Urban Legends

Real-Life Horror Films?

The Legend

The films The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Psycho, and Silence of the Lambs were based on a true story.

Behind the Legend

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), Psycho (), and Silence of the Lambs () are all horrific tales of murder and cannibalism in the tradition of Valley of the Dolls but with more graphic visuals and less subtext. The films show a number of similarities, including their surprisingly similar main characters (a mild-mannered hotel manager, a mild-mannered high-security prisoner, and an unmannered leather-faced maniac with a chainsaw). When Chainsaw was remade in 2003, it was advertised as "inspired by a true story," which made moviegoers wonder if it was indeed in part true or if this was just another bit of film silliness like the "A long time ago" beginning of Star Wars or the "Based on a true story" taglines of Fargo and Alien.

These three movies were, indeed, all based on the same true story -- the story of Ed Gein, a Wisconsin farmer in the 1950s known for grave robbing, necrophilia, cannibalism, and the murders of 15 women whose bodies were used to stock his refrigerator and make clothing, furniture, and throw pillows. Unfortunately, each of these claims about Gein is a little exaggerated through hearsay transmission, and was elaborated on by filmmakers, taking them even further from the truth.

Let's examine each of these claims about Gein individually.

Claim about Gein	Truth about Gein
Robbed graves in a local cemetery	As a teenager, robbed the caretaker of the local cemetery, Martin Graves. Stole a "neat baseball mitt"
Necrophiliac	Enjoyed necking, causing him to -- in his uneducated way -- call himself a "neck-rophiliac"
Cannibal	Often did cannonballs into the local public pool
Murdered 15 women	Dated 15 women, all of whom said that he killed their interest in ever dating another man
Refrigerator stocked with women's bodies	Liked it when women stocked his refrigerator
Used human remains to make clothing, furniture, etc.	Made much of his household goods from things he found in neighbors' garbage cans
Wisconsin farmer	Wisconsin farmer, married to his own mother and later to his sister, their daughter

So were these films true stories? Not really. As usual, Hollywood has taken great liberties with the truth (for additional examples, see Pearl Harbor, Independence Day, J.F.K. and anything with John Wayne in it).

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