting for storytelling. The production also filmed in Newfoundland and Labrador, using local performers and regional accents to make its fictional characters feel connected to their surroundings. Even Calvin’s work collecting iceberg ice reflects a real commercial activity associated with the province.

The series also incorporates Come Home Year, a tradition encouraging Newfoundlanders who have moved elsewhere to return and reconnect with their communities. This provides the reason for Calvin’s children, Mary and Jay, to reunite with their family just as the town faces another uncertain future. It is a small but important detail because leaving home for better opportunities has been a familiar experience for many families across the province. The fictional Penneys belong to a recognizable social and cultural landscape.

Ultimately, Below uses an imaginary sea creature to tell a story rooted in a genuine chapter of Canadian history. The supernatural mystery may be the reason Calvin begins investigating the waters around his hometown, but the prospect of losing Snook’s Arm gives his efforts their emotional significance. The real Newfoundland resettlement programs left a lasting impact on communities, families, and regional identity. By building its thriller around that history, the series finds a connection to reality even when its most dramatic events belong entirely to fiction.