A handful of exceptional books have been published on the subject of Edward Gein - ignoring the recent slew of AI generated examples flooding the marketplace – therefore the more keenly researched and acclaimed shall be listed at the end of this article.
Plainfield. Nov 16, 1957. Wisconsin's first day of hunting season. Three inches of snow covered the endless acres of woodland surrounding the small hamlet, and every man was out early trying to bag themselves a deer without accidentally shooting another hunter or themselves... which actually happened quite a lot. Every man but Eddie Gein that is. Ed had his eye on an altogether different prize that morning. It was bitterly cold as local odd-job man pulled up outside Worden's Hardware store on South Main Street in Plainfield, Wisconsin. Eddie had brought with him a glass jar to be filled with half
a gallon of anti-freeze. The owner, Bernice Warden knew Eddie would be in this morning as he had called in yesterday afternoon. He had also enquired whether Frank Warden – Bernice's only son and deputy sheriff – was going hunting with the rest of the town this freezing Saturday morning. So Ed knew Bernice would be alone as he pulled up to the deserted main street. After paying for the antifreeze and depositing it in his car he returned to the store, picked up a rifle from the rack and shot Bernice in the back of the head. Then he dragged her body out of the back door to her Chevy pickup. After driving a mile down the road Eddie left Worden's truck and walked back to collect his car, re-loaded Bernice's body into it then sped home to his 195-acre-farmstead. Once he got home, he backed his car up as close to the summer kitchen as possible. Then he dragged Bernice into the wooden lean-to. A rope and pulley system still hung in the shed; left over from years gone by. And Ed knew this would do, as he'd already used it once before. Ed carefully took off Bernice's clothes, then with a wooden mallet, forced a pointed 3 foot stake through the heel and tendons on Bernice's right ankle. Her left ankle he found tougher, so Ed decided to just tie her ankle to the stake with some old rope. He threaded it through a pulley and hoisted Bernice's naked body up to the rafters. Then he cut off her head. Later that evening – when Bernice's body was found – it was hanging upside down; dressed out like a deer.
Ed Gein (pronounced Geen) was born in La Crosse, Wisconsin on August 27 1906 to George and Augusta Gein. George was a hopeless and violent alcoholic and Augusta was a religious fanatic, so Ed spent a lot of time with his older brother, Henry and his mother; and she was his whole world. In 1914 Augusta moved them to Plainfield in order to protect Ed and Henry from the evil sins of... well, everything. But mostly women. A 195-acre-farm was brought, and Augusta ruled the roost, lecturing Ed and Henry on the ways of the bible, whilst continuously rejecting Georges drunken advances. When George died in 1940 it was a relief to both Augusta and her boys. But it wasn't long before Ed would have Augusta all to himself. That time came when Ed and Henry were setting fire to some grass on marshland where it quickly got out of control. Eddie soon lost sight of Henry amid the blaze, calling on the townsfolk for help. On his return Eddie led them straight to Henry's body; which coincidentally showed no signs of burns from the fire, and was sporting a head injury. Although no post-mortem was undertaken, Henry's cause of death is recorded as asphyxiation. It is far more than likely Eddie killed his brother, who had become belligerent of his mothers teachings and had begun bad mouthing her. But Ed only spent a year with Augusta before she had her first stroke and needed Eddie as her full time carer; preparing meals, washing and dressing Augusta. Then another stroke finished her off. Ed was inconsolable, left a snivelling wreck and at her funeral.
With his mother gone Ed spent more time in a fantasy world. He collected books on female anatomy, true crime and magazines with articles on sex change operations. Ed was often told by his mother that she had wanted a girl instead of Ed, and Eddie often felt he should have been one too. But first he needed to SEE a real woman. Not just drawings in medical books. And the easiest way to do that in Ed's mind was to go dig one up. In February 1947 Eddie quietly entered Spirit Land Cemetery as darkness began to fall, and dug up Grace Beggs. He then loaded her into his pickup and took her home. Once Eddie could see what made a woman he decided to use parts from these females to create a 'woman' suit for himself. Whilst wearing it he would become a woman. Over the next decade Ed would follow the obituaries in the local news, and go right up there on the day of the burial – when the soil was still loose – and dig her up. He wouldn't always take whole bodies. Sometimes just the parts he needed, like the head. But he had acquired quite a collection by the time he decided he wanted a live specimen. Six bodies later, after drinking a cup of coffee at The Fox Head tavern – seven miles from Plainfield – Gein shoots bar owner Mary Hogan, and for a change takes a fresh one back to his farm.
Ed had been frequenting Mary Hogan's tavern on the outside of town and the busty foul-mouthed landlord appealed to Gein's sexual urges. Which included physically reminding him of his mother. He stayed late one night and shot Mary dead before dragging her lifeless body out to his pickup. The following day, a regular pulled up and discovered a blood stain and a spent cartridge. But as there were no suspects and Bernice was said to have ties to the mob (amongst other gossip) no one was ever questioned about her murder. One would imagine that Mary was hoisted up and dressed out like Bernice. Not just because we're assuming he'd repeat the crime he got away with, but also because friends and neighbours often recounted the “venison” Ed would sometimes bring over for them to eat. And Ed didn't hunt. Not deer anyway.
Another interesting possibility is that Ed was responsible for other missing persons in the state of Wisconsin. The case of 15 year old Evelyn Hartley shares similarities when comparing it to the Hogan and Warden murders. October 1953, Hartley was babysitting in La Crosse when she mysteriously disappeared and was never seen again. Eddie happened to be visiting his aunt a couple of blocks over from the victim at the time, and the scene was very familiar to how Ed operated. Only a trail of blood leading out the door remained.
In 1952 Victor Travis and Ray Burgess disappeared whilst hunting near Gein's farm. All that was found was Travis' dog, and his jacket (Trevor's jacket, not the dog's). But now the pattern of money being a motive rears its head. Burgess was waving a large roll of bills around whilst drinking in a local tavern that day. Mary Hogan reportedly had $15,000 at the tavern that went missing along with her body. And even Bernice Warden had a register with $182 before Ed arrived and took it with him. After his arrest, when Eddie was questioned about Travis, Gein reportedly told authorities that a neighbour murdered Victor and that he could show investigators where his body was buried. Amazingly, this was never followed up! Unfortunately, we'll never know if Gein's reason for murder was for money, body-parts or simply company.
Also possibly related. Upon searching Ed's farmhouse – amongst all the other atrocities - a vulva thought to be from a girl aged around 15 was found along with a girl's dress. Could that have been partial remains of Evelyn Hartley? A study of cemetery records during the time Gein was active produced no evidence that females aged between 12-18 had been buried during that time.
But why not try Gein for all these murders? The reason is that the state did not have the funds to prosecute Gein for more that one murder – even though he admitted killing Mary Hogan (likely only because her face was found in his home) - the investigation went no further.
Gein lived his last 20 something years in a mental hospital. First Central State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, then he transferred to the Mendota Mental Health unit in Madison. He didn't often want to revisit his crimes, which is understandable. As a undiagnosed schizophrenic most of his life, committing these crimes – likely during psychosis – must have felt like a bad dream. In 1968 Gein was determined able to participate in his defence and was tried twice more. Once to be found guilty of the crime he'd already admitted to, and once again to confirm that Gein was still insane. After which Gein was sent straight back to the mental hospital. Much talk mentioned the change in his appearance as Gein was heavier than at his first trial. Attributed to a decent diet at last, it was also likely a side-effect of anti-psychotic drugs. He was a far cry from overtly psychotic, malnourished momma's boy that dug up a dozen graves and shot two women dead over a decade ago. He'd not just become famous, he'd become infamous. A part of history that Plainfield – and Wisconsin by and large – could never shake. He would also go on to influence true crime and genre fans worldwide, and is still doing so. But maybe that's an exploration for another day...
Recommended media;
Books: Deviant by Harold Schechter, Edward Gein by Judge Robert H. Gollmar and Ed Gein – Psycho by Paul Anthony Woods.
Documentary: PSYCHO: The Lost Tapes of Ed Gein
Movie: ED GEIN (2000)