1. Ed Gein
By: Clark Wilson

2. Background Birthplace: Plainfield , Wisconsin
Parents: George Philip and Augusta Wilhelmine Gein
Had a brother
Father was a drunk and his mother hated him
Mother isolated her sons from outsiders
Mother ingrained idea that all women were prostitutes and agents of Satan
Mother read graphic Bible versus to her sons every afternoon
He was shy and was remembered for having weird mannerisms
Mother punished him for trying to make friends
Did unexpectedly well in school
Brother worried about Ed’s affection for their mother

3. Crimes Crime Date Victims Punishment First Degree Murder
November 16, 1957
Bernice Worden
Not guilty for reasons of insanity – sentenced to Central State Hospital for the Criminally Insane.
Exhuming of corpses
Multiple Unknown Dates
9+ unknown females
None
Murder
December 8, 1954
Mary Hogan
First Degree Murder – Premeditated, brutal, murder with intent.

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

5. Other information
Sentence: None – not guilty due to criminal insanity, sentenced to state mental hospital.
Quote - When Ed Gein heard about the news of Bernice Worden's disappearance his reply was "It must have been someone pretty cold-blooded."
Nicknames – The Butcher of Plainfield

6. Cultural References Books – Psycho by Robert Bloch
Film – Alfred Hitchcock's adaptation of the book Psycho, Deranged (1974), In the Light of the Moon (2000) (released in the U.S. and Australia as Ed Gein (2001)), Ed Gein: The Butcher of Plainfield (2007), Hitchcock (2012), and the Rob Zombie films House of Corpses and its sequel, The Devil's Rejects.
Songs – Dead Skin Mask by Slayer, Nothing To Gein by Mudvayne, Ed Gein by The Ziggens, and a satire of his crimes in the song Skinned by Blind Melon.

7. Sociological Theory of Deviance
I believe that the Sociological Theory of Deviance that best fits Ed Gein is the social control theory. This seems to fit him best because it is highlighted by a lack of social connections. He had very little real connections with people through his life. His mother punished him for trying to make friends as a kid. He was isolated by design by his mother. As well, he had an unnatural attachment to his mother. His targets, not surprisingly, looked a lot like his mother. Ed’s father was an abusive drunk, so they had no real relationship. The theory also tells that odd attachments to parental figures can have serious impact on a criminal. If these attachments result from a place of negativity, it can increase a child’s likelihood of becoming a deviant of sorts. His mothers extreme beliefs surely qualify as a negative influence on Gein. So much so that he tried making a woman suit to be like his mother and put himself in a position of control.