Ed Gein
Ed Gein, often referred to as the "Butcher of Plainfield," was an American criminal whose life and actions left a profound impact on popular culture and the criminal psychology field. Born in 1906, he experienced a troubled childhood marked by an abusive father and a fanatically religious mother who instilled in him a deep-seated aversion to sex. Following the deaths of his family members, including his mother in 1945, Gein's mental state deteriorated, leading him into a series of gruesome crimes. He is suspected of murdering at least two women and was found to have exhumed corpses from local graveyards, using their remains to create various macabre items, including furniture and clothing made from human skin.
In 1957, police discovered the body of Bernice Worden on Gein's property, alongside preserved body parts of multiple women, which led to his arrest. Initially deemed incompetent to stand trial, he was later found guilty of murder but was declared not guilty by reason of insanity. Gein spent the remainder of his life in psychiatric institutions, passing away in 1984. His horrifying story has inspired numerous films and literature, contributing to his legacy as a figure of fascination in horror and true crime narratives.
Ed Gein
- Born: August 27, 1906
- Birthplace: La Cross, Wisconsin
- Died: July 26, 1984
- Place of death: Madison, Wisconsin
U.S. murderer and necrophiliac
Major offenses: Murder and grave robbing
Active: December 8, 1954-November 16, 1957
Locale: Plainfield, Wisconsin
Sentence: Convicted of one count of first-degree murder; judged not guilty by reason of insanity and committed to Central State Hospital for the Criminally Insane in Waupun; later transferred to the Mendota Mental Health Institute in Madison, where he remained until his death.
Early Life
The father of Edward Gein (geen) was an alcoholic and both verbally and physically abusive to Gein and his brother. However, Gein’s fanatically religious mother, Augusta Gein, dominated his early life by teaching him that sex was evil and a contaminating influence to be avoided. In 1914, the Geins moved to a farm near Plainfield. Gein’s father died in 1940. His brother died in 1944 while fighting a fire near their home. Some investigators have speculated that Gein killed his brother in the fire, but no one has proven this assertion. Augusta’s death in 1945 left Gein alone and appears to be the catalyst that drove his descent into full-blown psychopathic behavior.
Criminal Career
Mary Hogan, believed to be Gein’s first victim, was found dead on December 8, 1954. Although evidence discovered later would implicate Gein in grave-robbing and other crimes, Gein’s neighbors suspected nothing, considering him harmless, if eccentric. When police investigated the disappearance of Bernice Worden on November 16, 1957, they discovered her body hanging in a shed on Gein’s property, decapitated and disemboweled, with sexual organs removed. Police found her head inside the house, along with the preserved remains of fifteen women. Gein had made a skull into a soup bowl, and he had crafted human face “masks” by carefully peeling the skin away from the skulls of several victims. A “woman suit”—a vest of preserved female flesh, breasts and sexual organs attached—was also found. Police discovered other body parts, including sex organs, noses, and lips, as well as chairs upholstered with skin, all carefully preserved. Gein claimed to have committed more than forty grave robberies beginning in 1947 and admitted using the corpses for sexual gratification but denied having sex with the corpses or engaging in cannibalism.
Legal Action and Outcome
Initially considered incompetent to stand trial, Gein was committed to the Central State Hospital for the Criminally Insane in Waupun, Wisconsin, on January 6, 1958. A decade later, he was judged fit to stand trial. While convicted of first-degree murder in the death of Worden, during the penalty phase of the trial, he was declared not guilty by reason of insanity and returned to Central State. He was later transferred to the Mendota Mental Health Institute in Madison, a minimum-security facility, where he died on July 26, 1984, of respiratory failure at age seventy-seven.
Impact
The story of Ed Gein’s crimes created intense media exposure—reporters from around the world descended on the small town in Wisconsin to cover the story. The public and professionals from the field of psychology were fascinated by a case that combined necrophilia, fetishism, and transvestism. Gein has had an important impact on popular culture: Elements of his story have appeared in films such as Psycho (1960), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), The Silence of the Lambs (1991), and, most significant, Deranged (1974) and Ed Gein (2001). A short film, Ed Gein: American Maniac (1993), is a graphic, straightforward documentary about Gein’s life and crimes.
Bibliography
Frasier, David K. Murder Cases of the Twentieth Century: Biographies and Bibliographies of 280 Convicted or Accused Killers. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 1996. Contains substantial information on its criminal subjects.
Schecter, Harold. Deviant: The Shocking True Story of the Original Psycho. New York: Pocket Books, 1989. A somewhat sensationalized recounting of the facts; contains a relatively tame photograph section.
Seltzer, Mark. Serial Killers: Death and Life in America’s Wound Culture. New York: Routledge: 1998. Briefly but intelligently discusses Gein as an example of “The Face System” within “the Techno-Primitive” culture.
Woods, Paul Anthony. Ed Gein: Psycho. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1995. A slightly sensational book which contains explicit crime-scene photographs and an account of Gein’s influence on popular culture.