Sawyer Residence

The Sawyer residence, also known as the Sawyer Ranch, was the original home of the cannibalistic Leatherface and his family of serial killers. The house was located in central Texas to the east of Dallas in the remote rural town of Newt, Muerto County, with the ghost town of Harlow nearby. The old Hardesty Homestead was within walking distance of the house.

History[]

Leatherface (2017)[]

In the 2017 Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie Leatherface, the Sawyer ranch appears at first glance to be a run of the mill but poor farm out in rural Texas and founded in 1845, having animals such as pigs and growing sunflower field crops, however it hides a much more sinister secret; its inhabitants are a family of cannibals and take the lives of others for making meat due to having little money. In 1955, the family is celebrating young Jedediah Sawyer's birthday and tries to get him to kill the victim present at the "party" to join the family way. After Jedediah hesitates, the family Patriarch Grandpa Sawyer takes the kill to show off his skills on his old age. A few days later, the family is split up after an incident which results in Jedediah Sawyer being taken under police custody and placed in a metal hospital for killing the head Shariff's daughter. Verna Sawyer, the family's Matriarch now the grandpa has gotten too frail and old, did what she could to bring him home. After ten years of no progress, Verna heads to the mental institute in an attempt to renegotiate and intentionally releases those held in an attempt to get her child. Not finding him, Verna leaves in disappointment before she can be caught while Jed and others have escaped. Verna and others in the family later track Jed down to the same barn where the sheriff's daughter had been taken and killed nine years earlier and rescue him to finally taking him home. After attempting to treat Jed's injuries, Jed finally fully joins the family ways and kills the sheriff and the nurse from the mental institution who traveled with him and betrayed him with a chainsaw.

Petals[]

Taking place just a few weeks before the 2023 video game, Petals sees Maria Flores, a native of Uvalde Texas on a trip to photograph wildflowers during the spring season. Unfortunately, she is stalked and assaulted by a family cousin, Johnny Slaughter when her car breaks down a short distance away from the sawyer residence. Being chased by Johnny, she inadvertently stumbles upon the wrong place at the wrong time, asking for help right where her peruser is staying. Sissy Slaughter answers the door claiming she can help Maria but then gets severely injured as she is pulled into the house by Leatherface's chainsaw. Maria didn't die, but she was tortured while being allowed to recover from her injury from Leatherface and spared thanks to Grandpa taking some unknown interest in her and forming a cruel bond.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Game (2023)[]

In 1973 the sawyer residence had become run down; rotten and abandoned sheds that fell into disrepair litter the property and any farm animals as well as crops that had been grown were gone with the exception of the sunflower fields which were claimed to belong to Sissy Slaughter. The house itself is in a rundown state with multiple cracks and holes in the structure. Scattered throughout the house are several hanging bone chimes, skeletons, and bodies, which the majority of is located down in the very large basement underneath the property used to hide the brutal crimes of the family. Exits to the property have been set up and improvised defenses have been armed; a group of victims captured by the mount a desperate attempt to escape from their cells in the basement while the family attempts to lock down their property to prevent their potential bbq from escaping and going on the run. Drayton Sawyer is now the patriarch of the family and is living with Leatherface and Hitchhiker. Sissy Slaughter has returned from California on a bloody path home (being known as the terror of I-40), and cousins of the main family including Johnny, Black Nancy, and Hands, and Bones Slaughter have come to visit the family and help with the escapee situation. Regardless of the events in the game, the outcome remains the same allowing the film to take place.

Briefly before the events of the main game, a person stumbles upon the property and explores around, eventually finding his way into the inner workings of the house and discovering the brutal crimes, as well as well as Maria Flores. He is killed by Leatherface just after finding and briefly talking with Maria in the basement. A separate victim captured and that participates in the events of the game is a woman named Virginia; she was a nurse that lost her son Jessie to the Slaughter family several years back and had been trying to track him down. After finding his car at the Sawyer house's junkyard in the back, she attempts to search the property for her son but ends up stumbling upon Maria instead; Virginia runs into and is overpowered by the Slaughter Family cousin Hands, being captured and locked away with Maria. Another victim, Wyatt who is a bull rider is visiting the cemetery in Newt when he finds his brother's grave has been messed with. He confronts the local mortician, who just so happens to be Bones Slaughter and part of the family, and gets kidnapped ending up at the family house for a time.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)[]

The family house is first introduced in the franchise when a group of friends travel through Texas after hearing word that a grandfather's grave may have been robbed, after finding it was untouched they decide to go to said grandfather's homestead. On the way they run low on gas and stop at a station; the station has no gas. They decide to take a risk and go to the old home. After two of the friends decide to go exploring and stumble upon the family house, they notice a power generator and approach the house to barter for gas. Tragedy strikes when they decide to enter the house and run into Leatherface. One is killed by a sledgehammer, and the other is taken into the slaughterhouse area in the structure, hung on a meat hook while the individual know as Leatherface carves up the first victim with a chainsaw. Another one of the five friends goes looking for the other two and ends up with the same fate as the first getting killed by a sledgehammer after discovering the second victim was still alive. Getting scared from multiple intruders coming up on the property and entering the house without permission, Leatherface decides to go on the offensive and sneaks up on the last two, chain sawing the brother and accidentally chasing the sister back to his house. After being locked out of his own house, Leatherface is forced to cut down the door to get inside while the female victim, Sally Hardesty, attempts to get help from Grandpa who apears to be a corpse while Grandma Sawyer has died. After jumping through a Window, Sally ends up in the backyard and Leatherface chases her back to the gas station. Upon arrival he retreats back to the house while the proprietor reveals himself as part of the family and kidnaps Sally to take her back to the house. After scolding Leatherface for breaking the door and his brother for being out on the road and causing the grave robbing without permission while leaving Leatherface and Grandpa at home alone, Sally is brought in as a forced guest for the family dinner. After attempting to let Grandpa have the fun in killing their Victim, Sally escapes and jumps through yet another window due to a mistake on the family's part while attempting to kill her, letting her free. Sally makes her way to the road beyond the property and gets the attention of a truck driver; Hitchhiker is run over. When Leatherface is injured by his own chainsaw from the truck driver throwing a wrench, this gives Sally time to escape and get to the authorities.

Texas Chainsaw 3D[]

Taking place just mere hours after Sally escapes, Shariff Hooper, a police officer, is dispatched to the Sawyer residence. In the time between, other family members have been called and arrive at the ranch following Sally's escape in an attempt to remedy the situation. After some resistance, the Sawyers reach an agreement to hand Leatherface, Jedediah Sawyer, over to the authorities due to him being the one who murdered the other victims. The situation grows desperate however as civilians arrive on the scene who have had past quarrels with the Sawyers; for retribution against the Sawyers, they ignore the officers and attempt to burn down the Sawyer house. In the fire most members are shot and killed in an exchange of gunfire, however at least two (or more), especially Leatherface, survive the fire while the house bursts into flames. The infant who will eventually become Heather Miller is found by her adoptive parents and rescued from the structure after the fire ceases, raised by them. Verna Carleson Sawyer, the former Matriarch, is not at the house when it burns.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)[]

Over a decade after the events of the first film, the remaining Sawyers have abandoned their property and fled west to Dallas. The survivors include Grandpa, Leatherface, Drayton, and Choptop (who is back from Vietnam) Sawyers, with the bodies of grandma and Nubbins Sawyer in toe. The family Buying an abandoned amusement park called "Texas Battle land" with Choptop's Vietnam service payment checks and taking refuge there while continuing their crimes and cannibalism. While somehow being unable to save their infant cousin, the future Heather being unable to

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022)[]

After causing a massacre in Harlow Texas, an aged Leatherface returns to what is left of his home property, seen walking down the former driveway as he approaches what's left of the old farmhouse structure.

Real Life[]

The Texas Chainsaw House is located in Kingsland, Texas on the grounds of the Antlers Hotel & Historic Railroad District. This late 1900s Edwardian farm house was featured prominently in the original 1974 movie, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. The house was moved in 1998.

The original site is where La Frontera is now located, in Round Rock. The house was cut into six or seven pieces in order to be moved, then reassembled and restored to its original condition by carpenter Anthony Mayfield on behalf of an investor couple in Austin. The house was a pattern book house, designed possibly by A.W. Selure, a French American immigrant who designed other architecturally similar houses at the time or Carl Carlson (the reported builder of all 3 houses). This house was ordered from a catalog and assembled on site from a package of materials brought by wagon from a local lumber company (Likely A.E. Belford lumber, who sold Selures designs in pattern books. One of the two houses supposedly contains lumber from Nalle Lumber Company, based in Austin, along with other hardware). The house in the 1974 film was one of three identical houses originally built in Williamson County. The houses were built within walking distance of each other, with one known today as the “Burkland-Frisk house”. Originally built and owned by/for Leonard Rueben Frisk and his family. This house was later moved as well, to Georgetown, overlooking the San Gabriel River. The third house has little known history, it was sold in 1969 during the construction of the new CR 172, where it was abandoned with the two sisters. It later burned down and was lost forever. Research indicates the home featured in the 1974 film was likely built between 1908/1909 and 1910, along with the twin home and no longer existent triplet.