The Hewitt family is a fictional family featured in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre film franchise. Specifically, it refers to a group featured in the remake series, which began with the 2003 version of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and continued in the 2006 prequel film, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning.
Description[]
The Hewitt family can trace their lineage back six generations, when they settled in the rural community of Fuller in Travis County, Texas. The Hewitt family worked in the meat industry and operated and/or worked at notable local slaughterhouses such as the Lee Bros. Meat Processing Plant and the Blair Meat Company.
It has been suggested that amongst their more well-known unsavory practices, the family line continued along as a result of inbreeding. The most notable members of the family earned themselves some recognition in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In addition to everything else, the Hewitts evolved into a family of cannibals.
The main members of the family consists of Charlie Hewitt, Luda May Hewitt, Monty Hewitt and Thomas Hewitt. Thomas Hewitt was actually the son of a meat inspector named Sloane, who was adopted by the Hewitts in 1939 after Luda May Hewitt found the infant in a dumpster moments after it had been born. Tommy would one day come to be known as the chainsaw-wielding maniac called Leatherface.
Relationships[]
- "Do you guys fuck all your cousins, or just the ones you find attractive?"
- ―Chrissie
The familial relationship between the group's various members is cause for speculation. Based upon the way to refer to one another, one might think that Charlie and Luda May are mother and son. Charlie refers to her as "mama", while she calls him "Junior". However, even if one were to take the idea of inbreeding into consideration, they are too close in age to be mother and son. It is possible that they are husband and wife, but it is more likely that they are brother and sister. Monty Hewitt might also be a sibling, though he appears to be slightly older than Charlie and Luda May. However, he might also be a cousin. Charlie Hewitt refers to him as "Uncle Monty". He regards Tommy Hewitt as a nephew rather than a son.
And then there's THIS guy.
There is a young boy who is a member of the family named Jedidiah, who refers to Luda May as his grandmother. It is unknown who his mother and father are, but given the child's physical abnormalities, he is very likely the product of inbreeding.
Another member of the family is a woman named Henrietta. Henrietta appeared to be in her late twenties or early thirties around the year 1969. Although she has a close association with the Hewitts, it is not entirely clear whether or not she is part of the family.
Another mysterious associate is a corpulent woman known only as the "tea lady". She was usually seen in the company of Henrietta, but also spent time talking with Luda May. The woman's actual name and her blood relationship to the family, if any, is unknown.
For a time in 1973, Henrietta was taking care of a small child. This child was not her own, but was abducted from someone else. It is possible that this boy may have been the child of a teenage girl who was tortured by the Hewitt family and escaped, only to kill herself shortly thereafter.
Members[]
- Charlie Hewitt: Charlie Hewitt was the head of the family. A stern and vulgar man, he looked after his family with great care. It was Charlie's experiences as a P.O.W. during the Korean War that led him towards the path of cannibalism - a practice he later indoctrinated his family into accepting. In 1969, Charlie Hewitt murdered Sheriff Winston Hoyt who had been attempting to arrest Tommy. He took his uniform and badge and even began using the man's name. As Winston had been the last remnants of law-enforcement in this dying town, Charlie Hewitt became the soul sheriff in the entire county. From that point on, he addressed himself only as Sheriff Hoyt.
- Luda May Hewitt: Luda May Hewitt was the only female member of the family proper. In 1939, as a young woman, she was scavenging for food in a dumpster outside the Lee Bros. Meat Processing Plant. She found a discarded baby in the dumpster with severe birth defects. Adopting it as her own, she brought him home and named Thomas. Luda May raised Thomas as her own child from that point forward.
- Monty Hewitt: Monty appeared to be the oldest member of the Hewitt clan. He may have been the uncle to Charlie Hewitt, though the two seemed to be fairly close in age for such a relation. Charlie referred to him as "Uncle Monty", but this may have just been an honorific. Monty may have been the legal homeowner of the Hewitt manor house, and once referred to it as "his house". In the 1960s, Monty drove a tow truck, and may have been responsible for many of the old broken cars that were found on the Hewitt estate. In 1969, Monty was attacked in his home by a biker named Holden, who shot him in the leg. Rather than use conventional medical procedures to help him, Charlie had Tommy cut off the injured limb. He then had him cut off the other leg to even him up; "For balance", Charlie noted. In 1973, Monty allowed a young woman named Erin entrance to his home so she could make a telephone call. He then asked her assistance in getting up off the bathroom floor and into his wheelchair after relieving himself.
- Thomas Hewitt: Thomas Hewitt was born in July, 1939 to a beef inspector named Sloane, who had died during childbirth on the floor of the Lee Bros. Meat Processing Plant. The supervisor of the plant, taking note of Thomas' hideous deformities threw him into a garbage dumpster, where he was then recovered by Luda May Hewitt. Luda May took him as her own son and brought him home where he was raised along with Charlie Hewitt. As he grew up, Tommy's mental development was abnormal and he took to wearing a leather mask to hide his facial deformities. As an adult, Charlie got Thomas a job as butcher. Ironically, he began working at the same slaughterhouse where he had been born. When the Lee Bros. facility was shut down in 1969, Thomas murdered the supervisor. It was soon after, that he began developing a penchant for wielding a chainsaw. He murdered a young man named Eric and skinned him alive. He took his face and made it into a mask. This practice became a trademark for Tommy Hewitt as his growth into a psychotic maniac continued to evolve, earning himself the nickname - Leatherface. In 1973, Thomas Hewitt slaughtered several more youths who had the misfortune of coming upon the family's territory. It was a young woman named Erin however, who got the better of him, hacking off his right arm with a meat cleaver.
- Jedidiah Hewitt: Jedidiah Hewitt was a young boy with abnormal facial features and the grandson of Luda May Hewitt. It is unclear if he lived at the family manor house or elsewhere, though he certainly seemed to know his way around the area. He was often seen playing near the Old Crawford Mill. He met a group of hippies who stopped at the mill looking for the sheriff. Later, Jedidiah was found nosing about the outside of the Hewitt family home. He helped a woman named Erin escape from Leatherface and led her down into the tunnels beneth the house.
- Henrietta Hewitt: Henrietta Hewitt was a woman who appeared to be in her late twenties or early thirties in the early 1970s. Her exact relationship to the Hewitt family is unclear. She did not live in the manor house, but rather in a trailer on the Hewitt estate. Henrietta often kept company with the tea lady, who would come to visit her. Henrietta was also responsible for abducting a small child and taking it as her own. When Erin came to her trailer pleading for help, Henrietta gave her a cup of poisoned tea.
- Shiloh Hewitt: Shiloh Hewitt was a member of the Hewitt family. He was the brother of Zeke Hewitt, though it is unclear what his exact relationship to the other family members was. Shiloh lived with the other family members when they were forced into exile following the 1973 massacre. By the summer of 1974, Shiloh and Zeke were both living with the rest of the family in a secret underground tunnel sanctuary. Shiloh and Zeke would continue to ply the family trade, driving all across Travis County in search of victims to abduct so they could be used as food. In June of that year, an F.B.I. agent named Baines raided the Hewitt tunnels in order to free his fellow Feds who had been either killed or captured, as well as a young woman named Kim Burns. Baines was armed with a hand grenade, which fell from his grasp after Leatherface cut his arm off with a meat cleaver. The simple-minded Shiloh Hewitt leaped over the table and grabbed the grenade as if he were a child reaching for a toy. The weapon exploded, killing him.
- Zeke Hewitt: Zeke Hewitt was a cousin of the main Hewitt family. A psychopath and a cannibal, he maintained operations at the Blair Meat Co., even after it had been shut down. Zeke had a brother named Shiloh Hewitt. Zeke was more predatory than the other members of the family, who were usually opportunity killers. Zeke was eventually killed when Kim Burns ran him through with Leatherface's chainsaw. His body was destroyed by a hand grenade soon after.
- Tea lady: Almost nothing is known about this individual, even her name. What is known was that she was a dark-haired woman in her forties who was morbidly obese. She may have been a member of the family proper, or simply an associate. It appeared as if she was aware of the Hewitt family's more distasteful practices, but she never gave voice to any of it, neither condoning nor condemning their murderous ways. The tea lady was often seen in the company of Henrietta as well as Luda May. In 1969, the tea lady was visiting the manor house when one of their would-be victims, Dean, pushed her against the door to block Tommy Hewitt from pursuing him. A few years later, she was visiting Henrietta's trailer when a woman named Erin frantically began pounding on the door.
Notes[]
- The comic book limited series The Texas Chainsaw Massacre by WildStorm Productions, expanded on events taking place after the first film, in which it is revealed that the surviving members of the Hewitt family escaped underground and remained on the run. Previously unheard of members of the family were added to the mix at this time.
- According to the Travis County Sheriff's Office, a total of thirty-three murders attributed to the Hewitt family took place between 1969 and 1973.
See also[]
External Links[]
 This template will categorize articles that include it in into the Texas Chainsaw Massacre miscellaneous category. |