Edward Theodore Gein (August 27, 1906 – July 26, 1984), infamously known as “The Butcher of Plainfield,” was an American murderer and body snatcher whose gruesome crimes, revealed in 1957, shocked the world and profoundly influenced the horror genre in film and literature. While he only confessed to two murders, the macabre discoveries at his remote Wisconsin farmhouse cemented his legacy as one of the most notorious figures in criminal history.
Ed Gein’s life was shaped by an extremely restrictive and isolated childhood on a farm outside Plainfield, Wisconsin. Born to George and Augusta Gein, his early environment was deeply troubled. His father, George, was an alcoholic who was largely a timid presence. The dominant force in Gein’s life was his mother, Augusta Gein, a fanatically religious and domineering woman. She instilled in Ed and his older brother, Henry, a zealous fear of lust and women, whom she constantly preached were “instruments of the devil.”
Augusta’s puritanical control isolated the boys, limiting their social interactions and discouraging any relationships or friendships outside the farm. Following the deaths of his father in 1940 and his brother Henry in 1944 (the circumstances of Henry’s death, initially attributed to a fire, have led to speculation of Gein’s involvement), Ed became obsessively devoted to his mother. When Augusta suffered a paralyzing stroke, Ed devoted himself entirely to her care.
The death of Augusta in 1945 was a catastrophic turning point for Gein, who never recovered from the loss of the only woman he had ever truly known. He subsequently boarded up his mother’s room and kept it pristine, living in squalor in the rest of the dilapidated farmhouse. Following her death, his mental state deteriorated, and his interests reportedly turned to pulp magazines featuring cannibalism and Nazi atrocities.
Following his mother’s death, Gein began robbing graves in local cemeteries to exhume the corpses of recently buried middle-aged women whom he claimed resembled his mother. This phase of grave robbing (estimated to involve nine or more corpses) provided the human remains for his subsequent gruesome activities.
Gein is confirmed to have committed two murders:
- Mary Hogan (1954): A tavern owner who disappeared from her establishment in Pine Grove, Wisconsin.
- Bernice Worden (1957): The owner of the Plainfield hardware store, who vanished shortly after Gein had been seen at her shop.
The disappearance of Bernice Worden led to the search of Gein’s property on November 16, 1957. What authorities found inside his farmhouse was a scene of unparalleled horror that garnered worldwide attention. Worden’s decapitated and eviscerated body was found hanging in a shed, “dressed out like a deer.”
The subsequent search of the house revealed a macabre collection of “souvenirs” and household items fashioned from human remains, including:
- Bowls made from skulls.
- Lampshades made from human skin.
- A chair upholstered in human skin.
- Masks, vests, and a “woman suit” made of tanned human skin.
- A belt made from human nipples.
Gein confessed to the murders of Worden and Hogan, stating he would enter a dazed state during the killings. He told police he primarily robbed graves to obtain the materials for his macabre crafts.
Following his arrest, Gein was initially deemed incompetent to stand trial and was committed to the Central State Hospital for the Criminally Insane. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia. In 1968, he was eventually judged fit to stand trial for the murder of Bernice Worden, found guilty, but immediately ruled not guilty by reason of insanity. He was committed to a maximum-security mental hospital, where he remained for the rest of his life. Edward Gein died of respiratory and heart failure on July 26, 1984, at the age of 77, at the Mendota Mental Health Institute in Madison, Wisconsin. He was buried in an unmarked grave next to his mother in the Plainfield Cemetery.
Despite the relatively low number of confirmed murders, Gein’s crimes had a massive impact on the American psyche and became a powerful source of inspiration for the horror genre. His life and actions essentially invented the modern trope of the psychotic, mother-obsessed, isolated killer. His case is the primary inspiration for three of the most iconic horror villains in cinema: Norman Bates in Psycho (1960), based on the novel by Robert Bloch, which focused on the Oedipal complex and the killer’s intense devotion to his mother. Leatherface in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), who wears a mask made of human skin and has a house filled with human-bone furniture.
Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs (1991), who murders women to skin them for a “woman suit.” Gein’s legacy as the “Butcher of Plainfield” continues to be studied in criminology and psychology for its insights into extreme psychopathology and remains a chilling touchstone in popular culture.
