Ed Gein’s isolated farm in Plainfield, Wisconsin, became the centre of one of the most disturbing criminal investigations in mid-twentieth-century America, centred on repeated grave robberies and two confirmed murders.
Gein lived quietly in the small farming community until the late 1950s, when local disappearances and odd behaviour drew official attention. The subsequent search of his property revealed evidence of systematic body snatching from nearby cemeteries and the killing of Bernice Worden in 1957. A second victim, Mary Hogan, had vanished from her tavern three years earlier. Both cases exposed Gein’s long-standing practice of collecting human remains for personal use.
Background
Edward Theodore Gein was born in 1906 in La Crosse, Wisconsin, and moved with his family to a farm outside Plainfield in 1914. His father, George, worked as a carpenter and farmer but struggled with alcoholism. Augusta Gein, Edward’s mother, maintained strict religious control over the household and discouraged any social contact outside the immediate family.
After George Gein died in 1940, Edward and his older brother Henry remained on the farm with their mother. Henry died in 1944 during a brush fire on the property. Augusta suffered a stroke in 1945 and a second, fatal stroke in 1945. Left alone, Gein boarded up her rooms and continued living in the rest of the farmhouse.
Life in Plainfield
Gein earned income through odd jobs and occasional government assistance. Neighbours regarded him as harmless though eccentric. He frequently visited local taverns and offered to babysit for families in the area. Several women later recalled Gein asking them personal questions about anatomy during these visits.
The Crimes
Gein began visiting local cemeteries in the late 1940s. Court records and later statements indicate he opened at least nine graves, removing body parts that included skulls, skin, and bones. He fashioned household items and clothing from these remains. Police later recovered a belt made from nipples, a lampshade of human skin, and masks fashioned from facial tissue.
In December 1954, Mary Hogan disappeared from her tavern in Pine Grove. Investigators found a spent cartridge at the scene but no other immediate leads. Three years later, on 16 November 1957, hardware store owner Bernice Worden vanished during business hours. Her son noticed the cash register missing and a trail of blood leading outside.
Discovery at the Farm
Police visited Gein’s property that evening. Inside the farmhouse they found Worden’s body suspended in the woodshed, dressed out like a deer. Further search of the house and outbuildings produced dozens of human remains taken from graves. Gein admitted to robbing cemeteries over several years but denied killing anyone until confronted with the physical evidence.
Investigation
Officers from Waushara County and the Wisconsin State Crime Laboratory documented the scene over several days. Items removed included a collection of vulvas preserved in jars, a chair upholstered with human skin, and Gein’s own “mammary vest.” Forensic examination confirmed the remains matched missing persons from local cemeteries.
Gein cooperated during initial questioning. He described entering graves at night and selecting bodies of middle-aged women who resembled his mother. He denied sexual contact with the remains but acknowledged using them to create garments he sometimes wore around the farm.
Arrest and Trial
Gein was charged with the murder of Bernice Worden. The state also linked him to the death of Mary Hogan after a .22-calibre rifle matching the one used on Worden was recovered. In January 1958 a judge found Gein mentally unfit to stand trial and committed him to Central State Hospital for the Criminally Insane.
After nearly a decade of treatment, Gein was ruled competent. In 1968 he entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity to the Worden murder. The court accepted the plea and returned him to the hospital, where he remained until his death in 1984.
Psychological Profile
Psychiatric evaluations described Gein as suffering from schizophrenia and a severe mother fixation. Doctors noted his inability to form adult relationships and his retreat into a fantasy world built around his deceased mother. No evidence emerged of Gein targeting victims for sexual gratification in the conventional sense; instead, the remains served as substitutes for maternal presence.
Contemporary reports emphasised the absence of typical serial-killer patterns such as torture or prolonged captivity. Gein’s offences combined necrophilic collection with two opportunistic murders when living victims became available.
Legacy and Cultural Impact
The Plainfield case influenced several works of fiction, most notably Robert Bloch’s novel Psycho and the subsequent film by Alfred Hitchcock. Later authors and filmmakers drew on Gein’s story for characters in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and The Silence of the Lambs. These adaptations often amplified or altered details for dramatic effect.
In Wisconsin the case prompted renewed attention to cemetery security and missing-persons procedures in rural counties. The farmhouse itself was destroyed by fire in 1958 under circumstances that remain disputed. Today the site is an open field marked only by a historical plaque.
Conclusion
Ed Gein’s crimes combined grave robbery with two murders, creating a record of desecration that remains unique in American criminal history. The investigation revealed both the extent of his isolation and the community’s limited awareness of his activities. Official records continue to serve as the primary source for understanding the case and its limited but lasting influence on law-enforcement practice.
Bibliography
Newton, M. (2006) The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers. 2nd edn. New York: Checkmark Books.
Schechter, H. (1989) Deviant: The Shocking True Story of Ed Gein, the Original “Psycho”. New York: Pocket Books.
Wisconsin State Journal (1957) ‘Plainfield Man Held in Slaying of Store Owner’, 17 November.
Waushara County Circuit Court (1958) State of Wisconsin v. Edward Gein. Record of proceedings.
Central State Hospital (1968) Psychiatric Evaluation Report: Edward Gein. Wisconsin Department of Health and Social Services.
Stone, M. H. (2001) ‘Serial Killers and Their Victims’, Journal of Forensic Sciences, 46(4), pp. 789–795.
American Psychiatric Association (1952) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Washington, DC: APA.
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