Most Vicious Killers: Ed Gein

The Inspiration

Throughout our lives in the modern era, we hear about psychopathic killers and the depravity they’ve shown in their crimes. We are so interested in these people that we watch horror movies, create our own scary stories, or even document some of true crime’s favorite stories, as even I am doing currently. While we hear about shootings and stabbings often enough to be seemingly desensitized to this type of violence, there are still some acts of perversion that cause some of us to flinch when we hear of them. Of course, while most horror movies are completely fictional, there are some that are based on real people. Silence of the Lambs, as well as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre are both works of fiction. However, the villains in these movies are not just works of a writer’s imagination. They are based on real life serial killer, graverobber, and necrophile, Edward Theodore Gein.

Early Life

Edward Gein, born August 27, 1906, committed some of the most disturbing acts of criminality that most investigators have witnessed to this day. Ed, as he was more known as, suffered from a troubled childhood. His mother and father were married, despite the fact that his mother, Augusta, hated her husband, George. The only thing holding their marriage together at all was their conservative beliefs, as they knew divorce was against their religion. Augusta was extremely over-possessive of her sons, going as far to move to a secluded home in Plainfield, Wisconsin to prevent her boys from experiencing any outside beliefs that could influence them. The boys were only permitted to leave the home to attend school, and were persecuted when they attempted to make friends at school.

Augusta’s beliefs did not just stop there. As they grew older, she taught her children that all women were the devil’s devices, and were prostitutes. Of course, she excluded herself from the generalization. She told them about death and destruction in the world, using the Old Testament of the Bible to relay her thoughts to her children, reading them these verses daily. Aside from her radical religious beliefs, Augusta was also physically and emotionally abusive to the boys. When Ed was a young boy, he was prohibited from entering the slaughterhouse on the farm. However, he decided to sneak in one day, only to witness his mother slaughtering a pig. Instead of being horrified, as would be a usual response for a child of his age, Ed found the act arousing, even exciting him enough that he ejaculated in his pants. While no one can be entirely positive on what caused him to feel this excitement, Augusta’s religious beliefs caused her to become angry when her son showed any interest in sex, especially when it came to masturbation. This, and her preachings about provocative women, probably caused Edward to be confused in what should and should not be considered sexual, and preventing him from any sexual release up until the day in the slaughterhouse.

Edward Gein: Momma's Boy

When Edward was in his 30s, his father died of a heart attack, causing his sons to have to work a series of jobs in order to supplement income for the farm. Now that they were older, Henry began to realize that he did not believe the same things that his mother had taught him, and he was concerned with the fact that Edward idolized his mother, even in his 30s. He would vent to Edward about their mother, speaking poorly of her and the way that she raised them. This angered Ed, and this perpetrated a type of distaste for his brother. In May of 1944, the boys were attempting to put out a fire of unknown origin. However, the fire became out of their control, and the brothers were separated. Edward called law enforcement, claiming that he did not know where his brother was. When authorities arrived, they spoke to Edward, asking if they knew his brother’s whereabouts. Edward immediately took them directly to Henry, who was lying dead on the ground. However, the spot where Henry’s body was raised suspicions. It would have made sense if Henry had died in the fire, but the spot where he laid was completely free of ash and burn marks, and Henry’s head was badly bruised. When asked about how he knew where Henry was, Edward just responded, “funny how that works.” But without substantial evidence, the police could not press charges against Ed.

Soon after Henry’s death, Edward lived with his mother, who eventually became fully dependent on her son after a series of strokes. Of course, because Ed was completely devoted to his mother, he saw this as a way to spend more time with her, and loved the chance to please his mother, after so many failed attempts throughout his life. Eventually, though, Augusta suffered another stroke, this one fatal, leaving Ed completely alone, less than two years after his brother’s death. At her funeral, Ed was devastated, and people who attended the service said that he was inconsolable, sobbing throughout the event. He continued to live in his mother’s home, boarding up rooms that she frequented, leaving them untouched as to not disturb her memory.

Graverobber or Killer?

After seeing all the members of his family die, Ed kept to himself, as he had done most of his life. He was depressed after his mother’s death, and he stopped taking care of the one room of her house that he lived in, as well as himself, often going without shaving or showering. Eventually, Ed began to show an interest in human anatomy, although he claimed that he could not stand the sight of blood, despite the event that happened in the slaughterhouse years prior. He became so fascinated with the human body that he began to read Gray’s Anatomy. Along with his interest in anatomy came his interest in true crime stories, often electing to read about murders, cannibals, and body-snatchers. This only stimulated his interest in violence, and seemed to be his inspiration for his later crimes. He even began extremely interested in stories about shrunken heads, and seemingly took inspiration from stories about a German woman who perpetrated extreme violence against men, going so far as to kill men for their tattooed skin, that she would turn into lampshades and other types of furniture.

Although Edward’s family were all gone, he mourned his mother the most. While his mourning his justified, the actions he took to attempt to soothe the pain were extreme. He visited his mother’s grave often, but did not stop there. He admitted to digging up her body, as well as other bodies in the cemetery, saying, “...most nights, I would just stand and have private conversations with my ma. Other times, I couldn’t make myself go home without raising one of them up first.” He admitted to digging up dead women, some of them within hours of their burial. He would take parts of them, sometimes heads, and sometimes their vaginas. He would take them home and sprinkle some of them with salt. He made pieces of “clothing” using the body parts, one of which being a belt made of nipples. Another was a vest made of the chests of women, which he would often wear. He admitted to wondering what it would be like to be a woman, which could be a reason for his wearing of women’s body parts.

Of course, Ed could not just stick with using the body parts of buried women for his fantasies. On November 16, 1957, Ed Gein took his delusion to the next level. Beatrice Worden, a hardware store owner, disappeared shortly after Gein purchased antifreeze, which would be the contents of the last receipt that Beatrice would ever write. Close to the receipt, a trail of blood left police scratching their heads. Fortunately for investigators, Beatrice’s son knew that Gein had mentioned the previous night that he would be back to the store in the morning to buy antifreeze. Police had enough to obtain a warrant, and searched Gein’s home. What they found shocked authorities, and would subsequently inspire writers years later.

Edward Gein’s home was completely trashed. It was difficult for investigators to walk through the house, but as they made their way through the debris, they made some gruesome discoveries. Gein had not only been robbing graves, but he had been taking the skin from the deceased and fashioning them into household items, and even clothing. Among the items were lampshades made of human faces, a belt made of nipples, bowls made from skulls, and chairs upholstered with human skin. Investigators also recovered ten severed heads, with the top removed, as well as nine vulvas, four noses, and boxes of human remains. But they did not just recover body parts of those who had been buried and dug up. In a shed on the property, police found the decapitated body of Beatrice Worden, hanging from the ceiling, with her chest cut open like a hunter would cut open a deer. Mary Hogan, a bartender where Edward frequented, was also found, at least, her severed head was found in a burlap sack. She had disappeared three years prior to Worden under mysterious circumstances, but police had no leads at the time.

Although police had mountains of evidence, when confronted with his crimes, Edward Gein vehemently denied any involvement in the murders of Mary Hogan and Beatrice Worden, but he admitted to visiting the graveyard 40 or more times, in which he would dig up the graves of deceased women who reminded him of his mother, Augusta. Eventually though, following a physical confrontation with Sheriff Schley, Gein admitted to the murders of the two women. However, because of the coerced confession with physical violence in which Schley shoved Gein against a wall, the confession was not admissable in court. When brought to trial, Gein plead not guilty by reason of insanity. His competency was disputed by psychologists, but he was eventually found too imcompetent to stand trial, and was sent to Central State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, and was later transferred to Mendota State Hospital. His competency would be argued about for years, and he was eventually sent to trial again. He wanted to be aquitted of all charges, claiming that he would not commit any more crimes, and that the years spent hospitalized rehabilitated Gein. At this trial, he was much more socialable, and was quoted to have said to a police sketch artist, “you couldn’t have made it a little more handsome?” People said that he seemed healthier, as he had put on significant weight since his initial arrest, and he seemed more stable. Once again, however, he was found not fit to stand trial, and spent the rest of his life in a mental institution. On July 26th, 1984, Edward Theodore Gein died of heart failure due to cancer. Although Gein is no longer a threat to women in Wisconsin, his story has affected so many, even gaining a place in pop culture, in which stories inspired by his crimes are still popular today.

Sources

https://allthatsinteresting.com/edward-gein

http://www.murderpedia.org/male.G/g/gein-edward.htm

Podcast: Serial Killers