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Biography
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Warning: This article contains graphic and possibly disturbing details about Ed Gein's murders.
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Edward Theodore Gein (August 27, 1906 - July 26, 1984),was one of the most notorious serial killers of the United States. Although he may have committed "only" two murders, the particularly bizarre and morbid nature of his crimes shocked the world.
Childhood
Ed Gein was born to George and Augusta Gein on August 27, 1906 in La Crosse, Wisconsin. The Geins were a notably dysfunctional family. George was a violent man who could not keep a job. He usually spent his days brooding on the front porch and consuming liquor. Gein rejected his violent, aimless father, as did his older brother Henry and especially Augusta, who treated him like a non-entity. Despite her deep contempt for George, the atrophic marriage persisted, for, under Augusta's strict moral code (with its roots in fanatical Evangelicalism), divorce was not an option. She operated the small family grocery store and eventually purchased a farm on the outskirts of another small town by the name of Plainfield, which thereafter became Ed's permanent home. He often liked to dance the jig at town socials.
Augusta decided to move to this desolate location to prevent outsiders from influencing her sons. Gein only left the premises to go to school and Augusta blocked any attempt he made to pursue friendships. Aside from school, Ed spent most of his free time doing chores on the farm. Augusta, who was fanatically religious, drummed into her boys the innate immorality of the world, the evil of drink, and - above all -- that all women (herself, of course, excepted) were whores. According to Augusta, the only acceptable form of sex was for procreation. She reserved time every afternoon to read scriptures from the Bible to them, usually selecting graphic verses from the Old Testament dealing with death, murder, and divine retribution. When Ed reached puberty, Augusta became even more fanatical towards her son, once dousing him in scalding water after she caught him masturbating in the bathtub.
Considering Ed's effeminate demeanor, it's no surprise that he was a target for bullies. Ed was also notorious for a permanent lopsided grin that was even displayed during serious conversations. Classmates and teachers recall other off-putting mannerisms, such as seemingly random laughter, as if he was laughing at his own personal joke. Despite Ed's poor social development, he managed to do fairly well in school, particularly in reading. It is argued by some researchers that Ed's detrimental childhood experiences were a contributing factor in his later behavior.
By the time George died in 1940, Henry had begun to reject Augusta's warped view of the world. He had even taken to bad-mouthing her within earshot of his mortified brother. In March of 1944, the brothers found themselves in the middle of a brush fire on the farm. When Gein ran to get the police, he told them he had lost sight of Henry, but then led them directly to his brother's corpse. Although there was evidence Henry had suffered blunt trauma to the head, police decided he died of asphyxiation while fighting the fire.
What little holds Ed had left on rational behavior and reality were lost when, on December 29, 1945, Augusta died of cancer. At the funeral, the 39-year old sobbed uncontrollably, utterly devastated. Ed had grown up terrified of human contact, especially women; he never dated, and was almost certainly a virgin. While she sometimes berated him for being a failure like his father, more often than not, Augusta nurtured the bizarre, Oedipal devotion she had planted into his psyche decades ago. She would talk softly to Ed, tell him that he was a "good boy", and let him sleep with her. Police would later find every room in the Gein house a filthy mess, save for the sitting room and Augusta's bedroom, which Ed had kept spotless in homage to her.
...(more on Wikipedia)
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Ed Gein".
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