Netflix dropped “Monster: The Ed Gein Story” on Oct. 3, the latest installment from producer Ryan Murphy that chronicles notorious killers through scripted drama.
It’s the second time Murphy has drawn from a story set in Wisconsin. Netflix has said the 2022 release “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” is one of the biggest hits the streaming service has ever had.
Gein pre-dates Dahmer’s story by more than 30 years. The earlier killer only confessed — and evidence supports this — to two murders, but he also exhumed nine bodies from nearby cemeteries, gruesomely cutting and mutilating them into masks, upholstery and more in his Plainfield home. As upsetting as his crimes seemed, he became the template for serial killers in film, notably characters in “Psycho,” “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” and “Silence of the Lambs.”
Here’s what to know about the show and the killer. Information is drawn from past reporting and books “The Ed Gein File: A Psycho’s Confession and Case Documents,” produced and edited by John Borowski, and “Ed Gein: Psycho” by Paul Anthony Woods.
Did Ed Gein kill his brother, Henry?
The first episode of “Monster” portrays Gein killing his 43-year-old older brother, Henry, after Henry expressed a desire to get away from their domineering mother, Augusta. In the show, Gein strikes Henry with a piece of wood, then drags his body into the woods and stages a brush fire to explain Henry’s death.
The real brush fire in question took place in the spring (not the winter, as portrayed on the show), and fires of that sort were common. Henry’s body sustained serious burns, and the official cause of death was asphyxiation leading to heart failure. Though his body did exhibit some markings that could have been wounds, officials at the time ruled out foul play.
Gein never confessed to having a role in his brother’s death, but he did confess to murdering two women. After those crimes became known, they gave rise to some suspicion that Ed played a role in Henry’s death. Ed is the one who alerted town officials of the fire, leading them to the location where Henry was found.
Did Ed Gein really talk like he does in the TV show?
Actor Charlie Hunnum discussed with Variety the process of cultivating Ed Gein’s voice. Recordings of Gein’s voice are rare, but Hunnum was able to get audio of a 70-minute interview.
Did Ed Gein have a girlfriend?
Gein was friendly with a woman named Adeline Watkins, who gave an interview in a Minneapolis newspaper about their relationship that was characterized as a two-decade romance, though she clarified in a follow-up interview that details were blown out of proportion. She said they had a shared love of reading; Gein had developed an interest in tribal cultural practices around the world, which he read about in geography magazines, according to “Ed Gein: Psycho.”
Though she is portrayed in the first episode of the miniseries, the real-life Adeline Watkins refuted the idea that she had a lengthy romance with Gein. She insisted she didn’t know him well until 1954, long after the events of the first episode.
She said their closeness lasted roughly seven months, and only intermittently. She said they attended some movies together and that she’d never been inside his house. Gein never shared any additional details about Watskins.
The show portrays Watkins introducing Gein to the story of Ilse Koch, a real-life Holocaust war criminal. Both Koch and Gein were notable for creating a lampshade out of human skin, though it isn’t clear if Gein had followed her story particularly closely, and Watkins would not have been the person to introduce him to that information.
Where and when did Ed Gein commit two murders?
Gein lived in the rural Wisconsin community of Plainfield, located in Waushara County in the center of the state. That’s more than two hours northwest of Milwaukee and roughly 1.5 hours from Madison (due south of Plainfield) and Green Bay (east of Plainfield).
He was arrested in November 1957 after the body of local hardware store owner and shopkeeper Bernice Worden, 58, was found hanging from hooks and mutilated in his shed.
Investigators discovered additional body parts inside the Gein home, including the remains of Mary Hogan, a 51-year-old tavern owner who had been missing for three years. Gein later confessed to killing her, though he was never tried for that crime, nor for grave-robbing, which he also admitted to.
Also found in the house were human skulls, a lampshade made from human skin, more than a half-dozen masks made from the flesh of female faces and a wearable corset made from the skin of a female torso.
Police came to question Gein after Worden’s disappearance because he left behind a receipt for antifreeze in the store; a pool of blood was also found in the store.
Why did Ed Gein confess his crimes?
Gein reportedly told investigators that his deep, conflicted connection to his mother, Augusta, made him want to become a woman, or more like one. After repeatedly visiting his mother’s grave in the cemetery, Gein decided to dig up corpses to help him become more like a woman — by wearing their skin. During his interrogation for Worden’s death, he told at least one investigator that she reminded him of his mother.
These details became part of the sordid inspiration for “Buffalo Bill,” a serial killer portrayed in “Silence of the Lambs,” as well as Norman Bates in “Psycho,” a movie based on a story first written by Milwaukee writer Robert Bloch.
What else do we know about Ed Gein’s mother, Augusta Gein, and his father?
Ed’s mother was fervently religious, convinced that the devil was at work all around and that most people were full of sin. Ed’s father, George, held a variety of jobs, but by most accounts, he wasn’t successful at any of them. At home, Augusta was in charge.
Ed’s father, George, died of heart failure in 1940.
Five years later Augusta had a stroke, with Ed acting as primary caretaker. Later that year, 1945 — the story goes, after Augusta went into a rage over seeing a neighbor who had a woman who wasn’t his wife in his house — she had a second stroke that killed her, leaving Ed on his own. These events are portrayed in the first episode of “Monster.”
What happened at Ed Gein’s trials?
Gein was arraigned on a single count of first-degree murder for Worden’s death. He pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity and was determined unfit to stand trial. He was sent to Central State Hospital for the Criminally Insane (part of what is now the Dodge Correctional Institution) in Waupun and later transferred to the Mendota Mental Health Institute in Madison.
A second trial was held in 1968, after the staff at Central State Hospital concluded that Gein was fit to stand trial. Gein was found guilty of murder, but in a follow-up proceeding was ruled to be not guilty — again by reason of insanity.
Is Ed Gein still alive?
Gein spent the rest of his life in the Mendota Mental Health Institute and died there in 1984 at the age of 77. The cause of death was respiratory failure, related to lung cancer.
Was Ed Gein originally from Wisconsin?
Gein was born in La Crosse, Wisconsin, in 1906, as the younger of two sons. When Ed was young, he and his family moved to an isolated farm in Plainfield, in Waushara County in central Wisconsin.
Contributing: Chris Foran, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
