Gein was the culmination of severe mental illness, sexual and emotional abuse, crazy fanatical religious lessons from his mother, and a severely alcoholic and uninvolved father. I generally don’t write about the popular serial killers like Gein as I find them more gross than interesting. Edward Theodore Gein was born in La Crosse, Wisconsin on Aug. 27, 1906. His father, George Gein was a severe alcoholic generally described as meek. Ed’s mother, Augusta Wilhelmine was “fervently” religious, and nominally Luthern. I don’t know of any religion that would claim her. Augusta frequently announced she hated her husband and that all sex was evil, including sex for procreation, however it was necessary to have a family. She told Ed and his brother, Henry, that women were “vessels of sin,” and the world was evil. She told them that women were naturally promiscuous and instruments of the devil, (with the exception of herself of course). Every afternoon she read verses about death, murder and divine retribution from the Old Testament. Augusta believed evil lurked around every corner in LaCrosse, so she moved the family to the country near Plainfield, Wisconsin where they could be isolated from the world. Her son Ed would eventually earn the nickname “the butcher of Plainfield.” Ed Gein only left the family farmhouse to attend school. Ed was described as odd and failed to make friends. He had unexplained fits of laughter, a lazy eye, and a speech impediment which made him an easy target for bullies. After high school, Ed lived at home like a hermit. His father, George Gein died in 1940, empowering Augusta further. Henry occasionally stood up to his mother, but Edward never did. Ed would later suggest that Augusta had a sexual relationship with him, and then would later punish her son for this. In 1944, Ed and Henry set out to clear some vegetation in their fields by burning it away. As they worked, their fire got out of control. When firefighters arrived to put out the blaze, Ed told them that Henry had vanished. His body was found soon afterward, face down in the marsh, dead from asphyxiation. There were mysterious circumstances regarding Henry’s death. For example, Ed said he lost track of this brother while they were fighting the fire, but Ed led the authorities directly to Ed’s body. Further, Henry’s body wasn’t burned, even though he was lying in the midst of a fire, and Henry had bruises in the back of his head. People close to the case believed that Henry had likely criticized either Ed, or their mother, for their relationship and Ed killed him. No charges were filed. Augusta had a paralyzing stroke after Henry’s death and Ed Gein devoted himself to taking care of his mother. Gein would later recount visiting a man named “Smith” with his mother to purchase straw. Smith beat his dog to death in front of them. A woman ran out of Smith’s home yelling at him to stop. Augusta was extremely upset by this scene; but not by what would be obvious to most of us. She was upset that a woman not married to Smith was in his house, and angrily called her, "Smith's harlot." Augusta died on December 29, 1945, at the age of 67. Ed was devastated by her death; in the words of author Harold Schechter, he had "lost his only friend and one true love. And he was absolutely alone in the world.” Ed Gein’s mental illness went into overdrive following his mother’s death in 1945. Ed became a hermit. In the years after her death, he cordoned off areas of the home, in a shrine to Augusta and lived in filth in the remaining rooms. Ed Gein was schizophrenic which meant he had delusions (false beliefs despite incontrovertible evidence to the contrary), and auditory hallucinations (heard voices). Ed filled his days studying Nazi medical experiments, studying human anatomy, viewing pornography and reading horror novels. Ed Gein began robbing graves (for over a decade) and stealing skin and body parts. His reports were confirmed by authorities. He attempted to recreate his mother, with body parts (similar to the last scene in Psycho pictured above). Gein would lay against the skin he’d taken off bodies for comfort at night. He dug up his mother’s body, cut off her head and brought it back home. Ed Gein’s disturbing behavior went unnoticed until November 1957, when local hardware store owner Bernice Worden, age 58, vanished leaving nothing but bloodstains. Bernice Worden looked like Gein’s mother in her later years. Ed Gein was her last customer. When police went to Gein’s home to speak to him, they walked into a house of horrors. Bernice Worden’s body was decapitated and hung by her ankles from the rafters. Trooper Dave Sharkey looks over some of the musical instruments found in the home of Edward Gein, 51, suspected grave robber and murderer. Also found in the house were human skulls, heads, death masks and the butchered corpse of a neighbor woman. The neighbor, Mary Hogan, looked like a younger version of Gein’s mother. There were also countless bones, both whole and fragmented, skulls impaled on his bedposts, and bowls and kitchen utensils made from skulls. Gein had made household items made from human skin. Keep in mind he was severely psychotic and there isn’t a logical explanation for this. Here are the disgusting details: Authorities found chairs upholstered in human skin, a wastebasket made of skin, leggings made from human leg skin, masks made from faces, a belt made of nipples, a pair of lips being used as a window shade drawstring, a corset made of a female torso, and a lampshade made from a human face. During questioning, Waushara County sheriff Art Schley reportedly assaulted Gein by banging his head and face into a brick wall. As a result, Gein's initial confession was ruled inadmissible. On November 21, 1957, Gein was arraigned on one count of first degree murder in Waushara County Court, where he pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Gein was diagnosed with schizophrenia and found mentally incompetent, thus unfit for trial. Many who knew Sheriff Art Schley said he was traumatized by the horror of Gein's crimes, and this, along with the fear of having to testify (especially about assaulting Gein), caused his death. Schley died of heart failure at age 43 in 1968 before Gein's retrial. Ed Gein was sent to the Central State Hospital for the Criminally Insane (now the Dodge Correctional Institution), a maximum-security facility in Waupun, Wisconsin, and later transferred to the Mendota State Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin where he ultimately died at age 77 of natural causes. Gein was placed on antipsychotic medication for the remainder of his life. He was considered a model patient and spent his time completing hobbies in the dayroom. Gein was tried for only one murder—that of Bernice Worden. He also admitted to killing Mary Hogan. The Attorney General felt it was a waste of money to have another court hearing as Gein was never going to be released from his secure mental health facility. Another possible victim? Evelyn Hartley, age 14, disappeared while babysitting a college professor’s infant child in La Crosse, Wisconsin on October 24, 1953. After his arrest, Ed Gein was considered a suspect in Evelyn's disappearance, as he was visiting a relative a few blocks away from the Rasmussen house at the time. He denied killing her and no evidence of Evelyn was found in his home. In 2004, a man named Mel Williams came forward with a conversation he recorded at a bar in 1969. Although Mel’s goal was to record a band which was performing, a conversation between two men was unintentionally recorded as well. On the tape, one of the men, Clyde "Tywee" Peterson, implicated himself, Jack Gaulphair, and an unnamed third party in Evelyn’s disappearance, claiming that Evelyn was murdered and buried in La Farge, Wisconsin, after her kidnapping. Unfortunately, by 2004, all 3 men were dead. Gaulphair committed suicide in 1967, Peterson died of a heart attack and 1974 and the unnamed 3rd person was also dead. It’s not certain why the person waited until 2004 to bring forth the recording. The one positive note is that there is much more likely to be intervention with a family like the Gein’s today, making it less likely a mentally ill man would deteriorate to that state. The lesson is to question people who are harshly judgmental and to consider the impact it has on their children. And love as Jesus did to guide children into being solutions, rather than problems. Gein was the basis for all of the above movies. Even though Gein is referred to as a serial killer, he had two confirmed murders. Gein was different from other killers in that his crimes were restricted to his obsession with his mother. Thanks for listening, Frank
Possible Texas tour…
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AuthorFrank F. Weber is a forensic psychologist specializing in homicide and sexual and physical assault cases. He uses his unique understanding of how predator’s think, knowledge of victim trauma, actual court cases, and passion for writing true crime thrillers. His Award Winning books include "Murder Book" (2017) "The I-94 Murders" (2018) "Last Call" (2019) and "Lying Close" (September 2020). Archives
April 2024
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