The Butcher and the Dead: Who Was Ed Gein, the “Butcher” Who Inspired The Silence of the Lambs.

What do “Psycho,” “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” and “The Silence of the Lambs” have in common? They are definitely excellent movies, but not just that. All three were inspired by the crimes he committed on the edgealso known as Plainfield Butchera small locality Wisconsin, United State. Ghoul is linked to many different disappearances and crimes, but he was “only” officially convicted of two murders: Bernice Worden and Mary Hogan.

Ed Gein randomly dropped the living and the dead, between the quartered and the dead. for him crimes – real acts of corruption – shocking not only the small community of Plainfield, but the entire country to the stars and stripes.“He seemed to me like a good person, a little strange, like everyone else.”, the testimonies of his compatriots after his horrific discoveries. Incredible story in its inhuman cruelty.

Childhood and adolescence a nightmare

He was born in La Crosse on August 27, 1906, from the love affair between alcoholic greengrocer George B. Jane and housewife Augusta T. Learke, Edward Theodore “Ed” Jane did not have a simple childhood, quite the opposite. over there mother figure He plays an instrumental role – on the negative side – in shaping the future Butcher of Plainfield: a God-fearing woman, Lutheran and religious zealot, determined to raise her children in total solitude. Among many delusions, the woman believes that the world is full of evil and that alcoholism and immortality are tools of Satan. Little Ed, like his younger brother Henry, leaves home only to go to school, unable to establish relationships with classmates.

The love-hate relationship verges on obsession between a mother and son. Too rigid upbringing, such as arousing aversion to women, “demons” to the mother. Hence the conflicting relationship with the female sex and sexuality, to the point of reaching the first ecstasy at the sight of the parents slaughtering a pig.

Ed Gein went to school until the age of 14, before starting to work on the family farm. But the mother becomes increasingly intrusive and annoying. The promise – which he made with his brother – to remain a virgin for life is symbolic. In 1940, tragedy rocked the family: his father, George, died of heart problems. The dynamics change at home and Henry begins not respecting his mother’s dictates as before.

Brother’s death and mother’s illness

Another turning point in Ed Gein’s life is dated May 1944. During normal work inside the farm a terrible fire broke out. He will tell Ed that he has lost sight of his brother, but as soon as the agents arrive, he takes them straight to the place where the lifeless body is. Henry. Despite the wounds found on the young man’s head, Ed will not be investigated for his death.

Ed Gein remains alone with his mother on the family farm, but the union lasts a few months. suffers from a stroke, Augsburg He is still paralyzed. In December 1945, a second stroke proved fatal. Ed’s tremendous pain: a desperate, hysterical cry that marks the woman’s funeral. An event that categorically breaks his mind, a drama that relentlessly pushes him to indulge his most terrifying obsessions.

Plainfield Butcher

After the death of his mother, Ed Gein made a living with small jobs in Plainfield, often participating in threshing grain. The man is an active part of society, and although he is defined by many as an outsider, he easily gains everyone’s trust. But behind this tireless attitude there is more. On the farm—a place in complete decline, with no running water or electricity—he takes refuge in his most intimate states fantasies.

Ed Gein is fascinated by death, by gloom. He goes as quickly as possible to the cemeteries, uncovers the graves, and steals corpses. Then even this is no longer enough. But the discovery of horror happens by chance, without in-depth investigations. In fact, the man has been identified and arrested for murder Bernice Worden, a hardware store owner. He was the last customer. Police inspection confirms suspicions but not only. Bernice’s decapitated and eviscerated body was found in a shed on Ed Gein’s property.

But this is not the only dismal finding. residue locating agents Mary Hogan, a bartender who disappeared in 1954 and has never been found, and many others. Only Ed Gein admits to these two murders, but the remains found in his home point to something else: twenty noses, fragments and intact bones, skulls, vulvas, and fingernails. Down to the gruesome details: a skull made in a bowl, chairs upholstered in human skin, nipple-shaped necklaces and face masks hung around the house for decorative purposes. A modus operandi that earned him the nickname The Butcher of Plainfield.

Confession and trial

After thirty hours of silence, Ed Gein asks for a slice of apple pie and begins to confess everything. Despite his account, the investigators have no doubt: the man is A.J Serial killer Back from Journey to Madness. Just some timid hypotheses about cannibalism. While searching, the agents discover that the mother’s room is completely intact, well-kept, unlike the rest of the house, filled with rubbish and various horrors.

Ed Gein turned the house into a kind of shrine in memory of his mother. But not only. He had the desire to change sex and for this reason – he will say – he also wore female genitalia. And again: Nazi medical experiments, excessive consumption of pornography and horror novels, and a torturous study in human anatomy.

On January 6, 1958, hearings began to determine whether Gein would be able to appear in court. Specialists say Plainfield Butcher suffers from Schizophrenia, prone to hallucinations, and is convinced that he is an instrument of God capable of reviving the dead. Therefore, Jin is considered mentally ill and unable to stand trial. He was confined for ten years in a psychiatric hospital, before returning for trial: nine days later he was found guilty and sent back to a criminal asylum until the end of his days.

The birth of a legend

Ed Gein’s story became part of popular culture immediately after the shocking results were discovered. Robert Bloch in 1959 put his signature on the novel “Psycho”, then the genius of Alfred Hitchcock translated it to the big screen. Norman Bates became part of the seventh art history. But not only. The criminal history of American monster inspired Leatherface in “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and Buffalo Bill in “The Silence of the Lambs”. All characters that contributed powerfully to humankind’s deepest fears and are still today emblematic of horror, but none will be as terrifying as the original.