Connection to actual events

This film, like the films Psycho (1960), Deranged, and The Silence of the Lambs (1991), was inspired by Wisconsin serial killer Ed Gein. Gein did wear human skin, but he acted alone and did not use a chainsaw. The interior of the house, particularly the macabre living room filled with bones, was also based on the crime scene notes describing the inside of Gein's home. The film's opening claims the events are factual, a use of the false document technique. (Filming was from July 15, 1973 to August 14, 1973, while the opening narrative claims that the events took place on 18 August 1973.) Libraries in Burkburnett, Texas and nearby Wichita Falls regularly receive requests for copies of newspaper articles related to the events.