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Thread: The True, Horrifying Story, behind "The Hills Have Eyes"

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    Osceola's Avatar Protector Domesticus
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    Default The True, Horrifying Story, behind "The Hills Have Eyes"

    This is the account of Sawney Bean, the inspiration for, and in my opinion much more horrifying, than the Wes Craven classic "The Hills Have Eyes".

    The interesting thing behind Sawney Bean, the story of him and his clan of 46 inbred cannibal offspring and grand offspring, is the fact that basically, their story is much, much more terrifying and long lasting than the Wes Craven story.

    Yet another testament to the fact that reality is always stranger than fiction..

    EDIT - NEW BETTER MORE INTERESTING VERSION OF THE STORY.



    The following account, though as well attested as any historical fact can be, is almost incredible, for the monstrous and unparalleled barbarities that it relates; there being nothing that we ever heard of, with the same degree of certainty, that may be compared with it, or that shews how far a brutal temper, untamed by education, and knowledge of the world, may carry a man in such glaring and horrible colours.

    Sawney Bean was born in the county of East Lothian, about eight or nine miles eastward of the city of Edinburgh, in the reign of James I of Scotland. His father was a hedger and ditcher and brought up his son to the same laborious employment.

    He got his daily bread in his youth by these means, but being prone to idleness, and not caring to be confined to any honest employment, he left his father and mother, and ran away into the desert part of the country, taking with him a woman as viciously inclined as himself.

    These two took up their habitation in a cave, by the seaside on the shore of the county of Galloway; where they lived upwards of twenty-five years, without going into any city, town or village.

    In this time they had a great number of children and grandchildren, whom they brought up after their own manner, without any notions of humanity or civil society. They never kept any company, but among themselves, and supported themselves wholly by robbing: being, moreover so very cruel, that they never robbed any one, whom they did not murder.

    By this bloody method, and their being so retired from the world, they continued for a long time undiscovered; there being no person able to guess how the people were lost that went by the place where they #lived. As soon as they had robbed any man, woman or child, they used to carry off the carcass to the den, cutting it into quarters, they would pickle the mangled limbs, and afterwards eat it; this being their only sustenance: and not withstanding they were at last so numerous, they commonly had superfluity of this their abominable food, so that in the nigh-time they frequently threw legs and arms of the unhappy wretches they had murdered into the sea, at a great distance from their bloody habitation; the limbs were often cast up by the tide in several parts of the country, to the astonishment and terror of all beholders, and others who heard of it.

    Persons who have gone about their lawful occasions fell so often into their hands, that it caused a general outcry in the country round about; no person knowing what was become of their friends or relations, if they were once seen by these merciless cannibals.

    All the people in the adjacent parts were at last alarmed at such uncommon loss of their neighbours and acquaintance, for there was no traveling in safety near the den of these wretches: this occasioned spies to be frequently sent into those parts, many of whom never returned again, and those who did, after the strictest search and inquiry, could not find how these melancholy matters happened.

    Several honest travelers were taken up on suspicion and wrongfully hanged upon bare circumstances: several innocent inn keepers were executed, for no other reason than that persons, who had been thus lost, were known to have lain in their houses, which occasioned a suspicion of their being murdered by them, and their bodies privately buried in obscure places to prevent a discovery. Thus an ill-placed justice was executed with the greatest severity imaginable, in order to prevent these frequent, atrocious deeds; so many innkeepers, who lived on the western road of Scotland, left of their business, for fear of being made examples of, and followed other employments.

    This, on the other hand, occasioned many inconveniences to travelers, who were now in great distress for accommodation when they were disposed to refresh themselves and horses, or take up lodging for the night. In a word, the whole country was depopulated.

    Still the king's subjects were as much missed as before, so that it became the admiration of the whole kingdom how such villainies could be carried on, and the perpetrators not discovered. A great many had been executed, not one of them all made any confession at the gallows, but maintained to the last, that they were perfectly innocent of the crime for which they suffered.

    When the magistrates found all was in vain, they left off these rigorous proceedings, and trusted wholly to Providence, for the bringing to light the authors of these unparalleled barbarities when it should seem proper to the divine wisdom.
    [AuldSawney]

    Sawney's family was at last grown very large, and every one of it as soon as able, assisted him perpetrating their wicked deeds, which they still followed with impunity. Sometimes they would attack four, five or six, footmen together, but never more than two, if they were on horseback; they were, moreover, so careful, that not one whom they set upon should escape, that an ambuscade was set on every side to secure them, let them fly which way they would, provided it should ever so happen that one or more got away from the first assailants. How was it possible that they should be detected, when not one that saw them ever saw anybody else afterwards.

    The place which they inhabited was quite solitary and lonesome, and, when the tide came up, the water went near two hundred yards into their subterraneous habitation, which reached almost a mile underground; so that when people, who have been sent armed to search all the places about have passed by the mouth of the cave, they have never taken any notice of it, never supposing any human being would reside in such a place of perpetual horror and darkness.

    The number of people these savages destroyed was never exactly known; but it was generally computed that in the twenty-five years they continued their butcheries, they had washed their hands in the blood of at least a thousand men, women and children.

    The manner they were at last discovered was as follows:

    A man and his wife behind him on the same horse, coming one evening home from a fair, and falling into the ambuscade of these merciless wretches, they fell upon them in a furious manner. The man to save himself as well as he could, fought very bravely against them with sword and pistol, riding some of them down by main force of his horse.

    In the conflict the poor woman fell from behind him, and was instantly butchered before her husband's face, for the female cannibals cut her throat, and fell to sucking her blood with as great a gust, as if it had been wine: this done, they ripped up her belly, and pulled out all her entrails. Such a dreadful spectacle made the man make the more obstinate resistance, as he expected the same fate, if he fell into their hands.

    It pleased Providence while he was engaged that twenty or thirty who had been at the same fair, came together in a body; upon which Sawney Bean and his blood thirsty clan withdrew and, made the best of their way through a thick wood to their den.

    The man who was the first who had ever fell in their way, and came off alive, told the whole company what had happened, and shewed them the horrid spectacle of his wife, whom the murderers had dragged to some distance, but had not had time to carry her entirely off. They were all struck with stupefaction and amazement at what he related; they took him with them to Glasgow, and told the affair to the magistrates of that city, who immediately sent to the king concerning it.

    In about three or four days after, his majesty in person, with a body of about four hundred men, set out for the place where this dismal tragedy was acted, in order to search all the rocks and thickets, that, if possible, they might apprehend this hellish crew, which had been so long pernicious to all the western parts of the kingdom.

    The man who was attacked was the guide, and care was taken to have a large number of blood-hounds with them, that no human means might be wanting towards their putting an entire end to these cruelties.

    No sign of any habitation was to found for a long time; and even when they came to the wretches' cave, they took no notice of it, but were going to pursue their search along the sea shore, the tide being then out; but some of the blood-hounds luckily entered the Cimmerian den, and instantly set up a most hideous barking, howling and yelping; so that the king, with his attendants, came back , and looked into it: they could not tell how to conceive that anything human could be concealed in a place where they saw nothing but darkness; nevertheless, as the blood-hounds increased their noise they went further in, and refused to come back again; they then began to imagine something or other must inhabit there. Torches were immediately sent for, and a great many men ventured in, through the most intricate turnings and windings, till at last they arrived at that private recess from all the world, which was the habitation of these monsters.

    Now the whole body, or as many of them as could went in, and were all so shocked at what they beheld, that they were almost ready to sink into the earth. Legs, arms, thighs, hands and feet of men, women and children, were hung up in rows, like dried beef; a great many limbs laid in pickle, and a great mass of money both gold and silver, with watches, rings, swords, pistols and a large quantity of cloths, both linen and woolen, and an infinite number of other things which they had taken from those they had murdered, were thrown together in heaps or hung up against the sides of the den.

    Sawney's family, at this time, besides himself, consisted of his wife, eight sons, six daughters, eighteen grand-sons, and fourteen grand-daughters, who were all begotten in incest.

    Theses were all seized and pinioned by his majesty's order in the first place; then they took what human flesh they could find, and buried it in the sands; afterwards loading themselves with the spoils which they found, they returned to Edinburgh with their prisoners; all the country, as they passed along, flocked to see this cursed tribe. When they came to their journey's end the wretches were committed to the Tolbooth, from whence they were the next day conducted, under a strong guard to Leith, where they were executed without any process, it being thought needless to try creatures who were even professed enemies of mankind.

    The men were dismembered, their hands and legs were severed from their bodies, by which amputation they bled to death in a few hours. The wife, daughters, and grand-children having been made spectators of this just punishment inflicted on the men, were afterwards burnt to death in three separate fires. They all in general died without the least sign of repentance, but continued cursing and vending the most dreadful imprecations to the very last gasp of life.


    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Alexander "Sawney" Bean ( sometime during the reign James VI of Scotland / James I of England) was born somewhere around Edinburgh. Sawney Bean was a strange man said to be lazy and dishonest, early in his life he set up home, with his wife, in a seaside cave at Bennane Head, near Ballantrae (South Ayrshire; although then Galloway). Over the next 25 years the family grew to number at least 46 through incestuous relationships. Feeding a family of 46 would be difficult, even today, and it wasn't long before Sawney Bean started robbing travelers by setting up ambushes, and to hide his guilt he would murder them. Shockingly the Bean family would then feast upon the carcass of the poor soul. It is believed that the gang also cured some of the flesh by smoking it.

    Many travelers went missing, there have been estimates that several hundred people disappeared in the area near Sawney Bean's cave. However initial suspicions were laid against other locals including inn keepers. Unfortunately some of the accused were executed but the deaths/disappearances continued. Obviously this must have lead the Beans to believe that they could continue without risk of capture. It could also be assumed that they murdered more than they actually needed to survive as there are many reports of people during that time making the macabre discovery of severed limbs and other body parts washed up on the shores around Sawney Bean's cave.

    Even though it could be considered a crime that they were not discovered sooner it was not until they were nearly caught red-handed that suspicions started to point towards the Bean gang. However it is clear that the local people were totally unaware that anybody lived in that area. Somehow the gang of 46 had survived for approximately 25 years totally undetected! Obviously thier reign of terror would come to an end one day but it was when they attacked a husband and wife returning from a fair on a horse that they made the prescence known to others. Fortunately the husband and wife managed to hold off their attackers for some time as the husband was armed with a sword but overwhelmed by such a large gang the wife was dragged from the horse and killed her. The husband fled, closely followed by the gang but luckily another party, also returning from the fair, had caught up and the gang was chased but escaped. The man reported the incident to the authorities in Glasgow

    The public outcry must have been astounding as a search party including several hundred soldiers, led by the King himself, set about finding the gang. Aided by the use of blood-hounds they found the gang and their cave. At the cave they found the remains of many souls together with a mound of stolen possessions including money. The gang were led off to jail. As the majority of the family had only ever known cannibalism they failed to see the reasons for the disgust of their captors. Found guilty of their crimes Alexander "Sawney" Bean, his wife, eight sons, six daughters, eighteen grand-sons, and fourteen grand-daughters were all executed.

    The execution, held just outside Edinburgh, must have been a gruesome spectacle as all the men had their limbs hacked off and were left to bleed to death while the women and children were burned alive at the stake.

    In a style similar to Hollywood today there was a play " Sawney Bean, the Cannibal" and a a book, written by Ronald Holmes; The Legend of Sawney Bean . I suppose it will get the full hollywood treatment one day as the image of Hannibal Lector licking his lips would compare nothing to the image of a group of 46 gorging themselves upon the body of a young family. It is suspected that the total number murdered would have been in excess of one thousand.





    Happy Halloween All!
    Last edited by Osceola; October 28, 2007 at 05:13 PM.
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  2. #2
    different_13's Avatar Civitate
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    Default Re: The True, Horrifying Story, behind "The Hills Have Eyes"

    The strange thing is I've heard of this before, and I've no idea where..

    Possibly a book on cannibalism.

    Still, very interesting.
    Just goes to show life is more terrifying than anything we could make up.
    Life, go easy on me


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    SeniorBatavianHorse's Avatar Tribunus Vacans
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    Default Re: The True, Horrifying Story, behind "The Hills Have Eyes"

    Shame it is all nonsense. Not so much a case of urban myth as rural myth!

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    Osceola's Avatar Protector Domesticus
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    Default Re: The True, Horrifying Story, behind "The Hills Have Eyes"

    ..Yeah and you're credentials as a certified historian are... where?

    Armchair Herodotuses' not wanted, just enjoy the damn story, and considering the Jeffrey Dahmer's and Albert Fishes of nowadays, I doubt humanity was any better back then.
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    hellheaven1987's Avatar Comes Domesticorum
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    Default Re: The True, Horrifying Story, behind "The Hills Have Eyes"

    Godsh, this is not... true right??

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    Centurion-Lucius-Vorenus's Avatar Protector Domesticus
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    Default Re: The True, Horrifying Story, behind "The Hills Have Eyes"

    Jesus Christ.......................

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    Default Re: The True, Horrifying Story, behind "The Hills Have Eyes"

    Holy crap! Thats pretty scary.

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    IronBrig4's Avatar Good Matey
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    Default Re: The True, Horrifying Story, behind "The Hills Have Eyes"

    Oh wow. I should probably post some of Exquemelin's descriptions of pirate atrocities. Stuff like this will keep you up at night.

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    Thanatos's Avatar Now Is Not the Time
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    Default Re: The True, Horrifying Story, behind "The Hills Have Eyes"

    The wretches got what they deserved.

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    Default Re: The True, Horrifying Story, behind "The Hills Have Eyes"

    WTF? Crazy Bastards. A Cannee feed ma kids!

    Quote Originally Posted by IronBrig4 View Post
    Oh wow. I should probably post some of Exquemelin's descriptions of pirate atrocities. Stuff like this will keep you up at night.
    Yes please.

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    IronBrig4's Avatar Good Matey
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    Default Re: The True, Horrifying Story, behind "The Hills Have Eyes"

    *after L'Ollonais' sack of Gibraltar (in modern Venezuela)*

    The buccaneers gathered together all the money and stores they could find in the town, and then rested four or five days, without making any expeditions. During this time the Spaniards in the neighborhood were hiding their wealth as well as they could. The rovers soon began to go out on the search again, bringing quantities of goods back to the town, as well as many slaves they found on the plantations. They had been in occupation about a fortnight when their prisoners began to die of hunger and discomfort, for the rovers had not come across much meat. There was plenty of flour, but the buccaneers were too lazy to bake bread for themselves, let alone for the Spaniards. Any sheep, pigs, cows or poultry they found they slaughtered for their own food, killing mules and donkeys for the Spaniards. Anyone who did not choose to eat such meat had to die of hunger, for the prisoners were given nothing else. the only people to get better fare were some of the women, whom the buccaneers used for their pleasure. Some they took by violence, and some of their own free will, driven to it by hunger. Those prisoners whom they suspected of having money were stretched on the rack; if they would not confess, the rovers killed them.

    *upon Morgan's sack of Maracaibo and the surrounding area*

    They returned next evening with about fifty mules laden with various goods, and thirty prisoners - men and women, children and slaves. The prisoners were promptly tortured in the usual manner to make them say where the fugitive citizens were hiding. One was strappado'd and beaten, another was spread-eagled with burning fuses between his fingers and toes, another had a cord twisted so tight round his head his eyes protruded like eggs. If they still would not tell they were put to death, when there were no further torments that could be inflicted on them.

    ...The buccaneers found nobody in the village but a poor ignorant simpleton. They asked him where the folks had fled. He said he did not know - he had not inquired. They asked whether he knew of any plantations; he said he must have been on twenty in his lifetime. Then they demanded whether he knew where to find the gold and silver of the churches. Yes, he replied, and brought them to the church sacristy, saying he had seen all the gold and silver there, but he did not know where it was now. When they could get no more answers out of him, they tied him up and beat him. Then the simple fellow began to shout, 'Let me go! I will show you my house and my goods and my money!'

    This made the rovers think they were dealing with a rich man, who had been pretending to be a fool. They unbound him, and he brought them to a hovel, where he had buried a few earthenware dishes, plates and other trash, together with three pieces of eight. They asked him his name. 'I am Don Sebastian Sanches,' he said, 'brother of the governor of Maracaibo.' Then they began to torture him anew, tying him up and beating him till the blood ran down his body. He cried out that if they would let him go, he would take them to his sugar-mill, where they would find all his wealth and his slaves, but when they untied him he was unable to walk. They flung him on a horse, but in the forest he told them he had no sugar-mill, nor anything in the world, and that he lived on the charity of the hospital. This was true, as they afterwards discovered.

    Again they took him and bound him, hanging stones from his neck and his feet. They burned palm leaves under his face, making it so sooty with smoke he did not look like a man, and they beat him violently. He died after half an hour of these torments. They cut the rope and dragged his body into the woods, where they left him dying. So ended this simple wretch's life, as a martyr.

    ...Among those who suffered most heavily was an old Portuguese in his sixties, because a Negro had denounced him as being very rich. This old man was seized and asked where his money was. He swore by every oath that all the money he'd had in the world was a hundred pieces of eight, and that a young man who lived near him had taken this money and run off with it.

    The rovers did not believe him, but strappado'd him so violently that his arms were pulled right out of joint. He still would not confess, so they tied long cords to his thumbs and his big toes and spreadeagled him to four stakes. Then four of them came and beat on the cords with their sticks, making his body jerk and shudder and stretching his sinews. Still not satisfied, they put a stone weighing at least two hundred-weight on his loins and lit a fire of palm leaves under him, burning his face and setting his hair alight - yet despite all these torments he would not confess to having money.

    Then they took him and bound him to one of the pillars of the church, which they were using as a guardhouse, and gave him one little bit of meat a day, just enough to keep him alive. After four or five days of this suffering, he begged that some friends of his from among the prisoners might be sent to him, so that he might contrive to get money to give the rovers. After talking with his friends, he offered 500 pieces of eight. The rovers would not listen to him, but instead gave him a beating and said he must talk of thousands, not hundreds, or it would cost him his life. In the end, after he had produced all the evidence he could that he really was a poor man, who earned his bread keeping a tavern, they settled for 1,000 pieces of eight.

    Yet even this man had not suffered all the torments which the buccaneers inflicted on the Spaniards to make them divulge their hidden wealth. Some they hung up by their genitals, till the weight of their bodies tore them loose. Then they would give the wretches three or four stabs through the body with a cutlass, and leave them lying in that condition until God released them from their miserable plight by death. Some poor creatures lingered on for four or five days. Others they crucified, with burning fuses between their fingers and toes. Others they bound, smeared their feet with grease and stuck them in the fire.

    [L'Ollonais was later butchered and eaten by Indians. Morgan, on the other hand, received a knighthood and governorship of Jamaica. He died of dropsy, which means he basically ate and drank himself to death.]
    Last edited by IronBrig4; October 28, 2007 at 10:18 PM.

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  12. #12
    Anachronist's Avatar Domesticus
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    Default Re: The True, Horrifying Story, behind "The Hills Have Eyes"

    And i though it was only a plot for a gore-filled movie.

  13. #13

    Default Re: The True, Horrifying Story, behind "The Hills Have Eyes"

    I have read about this before and I have to agree with those historians who think it's only a myth. There are just too many holes in the story and too little first hand evidence. A horror story of the time.

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    hellheaven1987's Avatar Comes Domesticorum
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    Default Re: The True, Horrifying Story, behind "The Hills Have Eyes"

    Not even half the brutality what Congonnese did during the war in 1960s.:hmmm:

  15. #15
    Indefinitely Banned
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    Default Re: The True, Horrifying Story, behind "The Hills Have Eyes"

    Yeah the myth of Sawney Bean is a pretty well known story

  16. #16
    Odovacar's Avatar I am with Europe!
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    Default Re: The True, Horrifying Story, behind "The Hills Have Eyes"

    Well, entertaining story, even though it seems to be a myth.
    IN PATROCINIVM SVB HORSEARCHER
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  17. #17
    Osceola's Avatar Protector Domesticus
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    Default Re: The True, Horrifying Story, behind "The Hills Have Eyes"

    Because you people find a serial killer story so completely inprobable..

    Sorry, but skeptics just for the sake of being skeptics, do annoy me.

    Sure 100 percent of it prolly isn't verbatim true, but something obviously happened.
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    Odovacar's Avatar I am with Europe!
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    Default Re: The True, Horrifying Story, behind "The Hills Have Eyes"

    No, serial killer stories are not unbelivable.
    But this story is.

    A man goes into a cave with his wife and kill ppl to eat them...for 25 years no one suspects that he may be in a nearly cave...gosh...sepherds usually know every cave, or place where someone can hide.

    King James taking part in the hunt..and still no contemporary source tells it?
    The king should not boast that he caught and had executed a godless cannibal clan?
    Also kings usually not hunt for robbers even if they are cannibals.

    The clan killed dozens of people, but suddenly they could not catch one man because he was armed...they laid down traps but one single common (and frightened) man tricked them. Possible, but not convincing.

    Also if they killed lots of people how could the authorities tolerate this for decades without a serious hunt in the nearly countryside?

    How come the sources did not mention the execution which could have been the greatest spectacle for the mob, drwaing there more spectators than an Eric Clapton concert?

    There were cannibals in Scottland during famines. There might have been such a man, he may have killed three or four people before going to the executor's block.

    The present form of the story appears to be simply a tale.
    It was a good read and Im thankful that you posted it, but you should not be hurted if ppl take it with a grain of salt.

    I could tell such stories from history as well. They aren't serious things.
    IN PATROCINIVM SVB HORSEARCHER
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    Sorry Armenia, for the rascals who lead us.


  19. #19

    Default Re: The True, Horrifying Story, behind "The Hills Have Eyes"

    now that would make an awesome period peice horror movie. im thinking you could either grab christian bale ( as he does awesome english accents) as the husband and lets see maybe jessica biel as his wife, then find someone very evil looking for sawney. that movie would make alot of money i suspect.

  20. #20
    Centurion-Lucius-Vorenus's Avatar Protector Domesticus
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    Default Re: The True, Horrifying Story, behind "The Hills Have Eyes"

    Quote Originally Posted by Thanatos View Post
    The wretches got what they deserved.
    Please, if you were born into that familly you would be the exact same way.

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