The horrific crimes of Ed Gein were perhaps the most macabre stories in the criminal history of the United States. Born in 1906 in Plainfield, Wisconsin, Gein grew up in a modest home with his parents, George and Augusta Gein. Ed’s mother was a strict, religious woman who was obsessed with hygiene and controlled her son, preventing him from having social relationships. In addition, Augusta often told her son that women were “evil things” and “instruments of Satan,” which deeply affected Ed’s psyche.
After Ed’s father died in 1940, he was left alone with his mother. In 1945, Augusta died and Ed was left alone in the family home. He began tending to the family farm, but also developed an obsession with anatomy and dead women. Soon, he began visiting cemeteries in the area and stealing corpses of women, which he mutilated and used to construct a suit made of human skin.
In 1957, authorities discovered Ed Gein’s crimes after a woman from the area went missing and was found in Gein’s home. Inside his home, authorities discovered a scene of horror: a wooden barrel containing pieces of bodies, the heads of 10 women, a suit made of human skin, and many other objects made of bones and human skin.
Ed Gein was arrested and tried for murder and grave robbing. He was ultimately found to be insane and was committed to a psychiatric hospital. He died in 1984 at the age of 77.
Although Gein committed only two proven crimes, his deeds are so horrific that they inspired numerous works of fiction and horror movies. The characters of Norman Bates in Robert Bloch’s novel “Psycho” and Buffalo Bill in the movie “The Silence of the Lambs” were inspired by Ed Gein.
In addition, Gein was the subject of many psychological and psychiatric studies. Many have tried to explain the reason why he developed such a sick obsession with human skin and bones. Some suggest that his relationship with his mother and the religious influences he received in childhood formed an unstable and obsessed psyche.
In conclusion, Ed Gein was a notorious criminal who was obsessed with anatomy and dead women. He committed heinous crimes and mutilated corpses to construct objects made of human skin and bones. Although Gein was committed to a psychiatric hospital, the horrific crimes of Ed Gein remains in history as one of the most frightening and disturbing crimes in the United States.
