# Texas Chainsaw Massacre - How much is real? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 28, 2003, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-chainsaw-massacre-how-much-is-real/209973 "2003-10-28T03:56:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wisp00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/977dab/32.png) [@Wisp00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wisp00)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2003, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-chainsaw-massacre-how-much-is-real/209973/1 "2003-10-28T03:56:31Z")
I saw the remake of Texas Chainsaw Massacre this weekend, and thought it was a pretty good horror flick. However, the part that freaked me out the most was the idea that some of it was true! The begining of the movie claims that its based on true events… my question is: how much of it is true? Plus, the day after I saw it, I had to take a long drive through a dark, disserted part of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula… all by myself! No streetlights, no traffic, nothing but trees all around, no signs of life for miles, and a cell phone that doesn’t work in the boonies. I was praying that my car wouldn’t brake down and Leatherface wouldn’t come running out of the woods! Now that I’m home, I just _need_ to know how much is real. I tried googling, but I only come up with links to the movie(s) I’ve never seen the original, but I understand its quite a bit different. This is leading me to think this “true story” stuff is all bull I’m sure the movie wouldn’t scare me as much if I could just tell myself, “It’s okay, It’s not real, It’s just a movie…” ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2003, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-chainsaw-massacre-how-much-is-real/209973/2 "2003-10-28T04:06:45Z")
Either some or none was true, depending on how you look at things. The story was loosely taken from the grisly tale of [Ed Gein](http://www.crimelibrary.com/gein/geinmain.htm), a Wisconsin farmer who killed women, wore their skin, ate them, made furniture out of their various parts, etcetera etcetera. Gein was also the inspiration for Norman Bates in “Psycho” and Buffalo Bill in “Silence of the Lambs”, as his woman skin thing was something about trying to become his dead mother or some wierdness like that. He had some mommy issues apparently. Anyhoo, those movies had elements that adhered even closer to Gein’s tale, but nobody would go so far as to call them “true”. The true story bit is mainly just a gimmick to make the movie scarier. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2003, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-chainsaw-massacre-how-much-is-real/209973/3 "2003-10-28T04:10:11Z")
“weirdness”. Sorry to correct myself, but that particular misspelling is one of my pet peeves. ---
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2003, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-chainsaw-massacre-how-much-is-real/209973/4 "2003-10-28T04:15:39Z")
Hardly any, from what I know about the movie. It’s based on Ed Gein. A murderer who was obsessed with his mother, and brought up to hate women. He would make things out of his victim’s body parts, and I believe he would wear their skin. I think the movie Psycho is more of an accurate portrayal, but still not very accurate to the man’s lifestyle that inspired the movie. Then again, I’ve never heard anything “Psycho” claiming to be based on actual events.:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Superdog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e99b99/32.png) [@Superdog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdog)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2003, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-chainsaw-massacre-how-much-is-real/209973/5 "2003-10-28T04:16:28Z")
Is the film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre based on true events? Short answer: No. Long Answer: Not really. Explanation: [Read this.](http://www.snopes.com/movies/films/chainsaw.asp) Your welcome. ---
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2003, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-chainsaw-massacre-how-much-is-real/209973/6 "2003-10-28T04:17:59Z")
Sorry, I didn’t see that there were replies already ---
**Author:** ![Wisp00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/977dab/32.png) [@Wisp00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wisp00)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2003, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-chainsaw-massacre-how-much-is-real/209973/7 "2003-10-28T04:18:37Z")
Thanks for the link, pravnik. I feel better about the movie, knowing that most of it isn’t true, but after reading the things that the real killer did, now I’m freaked out about him! ---
**Author:** ![Wisp00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/977dab/32.png) [@Wisp00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wisp00)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2003, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-chainsaw-massacre-how-much-is-real/209973/8 "2003-10-28T04:20:28Z")
Internets slow I didn’t mean to ignore the rest of you: Thanks to MyFootsZZZ and Superdog, too 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2003, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-chainsaw-massacre-how-much-is-real/209973/9 "2003-10-28T04:37:12Z")
Oh, Cecil wrote about this once, but the archive search isn’t working for me. ---
**Author:** ![Made\_in\_Macau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@Made\_in\_Macau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Made_in_Macau)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2003, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-chainsaw-massacre-how-much-is-real/209973/10 "2003-10-28T11:43:30Z")
Gein was also the inspiration of the visiting character in Stephen King’s book ‘Gerald’s Game’. What hasn’t been mentioned above is that Gein was subsequently diagnosed as schizophrenic and rather than being ‘brought up to hate women’ his illness included persecutory delusions that compelled him to act. The “my dead mum made me do it” inspiration for Psycho. Which is more scary, someone amoral who kills because they can(Bufallo Bill for instance), or someone driven to kill by the voices (Norman Bates)? Dunno ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2003, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-chainsaw-massacre-how-much-is-real/209973/11 "2003-10-28T12:11:32Z")
According to Texas Chainsaw’s DVD documentary, Hooper had heard about Gein as a youth from visiting relatives, but didn’t even know the man’s name when he made the film. So while he did set out to make a sort of ‘family of Geins,’ it was inspired more by a child’s imagination than actual events.