Psycho, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Silence of the Lambs
Ed Gein, the inspiration for Leatherface and Buffalo Bill.
Many horror movies based on true stories have undoubtedly drawn from this demented individual.
Indeed, three of the most iconic and terrifying horror movies based on true stories are all loosely related to one demented murderer: Ed Gein.
Gein’s demented use of human body parts and his unusual relationship with his mother Augusta were used as inspiration for Leatherface in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Norman Bates in Psycho, and most of all, Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs.
Gein was known as a shy and strange child, partly due to his mother’s treatment of him and his brother. She often confined them to their farm, read to them from the Bible, and taught them that the world was inherently evil.
His brother died under suspicious circumstances when Gein was 38 and shortly after, his mother passed as well, leaving Gein to turn their farm into the creepy house of horrors that he dreamed of.
When a local hardware store owner went missing, police had enough evidence to search Gein’s home. The carnage that they found shocked everyone.
Gein became known as the Butcher of Plainfield after police searched his home and found not only the decapitated body of the hardware store owner but a score of human body parts used in various, graphic ways.
There were skulls impaled on the posts of his bed, kitchen utensils made from bones, and household items like chairs and a wastebasket made from human skin. They also found leggings made from human skin, masks made from faces, a belt made out of nipples, a lampshade made from a face, and countless other horrors.
Getty ImagesGein’s chair, upholstered in human skin.
Gein admitted to murdering the hardware store owner and to visiting the local graveyard to exhume the bodies to use for his demented experiments. He also revealed his motive behind his crimes.
He said that after his mother died he began to create a “woman suit” so he could become his mother and crawl into her skin.
This is one case where the reality of horror movies based on true stories is undoubtedly scarier than the Hollywood version.
