Sally Hardesty (Marilyn Burns) was the lone survivor of Leatherface's rampage in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but her life failed to return to normal. Although not nearly bloody and gory as Texas Chainsaw Massacre's reputation suggests — in fact, it's one of the least graphic R-rated films in horror history — director Tobe Hooper's 1974 classic is still a harrowing descent into insanity. This is probably best epitomized by the infamous dinner scene, in which Sally is tied up and tormented by the Sawyer family, even including its corpse-like patriarch Grandpa, who's extremely old and barely clinging to life.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, once the story really kicks into high gear, is brutal and unrelenting, putting Sally and her friends through torments no person should ever have to face, and killing them off one by one. Leatherface (as originally played by Gunnar Hansen) is a hulking, iconic villain, and possesses a physicality that lends all his kills an extra sense of harshness. The other members of his family are arguably even more unstable than he is, and not one of them shows an ounce of sympathy for what Sally Hardesty endures.

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To paraphrase John Larroquette's famous Texas Chainsaw Massacre opening narration, Sally Hardesty could not have expected nor would she have wished to see as much of the macabre as she was to see that day. For her, an idyllic summer afternoon drive became a nightmare. Unlike her friends Kirk, Pam, and Jerry, as well as her brother Franklin though, Sally Hardesty survived Leatherface's rampage. Sadly, she didn't really survive intact.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre: What Happened To Sally Hardesty

Sally in the truck at the end of Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Sally Hardesty doesn't appear in 1986 sequel The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, which sadly recast Leatherface — although that film's opening narration sheds a bit of light on what happened to her. After escaping in the back of a truck at the end of the original, Sally had become understandably unhinged, ranting and raving about her experiences with the Sawyers. She then slipped into a catatonic state. This led her uncle and former Texas Ranger Boude "Lefty" Enright (Dennis Hopper) to track down Leatherface's family and take them on directly as revenge.

From here on, Sally's ultimate fate becomes murkier, thanks to the loose continuity found in further entries in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie franchise. The opening narration of 1990's Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3 says that Sally died in 1977, while a patient at a private healthcare facility. It's unclear if this is connected to the catatonia Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 mentions. Even more confusing is that in 1994's Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation, actress Marilyn Burns is seen on a gurney inside a hospital near the end of the film, with some of the available info suggesting she's making a cameo as Sally.

Interestingly, while it's never specified in the film, the last name of Jessica Biel's character Erin in the 2003 Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake was supposed to be Hardesty, making her a direct counterpart of Sally in the remake's universe. In one of the Texas Chainsaw remake's alternate endings, it's revealed that an older Erin was recounting the film's story all along to a reporter, and that she had spent the decades since escaping Leatherface in an insane asylum. No matter the incarnation, Sally Hardesty just can't win.

Marilyn Burns as Sally in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Considering how close the old Hardesty family homestead is to the Sawyers' house, and the fact that Leatherface and his family focus so much time on torturing her specifically, some may wonder if The Texas Chainsaw Massacre's Sally Hardesty and Leatherface are somehow related. After all, a similar twist occurred in timeline-challenged sequel Texas Chainsaw 3D that saw the reveal that Leatherface was the protagonist's cousin. In this case though, there appears to be no evidence Sally has a blood tie to the Sawyer family, distantly or otherwise. She just got really, really unlucky.

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