Monsters 3 will be the most gruesome ever
After Jeffrey Dahmer and the Menendez brothers a third monster has been found that inspired the creators of the Monsters trilogy. Ed Gein may not have committed the most murders, but he built such a horror house and robbed graves of bodies that you might almost find Hannibal Lecter to be a sweetheart.
Let me take you through his story.
Who was Ed Gein?
Edward Theodore Gein was born on August 27, 1906, in La Crosse County, Wisconsin. He grew up in a strict religious household with a dominant mother, Augusta Gein, who taught him and his brother Henry that women (except for herself, of course) were sinful and that sex was bad. His mother was fanatically religious and kept her sons extremely isolated from the outside world.
When Augusta died in 1945, Ed became completely isolated and had no idea how to live. He was left alone on the remote family farm in Plainfield, Wisconsin, and began to develop increasingly strange obsessions, particularly around death and the female body.
His crimes
Officially, he was convicted of two murders, but Gein is especially notorious for what he did with the bodies afterward.
- Mary Hogan (1954) – A café owner who disappeared and whose body parts were later found in Gein's house.
- Bernice Worden (1957) – The owner of a hardware store in Plainfield was horrifically murdered. Her body was later found in Gein's shed, cut open like a wild animal.
- A nipple belt, yes really
- Gein confessed to committing the murders and that he robbed graves nearby. He stole remains of women who resembled his mother and made objects from their body parts.
I hope you have eaten while reading this, otherwise I would say: just stop reading for a moment and go to another article.
What the police found in his house was downright gruesome:
- A “women's skin suit” that he wore to feel like a woman.
- Chairs and lampshades covered with human skin.
- A belt made of nipples.
- Masks made from peeled faces.
- The police found a horror house full of human remains.
His sentence and later life
Ed Gein was arrested on November 16, 1957, and during his interrogation, he openly confessed to murder and grave robbing. But due to his mental state, he was declared insane and in 1958 placed in a psychiatric institution, the Central State Hospital for the Criminally Insane in Waupun, Wisconsin.
Gein died on July 26, 1984, at the age of 77 in a psychiatric facility from respiratory failure caused by cancer. He was buried in the Plainfield cemetery, where he had once dug up bodies himself. Ironically, his gravestone was later stolen by souvenir hunters. Quite bizarre.
More than Monsters
The creators of Monsters are not the first to be inspired by Gein's gruesome deeds.
Movies:
Psycho (1960) – Norman Bates is based on Gein, with his obsession with his mother and his hidden murderous tendencies.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) – The character Leatherface, who wears masks made of human skin, is inspired by Gein.
The Silence of the Lambs (1991) – Buffalo Bill, who tries to make a “women's skin suit,” is largely based on Gein.
Deranged (1974) – A lesser-known film that directly retells Gein's story.
Ed Gein (2000) and Ed Gein: The Butcher of Plainfield (2007) – Films that are more biographical and focus on his life and crimes.
Books:
Deviant: The Shocking True Story of Ed Gein, the Original “Psycho” (1989) by Harold Schechter – An in-depth non-fiction book about Gein's life and crimes.
American Horror Story: Asylum (2012) – Although not a book, this TV series features characters and story elements based on Gein.
The third series
The upcoming third series of Monsters will focus on him, following earlier seasons about Jeffrey Dahmer and the Menendez Brothers. Given Gein's enormous influence on horror culture, this series will undoubtedly explore the gruesome details of his life and deeds to the core. He appears in 2026 – I hope by then I have gathered the courage to dare to watch it.
