The body count of Thomas Hewitt and his family is believed to be around 30 people, but that's in the fictional universe that is this movie and the 2003 remake.

The original movie, and especially the remake tried to market themselves as being inspired by real life events for promotional purposes, even though the events and characters of the films themselves are fiction. The true story of Ed Gein also inspired PSYCHO, but no one asks if Norman Bates was a real person. Some fans I guess don't seem to understand that "inspired by true events" doesn't equal 100% fact.

There are some people who believe the found footage of the police officer in the remake is actual footage of the Hewitt crime scene, even though anyone with half a brain would know it's fake and that there's no such place.

Yeah, it's all fictional stuff. I've heard people believed this was real, but no. I heard some folks even claim that it was banned footage in this film or some other such nonsense. I know all about Ed Gein and the atrocities he committed.

"Inspired by real events" or "based on a true story" is just a way to try and make the movie seem more harrowing or lend realism in a lot of cases, so you'll think, "Oh this is legit."

As we've seen with films like Fargo, that little disclaimer, or whatever you'd call it, is often very, very loosely representative of the film you see. I never believe it is 100% accurate and based in reality.