The Chainsaw Massacre | Scary Stories Around the Fire

Inspired by True Events. Driving through rural Texas in search of her missing family, Marilyn is forced to stop at The Bender Inn - only to find something sinister within. Something sinister with a chainsaw. 

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Learn more about the Scary Stories audio anthology

Written and told by Bryan Renaud. "The Chainsaw Massacre" is also included in the 5 Campfire Tales to Tell in the Dark ​compilation.

Trigger warning: Our stories may include graphic descriptions of gore or terrifying events. Please listen at your own risk. 

are you afraid of the dark? maybe you should be. 
Scary Stories is an audio horror anthology featuring world premieres from the twisted minds of Crystal Skillman, Bryan Renaud, Savanna Rae, and Bianca Phipps, plus new adaptations of classics by Edward Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Algernon Blackwood, and more. Each episode includes a full sound design and professional voice cast.

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learn about the real-life Bloody Benders.

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legends of america: the bloody benders

"Keeping mostly to themselves, the Benders appeared to simply be struggling homesteaders who worked hard to earn their living like the other area pioneers. When the Benders opened their store and inn in 1871, many travelers would stop for a meal or supplies. However, some of those men, who frequently carried large sums of cash with the intention of settling, buying stock, or purchasing a claim; began to go missing..."

'the bloody benders' set to become tv series 

"The gruesome true story of 'America's first family of serial killers' is set to be explored in a new TV series.  Hell's Half-Acre by British historian Susan Jonusas explores the crimes of the  Benders... Film rights to the non-fiction book, due out in March 2022, have already been snapped up by London-based production house New Regency..." 

all that's interesting: the bloody benders

"As people continued disappearing after visiting the Benders’ home, the surrounding communities began to grow suspicious. After one family went missing in the area, their friend, Dr. William York, came to the area to ask if anyone had seen them. After Dr. York himself went missing, his brother, a Colonel in the military, came to the Benders’ inn asking about his brother. 

That’s when they discovered the trap door to the basement, which was covered in bloodstains. After digging around the property, the investigators found 11 bodies, all murdered by the Bloody Benders. A manhunt was immediately launched for the murderers." 

a new owner is looking for answers about the benders

“I bought it because I love history and would like to find out where (the killings) happened,” said Bob Miller, a Wells Fargo financial adviser from Independence, Kansas, who now owns the parcel where the Bender cabin is believed to have stood.

The whole thing is just so bizarre, and one of America’s first documented mass murders...If we could find some stuff,” Miller said, “some bones or maybe teeth, that would allow for DNA matching with living relatives.”

murderpedia: the benders

The alleged family consisted of John Bender, his wife Kate, son John Jr., and daughter Kate. They killed at least 11 travelers from 1872-1873 in Labette County, Kansas, by hitting them with a hammer and/or cutting their throats. 

"Some claimed that a small band of riders did catch up with the bloodthirsty family and killed them. Others thought that the Benders had managed to escape..."

the bloody benders: america's first family of serial killers

"As the story of the Benders spread across the country in the years following the murder spree, thousands of tourists and souvenir hunters flocked to the Bender’s former homestead, looting the property down to the bricks lining the cellar... Hammers allegedly from the home have been displayed at the Cherryvale Museum, while a stained knife  now belongs to the Kansas Historical Society."

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​"Most of all, the story of the Bloody Benders has endured because of its their ability to inspire fictional accounts—including one by famous prairie writer Laura Ingalls Wilder,  in her annotated autobiography, Pioneer Girl. But while there is some evidence that the Ingalls family may have encountered victim George Longcor, the Ingalls family had already left Kansas for Wisconsin by the time the Benders moved to the area. Yet she’s far from the only writer hoping to cash in on the crimes committed by this family; an episode of Supernatural featured a family of serial killers named the Benders, while two of the main characters in the video game Red Dead Redemption are modeled after John Jr. and Kate Bender."

ed gein (wikipedia)

While the set up of the Bender Inn from our story is accurate, the description of most of contents in the basement came from the horrific discoveries on serial killer Ed Gein's property. Gein famously created his own masks from human skin, inspiring Leatherface's unforgettable look in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. 

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​"On Nov. 16, 1957, Plainfield hardware store owner Bernice Worden disappeared. Her son, Deputy Sheriff Frank Worden, entered the store around 5:00 p.m. to find the store's cash register open and blood stains on the floor. 
Worden told investigators that on the evening before his mother's disappearance, Gein had been in the store, and that he was to have returned the next morning for a gallon of antifreeze. A sales slip for a gallon of antifreeze was the last receipt written by Worden on the morning she disappeared.

That evening, Gein was arrested at a grocery store, and the  Sheriff's Department searched his farm. They found the decapitated body of Worden in a shed, hung upside down by her legs with a crossbar at her ankles and ropes at her wrists. The torso was "dressed out like a deer". 

Searching the house, the authorities found whole human bones and fragments, a wastebasket and chair coverings made of human skin, skulls on his bedposts, bowls made from skulls, a corset made from a female torso, leggings made from human skin, masks made from the skin of female heads, a belt made of nipples, a pair of lips on a drawstring,  a lampshade made from a human face, and more. 

​ These artifacts were photographed at the state crime laboratory and then "decently disposed of."

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in 1974, the bloody benders became the sawyer family

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a 1974 American horror film directed by Tobe Hooper. It stars Marilyn Burns, Paul A. Partain, Edwin Neal, Jim Siedow and Gunnar Hansen. The film follows friends who fall victim to a family of cannibals while on their way to visit an old homestead. The film was marketed as being based on true events to attract a wider audience and to act as a subtle commentary on the political climate;  the character of Leatherface and story details were inspired by the crimes of murderer Ed Gein as well as The Bender Family. 

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was banned in several countries, and numerous theaters stopped showing the film in response to complaints about its violence. While it initially drew a mixed reception from critics, it was highly profitable, grossing over $30 million at the domestic box office, equivalent to over $150 million today. The series became a franchise, including four original sequels (two of which were soft reboots), a remake, a prequel to the remake, a requel to the original film, included games, comics, a prequel to the original film set in the same universe as the requel, and now finally a new requel to the original film coming to Netflix in 2022. 

It is credited with originating several elements common in the slasher genre, like power tools as murder weapons, a large, hulking, faceless figure, and the killing of victims. 

source: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre wikipedia 

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