The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a prime example of how something can be gothic without it being set in a European castle with bats and ghosts. This is “the old, dark house” trope, just inverted to reflect an 70s American aesthetic. Broad daylight, blazing sun, just as scary.
In her research for the origin of STDs, she uncovered how the complete lie that you can get an std from a toilet seat was created by doctors (probably also molesting their daughters) in a refusal to accept that little rich white girls were sexually assaulted by their dads.