This man became the prototype of Norman Bates from Alfred Hitchcock's film Psycho. Its features can be guessed in the bloodthirsty maniac from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Buffalo Bill from the movie “Silence of the Lambs” is surprisingly similar to him. Who is it about? The main character of this article is Ed Gein (more often - Gin), one of the most terrible maniacs in the history of the United States of America! What did he deserve such fame for? The biography of maniac Ed Geen, photographs and cultural impact are waiting for you below.
Childhood
Ed was born on August 27, 1906. In addition to him, the family had an older brother - Henry. The marriage of parents - George and Augusta - did not ask from the very beginning. They met when she was 19, and he was 24, quickly married. Ed Gin's father drank a lot, was constantly unemployed. He got a job either as a carpenter, then as a tanner, or as an insurance agent, but he was very quickly fired from every new duty station. The whole farm was held in August, which had a small grocery store. When Ed was still a child, the whole family moved to a farm in Plainsfield.
The childhood of little Eddie and Henry cannot be called prosperous. All members of the family, including the limp drunkard father, were under the control of a very oppressive Augusta, this woman did not recognize authorities, was distinguished by incredible rigor and authority. By the way, many psychologists who later engaged in the case of Ed Geen believed that it was the mother who had such an influence on the formation of the maniac's personality.
Eddie - Sissy
Gin's mother belonged to the old Lutheran school. She used every opportunity she had taken to tell her sons about all the dangers of sin. It was she who made her sons memorize the Old Testament, verses about retribution and death. It is unlikely that such literature can be called the best material for young children. Augustus considered the scriptures to be the best textbook for boys. And despite the fact that the brothers attended school, the mother did not allow them to communicate with their peers. After graduation, they were supposed to return home fairly quickly. Of course, if August were not a religious fanatic, she would most likely have divorced her husband, from whom there were only problems. However, for religious reasons, divorce was completely unacceptable.
The origins of mental disorders
Since childhood, Ed Geen has repeatedly heard from his mother that every woman is vicious and sinful, and sex is dirty and simply disgusting. Once Augusta found her youngest son at the masturbation. She did not shout at him or curse, but simply scalded him with boiling water. Of course, it is not surprising that the idea that all the women of the world, except his own mother, are real devils, firmly and firmly stuck in Gin's head. By the way, it was Augusta who insisted on moving from the city, which she called nothing more than a nest of debauchery, to a settlement in which less than a thousand people lived.
Father's death
When his father turned 66 years old, he died. The reason was commonplace - drunkenness. In order to help his mother financially, Henry and Ed undertook any work. Fortunately, there were many in the city. The brothers had an excellent reputation, the inhabitants of Plainsfield called them jack of all trades. Ed, in addition to being a laborer, often agreed to sit with the children. He was incredibly fond of this work, he believed that communication with children was better for him than many other adults. Around the same time, Eddie's older brother began dating a woman who already had two children. Henry and his wife were concerned about Ed's obsession with their own mother - he idolized her, obeyed everything, and sometimes even slept with her like a baby.
Henry's death
In the spring of 1944, Henry suddenly died. This happened when he and Ed burned trash and swamp grass on a farm. Ed himself said the following: the fire simply got out of control, his brother was literally engulfed in flames. Jin Jin ran for help. When he returned with his assistants, Henry was already dead. Many were inclined to think that Henry was the first victim of his younger brother. The thing is that nothing prevented him from knocking off the flames. The edge of the field was very close, the body was practically not burnt. Note that the autopsy of Henry was not carried out, however, the documents recorded that he had bruises on his head, which could be the result of a struggle. It is possible that Ed Guin killed his own brother, because he considered him the only person who stood between him and his mother.
The death of Augusta
As a result of all the misfortunes, Augustus was hit enough, she was bedridden. Throughout the whole year, Gin courted her, not paying attention to her whims and curses. Augusta died in December 1945, immediately after the second blow. Ed, who was then 39 years old, was left alone. It was from this moment that his fall into the abyss of madness began.
First of all, going around the house, Ed Gin pounded his mother's room and many other rooms that the family used most often. Then he began to settle in other rooms. And then he began to study special literature. With unprecedented enthusiasm, he read stories about the atrocities of nationalists, experiments on people in concentration camps, cannibalism. He also studied the information that his mother had been hiding from him for so long: medical guides, books on anatomy, scientific journals - everywhere Gin tried to find information about the structure of the female body. He carefully studied the press. The favorite section of the city newspaper was obituaries.
Anatomy lessons
Quite quickly, Eddie went from theory to practice. He carefully studied obituaries and then went to the cemetery under cover of night! What did he do at the churchyard? Dug up the bodies of recently deceased women. Gin carried them to his house, hung them on hooks, like carcasses of dead animals. However, this was not his main goal. Eddie was a real artist.
Creations of Ed Geen cause horror and disgust: he used the lower part of the bodies of abducted women in order to sew a semblance of leggings. And from the top of the maniac created leather vests. In addition, during a search, police found a shoe box in Gin’s house that was full of cut off noses. In his house there were skulls, which he used instead of bowls, lampshades were made of leather with the remains of flesh.
Investigators recalled: when they entered his house, they saw that 9 female faces were hung on the walls - carefully cut, processed using technologies that, most likely, the maniac found in books.
American Horror Story
To date, the exact number of victims of Gin is unknown. However, investigators believe that there are about 10 of them. Ed himself admitted only two murders. For example, in 1954 he brutally cracked down on Mary Hogan, who was the owner of a small tavern.
The psychologists who worked with Eddie said: the real boyfriend Mary cursed much better than the sailors, was very good at business, her voice was loud, and she also laughed a lot. Most likely, the behavior of this woman reminded Ed Gin of his mother, whom he missed so much. It is possible that Ed wanted to return Augustus home, and therefore killed Mary and hid her body in one of the rooms. It is worth noting that the locals rather vigorously discussed the disappearance of the hostess of the tavern, in one of the conversations Gin joked: Mary simply went to visit him and decided to stay permanently. Neighbors who thought Ed was not a perfectly normal person did not pay attention to this.
The second victim of the maniac Ed Geen was the owner of a hardware store named Bernice Warden. The 58-year-old woman disappeared in mid-November 1957. The sheriff, who was investigating the missing case, found a pool of blood on the floor of the shop. And in it is a check in the name of Ed. Despite the fact that the policeman did not find Gin at home, he went inside. Passing the dark rooms, he ended up in a room where he stumbled upon Bernice's headless body. Of course, the sheriff called for help, after a few hours the detectives searched the house of Gin.
It was during this search that terrible finds were made, including accessories and clothes made from the skin of women, collections of their lips and noses. Mrs. Warden's body was identified by her son Frank. The detectives found their heads: most likely the maniac was going to hang this "trophy" on the wall: he had already driven nails into his ears and made a string.
Arrest and treatment
Of course, Ed Geen was arrested. He immediately confessed to the two murders, told that he dug out from the graves the bodies of women who reminded him of his beloved mother. The psychiatric examination admitted: Gin is suffering from a serious disorder, and therefore cannot be brought to justice. In 1958, the maniac was sent for compulsory treatment, and then transferred to the Institute of Mental Health.
The notoriety of a maniac's house
During the polls, the police managed to find out that this house has long been notorious for local boys. The fact is that once during the game one of them hit a glass with a stone and looked inside. He saw terrible things. Ed Gin, in turn, said that skulls are a gift from his brother. He used to serve as a sailor somewhere in the South.
In 1958, the Plainsfield authorities tried to decide what to do with the house of Ed Geen (in the photo you can see this building), which became a warehouse of terrible things. Initially, it was decided to put it up for sale. But in March, the house burned down. Most likely, it was set on fire by one of the local residents. Of course, they did not find the culprits, and they hardly looked for them.
The last years of Gin's life
After 10 years, in 1968, the doctors decided: Ed almost returned to normal. Then he again appeared in court. He was found guilty, however, due to the fact that he committed his terrible crimes while being insane, he was again sent to the clinic. In 1984, Gin died. He became a legend, even despite the fact that he spent a significant part of his life behind bars and in hospitals.
Impact on culture
The terrible things that the maniac did, and even his personality, became the basis for many films. Ed Guin is the prototype of the main villains in such films as Psycho, Hell Motel, Man, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Turning the Wrong Way: Escape. About his life tell the films "Ed and his late mother," "Ed Gein: The Butcher from Plainfield" and "Ed Gein: the monster from Wisconsin."