'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,/9j/2wBDAAYEBQYFBAYGBQYHBwYIChAKCgkJChQODwwQFxQYGBcUFhYaHSUfGhsjHBYWICwgIyYnKSopGR8tMC0oMCUoKSj/2wBDAQcHBwoIChMKChMoGhYaKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCj/wgARCAAGAAoDASIAAhEBAxEB/8QAFgABAQEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMF/8QAFQEBAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQL/2gAMAwEAAhADEAAAAM+QV//EACAQAAEEAQQDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIBAwQFEwAGERIHIXL/2gAIAQEAAT8A8jja7TqILUm3KZnBWsSMILfQeOyLqIIPxWXRtZ4CYCSDhH1yn3r/xAAWEQEBAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACABL/2gAIAQIBAT8AbWr/xAAYEQACAwAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAgMTIf/aAAgBAwEBPwBY1qXD/9k='%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Ed Gein sits at the center of one of America’s most documented murder cases, and the facts remain stark. Police linked him to two killings and a series of grave robberies that shocked rural Wisconsin in the 1950s.
Items fashioned from human remains were cataloged, and the legal outcome ended with confinement in a psychiatric hospital. The case still draws attention because Netflix’s Monster: The Ed Gein Story has renewed public interest.
Case background on Ed Gein
Born in 1906, Edward Theodore Gein grew up under a strict mother and an unreliable father on a farm near Plainfield. After his father’s death, the household narrowed to Gein, his older brother Henry, and their mother. Henry died in 1944 during a brush fire. Officials listed asphyxiation as the cause. Locals later raised questions, but no charges followed.
Trending
After Augusta Gein died in 1945, her son boarded up the rooms she used and lived in a small section of the house. Investigators later said he fixated on women who resembled his mother, and authorities examined other disappearances, but no additional murders were charged beyond the two he admitted.
Timeline of events in the Ed Gein case
1906–1945: Ed Gein's early life and family losses
Gein was born on August 27, 1906, in La Crosse County and moved with his family to a farm outside Plainfield. His father died in 1940. On May 16, 1944, Henry Gein was found dead after a marsh fire went out of control; the death certificate cited asphyxiation. Suspicion lingered in town discussions, though Gein was never charged over his brother’s death, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
December 8, 1954: Ed Gein and the Mary Hogan murder
Mary Hogan, 51, disappeared from her tavern in nearby Pine Grove. During interviews years later, Gein admitted he shot Hogan. Investigators eventually found Hogan’s remains in Gein’s house after his 1957 arrest.
November 16, 1957: Ed Gein’s arrest and the discovery of evidence
Hardware store owner Bernice Worden vanished the morning of November 16, 1957. A sales slip for antifreeze written by Worden that morning led deputies to focus on Gein and search his farm that night. Worden’s body was located on the property, and a search of the house turned up a wide range of human remains and crafted objects. TIME’s contemporaneous report listed masks, bowls, a lampshade made from a face, and other items, all logged by authorities.
Also read: 5 key details about Ed Gein’s case
1968–1984: Ed Gein's verdict, insanity ruling, and death
Gein was soon found incompetent to stand trial and was committed. In 1968, after doctors said he could assist in his defense, the court found him guilty of Worden’s murder, then, in a separate sanity phase, ruled him not guilty by reason of insanity and committed him to state care.
Gein died in 1984 at Mendota Mental Health Institute.
Where to watch Monster: The Ed Gein Story
The case is retold in Monster: The Ed Gein Story, the third season of Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s anthology. The season, starring Charlie Hunnam as Gein with Laurie Metcalf as Augusta Gein, premiered on Netflix on October 3, 2025.
The series frames Gein’s actions alongside their influence on films such as Psycho, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and The Silence of the Lambs, while noting disputed claims and alleged links raised over the years.
