1. Ed Gein “The Plainfield Ghoul”
by: Noelle Sadaka

2. Quote about Gein
“Do you know what Ed Gein said about women? ‘When I see a pretty girl walking down the street I think two things. One part of me wants to take her out and talk to her and be real nice and sweet and treat her right.’" "What does the other part of him think?" Hamlin asks tentatively. "What her head would look like on a stick”
- Bret Easton Ellis, American Psycho

3. Background Augusta Wilhelmine Gein
Born in La Crosse County, Wisconsin - August 27, 1906
Son of George Philip and Augusta Wilhelmine Gein and brother of Henry George Gein
Augusta had a strong hatred for her husband and saw him as an alcoholic failure, unable to keep a job
They lived on a farm on the outskirts of the small town of Plainfield, Wisconsin because Augusta tried to keep her children protected from outside influence
Gein only left the farm to go to school
At school, Gein became a target for bullies and his mother would scold him for trying to make friends
He had poor social development, but he got fairly good grades in school, particularly in reading

4. Background
Gein tried to make his mother happy, but she was rarely pleased with her boys and often abused them, believing that they were destined to become failures like their father
He spent most of his time doing chores on the farm and listening to his mother preach about the innate immorality of the world, the evil of drinking, and the belief that all women (herself excluded) were prostitutes and instruments of the devil
Every day he and his brother had a reserved time for being read graphic verses from the Bible, dealing with death, murder, and divine retribution
After his father’s death in 1940, he and his brother began working small jobs to cover expenses. Ed most enjoyed babysitting
On May 16, 1944, a brush fire burned close to the farm. When the brothers tried to extinguish it, they were separated and lost each other. His brother was reported missing and later Ed lead the police directly to his brother’s dead body. Though the circumstances under which the body was discovered and what injuries prevailed were concerning, police dismissed the suspicion of Ed Gein’s foul play
Gein’s mother died on December 29, 1945 and he was left devastated saying he had lost his one true love

5. Crimes Crime Date Victim(s) Punishment Murder December 8, 1954
Mary Hogan, 54
Life imprisonment in mental hospital
November 16, 1957
Bernice C. Worden, 58
On November 21, 1957, Gein was arraigned on one count of first degree murder (an unlawful killing that is both willful and premeditated) in Waushara County Court; he entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity (legal definition - mental illness of such a severe nature that a person cannot distinguish fantasy from reality, cannot conduct her/his affairs due to psychosis, or is subject to uncontrollable impulsive behavior)
Gein was sent to the Central State Hospital for the Criminally Insane and later transferred to the Mendota State Hospital
In 1968, Gein's doctors determined he was sane enough to stand trial.
The trial began on November 14, 1968, lasting one week. He was found guilty of first-degree murder by Judge Robert H. Gollmar, but due to being determined to be legally insane, he spent the rest of his life in a mental hospital.

6. Crimes
Although he was only tried for murder, Gein also admitted to robbing nine graves
He dug up the graves of recently buried middle-aged women which he thought resembled his mother
He took the bodies home, tanned their skins, and used their bones and skin to fashion trophies and keepsakes
Shortly after his mother’s death, Gein began to create a “woman suit” so that he could pretend to be a female

7. Evidence
When Bernice Worden disappeared, police had reason to suspect Gein
Worden's son had told investigators that Gein had been in the store the evening before the disappearance, saying he would return the following morning for a gallon of anti-freeze. They found that the last receipt written by Worden on the morning she disappeared was a sales slip for a gallon of anti-freeze
Upon searching Gein's property, investigators discovered Worden's decapitated body in a shed, hung upside down by ropes at her wrists, with a crossbar at her ankles

8. Evidence Also with Gein’s house on his farm, authorities found:
Whole human bones and fragments
Mary Hogan’s skull in a box
Wastebasket made of human skin
Bernice Worden’s entire head in a burlap sack
Human skin covering several chair seats
Bernice Worden’s heart “in a plastic bag in front of Gein’s potbellied stove”
Skulls on his bedposts
Nine vulvae in a shoe box
Female skulls, some with the tops sawn off
A young girl’s dress and “the vulvas of two females judged to have been about fifteen years old”
Bowls made from human skulls
A belt made from female human nipples
A corset made from a female torso skinned from shoulders to waist
Four noses
Leggings made from human leg skin
A pair of lips on a window shade drawstring
Masks made from the skin from female heads
A lampshade made from the skin of a human face
Mary Hogan’s face mask in a paper bag
Fingernails from female fingers

9. Sociological Theory
The theory used in the case of Ed Gein is the Differential Association Theory. Gein spent most of his childhood confined to the company of his mother, father, and brother. His mother was abusive and very set in her ways. His father was an alcoholic and could not keep a solid job. Confined to the farm, Gein did not have any good influences. He formed an obsession with his mother and devoted his actions to trying to make her happy when she was alive.
When his mother died, he continued to believe that women were prostitutes and beings of the devil as she had told him. He continued to put these beliefs into play as he murdered innocent women who reminded him of his mother. This shows that her violent speeches, isolated methods, and violent mannerisms truly rubbed off on young Gein, seeing as this was all he had to look up to for the first sixteen years of his life. Although no one he had relations with had directly committed crimes themselves, they still had the tendencies of a criminal and the mindset of violence. Growing in such an environment truly gave Gein no room to grow to live a normal and peaceful life. All of these environmental influences lead to the formation of the serial killer who is so widely heard of today.

10. Cultural References
Leatherface
Loosely adapted into a number of movies including: Deranged (1974), In the Light of the Moon (2000), Ed Gein: The Butcher of Plainfield (2007), Hitchcock (2012) and the Rob Zombie movies - House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil’s Rejects
Leatherface from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Norman Bates from Psycho
Buffalo Bill from The Silence of the Lambs
Bloody Face from American Horror Story
He has also been mentioned in songs by Slayer, Mudvayne, the Ziggens, and Blind Melon
Buffalo Bill