If Lewis and Drew had not shown up in time, and the mountain men had finished "having their way" with Bobby and Ed, would the mountain men have let Bobby and Ed go back to the river and the canoe? They had no reason not to, after taking everything they could from them. They had to know that Bobby and Ed would never report the incident to the police. As Bobby said, "I don't want this gettin' around, OK? OK?"
shareI think so. I don't think they were murderers, and they would have taken satisfaction in the fact that Bobby and Ed would have to live with what happened to them. And they were on their own turf, so little chance of repercussions.
shareThat's why I'm confused that Ed said to Lewis afterward, "I thought they'd surely kill us!" and Lewis responded, "They would have - they would have for sure." Was Lewis trying to rationalize why he killed the mountain man?
shareYou know I honestly think that the possibility of the mountain men killing them was very high. They were obviously messed up in the head to want to threaten and sexually attack two grown men who were canoeing down a river. Why would they not follow through and kill them? They had the gun and Ed's knife. They were hunters. Plus they knew the river was going to be turned into a lake so the evidence (their bodies) would most likely never be discovered if they buried them right. Just my opinion.
shareNot only would they have murdered Bobby and Ed, they'd probably had done this before. They were complete sociopaths with no scruples whatsoever, so why do you think they'd have drawn the line before murder? They would have taken their money and eliminated any witnesses. It certainly appeared like they had experience too, so they'd done it before.
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Do you really think the hillbillies would have rationalized it that way though? I think they would have killed them, but I do think Lewis just sounded so sure about it to justify him murdering the man not only to himself, but to his friends.
shareActually one of the best questions ever posted on this forum.
It should be against the law to use 'LOL'; unless you really did LOL!
Good question. I feel that very strong arguments can be made for either side. The reason they were so quick to say "I thought surely they were going to kill us" and the reason the WAY it was said was so dubious/forced/deliberate was simply to verbally justify the killing right then and there because even they had doubts that the hillbillies would truly have murdered them.
I personally feel it was justified no matter what the outcome *might* have been because the fact is that they really didn't know what was going to happen next and they were being raped and the chance of them being killed was just as likely as the chance of them being let go. Put in an impossible situation by crazy people.
"Why couldn't the monkey arrange this from INSIDE the garbage can?"
I think they would have killed Bobby and Ed. It's their mentality. They were looking to degrade them and I doubt that they would draw the line at rape. They take what they want with no regards for the person they take from. That is their land and nobody tells them what to do and they wouldn't take the chance on Bobby and Ed seeking revenge or bringing the law around. It's the Squidbilly way.
shareI think they would have killed them, then gone on to harass the other two members of the crew. They were sadists and it was fun for them.
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