Ed Gein

Last Updated on July 4, 2026

Edward Gein, or Ed Gein, was also known as The Butcher of Plainfield.

He was a serial killer and body snatcher from Plainfield, Wisconsin.

Gein confessed to killing two women.

He also stole corpses from cemeteries to mutilate them.

Ed Gein creations were made using body parts and flesh.

He made a number of clothing, furniture and household items.

Ed Gein made leggings from leg skin and a skull soup bowl.

He also made a nipple belt and gloves made from human hand skin.

There is a strong likelihood that he also killed his brother, Henry Gein.

There may have been other victims, and this is why I’ve classified him as a serial killer.

Ed Gein’s Family

Ed Gein had a bizarre home life; his father was an alcoholic and died from a heart attack.

Ed Gein’s mother, Augusta Wilhelmine Gein, was devoutly religious.

She preached that all women were sinners.

Augusta was verbally abusive to both of her sons.

She refused to let him or his brother make friends.

Ed Gein’s brother, Henry George Gein, was known to argue with Ed about their mother.

Ed was always defensive of his mother.

Henry Gein died in suspicious circumstances.

He died after a fire near their farm that he was helping to put out with Ed.

Henry Gein had cuts and bruises on his head.

The cause of his death was listed as asphyxiation.

The death was deemed an accident as they did not have enough evidence to suggest otherwise.

No autopsy was carried out.

Ed had reported his brother missing.

He was able to take the police directly to where his body was found.

It is believed by many that he murdered his brother after they had argued about their mother.

After his brother died, his mother had a stroke, and Ed became her carer.

Personal Life

Ed was always regarded as strange by other people from the town due to odd goings on.

A local teenager had seen realistic-looking shrunken heads at the farm.

They were later discovered to be human faces.

He inherited the farm he lived on after his mother, Augusta Gein, died.

Ed had become a hermit, barely leaving the house.

Gein had boarded up areas of the house, including his mother’s bedroom, in order to preserve them.

He would on rare occasion do odd jobs around the town.

Ed took on work as a handyman and a babysitter to make some extra cash.

In later years the farm was supported by large federal subsidies.

Ed no longer needed to farm the land and lived off this money.

Deviant: The Shocking True Story of Ed Gein, the Original Psycho (AD*) talks more about Gein’s private life.

The Disappearance of Bernice Worden

Bernice Worden disappeared on November 16th 1957.

Her truck was seen leaving the town early in the morning and the store was closed all day.

Her son Frank Worden went into the store in the early evening.

They found blood on the floor and grew suspicious that she was injured.

Frank told the police that Ed Gein had been in the shop the previous evening.

He was due to return the next morning for antifreeze.

They found a receipt in the shop for antifreeze.

The police immediately suspected Gein of her disappearance.

Ed Gein’s Arrest

Ed Gein was arrested while in a grocery store in the town.

The police obtained a search warrant and, as a result, searched his farm.

At the farm, dubbed the house of horrors, they discovered Bernice Worden’s body and other Ed Gein artefacts.

She had been shot, mutilated and was suspended in the barn.

Police Search of Ed Gein’s Home

The police search of the Ed Gein house discovered artefacts made from human body parts.

Ed Gein made furniture using body parts, including a waste bin and chair covers.

There were multiple items of clothing made from human skin.

Ed Gein’s lamp had a lampshade made of human skin.

His bedposts had skulls on top of them.

Ed Gein also made a mask from human skin that he would wear.

He kept parts to use, including noses and vulvas.

Ed Gein’s items also included organs and body parts in an old refrigerator.

Bernice Worden’s head was found in a sack.

Mary Hogan Confession

During the investigation, the police discovered the skull of Mary Hogan.

Ed Gein admitted to shooting her.

He later backtracked on this and said he had no memory of the incident.

Mary Hogan had been missing since 1954.

She had disappeared in similar circumstances to Bernice Worden.

Shockingly, Ed had made several jokes in a local tavern that she was at his house.

During the questioning sheriff Art Schley had assaulted Ed Gein.

He had smashed his head and face against a wall.

As a result, his interview and confession to Mary’s murder were ruled inadmissible in court.

The sheriff died before Gein’s trial.

He was said to be traumatised by the case.

Investigation

Whilst being questioned, Ed Gein confessed to digging up nine corpses.

He had robbed the graves between 1947 and 1952.

He gave his confession in return for an apple pie topped with cheese.

Ed confessed that he had made more than 40 nighttime visits to local graveyards.

He claimed that he was excited whilst there.

He claims to have only left the graveyard with body parts on around 10 occasions.

Ed Gein’s interviews revealed he chose specific women to dig up because they resembled his mother.

He said that a local farmer, Gus, had helped him to dig up the bodies.

Ed Gein planned to use the women’s skin as a woman suit so that he could become his mother.

Was Ed Gein a serial killer?

Ed Gein was suspected of being involved with several disappearances of locals.

He is also strongly suspected of the death of his brother.

There were a number of suspicious local disappearances.

These included the disappearance of Evelyn Hartley, a local babysitter and 8-year-old Georgia Weckler.

He was also suspected of the disappearance of Victor Travis and Ray Burgess.

It is likely Ed Gein was a serial killer and had killed more than twice.

Although unproven, it is likely that he killed his brother, and he confessed to killing Mary Hogan.

There were likely more Ed Gein victims.

Trial and Sentencing

The first stage of Ed Gein’s trial began on November 21st 1957.

He was arraigned on the charge of first-degree murder.

Gein pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

He was sent to a mental hospital facility.

Gein was diagnosed with schizophrenia.

By 1968, Ed Gein was said to be able to mentally stable enough to be able to defend himself in court.

The trial began on November 7th 1968.

During the trial, he claimed that the killing of Bernice Worden was an accident.

He said that a gun had accidentally gone off after he had handled it.

The defence had requested that the trial be held by a single judge rather than a jury.

He was deemed guilty of the killing, and a second trial was held to consider his sanity.

At this trial, he was found to be not guilty by reason of insanity.

Gein was committed to Central State Hospital for the Criminally Insane for an indeterminate sentence.

Ed Gein’s Home and Car

Ed Gein’s home was due to be sold at auction in March 1958.

However, it was destroyed in a fire a few days earlier.

Locals suspect arson, although it was never officially confirmed by authorities.

No one confessed to burning the house down, although there were whispers in the community.

Locals were glad to see the back of Ed Gein’s house of horrors.

The local fire department didn’t look too deeply into the fire either.

This could have been because the fire chief was Bernice Worden’s son.

The site had become a tourist attraction with scores of visitors.

Visitors were seen looking through the windows to see the chaos of the Ed Gein Crime scene.

Ed Gein’s Cauldron came up for sale at auction.

It was bought by Ghost Adventures star Zak Bagans.

The Ed Gein car became part of a carnival show, with admission at 25 cents to see the car.

The attraction was later banned in many counties due to poor taste.

It is believed that before it was banned, it repaid its price at auction many times over.

Ed Gein’s Death

Ed Gein died on July 26th 1984, in a hospital.

He died from respiratory failure as a result of lung cancer.

Ed Gein’s grave is alongside his family in the Plainfield cemetery.

Over the years, the public has been stealing parts of his gravestone by chipping away at the stone.

In 2000, the entire gravestone was stolen and has not yet been recovered.

Inspiration for Horror Films

There are many movies based on Ed Gein.

These included the Norman Bates story in the film Psycho due to his mother issues.

The Buffalo Bill killer in The Silence of the Lambs also took inspiration from Ed Gein.

He also created a suit from human skin that he wore.

Finally, Thomas Hewitt, aka Leatherface from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, also took inspiration from Ed Gein.

Media

An Ed Gein movie (AD*) was released in 2001, and it’s low budget but not a bad movie if you like very scary ones!

The best Ed Gein documentary, in my opinion, is Murderous Minds: Ed Gein.

Charlie Hunnam will be playing Ed Gein in the upcoming season of Manhunter.

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