Ed Gein

**Edward Theodore Gein** (August 27, 1906 – July 26, 1984) was an American murderer, possible serial killer, and body snatcher from Plainfield, Wisconsin. He was known as the **Butcher of Plainfield** and the **Plainfield Ghoul**. In 1957, police discovered that Gein had been stealing bodies from local cemeteries and keeping parts of them in his home. He also admitted to killing two women: Mary Hogan in 1954 and Bernice Worden in 1957.

When police searched Gein's house, they found many things made from human body parts. These included bowls made from skulls, masks made from faces, a lampshade made from skin, a box with cut-off vulvas, and clothing made from human flesh.

Gein was found not fit to have a trial and was sent to a mental hospital. By 1968, he was found able to stand trial. He was found guilty of the murder of Worden. However, he was found legally insane and stayed at the Mendota Mental Health Institute for the rest of his life. Gein died in 1984 from respiratory failure and lung cancer at the age of 77.

Gein's crimes had a large impact on American popular culture. He  the character Norman Bates in Robert Bloch's 1959 suspense book *Psycho* and its 1960 movie version, Leatherface in the 1974 horror movie *The Texas Chain Saw Massacre* and Buffalo Bill in the 1988 book *The Silence of the Lambs* and its 1991 movie version.

## Early life
Edward Theodore Gein was born in La Crosse County, Wisconsin, on August 27, 1906. He was the second son of George Philip Gein (1873–1940) and Augusta Wilhelmine Gein (née Lehrke; 1878–1945). Gein had an older brother named Henry.

Augusta was very religious and a Lutheran. She always told her sons that the world was full of sin, that drinking was evil and that all women worked for the devil.

In La Crosse, Gein's father worked as a carpenter and firefighter. He also owned a small grocery store, but soon sold it. Gein's father was a violent alcoholic who beat both of his sons.

Gein left the farm only to go to school. Classmates and teachers thought he acted strangely, such as laughing for no reason.

## Deaths in the family
 where Ed and Henry Gein would work]]
On April 1, 1940, Gein's father died of heart failure at the age of 66. After his death, Ed and his brother Henry began working around town to help pay for bills. Henry began dating a divorced woman with two children and planned to move in with her. Firemen arrived to the scene to help put the fire out. Later that day, Ed reported Henry missing. A search party later found Henry's dead body lying face down. Biographer Harold Schechter later said that Henry had bruises on his head and said that Ed might have killed him and used the fire to hide it. However, police did not think Henry was murdered and the county coroner named asphyxiation as the cause of death. She died on December 29, 1945, at the age of 67. Gein became depressed after his mother's death.

## Private life
After his mother's death, Gein owned the farm and earned money from uncommon jobs around Plainfield. He closed up the rooms used by his mother, including the upstairs, the downstairs rooms, and the living room. Around this time, he started reading pulp magazines and adventure stories. He liked reading about Ilse Koch, who was accused of making lamps from human skin.

In 1951, Gein started getting farm subsidy from the federal government.

## Crimes
On the morning of November 16, 1957, Bernice Worden, a 58-year-old hardware store owner from Plainfield, was reported missing.

Frank Worden told investigators that the day before, Gein had been in the store and would return to buy antifreeze. That evening, police arrested Gein near his home. After Gein's arrest, the Waushara County Sheriff's Department searched the Gein farm. Her body was cut open and hung upside down by her legs with ropes around her wrists. Worden had been shot with a .22-caliber rifle.

Inside Gein's house, police found: parts of human bones, a wastebasket made of human skin, human skin covering many chairs, human skulls on the bed, female skulls with the tops sawn off, bowls made from human skulls, a corset made from a female torso skinned from shoulders to waist, leggings made from human leg skin, masks made from the skin of female heads, Mary Hogan's face mask in a paper bag, Mary Hogan's skull in a box, Bernice Worden's entire head in a burlap sack, Bernice Worden's heart in a plastic bag, nine vulvas in a shoebox, a young girl's dress and "the vulvas of two females [said] to have been about fifteen years old", a belt made from female human nipples, four noses, a pair of lips on a window curtain, and a lampshade made from the skin of a human face.

When questioned, Gein told police that between 1947 and 1952, he had visited local graveyards at night to dig up recently buried bodies. He said that during these visits he was in a "daze-like" state. Other times, he dug up the graves of recently buried middle-aged women who reminded him of his mother. He took the bodies home and used their skin and bones to make clothing and objects.

Gein said he stole bodies from nine graves and showed police where they were. Gein had robbed the graves soon after the funerals. At first, police officers did not believe Gein. However, after finding empty caskets in the cemeteries, they believed everything that Gein told them. While being questioned by the police, Gein confessed that he shot and killed Mary Hogan, a 51-year-old bar owner, in 1954. 

During questioning, Sheriff Art Schley assaulted Gein by banging his head and face into a brick wall. As a result, Gein's first confession was seen as not reliable. She was given ride home from grade school in Jefferson by a neighbor. Weckler was last seen by the family mailbox.
* Evelyn Grace Hartley was 14-years old when she went missing while babysitting a toddler at the home of Viggo Rasmussen on October 24, 1953. Her father, Richard, checked the Rasmussen house when Evelyn did not call him back. He found that the doors were locked, the lights and radio on and signs of a fight. Richard found her shoes in different rooms and his daughter's broken glasses upstairs. Richard did not find Evelyn in the house. After his arrest, Gein was questioned about Hartley's disappearance, but he said he did not kill her.
* Victor Harold Travis was 42-years old and lived in Adams County. He went off to hunt deer with his friend Raymond Burgess on November 1, 1952.

## Aftermath
### Trial
 in Madison, Wisconsin]]
On November 21, 1957, Gein was taken to court in Waushara County to be charged with one count of first-degree murder. He said he was not guilty by reason of insanity. He was found mentally unfit for trial. He was later moved to Mendota State Hospital in Madison. A psychiatrist said that Gein had told him he was not sure if killing Bernice Worden was an accident. Gein said he did not remember what had happened that morning.

Gein's trial happened without a jury. A second trial was held to see if Gein was mentally okay.

### Gein's property
Gein's house and land cost about $4,700 at the time after his arrest. His belongings, house and land were set to be sold on March 30, 1958. Some people thought his farm would become a tourist attraction. Arson was possible, but the cause of the fire was never officially discovered. When Gein learned of the fire, he simply said "Just as well". 

Gein's truck, which he used to take the bodies of his victims, was sold at a public auction for $760 to a carnival owner.

## Death
 grave in 1999 before thieves stole it]]
Gein died at the Mendota Mental Health Institute from respiratory failure caused by lung cancer, on July 26, 1984, at the age of 77. Gein was buried between his parents and brother in Plainfield Cemetery. 

Over the years, people would break pieces from his gravestone to keep as souvenirs. The Waushara County Sheriff's Department decided to keep the gravestone because they thought it would be stolen again. Since then, Gein's grave has had no gravestone. Gein's story inspired other movies such as, *Deranged* (1974), In 2010, Gein's life was made into a comedy musical called 'Ed Gein: The Musical'.

Gein inspired many fictional serial killers. These include Norman Bates (*Psycho*), Leatherface (*The Texas Chainsaw Massacre*) and Buffalo Bill (*The Silence of the Lambs*).

Directors Errol Morris and Werner Herzog once planned to make a movie about Gein. Morris said he interviewed Gein many times. Morris and Herzog even tried to dig up Augusta Gein's body for research, but decided not to. Gein also inspired American thrash metal band Slayer to write the song "Dead Skin Mask" for their 1990 album, *Seasons in the Abyss*. Blind Melon singer Shannon Hoon said that the song "Skinned" on their 1995 album, *Soup*, was about Gein. 

In 2012, German director Jörg Buttgereit wrote and directed a stage play about Gein's case called *Kannibale und Liebe*. Historian George W. Arndt said that after Gein's arrest, many black humor movies were inspired by him. Gein was played by actor Michael Wincott in the 2012 movie *Hitchcock*.

In 2022, actor Shane Kerwin played Gein in the first season of Netflix's anthology series *Monster* which was about serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. The third season of *Monster*, called *Monster: The Ed Gein Story*, tells the story of Gein's life and crimes. The season was released on Netflix on October 3, 2025.

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