♫ The Life of a Boring, Pessimistic Teenager ♫: Ed Gein

Ed Gein

Although you may not have heard his name, Ed Gein could be America's most famous serial killers. His actions from four decades ago inspired the movie, Psycho and its sequel, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and also the more recent movie, Silence of the Lambs.

Ed Gein was born on August 27, 1906 to his parents – George and Augusta Gein. He was raised on a farm right outside of Plainfield, Wisconsin. His father was a raging alcoholic and his mother was strict and she controlled her two boys at all times. Gein was raised in a religious home where his mother was doing one of two things: creating jobs on the farm for the boys to do or preaching the gospel and teaching them about the evils of sex and women. His mother died five years after the death of Mr. Gein.

When Gein was a child, he was made fun of at school. When he finally made a friend he went home and told his mother. She was enraged and told him that a pal outside of family was the works of the devil. Therefore, Ed Gein lived a very lonely childhood.

While Ed lived alone after his mother died he became fascinated with experiments the Nazi's preformed during the holocaust. He then became obsessed with dismemberment, and his sexual fantasies and dismemberment merged into one. Gus was a longtime friend Gein. Gein told him of experiments he wanted to perform but he needed bodies. Together they began robbing graves for the needed bodies. This same scenario went on for more than 10 years. He also dug up his mother and used her body for experiments. The experiments with the corpses became more gruesome and bizarre over time and included cannibalism. Gein's obsessive fantasies revolved over his obsession over becoming a woman. He would construct items out of the skin of the body that he could then drape on himself such as a female mask and breasts. He even made a complete jumpsuit that he would wear that made him look like a woman.

Gein's needs escalated into believing to perfect his desired sex change he would need fresher bodies. On December 8, 1954, Gein was 48, and killed Mary Hogan who was the owner of a local tavern/inn. At the time of the incident, the police were unable to solve the crime of Mary's disapperance. Gein's friend Gus was not involved in the murder. He was institutionalized before the killing began. Only Gein knew for sure how many he women he tortured and killed.

The next woman he killed was Bernice Worden, the owner of a hardware store in town. On November 16, 1957, Gein entered the hardware store that he had been to hundreds of times and Bernice had no reason to fear him. She didn't think anything unusal when Gein removed a .22 rifle from the display rack although her instincts sharpened when she saw him insert his own bullet into the rifle. Gein shot the gun and murdered Bernice he then placed her body into the store's truck went back to get the cash register, then he drove the store truck to his home. Her son Frank was deputy sheriff, returned late in the day from a morning hunting trip and found his mother was missing and blood was spilled everywhere on the floor of the store. When he looked over store receipts he found a purchase of a half of gallon of antifreeze.

Frank thought about any suspicious activity that had happened recently, and he remembered that Gein had been in and out of the store the past week and also at closing time the night before. He remembered Gein saying he'd be back in the morning for antifreeze and that Gein questioned Frank about going hunting the next day. Although Gein had never been involved in any criminal activity, or so they thought, the sheriff felt it was time to pay the odd loner a visit.

Gein was found by the police at a store near his home. Police went into Gein's farmhouse in hopes of finding Bernice. The shed was the first area they looked. Working in the dark of the night, Officer Schley lit a torch and slowly swung it around the shed. Inside was a woman's naked corpse hanging upside down, the body disemboweled, and the throat and head missing. It was the body of Bernice Worden.

Next came the search of Gein's house. The police officers waded through piles of garbage and an incredible amount of junk with only oil lamps and torches to guide them. As the officers eyes adjusted, the junk began to become familiar with them, it was one of the most horrific scenes ever imagined. Everywhere they looked they saw body parts, some used as household items such as skulls made into bowls, jewelry made from human skin, lips hanging, chair seats with human skin lining, facial skin that was well preserved and resembled masks, and a box of female genitals - among which was his mothers, painted silver.

It was later determined that the body parts came from 15 different women although some parts could never be identified. One of the most shocking items found was Bernice's heart, which was found in a pan on the stove. The lives of the police officers who walked through the house of horrors on that night changed forever.

Gein was committed to the Waupun State Hospital for the duration of his life. It was revealed that his reasons for killing older women stemmed from his love-hate feelings for his mother. He never admitted to his cannibalistic activities. At the age of 78, Gein died of cancer and his remains were buried in his family plot in Plainfield. The property eluded evil and horrific memories for the people of Plainfield and eventually it was torched by citizens.