HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
The 1960 roadside service station where Tobe Hooper filmed the opening scenes of the 1974 slasher landmark, now a barbecue restaurant and horror memorabilia destination.
1073 TX-304, Bastrop, TX 78602
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
Barbecue restaurant pricing; museum and exterior free to explore. Motel rooms available.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved parking lot and accessible restaurant interior
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1960 · Primary filming location for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) · Texas Governor's Office Film Trail designation · Texas State Historical Association — Handbook of Texas entry
The structure at 1073 TX-304 was built around 1960 as a working service station serving motorists on the rural highway corridor between Austin and the Bastrop area. For its first decade-plus it operated as an ordinary small-town fuel stop with a small attached store.
In 1973, director Tobe Hooper and producer Kim Henkel scouted the area for low-budget shooting locations. They chose the station as the setting for several pivotal scenes in what would become The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) — a film shot on 16mm over roughly four weeks in the summer heat of the Texas Hill Country fringe. The film's opening moments, including the gas station encounter that gives travelers their first warning not to proceed, were filmed on or near this property. The movie was released in October 1974 and became one of the most commercially successful and critically studied American horror films of the decade.
Following the production, the station returned to ordinary commercial use for some years before closing and falling into disrepair. The building sat largely idle for decades, though its connection to the film kept it on radar for horror fans who would seek it out as a roadside curiosity.
In 2014, new owners purchased the property and undertook a significant restoration, reopening it as a Texas barbecue restaurant, motel, and horror-focused attraction. The Texas State Historical Association's Handbook of Texas recognized the site, and it was placed on the Texas Governor's Office Film Trail as an officially designated film heritage destination. By the early 2020s the site was attracting tens of thousands of annual visitors.
Sources
The Gas Station's dark-tourism reputation is unusual in that it originates not from a local crime or hauntings tradition but from cinematic history. Tobe Hooper's film fictionalized a family of murderers in a rural Texas landscape, and viewers who have seen the movie carry that imagery onto the actual property when they visit. The effect is powerful precisely because the building is real and intact — the same angles, the same architecture, the same heat and isolation that defined the film's opening dread.
Some overnight motel guests have described unexplained knocking sounds and an ambient unease they couldn't attribute to the ordinary sounds of a country roadside stop. These accounts circulate primarily in horror fan communities and travel blogs rather than in formal paranormal investigation records. The Texas Highways feature on the site notes that the owners lean into the film heritage rather than making explicit claims about hauntings, letting the building's history speak for itself.
The property's dark-tourism value is officially recognized. The Texas Governor's Office Film Trail and the Texas State Historical Association both document the site, placing it in the company of locations where documented history — in this case film history intertwined with the real Central Texas landscape — generates a sustained public draw.
Media Appearances
Walk the exterior grounds of the original filming location and explore the Texas Chain Saw Massacre museum, which houses vintage props, costumes, and horror memorabilia. The gas station structure itself is largely intact and recognizable from the 1974 film.
The station's main building operates as a full-service barbecue restaurant with an in-house horror theme. Dining here is the most immersive way to experience the site short of an overnight motel stay.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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