Additional Coverage:
- It’s not just Netflix’s ‘Monster’: Serial killer Ed Gein’s crimes have inspired a slew of horror movie classics (businessinsider.com)
Netflix Series Revisits Chilling Crimes of Wisconsin’s Ed Gein
Plainfield, WI – The chilling story of one of Wisconsin’s most notorious criminals, Ed Gein, is returning to the spotlight with the premiere of Ryan Murphy’s “Monster: The Ed Gein Story” on Netflix this Friday. Actor Charlie Hunnam takes on the role of Gein, whose gruesome crimes in the quiet town of Plainfield sent shockwaves across the nation and forever etched his name into the annals of true crime and horror lore.
This third season of Murphy’s “Monster” anthology series marks a return to its original focus on serial killers, following the highly successful “Dahmer” and the subsequent season centered on Lyle and Erik Menendez. The new series promises a deep dive into the real events that inspired countless horror classics.
The horrific saga began on November 16, 1957, with the disappearance of Bernice Worden, a hardware store owner in Plainfield. Investigators, finding an open cash register and bloodstains, quickly followed a lead: a receipt for antifreeze signed by Ed Gein the night before. Gein, a reclusive farmer known for odd jobs, had lived a mostly isolated life under the strict watch of his mother until her death.
Upon Gein’s arrest that evening, police made a horrifying discovery at his secluded farmhouse: Worden’s decapitated body hanging upside down in his shed. What followed was a more extensive search of Gein’s home, which revealed an unimaginable scene of depravity.
Detectives found human remains crafted into household items, including a lampshade, kitchen utensils, and a chair made of skin. It was later revealed that Gein even fashioned a mask from human skin.
Dubbed the “Butcher of Plainfield” and the “Plainfield Ghoul” by the press, Gein confessed to two murders and admitted to exhuming numerous graves from a local cemetery to collect body parts. In 1958, he pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity and was diagnosed with schizophrenia, rendering him unfit to stand trial.
A decade later, Gein was re-assessed, found guilty of Worden’s death, but again judged legally insane. He spent the remainder of his life in a psychiatric hospital, dying of cancer in 1984.
Gein’s atrocities left an indelible mark on popular culture, serving as the direct inspiration for some of the most iconic horror films ever made. Author Robert Bloch, living just 35 miles from Gein, was working on a story about a quiet man with a dark side when news of Gein’s crimes broke.
This provided the catalyst for his novel “Psycho,” featuring the mother-obsessed motel caretaker Norman Bates. Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 film adaptation brought the shocking discovery of Bates’ mummified mother to a global audience, solidifying “Psycho” as a masterpiece of suspense.
Fourteen years later, director Tobe Hooper drew even more directly from Gein for “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre,” with its antagonist Leatherface not only wearing a skin mask but also hanging his victims upside down. Both Hitchcock and Hooper, along with actor Anthony Perkins (who portrayed Norman Bates), are reportedly depicted as characters in the new “Gein” series.
Beyond these classics, elements of Gein’s story also inspired characters like Buffalo Bill in “The Silence of the Lambs,” the early 2000s Rob Zombie films “House of 1000 Corpses” and “The Devil’s Rejects,” and even the Patrick Bateman character in “American Psycho.” Gein’s macabre legacy continues to fascinate and horrify, reminding us of the dark depths of human nature.