Slasher horror films gained popularity in the late 1970s and continue to do so today.
Scream, Halloween, Friday the 13th, Child’s Play, and A Nightmare on Elm Street are just a few examples of this genre’s massive success.
One of them is the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The first film was released in 1974, and since then, nine films, a video game, and various comics have been released.
On February 18, 2022, Netflix released the ninth film in the franchise’s name. While the film received mixed reviews from critics, fans praised it for its gore.
It raised the question of whether the franchise was based on a true story once more. While it claims to be based on a true story, it contains very little truth.
Everything you need to know about the true story of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is right here.
‘The True Story of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre’
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise revolves around Leatherface, a cannibalistic serial killer in Texas. He and his family regularly terrorize and attack a group of friends before slaughtering them.
Leatherface usually murders people with his trusty chainsaw, hence the franchise’s name. The cannibals then cook and consume their victims after brutally murdering them.
Even watching the movies is upsetting, let alone witnessing it in real life. However, the films in the franchise are indeed “inspired by a true story.”
However, the events depicted in the film did not occur exactly as depicted in real life. Rather, the films are loosely based on Edward Theodore Gein, better known as Ed Gein, a notorious serial killer.
Leatherface is directly inspired by Gein and his crimes. Tobe Hooper, the first film’s director, confirmed that he was inspired by Gein and his skin mask for the fictional killer.
Hooper’s relatives lived in the town near Gein and told him about the serial killer’s heinous crimes. Everything from cannibalism to Gein’s obsession with human skin was revealed to him.
As a result, Gein both terrified and inspired Hooper. Gein terrorized Plainfield, Wisconsin in real life, but because Hooper is a native Texan, he based the film on his hometown.
Similarly, it is said that Leatherface was based on serial killer Elmer Wayne Henley. Dean Corll, a serial killer, hired Henley when he was a teenager.
Similarly, David Owen Brooks was also hired by Corll, who taught them how to lure, murder, and rape teenage boys. The trio is said to have killed at least 28 boys.
Henley later shot and killed Corll and confessed to killing other boys. Hooper had seen Henley’s conviction on TV and was inspired by him to create the cannibalistic family in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Ed Gein’s Crimes
Gein, who was born and raised in Plainfield, Wisconsin, terrorized the community in the 1950s. He was a body snatcher known as the Plainfield Ghoul and Plainfield Butcher.
Gein was born to an alcoholic father, a religious and controlling mother, and an older brother. However, all three members of his family died within five years, from 1940 to 1945.
His father died in 1940, his brother died mysteriously in a fire in 1944, and his mother died of illness in 1945. After that, he lived alone on his farm.
Gein appeared to be the only living being on his farm. This is due to the fact that human bones and bodies surrounded his home.
Similarly, he had made human skin masks, bowls, leggings, lampshades, and chair covers. Gein, like the characters in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise, wore a human face and scalp over his own.
Gein is suspected of murdering several people between 1954 and 1957. He was, however, only convicted of two murders.
He was also a grave robber, so it’s unclear whether the heinous human items in his farmhouse came from his victims or graves he robbed.
Gein did not stand trial because he was deemed mentally unfit. Instead, he was sent to the Wisconsin state hospital, but he was tried for his crimes in 1968.
He was found guilty by reason of insanity, however, and lived in a state facility until his death on July 26, 1984. He died at the age of 77 from a cancer complication.
Gein was more than just the inspiration for Leatherface. His crimes served as the inspiration for Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs and Norman Bates in Psycho.