Hackl 1
"In terms of numbers, Ed Gein was not much of a murderer, as serial
killers go. But viewed through the lens of sheer, lunatic atrocity, he was one
of the worst"(Time-Life Editors 106)
Edward Gein was born on August 8, 1906 in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. Gein had a
heavy drinking father by the name of George, a weak ineffectual brother by the name of
Henry who was 5 years older than Ed, and a domineering mother, known as Augusta nee
Loehrke, who had no use for sex or men. When Gein was 8, they moved to Plainfield in
1912. The two boys did the work around the 160-acre farm, but their mother ruled their
lives. She insisted they remain unmarried, and instilled the belief that women would
separate the family and betray any love that was there. His mother taught them at an early
age that sex was a sinful thing. Between 1940, and 1945, first his father, who was 60,
then Henry who was 45, and then his mother, who was 64 died. Henry died in a marsh
fire, and his mother suffered a stroke in 1944. Ed took care of her until a second stroke
took her life in 1945, leaving him alone for the first time at the age of 39 on a desolate
farm that did not have electricity. Gein was still emotionally enslaved to the woman that
tyrannized his life. Gein later recalled his mother as good in every way.
After his family's deaths, Gein could no longer run the farm on his own. Gein
qualified for a Government subsidy. So Gein did odd jobs around the town and for
people. Ed was known as a handyman. He would do people's chores for money, baby sit,
and play games and go to movies with the kids. The town thought of Ed as wierd, but
harmless. Soon, Ed sealed off his mother's room to preserve it as a shrine. He later
sealed off the drawing room and the entire upstairs. Gein confined himself into his room
and the kitchen.
Over time, Gein developed an unhealthy interest in the intima...