Ed Gein The Wisconsin Grave Robber and Butcher of Plainfield

In 1957 rural Wisconsin, the press was plastering the nightly news with stories of the boogieman. A psychologically flawed individual was practicing cannibalism and robbing bodies from local cemeteries. On one occasion, as noted by one of his neighbors, he shared fresh venison he had shot and killed the day before. Although, much to their surprise, it wasn’t venison at all.

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Ed Gein was born in 1906 in a town with a population of around 632. While growing up on the farm in La Crosse County, Wisconsin, his father George was often drunk and distant, while his mother Augusta was an overbearing, religious zealot. She preached that all women, not just prostitutes, were bad and she would often read from the Bible, choosing scenes that involved bloody murders and divine retribution.

Throughout Ed Geins life he was both verbally abused by his mother, as well as his classmates. Although, even as a troubled child, he still remained an excellent student excelling in reading, yet still detached from those around him except his mother.

As an early adult, he still remained disconnected. While his brother Henry was rejecting his mother’s warped view of the world as well as Ed’s attachment to her, Ed was planning a scheme to have his mother all to himself.

While fighting a brush fire in 1944, Henry and Ed were separated and Ed proceeded to murder Henry with a shovel with a swift blow to the head. While Henry’s death was being investigated, Ed led police directly to the body. The police quickly dismissed the death as an accident.

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At this point, Ed had his mother all to himself. However, within a year she died of a heart attack and Ed was left alone in the farmhouse to take care of himself. It was said that Gein had desecrated her body after she passed.

His oddly displaced personality led him to dig up corpses of women from the nearby cemeteries, collecting vulva’s and keeping them tucked away in a box in his home. He would often practice necrophilia with all of the bodies, however Gein ultimately grew bored and decided to claim his first living victim.