# Truth behind the Texas Chainsaw Massacre? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 17, 2003, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truth-behind-the-texas-chainsaw-massacre/208036 "2003-10-17T15:57:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dogpoker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@dogpoker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dogpoker)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truth-behind-the-texas-chainsaw-massacre/208036/1 "2003-10-17T15:57:41Z")
Hi. Can anyone tell me what the REAL story behind the Texas Chainsaw Massacre is? I have read in the past that the story was actually inspired by the crimes of Ed Gein. Lately though I seem to be coming across refrences that the attribute the inspiration for the movie to someone named Thomas Hewitt. The supposed Hewitt murders are said to have occured in 1973 in Travis County, Texas and are described in such a way as to be closer to the events of the movie(s). Unfortunately, all the Thomas Hewitt refrences seem to occur in relation to web-pages concerning the new Texas Chainsaw movie, wich makes me think that the name and events are just created elements to form a backdrop to the new movie. Does anyone among the teeming masses know the real true story here? ---
**Author:** ![Sue\_Duhnym](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@Sue\_Duhnym](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sue_Duhnym)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truth-behind-the-texas-chainsaw-massacre/208036/2 "2003-10-17T16:36:49Z")
I found this [here](http://www.sabrina6.batcave.net/media/serialk.htm) > [@](#): > > Ed Gein’s killings also influenced Tobe Hooper’s 1974 cult horror movie ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’. Whilst not a literal rendition of the Gein case, the terrible house in Chain Saw, with its bizarre artifacts made out of human bodily constituents bears a striking resemblance to Ed Gein’s own farmhouse. Gein had a chair upholstered in human skin, a skull used as a soup-bowl, lampshades covered in flesh stretched taut, a table propped up by a human shinbones, and a refrigerator full of human organs. The ghoulish house depicted in ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ has similar objects that were inspired by this macabre collection I also read this in the NY Daily News yesterday or the day before so I figure it’s true. ---
**Author:** ![Sue\_Duhnym](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@Sue\_Duhnym](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sue_Duhnym)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truth-behind-the-texas-chainsaw-massacre/208036/3 "2003-10-17T16:38:50Z")
Barnes and Noble says it’s based on Gein too. [http://video.barnesandnoble.com/search/product.asp?cds2Pid=1681&ean=13023211599](http://video.barnesandnoble.com/search/product.asp?cds2Pid=1681&ean=13023211599) ---
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truth-behind-the-texas-chainsaw-massacre/208036/4 "2003-10-17T16:39:19Z")
Cecil’s column on the subject: [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5\_253.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_253.html) ---
**Author:** ![Sue\_Duhnym](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@Sue\_Duhnym](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sue_Duhnym)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truth-behind-the-texas-chainsaw-massacre/208036/5 "2003-10-17T16:41:17Z")
And finally, so does the IMDB in it’s bio of the writer. > **[Tobe Hooper - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001361/bio)** > > Honored with many awards for his films and achievement in the horror genre, Tobe Hooper is truly one of the Masters of Horror (2005). Tobe Hooper was ... ---
**Author:** ![Sue\_Duhnym](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@Sue\_Duhnym](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sue_Duhnym)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truth-behind-the-texas-chainsaw-massacre/208036/6 "2003-10-17T16:47:14Z")
Oh, and welcome to the SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truth-behind-the-texas-chainsaw-massacre/208036/7 "2003-10-17T17:05:53Z")
[Snopes](http://www.snopes.com/movies/films/chainsaw.asp) just covered this too. ---
**Author:** ![dogpoker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@dogpoker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dogpoker)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truth-behind-the-texas-chainsaw-massacre/208036/8 "2003-10-17T18:14:11Z")
Outstanding job to one and all! Thanks so much for helping me with this! ---
**Author:** ![J\_String](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@J\_String](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/J_String)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truth-behind-the-texas-chainsaw-massacre/208036/9 "2003-10-17T18:49:57Z")
[slight hijack] Gein also inspired _Psycho_ and (certain aspects of) _the Silence of the Lambs_