Further Reading For Ed Gein
Deviant: The Shocking True Story of Ed Gein, the Original Psycho by Harold Schechter
Ed Gein — Psycho! by Paul Anthony Woods
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Good God. Eddie Gein, man… No killer, no maniac, no madman has inspired more horror movies than Eddie Gein. He’s the mother-obsessed lunatic that inspired Psycho’s Norman Bates. He’s the skin-wearing psychotic that inspired Leatherface of the famed Texas Chainsaw Massacre series. And yet, in spite of this amazing pedigree, his body count is alarmingly small if you’ve never heard the story. Like Jeffrey Dahmer, this is the sad story of a terminally awkward and lonely man driven over the edge.
Gein was the mentally handicapped son of a weak-willed farmer and a severe, domineering mother. She ran the house with an iron fist and when she died, the infantile but adult Eddie Gein didn’t know what to do with himself. His mother, a horrible woman by any measurement, was his only anchor to reality and without her, he slipped away into a horrible fantasy world fueled by the grue and horror of pulp magazines and novels. Gein visited cemeteries by night, removing bodies and body parts and fashioned the remains into decorations around the house. His ultimate trophy of terror, however, was a suit made from the skin of female corpses as well as the preserved faces of corpses used as masks. Grave robbing, aside, Gein was responsible for the murders of two local women. Mary Hogan, a local tavern owner, and local hardware store owner, Bernice Worden, who authorities found decapitated and gutted like a deer.
It is strongly suspected that the mysterious death of Gein’s brother can be attributed to Ed but no formal charges have ever been made against him.
Episodes: 172 – 174
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