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Terrifying real serial killers inspired Hannibal Lecter and Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs

The Silence of the Lambs is one of cinema's most gruesome films and the characters were inspired by real-life serial killers - exactly who were they?

[Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs]

Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs(Image: Channel 5/Orion Pictures)

The spine-chilling Dr Hannibal Lecter made his debut in Thomas Harris's 1981 novel Red Dragon and leapt straight from the pages into readers' nightmares.

This fictional beast proved so captivating that Harris wrote three additional novels exploring his ghastly cannibalistic tendencies - The Silence of the Lambs (1988), Hannibal (1999), and Hannibal Rising (2006).

Harris's second tome sparked a blockbuster film adaptation, delivering cinema audiences one of the most terrifying characters ever created.

Lecter wasn't the sole monster brought to life on screen - Buffalo Bill, the film's primary villain who enticed, abducted, and skinned women to craft 'women suits', remains the substance of genuine nightmares. The truly disturbing aspect? He drew inspiration from an actual serial killer, just like Lecter, reports the Express.

[Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter]

Anthony Hopkins delivers an all-time great performance as Hannibal Lecter(Image: ORION PICTURES)

We can all agree - there's something genuinely spine-tingling about 'tales inspired by real events'.

When these narratives are of such brutal, relentless, harrowing, and sinister nature, they possess an enhanced ability to make your blood run cold, precisely because these monsters walked among us.

In plain sight, mingling with society, inflicting horrific crimes upon real victims who endured unthinkable suffering.

Any conversation surrounding The Silence of the Lambs requires nuance - the film and novels carry multiple layers of intricacy, and their impact on our cultural fabric is widely recognised.

Due to its cult following, Jonathan Demme's masterpiece has faced harsh scrutiny over the years for its depiction of gender identity, with critics arguing that Jame 'Buffalo Bill' Gumb's character reinforces damaging stereotypes about the transgender community. The film's treatment of sexual and gender politics has repeatedly sparked controversy.

Amidst these (entirely valid) discourses, Demme delivered a horror masterpiece that stands the test of time.

[Ted Bundy, serial killer]

Serial killer Ted Bundy is said to have inspired facets of both villains in The Silence of the Lambs(Image: -)

Real-life serial killers who inspired cinema's worst monsters

The Silence of the Lambs hit cinemas 35 years ago today, February 14, and raked in $272.7 million worldwide against a modest $19 million budget. It's fair to say the flick revolutionised psychological horror thrillers forever.

But who were the real-life monsters that sparked Thomas Harris to craft what are arguably two of cinema's most chillingly memorable characters?

Hannibal Lecter

Brought to spine-tingling life by Anthony Hopkins, Hannibal Lecter's flesh-eating tendencies were drawn from some genuinely terrifying real-world villains.

[Convicted killer Alfredo Ball Trevio]

Convicted killer 'Doctor' Alfredo Ball Trevio inspired Hannibal Lecter(Image: YouTube/Marvelous Videos)

In the foreword to the 25th anniversary edition of The Silence of the Lambs novel, written by Harris in 2013, the writer explained he encountered a 'doctor' whilst visiting Nuevo Len state prison in Monterrey, Mexico, during the 1960s.

At just 23, Harris was working as a journalist covering the case of Dykes Askew Simmons, an American found guilty of murder.

Dubbed 'Doctor Salazar', Harris portrayed him as a "small, lithe man with dark red hair" possessing "a certain elegance about him" - a understated characteristic that can be quietly observed in Lecter himself. Notably, both Lecter and Doctor Salazar share Lithuanian heritage.

'Doctor Salazar', as it transpired, wasn't actually a prison medic, but a genuine murderer, Alfredo Ball Trevio, who was imprisoned for a 'crime of passion' - murdering his boyfriend during his time as a medical intern in 1959 before methodically carving him into pieces to fit into a box, which he subsequently tried to bury in his aunt's ranch backyard.

Coming from an affluent and influential family, he was also suspected of murdering and dismembering several hitchhikers, though these charges were never substantiated in court.

'Dr Salazar' was treating Simmons in the prison following a failed escape attempt. Later that day, the warden cautioned Harris: "The doctor is a murderer. As a surgeon, he could package his victim in a surprisingly small box. He will never leave this place. He is insane."

[Convicted killer Alfredo Ball Trevio]

The author of The Silence of the Lambs met 'Doctor Salazar' in the 1960s(Image: YouTube/Marvelous Videos)

Given a death sentence in 1961, 'Dr Salazar' had effectively established an unofficial medical service within the prison, caring for fellow inmates as well as local residents.

In 1981, two decades into his death sentence, Ball was astonishingly freed from prison, permitted to return to society. In his introduction, however, Harris acknowledged that Lecter wasn't solely inspired by 'Dr Salazar', and throughout the years, numerous individuals have attempted to identify all the real-world influences behind this despicable character.

A team of murder investigators who knew Harris revealed in a 1999 piece in Tulsa World that they reckoned Lecter was a composite of the infamous serial murderers Edmund Kemper, Ted Bundy, and the flesh-eating Issei Sagawa.

Another murderer-turned-cannibal, William Coyner, who purportedly preserved and seasoned his victims' remains, was also considered among the influences for Lecter.

Serial murderer Albert Fish is likewise rumoured to have inspired aspects of Lecter. Fish allegedly penned a correspondence to the mother of one of his young victims, describing in horrific detail how he killed and subsequently consumed her child.

Whether these assertions were genuine remains uncertain, as forensic science wasn't sufficiently developed at that period.

Buffalo Bill

[Serial killer Edward Gein in Court]

Serial killer Edward Gein is considered to be a major inspiration behind villain Buffalo Bill(Image: Getty)

Certain characteristics of Doctor Salazar are believed to have been woven into Buffalo Bill too, masterfully brought to life by Ted Levine in the picture.

Whilst writer Harris has never formally disclosed the sources of inspiration for Buffalo Bill's terrifying persona, his methods can be traced to numerous well-known serial murderers.

In the film's bonus material, FBI Special Agent John Douglas revealed that Buffalo Bill's opening sequence was reportedly influenced partly by Ted Bundy - notorious for sporting a phoney plaster cast and soliciting assistance from his targets, before rendering them unconscious upon reaching his vehicle and brutally murdering them.

The grotesque practice of flaying his prey is a characteristic Buffalo Bill might have adopted from Ed Gein, who also served as the muse for Norman Bates in Psycho and Leatherface in Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Gein similarly worshipped his mother, and her passing became a pivotal moment in his ghastly tale, transforming him into one of history's most infamous and depraved serial murderers.

The method of confining his captives in a cellar pit most likely originated from serial killer Gary Heidnik, who employed identical barbaric tactics and abducted, assaulted, and tormented six women during the 1980s, slaughtering two of them.

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