Episode 1 — Chainsaw
To start the Killer Design series, I wanted to start with a well know object. Not only is a chainsaw well known, but it is often associated with murder. Take the horror genre of Hollywood. Chainsaws made their big debut in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and have been continually used.
I don’t to get ahead of myself. Let’s back up about 100 years. The chainsaws we know of now originated around 1920. The largest and oldest chain saw producer in the world was Stihl, founded in Germany in 1926. In the beginning they were manned by 2 people, then were progressed to be manned by one person. Each year, approximately 36,000 people are treated in hospital emergency departments for injuries from using chain saws.
But, injuries and fatalities are not always accidents…
Ranging from domestic violence to political punishments, chainsaws have recently grown in the murder industry. The most difficult part of this episode, is how much Hollywood exagerates the use of a chainsaw. When looking deeper into the background of movies and new stories, a chainsaw is used less frequently than you would think.
If you want to know more, the sources used in this episode can be found below. As always, my script and sources are below, and thanks for reading.
-Megan
https://www.cdc.gov/disasters/chainsaws.html
https://www.waldwissen.net/lernen/forstgeschichte/wsl_geschichte_motorsaege/index_EN
http://americannews.com/breaking-mexican-drug-cartel-beheads-two-captives-in-message-to-america/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chainsaw
https://listverse.com/2016/10/31/10-gruesome-chainsaw-murders/
