Ed Gein - Infamous Criminal
Ed Gein
08 November 2010
Edward Theodore “Ed” Gein was an American murder and body snatcher. His crimes, which he committed around his hometown of Plainfield, Wisconsin, garnered widespread notoriety after authorities discovered Gein had exhumed corpses from local graveyards and fashioned trophies and keepsakes from their bones and skin.
After police found body parts in his house in 1957, Gein confessed to killing two women: tavern owner Mary Hogan in 1954, and a Plainfield hardware store owner, Bernice Worden, in 1957. Initially found unfit to stand trial, following confinement in a mental health facility, he was tried in 1968 for the murder of Worden and sentenced to life imprisonment, which he spent in a mental hospital. The body of Bernice Worden was found in Gein’s shed; her head and the head of Mary Hogan were found inside his house. Robert H. Gollmar, the judge in the Gein case, wrote: ‘Due to prohibitive costs, Gein was tried for only one murder—that of Mrs. Worden.’
With fewer than three confirmed kills, Gein does not meet the traditional definition of a serial killer. Regardless his real-life case influenced the creation of several fictional serial killers, including Norman Bates from Psycho, Leatherface from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Buffalo Bill from The Silence of the Lambs.
Gein was born in La Crosse County, Wisconsin. His parents, George and Augusta Gein, both natives of Wisconsin, had two sons: Henry George Gein, and his younger brother, Edward Theodore Gein. Gein was a frequently unemployed alcoholic who physically abused his sons. Despite Augusta’s deep contempt for her husband, the marriage persisted because of the family’s religious belief about divorce. Augusta Gein operated a small grocery store and eventually purchased a farm on the outskirts of the small town of Plainfield, Wisconsin, which then became the Gein family’s permanent home.
Augusta Gein moved to this location to prevent outsiders from influencing her sons.
08 November 2010
Edward Theodore “Ed” Gein was an American murder and body snatcher. His crimes, which he committed around his hometown of Plainfield, Wisconsin, garnered widespread notoriety after authorities discovered Gein had exhumed corpses from local graveyards and fashioned trophies and keepsakes from their bones and skin.
After police found body parts in his house in 1957, Gein confessed to killing two women: tavern owner Mary Hogan in 1954, and a Plainfield hardware store owner, Bernice Worden, in 1957. Initially found unfit to stand trial, following confinement in a mental health facility, he was tried in 1968 for the murder of Worden and sentenced to life imprisonment, which he spent in a mental hospital. The body of Bernice Worden was found in Gein’s shed; her head and the head of Mary Hogan were found inside his house. Robert H. Gollmar, the judge in the Gein case, wrote: ‘Due to prohibitive costs, Gein was tried for only one murder—that of Mrs. Worden.’
With fewer than three confirmed kills, Gein does not meet the traditional definition of a serial killer. Regardless his real-life case influenced the creation of several fictional serial killers, including Norman Bates from Psycho, Leatherface from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Buffalo Bill from The Silence of the Lambs.
Gein was born in La Crosse County, Wisconsin. His parents, George and Augusta Gein, both natives of Wisconsin, had two sons: Henry George Gein, and his younger brother, Edward Theodore Gein. Gein was a frequently unemployed alcoholic who physically abused his sons. Despite Augusta’s deep contempt for her husband, the marriage persisted because of the family’s religious belief about divorce. Augusta Gein operated a small grocery store and eventually purchased a farm on the outskirts of the small town of Plainfield, Wisconsin, which then became the Gein family’s permanent home.
Augusta Gein moved to this location to prevent outsiders from influencing her sons.
Bibliography: Page http://www.houseofhorrors.com/gein.htm http://crime.about.com/od/murder/p/gein.htm http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/notorious/gein/bill_1.html http://www.carpenoctem.tv/killers/gein.html