Ed Gein is the latest infamous figure featured in Netflix’s hit anthology series Monster, with Charlie Hunnam playing the reclusive killer and grave robber in season 3’s Monster: The Ed Gein Story.
But unlike previous Monster subject Jeffrey Dahmer, as well as other notorious criminals such as Ted Bundy, Dennis Rader, and Richard Ramirez, it’s debatable whether Gein is actually a serial killer.
Under the traditional U.S. legal definition, serial murder is considered “a series of three or more killings, not less than one of which was committed within the United States, having common characteristics such as to suggest the reasonable possibility that the crimes were committed by the same actor or actors.”
But according to Brittanica, some scholars have adopted guidelines from the National Institute of Justice that defines serial murder as involving at least two different murders that occur “over a period of time ranging from hours to years.”
Hence, the gray area for Gein, who admitted to killing only two people despite his lasting influence in popular horror culture.
Ed Gein only admitted to killing Mary Hogan and Bernice Worden
Gein lived alone in his family’s farmhouse in Plainfield, Wisconsin after the deaths of his father George, brother Henry, and mother Augusta (portrayed by Laurie Metcalf in Netflix’s Monster). However, Gein supported himself as a handyman and a babysitter and was known to frequent businesses at the center of two shocking disappearances in the 1950s.
The first was 54-year-old Mary Hogan, who operated a tavern frequently visited by Gein in nearby Pine Grove, Wisconsin. Hogan vanished in December 1954, and her fate remained unknown for almost three years.
Then 58-year-old Bernice Worden (Lesley Manville in Netflix’s Monster) went missing from her hardware store in Plainfield on November 16, 1957. A trail of blood led outside, and the cash register was also missing. Her son, Frank Worden (portrayed by Charlie Hall), a deputy sheriff, immediately suspected Gein and quickly found him at a neighbor’s house.
It was later that day that authorities arrived to search Gein’s home and discovered the real scope of his crimes. They found Bernice’s decapitated remains hanging from the ceiling and an array of household items crudely crafted from dead body parts, including organs in jars, soup bowls made from skulls, and a belt made from human nipples.
When questioned about the findings, Gein took responsibility for both Worden and Hogan’s murders and said he shot both of them. He also admitted to fashioning body suits made of skin.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Gein said his obsession with his mother, Augusta, made him want to become more like a woman. After frequently visiting her grave site, he began digging up corpses so that he could wear their skin.
Although police suspected Gein may have been responsible for more carnage, they were never able to definitely link him to other disappearances.
Gein was eventually found guilty of Worden’s murder, but ruled insane at the time of the crime. He spent the rest of his life institutionalized and died of complications from lung cancer and respiratory illness at age 77 in July 1984.
[SRC] https://www.biography.com/crime/a68816465/monster-netflix-ed-gein-victims
