Intro
This Webstite was started as a Project for my Law Studies class, I am in no way impressed, excited, or obsessed with the murderous works of Ed Gein. I mainly wanted to choose a serial killer that no one else would have thought about. There are killers like Mr. Gein, that people neglect mentioning because of the "Killer Clown", John Wayne Gacy, and the always memmorable, Jeffrey Dahmer. It was time that someone pay this man his due attention.
The Beginning
Ed Gein, born to Augusta and George Gein in the quaint corner of the world, Plainfield, Wisconsin, just at the turn of the turn of the century, in 1906. His problems, like most serial killers began with his childhood. His father was a poor rolemodel, not being able to hold down a steady job, and also being known as a town drunk. Most of his upbringing was by his overbearing mother, who crammed Christianity into her childrens' heads. Soon after his father died, his mother started her own business selling groceries to support her two sons. During this time, the control that their mother had, had mostly taken to Ed. Their mother had advised them to not talk to other kids in school, she fealt that they could only remain pure as long as no one had corrupted their minds. Henry, who was more independant of their mother's will had stated that their mother had too much control over them. Ed had a bit of an obsession with his mother, this is what is thought to have sparked the idea that Ed killed his brother in a small barn fire.
....And Then Mother Dies
Ok, well, nothing gold can stay...that rule applies for bad things aswell. All things must come to an end. Mother Gein died in 1945. After this, Ed had gained an interest in human anatomy, and decided that the human body intregued him. Also, his large obsession with his mother had developed into a twisted version of the Oedipus Complex...where not only did he want to have sex with his mother, but he wanted to become her aswell.
His Crimes
He was convicted of around 7 crimes altogether. These were necrophelia, connibalism, death fetishism, sadism, murder, and petty theft. Ironically, the crime that brought his reign of terror down was petty theft. He was accused of stealing a cash register from a hardware store(the one which he killed Bernice Woden in) to lean the mechanics of it. When the authorities went to check his farm house for the cash register, they found the 42 dollars that were withing the register, the register, and an assortment of body parts. This is what those detectives found: two shin bones, four human noses, a quart can converted into a tom-tom by skin stretched over both top and bottom, a bowl made from the inverted half of a human skull, nine ‘death masks’ (from the well preserved skin from the faces of women), ten female heads with the tops sawn off above the eyebrows, bracelets of human skin, a purse made with a handle of human skin, sheath for a knife made in human skin, a pair of leggings made from human skin, four chairs with the seats being replaced by strips of human skin, a shoe box containing nine salted vulvas of which his mothers was painted silver, a hanging human head, a lampshade covered with human skin, a shirt made of human skin, a number of shrunken heads (Ed always joked that he had a collection of shrunken heads), two skulls for Gein’s bedposts, a pair of human lips hanging from string, Ed’s full woman body suit constructed with human skin and complete with mask and breasts, Bernice Worden’s heart in a pan on the stove, and the refrigerator which was stacked with human organs.
Gein Humor
The following is a song that is just to show that even the most evil of serial killers have a sense of humor
The Ballad of Ed Gein
(Sung to the tune of "Beverly Hillbillies") by Lawrence P. JonesCome and listen to my story 'bout a man named Ed Had an old farmhouse with a great big shed Then one day his mama up and died So he skined the old gal and he tanned her hide
Well the first thing you know, old Eddie's robbing graves Dragging bodies home, so the parts he could save Got a belt made of nipples and a chair made of skin Got clothes made out of ladies he can dance around in
So Eddie went down to the local pub Met a gal named Mary, she reminded him of mum So he shot her in the head, and it made a big hole Took her home and turned her skull into a soup bowl (soup bowl that is......mmm mmm good
Now Eddie went down to the hardware store Just to get some anti-freeze he could put in his car Met a gal named Bernice and he shot her dead Dragged her home and hung her body up in his shed
Well he got a butcher knife and he cut her apart In a pan on the stove, he was cooking up her heart Nailed her head to the wall, put the rest in his fridge Went down to his neighbor's, and babysat their kids
Well, they caught old Ed and they threw him in jail But we all know how the system can fail Drew a woman on the wall and he ate his way out Got clean away and he headed down south
Now legend say's he opened a fast food stand Somewhere in the heart of the old southland So if you ever find yourself in his locality Stop in and try his spech-e-ally-tee (Bar-be-que that is.....It's the meat....yall come back and see us now, ya hear)
Summing this whole mess up
Well, Ed Gein was arrested for the murders of Mary Hogan and Bernice Woden. Eventhough he was suspected of killing others, the local police department wanted to get rid of the media that was being drawn towards Plainfield, they rushed to convict him with enough to simply put him in prison for the rest of his life. And so our story ends, Gein died in Waupan State Hospital in 1984 of cancer...he died on July 26, it was his 78th birthday.
Ghoulish Links
The Real American Psycho
Case File - Ed Gein
The Gein Gazette
The World of Ed Gein
Ed Gein
Desecrated Souls - Ed Gein
