Edward Theodore “Ed” Gein Essay (Biography)

Among the crimes committed in Wisconsin, Edward Theodore Gein had committed the worst. He was a cannibal and one of the most notorious criminals in La Crosse Wisconsin USA. This article focuses on the life of Edward Theodore.

Early life and family

Edward Gein was born on 27^th August 1906. He lived with his family on a 160-acre farm. He was born in a family of four and his father was named George Gein who was a tanner and a carpenter but a drunkard. His mother named Augusta was a domineering mother who was a religious fanatic and overbearing woman who had full control over his boys. She always taught her boys against the sin of premarital sex and ‘evil’ women. She feared that her boys would turn out to be failures like her husband (Mariotte 6).

Edward had an elderly brother who was called Henry. He used to be a bit rebellious unlike his brother Edward who loved his mother. Her mother used to read the bible for them and advises them not to associate with outsiders. The way Augusta brought up her sons was complicated; she never would want to expose them to social life which is vital since she thought that the outsiders would not have a positive impact on her children but negative. Perhaps this was because of her religious fanaticism (Biography 1).

Death of his Death

His father died in 1940 due to his alcoholism. It is said that Edward loved his mother so much that even when his brother would talk ill of her mother he would not allow him to do so. This shows that he cared for his mother even though she was strict (Mariotte 6). An incident on May 16^th, 1944 separated him and his brother. They were both fighting bush fire when they became separated and after the fire was controlled, Edward could not find his brother after which he reported to the police. In the accompaniment of the police, he guided them directly to where his brother was fighting the bush fire. His brother had been bruised on the head where the fire had passed and somehow the fire had killed him; unfortunately, people were insinuating that it had to be him who killed his brother. After the death, her son, Augusta who was a German immigrant suffered a stroke that year and his son Edward had to take care of her. He did attend to her mother’s needs but not before long that on December 29^th, 1945 she passed away and Gein was left alone (Berry-Dee 75).

His life in crime

Since he did not have good social relations he was ‘left alone in the world with no one to tell him what to do and freedom to do as he wished. This was at the age of thirty-nine. Due to some subsidies which were given to farmers to enhance conservation, Edward no longer tilled his farm. It was during this time that he started reading anatomy texts, especially the female anatomy texts, horror books, wartime stories, and in particular accounts of the Nazi atrocities. Alone on the farm, he would only think of sex endlessly such that he became obsessed with it. Also at this age, he was terrified of his sexuality and even thought of himself castrated. He also thought and consideration of a sex change but could not afford it.

Edward Gein possessed himself with these horrific stories. It is probably his thirst to know about the horrible events which took place during the time of the killing of Jews in Germany that his thoughts embraced murdering. The following are some of the texts that are claimed to have favorites of Edward:

Ilsa Koche, the notorious SS death camp supervisor, portrayed in Ed’s magazines as a curvaceous blonde, suitably-attired in tight-fitting uniform, knee-high black leather boots, and armed with a large whip, particularly thrilled him. (Berry-Dee 76)

He became obsessed with the articles and he started going to the local cemetery where he met Gus, a gravedigger and he befriended him. Gus was requested by Gein to assist in digging out of corpses after which Edward: “would remove strips of skin, whole breasts, and genitalia and in some cases whole bodies, before carefully reburying the bodies” (Biography 1). His experiment with the bodies was bizarre since he would dissect the female corpse and familiarise himself with its anatomy. He went on until he could dress up like a woman due to his urge to be a woman. Gein would dance around the moon wearing the skins he removed from the women’s bodies and he had made a vest out of a pair of women’s breasts. He would put female genitalia in his mother’s underwear and wore that. He started making objects with dead bodies as he would make a bowl soup with a skull, and a woman’s lips were sewn into a curtain pull and had mounted nine faces of women on his wall. He also made trophies of human bones which his friend commented on (Ed Gein 1).

Ed Gein became more unsatisfied that he used to have a newspaper so that he can read the obituary and see where the new bodies will be buried and with the help of his friend Gus he would do the usual routine and one time he dug ten dead corpses. With no more bodies, he started to create his own. His first victim was Mary Hogan who was a matronly owner of a local tavern at pine grove six miles from Edward’s home. She was 51 years old when Edward killed her: “He shot her in the head with his 32-caliber revolver, placed her body in his pickup truck, and took her back to his shed” (Hyperaktiv 1). He used to be a regular customer at the local pub.

Edward Gein managed to kill another women; this was Bernice Worden. Bernice used to operate a hardware store which Edward frequented. On the fateful day, Edward is said to have used rifle which on display at the hardware and using his own bullets, he managed to shoot dead Bernice. Fortunately the Sherriff managed with some assistance from his deputies and Bernice’s son managed to arrest after getting evidence that he had committed all those crimes.

After being arrested he agreed to have been a grave robber and denied being a cannibal. People regarded his farm as an evil place and latter he was committed to Waupan State Hospital for life sentence and latter died of cancer at the age of 78, and buried next to his family grave (Hyperaktiv 1).

Conclusion

Edward Theodore “Ed” Gein, was a deadly serial killer who loved his mother so much. He loved to be a woman as he killed women and stripped them and skinned them and wore their genitals and under wears. This is a person who was also deprived of social life and he lived on his own.

References

Berry-Dee, Christopher. Cannibal Series Killers: Profiles of Depraved Flesh-Eating Murderers. California, CA: Ulysses Press, 2011. Print.

Biography. Biography:Ed Gein. Bookrags, 2006. Web.

Ed Gein, Edward. Crime File-Famous Criminal: Ed Gein. n.d. Web: 2011.

Hyperaktiv. Case File: Ed Gein, The Butcher Of Plain Field. Fortune City, n.d. Web. 2011.

Mariotte, Jeff. Criminal Minds: Sociopaths, Serial Killers, and other Deviants. New York, NY: John Wiley and Sons, 2010. Print.