13 Iconic Horror Movies Inspired by Real-Life Events

What's real: Speaking of Edward Gein, he was also said to be the inspiration for Norman Bates, the iconic, cross-dressing serial killer from Psycho. According to an in-depth look at the film on NPR, the story of Gein inspired fiction writer Robert Bloch, who lived just 40 miles away from all the madness. Bloch reportedly "read about Gein in the newspapers and became fascinated. He decided to fictionalize Gein's story, and his novel, Psycho, was published two years later." Hitchcock scooped the story from there, and the rest is horror history.