The Butcher of Plainfield: 25 Shocking Ed Gein Facts

Ed Gein’s mother would often read bible verses to her son and would preach about the evil’s of the world. She also convinced him that all women were unpure except for her.

As a boy he was shy and because his mother was so strict, she would punish him for trying to make friends. Teachers and classmates said he had very strange mannerisms, such as laughing for no reason.

He used to babysit for neighbors kids. He is said to have related more to children than to adults. Ed Gein’s brother Henry began dating a single mother and Henry had grown concerned about his brother’s attachment to the family.

Although it was never proven that he did so. When his brother was discovered after being reported missing, he had bruises on his head. However, authorities ruled out foul play.

Ed Gein’s relationship with his mother was the inspiration for Psycho.

After his mother died he made a suit out of her skin so he could become her and crawl inside of her.

He told people they were souvenirs from the Philippines, but they were actually human facial skin peeled from the corpses that Gein used as masks.

In 1953, a babysitter named Evelyn Hartley had disappeared and Gein was the suspect. When he was questioned he was beaten severely by sheriff Art Schley and Gein’s confession was thrown out.

Ed’s father’s alcoholism was so bad he couldn’t hold onto any job. Ed’s mother hated him for this. The father eventually died of heart failure.

It was this practice that brought Ed Gein his notoriety. He was said to have used skins from the corpses to make furniture such as lampshades.

Ed Gein was, in fact, a grave robber and did steal bodies to make various things. He did deny ever having sex with the corpses because he claimed they smelled too bad.

The band Blind Melon created a song for Ed Gein called “Skinned.” He also was an inspiration for the heavy metal band Slayer with their dedication to Gein called “Dead Skin Mask.”

Ed Gein never went to prison for the crimes the murders he committed. A judge found him guilty by reason of insanity. He died at a state-run facility for the criminally insane.

Although there is probably there are more victims than this. Ed Gein was convicted of the murders of Bernice Worden and local tavern owner Mary Hogan.

As a child, Ed’s mother would keep him and his brother isolated and not allow outsiders to come by and influence her sons in any negative way.

Even after his mother died, Ed Gein never had a girlfriend or wife. In fact, it is said that he was very distraught over his mother dying as he called her his one true love.

After his mother’s death, he boarded up her room and all the rooms she used. It was in these rooms that Ed began to find fascination with death-cult magazines and cannibalism.

When police raided his house after the disappearance of Bernice Worden. They found her gutted and hung up like a deer. Her heart was hanging in a plastic bag near the stove.

Ed Gein was the inspiration for many horror icons, Leatherface and Norman Bates are a few of them. He also inspired Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lecter.

Ed Gein despite being a grave robbing murderer was actually a skilled laborer and people described him as being very hardworking and employable.

It was because of the way he dismembered his victims that he was called “The Butcher of Plainfield.” Gein was said to have made curtain strings out of human lips and used human skulls as soup bowls.

On July 26th, 1984, Ed Gein died of lung cancer in Goodland Hall at the Mendota Mental Health Institute.

The car that he used to transport bodies taken from graveyards was sold at a public auction for 760.00 to a carnival.

While Ed Gein was locked up, his house burned down. It was suspected that arson was the cause.

Ed Gein’s grave was vandalized over the years. People would take pieces of his gravestone as souvenirs. A major chunk of it was taken in 2000 but recovered in 2001.