Ed Gein

You've heard of Leatherface from Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Norman Bates from Psycho, and Jame Gumb from Silence Of The Lambs. They're all fictional characters. Ed Gein isn't however, he's nothing short of a one of a kind, psychopathic grave robber and murderer.

Edward Theodore Gein was born in Plainsfeild, Wisconsin in 1906. August 27, 1906 marked the day George and Augusta Gein had their second son. Ed's older brother was Henry G. Gein, who was five years older than Ed.

The house the family lived in was on the outskirts of the town. His father was an abusive alcoholic. His mother however was the owner of a small local grocery store.

The reason his mother decided to move to Plainsfield (had a population a little less than 700 at the time) was because she didn't want outsiders to influence her son at all. His mother wouldn't allow Ed to leave the property except for school and even then would scold him whenever he tried to make friends.

Ultimately everything boils down to his mother who was a devout Lutheran. She picked verses from the Old Testament every afternoon to read to her sons. They were often vivid ones that talked about death and murder. A few of the things she told them included the immorality of the world, the evil drink, all women were prostitutes and whores (including herself), they were also pawns of the devil.

George Gein died in 1940 of a heart attack. Ed and his brother had to start working odd jobs around town to help the farm and their mother in keeping the farm running. The work earned them both a honest and reliable reputation around town with the people living there. Ed often was one who baby sat for parents because he could relate better to children.

Henry began worrying about how attached Ed was to their mother and began speaking badly about her around him.

May 16, 1944 there was a brush fire near the farm and house where the Geins lived. The two brothers had t rush out to go try and fight the fire themselves. As night feel, the brothers were separated. After the fire had died out, Ed reported to authorities that his brother was missing. A search party was sent out and ironically Ed was able to lead them right to where his dead brother laid. The ground his brother laid on wasn't touched by fire at all and he had several bruises on his head. Despite the evidence, police dismissed foul play and asphyxiation was later listed as the cause of death.

A year later, his mother began suffering from strokes and eventually died on December 29, 1945. Despite the loss, he remained on the farm and boarded up rooms his mother used frequently while still maintaining odd jobs around the town.
The upstairs, down stairs living room and parlor were among the rooms boarded up. Living in a small room next to the kitchen, he became quite interested in death cult magazines and adventure stories.

From 1947 to 1954, he made as many as 40 visits to three local cemeteries to dig up the corpses of recently buried women.

November 19, 1957 a hardware store owner was missing. People began to wonder where she was when the store hadn't opened in the early afternoon. Her son came back from a hunting trip and when he entered the store to see what was wrong with his mother, he saw blood all over the place and immediately contacted the authorities. Her son was questioned and told about a customer who had come in the day before to check out how much antifreeze cost.

When the police arrived at Ed Gein's house, they weren't prepared for what they would find. The doors were locked and they decided to take a look around the garage. Upon entering, an officer bumped into something and turned to see what it was.

They had found the corpse of Bernice Worden, the missing hardware store owner. Her headless body was hanging from the ceiling, a crossbar at her ankles and ropes around her wrists. Her torso was split and the ribcage split. The mutilations had been performed after her death which was caused be a close shot with a 22. caliber rifle.

When they decided to break into the house they found skulls mounted on the corner posts of his bed, skin made into a lampshade and used as a cover for seats, human skullcaps used as bowls, a human heart, skin from the face of Mary Hogan (who had been missing for several years) found in a paper bag, a window shade made of human lips, a vest made from the skin of a woman's torso, socks made of human flesh, an array of shrunken heads, female vulvas that Gein had apparently wore and a belt made from woman's nipples.

The shrunken heads were seen or at least heard of by children he occasionally baby sat. He told them they were relics sent to him by a cousin who fought in World War II. After it had been investigated, they turned out to be masks made from a corpse faces.

Under questioning, he eventually started talking and admitted to going to recently buried graves of women he thought resembled his mother and dug them up. He took the bodies home and proceeded to tan them to make his furnishings.

Although he did deny ever practicing necrophilia saying that the bodies smelled to bad. He also did admit to killing Mary Hogan who had been missing from 1954.

Art Schley, a Plainfield officer reportedly assaulted by banging Ed's head into a brick wall repeatedly. Ed and as a result his first confession was deemed inadmissible. Only a month after testifying in Ed's court hearing, Schley died of a heart attack in December of 1968 at an age of 43. A lot of his friends said he had been traumitized by Gein's crimes resulting in his early death.

In his first trial, he was found mentally unstable and couldn't be tried for the crimes he had committed. As a result, he was sent to Central State Hospital for the criminally insane. The hospital was turned into a prison and he was transferred to Mendota State Hospital. In 1968 his doctors deemed he was sane enough to go through with the trial.

Wednesday, November 14, 1968 the trial began and only lasted a week. Found guilty of first degree murder but deemed legally insane so he was sent to live out the rest of his life in a mental hospital by judge Robert H. Gollmar.

March 20, 1958, Ed was in the instuition while his house burned to the ground. Arson was suspected but never confirmed. When Ed was told of the accident, he merely shrugged as said "just as well."

Ed's car which he used to tote the bodies of his victims around in was sold in 1958 to a carnival owner Bunny Gibbons. He charged a 25 cent fee to go and see the car for any carnival goers.

Ed died on July 26, 1984 of respiratory and heart failure because of cancer. He had a grave site in the Plainfield cemetery that was frequently vandalized. The bulk of it was eventually stolen in 2000 but recovered in June 2001 in Seattle. It's now being displayed in a museum in Wautoma, Wisconsin.