Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Truth Behind a Movie
Desiree Mendez, staff writer

Many people have been lead to believe that the “Texas Chain Saw Massacre” was a true story. 

For those who may not remember the opening of the old “Texas Chain Saw Massacre” movie, it went like this:

“ The film which you are about to see is an account of the tragedy which fell upon a group of five youths, in particular Sally Hardesty and her invalid brother Franklin. It is all the more tragic in that they were all young, but had lived very long lives, they could have never expected, nor would they have wished too see as much of the madness, as they were about to see that day.  For them an idyllic summer afternoon drive became a nightmare.”

 “The events of that day were to lead to the discovery of one on the most bizarre crimes in American history. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.”

While the movie might make it seem that the events really happened, they it didn’t though. The movie is based on the serial killer Eddie Gein. Gein was born on August 27, 1906 in Plainfield, Wisconsin, to George and Augusta Gein.  Gein also had an older brother named Henry.

Gein’s father was an alcoholic and died of a heart attack in 1940.  Gein’s mother was a very religious person and didn’t want her sons to turn out like their father.

Henry tried to free Ed from their mother, but Ed worshipped her and didn’t like his brother criticizing her. Henry was found dead on the farm in 1944. They say he died of a heartattack, but they couldn’t explain the bruises on the back of his head.

Gein had his mother all to himself, until she died from a stroke around December 1945. Gein was 39 when she died. Gein had been a loner most of his life. He stayed locked up in his gloomy farmhouse. He would sometimes go out and run some errands and have a beer.  No one ever imagined that he could hurt someone.

That all changed on Nov. 19, 1957. This was when Bernice Worden was found missing, after her son Frank Worden returned home from hunting.

He had noticed a trail of dry blood leading to the back. He also noticed that Gein was the last customer in the store.

They arrived at Gein’s house, and made a shocking discovery.

The police came upon the body of 59-year-old Bernice Worden, hung from a pulley by her feet, beheaded, strung up and dressed like a deer.

After more police arrived arrived at the house, they found soup bowls made from the sawed off tops of human heads, chairs covered in human flesh, a boxful of noses, parts of female genitalia, nine “death masks” made from preserved human faces, a hanging human head and Gein’s ultimate creation, was a full female body suit, which he dressed up in and pretended he was his mother.

Gein confessed to killing the two women, but he said that he got the rest of the body parts from local graveyards.

Gein spent the rest of his days locked in a metal institution. He died of cancer on July 26