Ed Gein

Ed Gein
Gein, c. 1958
Born	Edward Theodore Gein (1906-08-27)August 27, 1906 La Crosse County, Wisconsin, United States
Died	July 26, 1984(1984-07-26) (aged 77) Madison, Wisconsin, United States
Cause of death	Respiratory and heart failure due to cancer
Other names	The Mad Butcher
Criminal penalty	Served life in the Mendota Mental Health Institute
Conviction(s)	Murder
Killings
Victims	Bernice Worden and Mary Hogan (officially confirmed)
Country	United States
State(s)	Wisconsin
Date apprehended	November 16, 1957

Edward Theodore "Ed" Gein (/ˈɡiːn/; August 27, 1906 – July 26, 1984), also known as The Butcher of Plainfield, was an American murderer and body snatcher. His crimes, committed around his hometown of Plainfield, Wisconsin, gathered widespread notoriety after authorities discovered that Gein had exhumed corpses from local graveyards and fashioned trophies and keepsakes from their bones and skin. Gein confessed to killing two women – tavern owner Mary Hogan on December 8, 1954, and a Plainfield hardware store owner, Bernice Worden, on November 16, 1957. Gein was initially found unfit to stand trial and confined to a mental health facility. In 1968, Gein was found guilty but legally insane of the murder of Worden and was remanded to psychiatric institutions. He died at Mendota Mental Health Institute of cancer-induced liver and respiratory failure at age 77 on July 26, 1984. He is buried next to his family in the Plainfield Cemetery, in a now-unmarked grave.

Ed Gein was born in La Crosse County, Wisconsin, USA, on August 27, 1906, the second of two boys of George Philip (1873–1940)) and Augusta Wilhelmine (née Lehrke) Gein (1878–1945). Gein had an older brother, Henry George Gein (1901–1944). Augusta despised her husband, an alcoholic who was unable to keep a job; he had worked at various times as a carpenter, tanner, and insurance salesman. George owned a local grocery shop for a few years but sold the business, and the family left the city to purposely live in isolation near Plainfield, Wisconsin, which became the Gein family's permanent residence.

Augusta took advantage of the farm's isolation by turning away outsiders who could have influenced her sons. Edward left the farm only to attend school. Outside of school, he spent most of his time doing chores on the farm. Augusta was a fervent Lutheran. She preached to her boys about the innate immorality of the world, the evil of drinking, and the belief that all women were naturally prostitutes and instruments of the devil. She reserved time every afternoon to read to them from the Bible, usually selecting graphic verses from the Old Testament concerning death, murder, and divine retribution.