December 2, 1957, was the day the country first learned about this man, Edward Gein. That was the day that Life magazine ran the story about a “House of Horrors” found in Wisconsin. The title of “House of Horrors” might seem strange considering he only went to trial for the murders of two people. The other suspected incidents could not be proven. His other victims were already dead. They mostly consisted of bodies that he had dug up from fresh graves.
He was the lead suspect in Bernice Worden’s case because the day the police entered Gein’s house they happened to stumble across a unique burlap sack. “Investigators discovered a bloody burlap sack. Inside of it was a freshly severed head. Inserted into the ears were large nails connected with twine. The head belonged to Bernice Worden. Gein had planned to hang it on the wall as a decoration.” (6) The body of Bernice Worden also happened to be found by the first investigator into the kitchen, Arthur Schley. “He felt something brush against his jacket. He faced a large, dangling carcass hanging upside down. Then he realized it was a deer carcass, but a human one.” They had also found her heart in a saucepan on the kitchen stove. (5) The rest of the shocking, disturbing horrors that the police found inside his house, makes him one of the most famous American murderers of all time. “The local sheriff estimated that the various body parts added up to 15 women, maybe more.” (6)
He was the lead suspect in Bernice Worden’s case because the day the police entered Gein’s house they happened to stumble across a unique burlap sack. “Investigators discovered a bloody burlap sack. Inside of it was a freshly severed head. Inserted into the ears were large nails connected with twine. The head belonged to Bernice Worden. Gein had planned to hang it on the wall as a decoration.” (6) The body of Bernice Worden also happened to be found by the first investigator into the kitchen, Arthur Schley. “He felt something brush against his jacket. He faced a large, dangling carcass hanging upside down. Then he realized it was a deer carcass, but a human one.” They had also found her heart in a saucepan on the kitchen stove. (5) The rest of the shocking, disturbing horrors that the police found inside his house, makes him one of the most famous American murderers of all time. “The local sheriff estimated that the various body parts added up to 15 women, maybe more.” (6)
Gein had grown up on a huge farm and his closest neighbors were a significant distance away. This alone added to some of the isolation he experienced throughout his life. Gein’s mother was very dominating and had very firm Christian beliefs. She was opposed to her sons having any social interactions and had difficulties when they had to go to school and be around other children. She had also told him that he was not allowed to talk to girls and that it was wrong to have feelings of attraction towards females.
After Gein’s father and brother both had passed away, he had all of his mother’s attention. “Ed tended to her day and night….she would scream at him for hours, calling him a weakling and a failure…and then at other times she would allow him to crawl into bed with her and stay throughout the night.” (7) Edward Gein’s mother died in December of 1945. One of the first things that Gein did after his mother passed away was to board off the rooms that his mother spent time in the most. He left these untouched as a shrine to her. “He confined himself mostly to the kitchen and a small utility room that he converted into a bedroom.” (7)
In his free time, he started expanding his knowledge through reading, however his creativity was growing in a negative way. For him to all of a sudden see images in pornographic magazines and not have his mother there to yell at him could have been a brand new situation for him. One example of the effect these books had on his actions is parallel to the headhunter books he would read. When investigators went into his “house of horrors,” they found on the wall “faces of nine women, carefully preserved and mounted like the bizarre collection of a human hunter.” (7) As Gein’s reading continued, his favorite part of the newspaper was the obituaries. He would look there to find who had recently died, especially women, and then go to their graves at night. He had befriended a mentally retarded boy in the town named Gus. The two of them would go to the graveyards at night and dig up fresh graves for body parts. “Although he later swore to police that he never had sexual intercourse with any of the dead women, he did take a particular pleasure in peeling their skin from their bodies and wearing it. He was fascinated by women because of the power and hold they had over men.” (5) He was known to put on women’s skin and dance under the moon light, this seemed to give him a sense of fulfillment. He would also wear a woman’s scalp and face and he wore a body suit made from human skin. (8) For some unknown reason, this did not satisfy him enough.
He then began dismembering body parts off the corpses and bringing them home with him. He would make different items out of the body parts and set them around his house. Some of the items included: bedposts and bowls made from skulls, mobiles made from noses and lips, lamp shades, waste baskets, and upholstery of chairs made of human skin, and a belt made of nipples. (8)
The first person he murdered was Bernice Worden. She was also the first body the police found in his house and the reason why they went to his “house of horrors” in the first place. The second person he murdered was Mary Hogan. Shortly after Mary disappeared, locals remember Gein talking about it at bars.
On November 7, 1968, Edward Gein was on trial for the murders of Bernice Worden and Mary Hogan. He had been assigned to a mental hospital for ten years before he was deemed able to stand trial. The verdict was guilty by reason of insanity. In 1978, he was moved to the hospital where would reside until his death. Gein was seen as a model patient, he liked to read and do arts and crafts. He never had to be tranquilized and seemed to keep to himself most of the time. The staff at the hospital said that it was hard to tell that he was insane at all. “If all our patients were like him, we would have no trouble at all.” (5) Gein died of respiratory failure on July 26, 1984. (5)
The truck he used to haul the bodies and body parts to his house was bought and displayed as a carnival sideshow. Even though people were disturbed and scared by Edward Gein people were intrigued at the same time. “More than 2,000 people paid a 25 cent admission to see the car over a two-day period. It was called the ‘Ghoul Car.’” (6)
In recent years, three different movies were made using parts of Gein’s life. Silence of the Lambs had a character named Buffalo Bill. That character would make clothes out of women’s skin and had an urge to be a woman. Psycho! was based on Gein’s relationship with his mother. Finally, in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Gein’s house and a connection with grave robbery and cannibalism are made. Edward Gein’s shocking crimes along with the help from these Hollywood movies, continues to make him one of the most famous American murderers of all time. ~S
(Life Magazine)
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