Name: Ed Gein
Born: Aug 27, 1906 (La Crosse, Wisconsin)
Died: July 26, 1984
Cause and Effect:
Ed Gein was the product of a Mother who was domineering and continuously preach against the sins of women, and being kept away from others his age as he grew up. After his father died, his brother died four years later. The cause of death was registered as smoke asphyxiation as he and Ed were fighting a fire at the time. The fact his brother was in an unburned area and had bruising to his head was not considered. After his mother died, a year later, Ed took up grave robbing.
Grave Robbery:
When Ed's mother died, he immediately nailed her room shut to keep it as it was the day she died. He became interested in the human anatomy and began reading about the first sex change operation, even considering having one done on himself. He then with a local known as Gus, he went on to begin robbing graves.
He would read obituary columns and look for recently deceased females to rob the fresh graves. Taking souvenirs, he also started taking body parts and sometimes whole bodies.
The Killings:
Their were only two murders that were certain to be at the hands of Ed Gein. The first was a 51 year old Mary Hogan who ran a bar in Pine Grove Wisconsin. They found only blood on the floor and a spent cartridge. Gein was a suspect for the killing, but since there was no hard evidence, the police did not investigate him further.
The second of the two killings was that of Bernice Worden. Another woman in her fifties. Once again there was only blood on the floor to be found, but this time there was more to link Ed Gein to the murder. Her son had witnessed him asking her for a date and was turned down, and another citizen heard Ed say he needed to buy some anti-freeze from her store on the day she died. So the police finally paid Ed's home a visit.
It should be noted that both women he killed had similar looks to that of his mother.
House of Horrors:
The police literally walked into a scene from a horror movie, as Bernice Worden's body hung from rafters with her head and genitalia removed. Her torso was split open and gutted. They found her head being used as a makeshift ornament and her heart was sitting on a sauce pan on the stove. The pistol that matched the cartridge at the first murder was also found.
After his arrest, Gein admitted to the two murders as well as confessed about his grave robbing activities.
The Sentence:
A judge found Ed Gein to be insane and he was sent to a secure mental hospital where he spent the rest of his life.
Ed Gein died of respiratory failure on July 26th, 1984 a month shy of his 78th birthday.
