Netflix has once again succeeded in igniting public fascination with real-life notorious killers through its latest instalment in the Monster anthology series. On October 3, 2025, the streaming giant dropped Monster: The Ed Gein Story, starring Charlie Hunnam in Ed’s role. 

After the success of Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, this season, Ryan Murphy has turned the spotlight on the infamous ‘Butcher of Plainfield’, whose gruesome acts inspired iconic characters in horror classics such as ‘Norman Bates’ in Psycho, ‘Leatherface’ in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and ‘Buffalo Bill’ in Silence of the Lambs.

But beyond the recorded and confirmed murders, the Netflix series raises an unsettling question in its dramatisation, that is: Did Ed Gein also kill his brother Henry? Well, while the series suggests foul play, the truth behind Henry’s mysterious death remains far more complicated.

Monster: The Ed Gein Story begins with a disturbing murder of a family member

In the first episode, ‘Ed Gein’ (Charlie Hunnam) is seen killing his older brother, ‘Henry Gein’ (Hudson Oz), after a heated argument about escaping their domineering and abusive mother, ‘Augusta’ (Laurie Metcalf). The show depicts ‘Ed’, fairly young at that time, striking Henry with a log and then dragging his body. He is also shown staging a fire to conceal his crime before anyone knew it. But how much of this is true?

If the official records are to be believed, Henry Gein died in 1944 when he was 43 years old, and it was indeed from a fire that erupted on their family farm’s bush. The official cause of his death was listed as asphyxiation due to smoke inhalation. However, some suspicious markings had been found across his body, which some argued could indicate blunt trauma.

Adding to the mystery, Henry’s body was discovered on scorched ground, but his body barely had any significant burns. Even more mysterious was the fact that Ed, who had initially claimed he couldn’t find his brother, led authorities straight to the spot where Henry’s body was discovered. 

Did Ed Gein really kill Henry?

Back then, investigators ruled out foul play, and no autopsy was conducted. Had they known that the same Ed Gein would turn out to be the notorious ‘Plainfield Ghoul’ decades later,  they might have looked at Henry’s death through a very different lens.

Ed Gein was arrested in November 1957, following the disappearance of Bernice Worden, the owner of a hardware store in Plainfield, Wisconsin. After two confirmed murders and nine cases of grave desecration against his name, true crime researchers and writers revisited Henry’s death, speculating that Ed might have had something to do with it.

In fact, renowned true crime writer Harold Schechter wrote in his biography, Deviant, that Henry even had bruises on his head. Still, no direct evidence ever proved murder, and Ed himself never confessed to killing his brother.

Why the Netflix show chose this angle

Due to a lack of evidence, the facts surrounding Henry Gein’s death remain murky. However, in the new Netflix series, Murphy has taken creative liberty to intensify the drama into a Cain-and-Abel-style narrative. With this tactic, the series has made a psychologically compelling version to fill the historical gap, highlighting Ed’s clash with his brother and his twisted devotion to his domineering mother. 

Ed Gein and his disturbing trail of crimes

If we were to look at the bigger picture, it’s certain that Ed Gein was a deeply disturbed man. After being arrested, he admitted to murdering two women, Bernice Worden in 1957 and Mary Hogan years earlier. He also confessed to robbing and desecrating numerous graves, body mutilation, and fashioning human remains into masks, furniture, and clothing.

Ed’s crimes shocked the quiet town of Plainfield, Wisconsin, leaving behind one of the most infamous and harrowing legacies in American true crime history. He became popularly known as the ‘Grandfather of Gore’, the ‘Ghoul of Plainfield’, and ‘The Plainfield Butcher’. He died in July 1984 at the Mendota Mental Health Institute in Madison, Wisconsin.

So, did Ed Gein kill his brother Henry? The answer remains uncertain. While history leaves us with unsettling possibilities rather than proof, Netflix’s Monster opts for the darker interpretation.

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