Cliff Notes – The real life monster behind Netflix’s latest obsession: Ed Gein’s gruesome history revealed
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Charlie Hunnam portrays Ed Gein, a notorious murderer and grave robber, whose horrific acts inspired iconic horror films like Psycho and The Silence of the Lambs.
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Gein confessed to two murders in 1957, with his victims resembling his mother; however, the series dramatizes additional killings without substantiated evidence.
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The show suggests Gein’s influence on the FBI’s understanding of serial killers, despite his arrest predating the formation of the FBI’s Behavioural Science Unit by over a decade.
Hollywood star Charlie Hunnam plays real-life murderer Ed Gein in Netflix’s Monster (Picture: Netflix/Bettmann Archive)
Netflix viewers have found themselves drawn into the dark and disturbing mind of a killer following the release of true crime biopic Monster: The Ed Gein Story.
Sons of Anarchy star Charlie Hunnam plays murderer, grave robber and suspected serial killer Gein – dubbed ‘the Butcher of Plainfield.’
Born in 1906 in La Crosse, Wisconsin, Gein gained worldwide notoriety after it was discovered that he robbed graves and used body parts to make various household objects and furniture pieces.
Gein’s horrific crimes would go down in the annals of American history as some of the most disturbing ever committed, inspiring some of the greatest horror films of all time in Psycho, The Silence of the Lambs and more.
The killer’s upbringing has been dramatised in Ryan Murphy’s latest instalment of the Netflix series Monster, which delves into Gein’s rise to infamy in gruelling detail.
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But how much do we really know about Ed Gein? And just how true are the horrific events depicted in Monster?
Charlie Hunnam plays killer Ed Gein (Picture: Netflix UK)
Gein was arrested and confessed to two murders in 1957 (Picture: Bettmann Archive)
How many people did Ed Gein kill?
Following his arrest, Gein admitted to killing two women – 54-year-old bar owner Mary Hogan, and 58-year-old hardware store shopkeeper Bernice Worden.
Both women are said to have resembled Gein’s mother.
Under questioning, 50-year-old Gein admitted to being responsible for Hogan and Worden’s disappearances, and revealed that he had shot them both.
Both murders are dramatised in episodes of Monster: The Ed Gein Story. Although the show sees Gein kill again and again (including a local babysitter and two hapless hunters), any culpability for further killings is conjecture on the series’ part.
There is also no evidence to suggest that Gein had a romantic relationship with Worden, although he did admit to a fondness for the shopkeeper.
Likewise, the death of Gein’s brother, Henry Gein. While Ed was indeed suspected of killing Henry, his direct involvement was never proven.
Suzanna Son plays Gein’s love interest, Adeline Watkins (Picture: Netflix)
Did Ed Gein have a girlfriend?
In the show, Gein grows close to a local girl named Adeline Watkins (played by Suzanna Son), who, over time, encourages him to give in to his darkest impulses.
In 1957, the real-life Adeline claimed to have had a 20-year-long romance with the rumoured serial killer.
Speaking to the Minneapolis Tribune, she described him as ‘good and sweet and kind,’ and shared a love of reading.
Adeline Watkins claimed to have nearly married Gein (Picture: Bettmann Archive)
The two also discussed crime, with conversation turning to ‘every murder we ever heard about,’ and Gein describing ‘how the murderer did wrong, what mistakes he had made. I thought it was interesting.’
Watkins also claimed that Gein proposed to her on their final date in February 1955.
‘I turned him down, but not because there was anything wrong with him. It was something wrong with me. I guess I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to live up to what he expected of me,’ she told the Minneapolis Tribune.
However, Watkins later retracted her statements to the newspaper, later describing their relationship as ‘platonic.’
Gein targeted local shopkeeper Bernice Worden (Picture: Neftlix)
What was found in Ed Gein’s home?
Following Worden’s disappearance, police arrived at Gein’s farmhouse in search of answers.
In the outside shed, they discovered Worden’s mutilated and decapitated body, hanging from hooks.
Worden’s head was found inside the house, along with the remains of bar owner Hogan.
In addition to the bodies, investigators uncovered all manner of horrific bric-a-brac. This included a lampshade made of human skin, several masks made of female faces, and a corset made from the skin of a woman’s torso.
Gein formed the very loose inspiration for horror icon Leatherface (Picture: Everett/Shutterstock)
Did Ed Gein inspire The Texas Chain Saw Massacre?
Gein’s nightmarish creations went on to loosely inspire the 1974 horror film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, directed by Tobe Hooper.
Fascinated by Gein’s obsession with meat, Hooper re-imagined the killer as a chainsaw-wielding cannibal, residing in rural Texas.
Just as there is no evidence that Gein ever used a chainsaw, so he also denied ever having sex with the bodies he exhumed, describing the smell as ‘too bad.’
Monster: The Ed Gein Story claims that the killer was the inspiration for Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (Picture: Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock)
Was Ed Gein also the inspiration behind Psycho?
Psycho director Alfred Hitchcock based his 1960 masterpiece on the novel of the same name by Robert Bloch.
While novelist Bloch lived a mere 35 miles away from the local Boogeyman, he always denied basing the character of Norman Bates on Gein.
Still, the similarities are undeniable – including the parallels between Gein, Bates and the relationship they shared with their mother.
Anthony Perkins played serial killer Norman Bates (Picture: Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock)
Years later, Gein would also go on to inspire the character of Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs.
Like Gein did in real life, the serial killer fashions himself a ‘woman suit’ made out of his victims’ skin.
However, unlike Buffalo Bill – and his own counterpart in Monster – the real Ed Gein is not believed to have taken sexual pleasure in his crimes.
‘Ed wasn’t a sexual sadist—he just wanted the bodies for leather. He was a homicidal craftsman,’ wrote Christopher Berry-Dee in his 2020 book Serial Killers at the movies.
Monster hints that Gein may have advised the FBI on other killers, including Ted Bundy (Picture: AP)
Did Ed Gein help the FBI catch Ted Bundy?
In Monster’s eighth episode, an imprisoned Gein receives a visit from the FBI, who seek his help in understanding another serial killer.
Known initially as the Pacific Northwest Killer, this elusive figure was later identified as Ted Bundy – with no involvement on Ed Gein’s part.
In fact, Gein was arrested in 1957 – over a decade before the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit was ever formed.
Gein died at the age of 77 in 1984 while incarcerated at the Mendota Mental Health Institute in Wisconsin.
Monster: The Ed Gein Story is streaming now on Netflix UK.
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