The third instalment of the Netflix true-crime anthology series, Monster: The Ed Gein Story, was released on the OTT giant on October 3, 2025. Monster: The Ed Gein Story revolves around the story of Edward ‘Ed’ Gein, a notorious murderer of Plainfield, Wisconsin. This is not the first time that Ed Gein has been the subject of a Hollywood project. His gruesome crimes in his hometown gathered widespread notoriety, leading it to be the subject and inspiration for filmmakers to make a cinematic version.

Some films on similar topics include Psycho (1960), The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), and The Silence of the Lambs (1991). Recently, Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s Monster: The Ed Gein Story grabbed all the attention with the gruesome crimes which were committed by Ed Gein in real life. Amidst this, people have been digging up information about him. In Monster: The Ed Gein Story, the lead role was played by Charlie Hunnam, so, without further ado, let’s take a look at who Ed Gein was and what he did, stemming from his personal tragedy, which still terrifies people today.

The traumatic childhood of Ed Gein: A controlling mother made him hate women

Ed Gein was born in 1906 in a farmhouse in Plainfield, Wisconsin, where, according to TIME magazine, there was no electricity or plumbing. Ed Gein’s mom was religious and controlling, while his father was an alcoholic. Ed Gein adored his mother, and she, on the other hand, reportedly used to read Noah’s Ark from the Bible to her son, stating that there would be another flood which would take away women’s sins from the world.

She taught her son that all the women except her were evil, which eventually led Ed Gein to build a strong hatred against women, and it was so strong that he reportedly even refused to go on dates with women, cut connections to the outer world and indulged himself in the anatomy books. While Ed’s father’s abusive nature had an explicit effect on him, his mom’s deeds were detrimental to Ed’s young mind.

The Oedipus complex in Ed Gein’s case

Ed Gein’s father passed away back in 1940, due to a cardiac arrest, as reported. After four years of the same, Ed Gein’s brother also passed away. As per reports, he also suffered cardiac arrest, while many believed that it was Ed who killed his brother, making him his first victim. After the release of Monster: The Ed Gein Story, the same question has been doing the rounds, with people wanting to know, ‘Did Ed Gein kill his brother?’ Well, moving forward in his real-life story, the most triggering point occurred in Ed Gein’s case, when his mother, Augusta, passed away in 1945, leading his son, Ed, to a tragic personal downfall.

Ed Gein’s spirals led him to psychosis, including murder and grave robbery, which was triggered by his mom’s death

After his mom’s demise, Ed Gein got triggered, and it led him to do some gruesome acts. He reportedly turned to graves and robbed dead bodies. He used to bring back the dead bodies from the graves, and reportedly used to separate the skulls, heads and skin of the corpses. It didn’t stop there; he even fashioned keepsakes from the bones and skin of the dead bodies, as reported back then. It was in 1957 that Ed Gein was at the centre of all the attention following his mother’s death. Apart from grave robbery, Ed even killed two women, which he later admitted, and was arrested. The two victims were Bernice Worden, who was a sales clerk and Mary Hogan, a divorced tavern-keeper.

Police visited Ed Gein’s home and found some questionable and disturbing objects, as reported by TIME. Bernice Worden’s body was found there. Additionally, several unusual items were observed.

After Ed Gein lost his mother, he turned to grave robbing, with the intention to collect the corpse to preserve the remains just to look at it, as reported by TIME. The same report also claimed that Ed even once collected an entire family’s remains and took them home. When the dead bodies weren’t enough for him anymore, he turned to murdering people, having later admitted to having killed two women. He reportedly said that he was in a daze when he killed these women and collected the dead bodies. Psychiatrists revealed that Ed Gein dug the grave and collected the dead bodies, as he thought that he could bring his mom back and keep her with him, and then eventually destroy her, because she had frustrated him.

What happened to Ed Gein after he was arrested?

When Ed Gein was 51 years old, he was taken into custody. As Ed Gein was mentally ill, he was not found guilty of two murders, citing insanity. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia and was confined to psychiatric hospitals. He was there until he passed away in 1984 at the age of 77. The 2023 docuseries Psycho: The Lost Tapes of Ed Gein featured his medical records, which claimed that he started grave digging after his mother’s death, and looked for freshly buried bodies there. He was also asked why he chose to do the same, and he reportedly said that he wanted to remember his mom by doing all of it. According to the records, Ed confessed that he believed he could revive the dead bodies with his willpower. An excerpt from the records could be read as:

“For a period of time after his mother’s death, he felt that he could arouse the dead by an act of willpower. He claimed to have tried to arouse his dead mother by an act of willpower and was disappointed when he was unsuccessful.”