Childhood
Edward Theodore Gein was born on August 27, 1906 in La Crosse, Wisconsin. The son of a timid alcoholic father and a fanatically religious mother, Gein grew up alongside his older brother, Henry, in a household ruled by his mother's rigid preachings about the sins of lust and lewd desire.
Obsessively devoted to his mother until her death in 1945, Gein never left home or dated women. Once she died, he became increasingly deranged
Murderer
Gein was responsible for multiple crimes, including the deaths of Mary Hogan in 1954, and Bernice Worden in 1957. It was during the disappearance of Bernice that local law enforcement started to suspect Gein. In search for Worden, they entered Ed Gein’s home and what they found was an absolute horror.
House Of Horrors
Not only did they find the body of Bernice Worden, but they also found skulls and body parts of other victims throughout the home. He exhumed as many as 40 corpses from the local grave sites of Plainfield, Wisconsin. He kept bones, body parts, and skin as his prized possessions.
Searching the house, authorities found:
Human skulls mounted upon the cornerposts of his bed
Human skin fashioned into a lampshade and used to upholster chair seats
Human skullcaps, apparently in use as soup bowls
A human heart (it is disputed where the heart was found; the deputies’ reports all claim that the heart was in a saucepan on the stove, with some crime scene photographers claiming it was in a paper bag)
The head of Mary Hogan, a local tavern owner, found in a paper bag
A ceiling light pull consisting of human lips
A “mammary vest” crafted from the skin of a woman’s torso
A belt made from several human nipples, among many other such grisly objects
Socks made from human flesh
Out of respect to the victims and their family these artifacts were properly destroyed.
Gein's Arrest
Ed Gein was arrested November 16, 1957 and charged with the murder of Bernice Worden
Gein was charged for one count of first degree murder in Waushara Count Court. He pleaded not guilty for reasons of insanity. Due to this plea he was not taken to prison. He was unfit to stand trial and was sent to the Central State Hospital for the Criminally Insane.
Later Years
On July 26th, 1984, Ed Gein was found dead due to respiratory and heart failure. Due to the popularity of the case, his grave was constantly vandalized and eventually stolen in 2000. In June of 2001, they recovered his gravestone near Seattle. Currently, it’s in a museum near Waushara County, WI.
What Could've been done differently?
many ask if such a terrible thing could've been prevented and honestly probably not granted Ed Gein was an odd man with peculiar tastes the most authorities could've done differently is kept an eye out for Ed Gein and look for any suspicious behavior either way what's done is done
What did We Learn From This?
The most we can take away from this is to be cautious of those in your community and document continuously suspicious behavior maybe even odd purchases that'd warrant concern maybe look into ones past for odd behavior in hopes of maybe coming to some quicker conclusions and saving more peoples lives.