Edward Gein

Edward Gein

Biography
One of the most infamous murderers in the United States was Edward Gein. Ed was born in Plainfield, Wisconsin on August 27, 1906, where he lived a bizarre childhood. His mother, Augusta Gein, was probably responsible for his strange behavior later in life. Ed’s mother constantly warned him against lust, premarital sex, and women’s “evil touches”. She was his last living family member and also his only friend, so Ed was devastated when she passed away in December of 1945 of a stroke. He was so distressed that he went so far as to attempt to raise her from the dead. After this failed to produce results, Ed began to rob the graves of older women who shared some of his mother’s characteristics. He had an assistant named Gus, a mentally disabled farmer, who helped him store these corpses in a shed near Ed’s house. Some of the corpses he would mutilate and then turn into grotesque household items, such as belts made of nipples and soup bowls. Ed then used the flesh from the appropriate areas to make masks and vests, which he would dance around in. He may have done this in another attempt to bring his mother back to life, or even to become Augusta.

Murder
On December 8, 1954, 51-year-old Mary Hogan disappeared from the tavern that she operated in Pine Grove. The only clues that policemen could find were bloodstains on the floor that ran outside into the parking lot, a spent .32 cartridge in the tavern, and tire tracks that led away from the place that the bloodstains stopped. This evidence led the police to believe that Mary had been shot, dragged to the pickup truck and driven away. A couple of weeks after this incident took place, a sawmill owner named Elmo Ueeck was talking to Ed about the disappearance. Ed stated, “She isn’t missing. She’s at the farm right now.” Elmo did not ask Ed what that meant, and the subject wasn’t pursued any further.

Very little is known about Ed Gein’s activities during the following years, but on November 16, 1957, he shot and killed a woman named Bernice Worden in her hardware store with a .22 rifle. He then drove her body home in the store truck. Bernice’s son Frank, the area’s deputy sheriff, returned to the store late in the afternoon and saw the blood on the floor. A garage attendant told Frank that at 9:30, he had seen the store truck driving away. Frank recalled that Ed Gein had been in the store a lot the last week, and yesterday had told Frank that he would be back for antifreeze. He told the police about this. After Sheriff Art Schley and Captain Lloyd Schoephoester found Ed’s house empty, they drove to the supermarket, where they suspected they might find Ed. He was there. He told Schley that he thought he was going to be framed for Bernice’s death. The sheriff put Ed into custody, because the sheriff hadn’t even mentioned Bernice yet. They then returned to the house with more officers.

In the shed near Ed’s house, the police found the remains of the women that he had killed or unearthed over the years, including Bernice, who had been dressed out similarly to how a deer would have been. They also found a body suit made out of the dead women, along with many other “toys” that Ed acquired sexual pleasure from. He told the police that he had killed Bernice Worden and Mary Hogan because they resembled his mother.

Trial
Ed’s actions were most likely committed because he loved his mother and hadn’t wanted her to die, but at the same time he hated her, murdering and mutilating the older women in revenge. He was found unfit to stand trial and committed to the Wisconsin State Mental Hospital soon afterward. Edward Gein died on July 26, 1984.

-page author: Kyle
-left photo courtesy of http://student.fortlewis.edu/
-right photo courtesy of http://www.chasingthefrog.com/