rennyt
06-29-2001, 06:32 PM
I know many of you know the Texas Chainsaw Massacre was based partly on Ed Gein's crimes, but did you know it and The Hills Have Eyes was more fundamentally based on a case in 15th-century Scotland? It was the case of the Sawney Bean clan. Sawney Bean was a lazy asshole who decided the straight and narrow life wasn't for him, so he got himself a woman with similar attitudes, and they both ran away to live free of charge in a cave in the hills, where they supported themselves by robbing travelers that passed by their home. Thing was, since they didn't want to be fingered by their vicitms, they killed them without remorse. However, one time they ran out of food, so they turned to the bodies of their victims for sustenance. Sawney and his wife thrived this way, and over the years had fourteen children, who in turn had thirty-two grandchildren, all of them born out of incest, so they were retarded mutants who knew no other life than murder and cannibalism.
It's been estimated that the clan killed close to a thousand people up there in the Scottish highlands. In fact, their cave got so stuffed with body parts they had to toss many of them into the ocean, where they later washed up on shore in front of horrified villagers. The clan was finally caught, though, when they attacked a man and woman riding home from a party. The man managed to stay on his horse and fight the clan off with his sword, but they managed to drag his wife down. As the man looked on, one bunch cut her throat and began drinking her blood, while another bunch simply tore her belly open with their bare hands and began eating her guts. The clan finally ran away, though, when they heard a larger party coming down the road [the clan never attacked more than six people at a time; too hard to round up more than that]. The man ran to the nearby village and reported the incident, and later King James himself and forty men marched to the cave and captured the monsters. Without even a joke trial, the men of the family were dismembered and bled to death, while the women were burned at the stake.
Pretty spectacular, huh? This story has gained folklore status in Scotland, but I swear it's true, look it up sometime. So now you know where Tobe Hooper and Wes Craven really got the inspiration for their respective killer families.
It's been estimated that the clan killed close to a thousand people up there in the Scottish highlands. In fact, their cave got so stuffed with body parts they had to toss many of them into the ocean, where they later washed up on shore in front of horrified villagers. The clan was finally caught, though, when they attacked a man and woman riding home from a party. The man managed to stay on his horse and fight the clan off with his sword, but they managed to drag his wife down. As the man looked on, one bunch cut her throat and began drinking her blood, while another bunch simply tore her belly open with their bare hands and began eating her guts. The clan finally ran away, though, when they heard a larger party coming down the road [the clan never attacked more than six people at a time; too hard to round up more than that]. The man ran to the nearby village and reported the incident, and later King James himself and forty men marched to the cave and captured the monsters. Without even a joke trial, the men of the family were dismembered and bled to death, while the women were burned at the stake.
Pretty spectacular, huh? This story has gained folklore status in Scotland, but I swear it's true, look it up sometime. So now you know where Tobe Hooper and Wes Craven really got the inspiration for their respective killer families.