What happened to Monster: The Ed Gein Story's killer, and how did he die?

Monster: The Ed Gein Story, a Netflix series, dramatizes the life of Edward Gein, notoriously called the "Butcher of Plainfield." Born on August 27, 1906, in La Crosse, Wisconsin, Gein spent his childhood under the autocratic control of his mother, Augusta, who imbued hard-line religious teachings about sin and morality. Following her death in 1945, Gein was even more alone on the family's countryside farm in Plainfield, Wisconsin.

Between 1947 and 1957, Gein robbed graves of several women whose looks were similar to his mother's and eventually killed two women: tavern owner Mary Hogan (1954) and hardware store clerk Bernice Worden (1957). Police found macabre material crafted from human skin and bones, masks, furniture, clothing, and anatomical items when they searched his farmhouse and outbuildings. The offenses, uncovered in 1957, appalled the country and inspired pop culture horror legends like Norman Bates (Psycho) and Leatherface (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre), among many others.

Gein spent the remainder of his life in mental facilities and died on July 26, 1984, at the age of 77, due to respiratory failure from lung cancer at the Mendota Mental Health Institute in Madison, Wisconsin. Monster: The Ed Gein Story can be streamed on Netflix, with every episode available beginning October 3, 2025, with Charlie Hunnam playing Gein and Laurie Metcalf playing his mother.

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Monster: The Ed Gein Story: Early life and family influences

Monster: The Ed Gein Story (Image via Unsplash/ @ Scott Rodgerson)

Edward Theodore Gein was born on August 27, 1906, in La Crosse, Wisconsin, as the second son of George and Augusta Gein. His father, George, struggled with alcoholism and worked sporadically as a tanner and carpenter, often leaving the family in financial hardship.

His mother, Augusta, a deeply religious woman, dominated the household with her strict Lutheran beliefs. She frequently preached from the Bible, warning her sons about the dangers of sin, alcohol, and especially women, whom she viewed as sources of temptation and evil, as per Britannica.

This created a tense environment where young Ed Gein learned to idolize his mother while fearing the outside world. In 1915, the family moved to a 195-acre farm near Plainfield, Wisconsin, a remote spot that further isolated them from neighbors, according to Biography.

Augusta homeschooled Ed until he was 12, limiting his social contacts and reinforcing her control. At school, Ed was shy and awkward, often laughing at odd moments, which made fitting in difficult. Despite this, he did well in reading and other subjects.

George died of heart failure in 1940, leaving Ed and his older brother, Henry, to manage the farm, as per Biography. Henry, more independent and critical of Augusta, worked odd jobs and dated, which clashed with their mother's views.

Tensions peaked in May 1944 when a brush fire broke out on the property. Henry went missing during the effort to contain it, and his body was found the next day, face down in ashes with burns and unexplained head bruises, All That’s Interesting reported.

Officials ruled it an accident from smoke inhalation, but suspicions lingered about Ed Gein's role, given his later confessions of dark fantasies. After Henry's death, Augusta suffered a stroke and became bedridden. Ed quit school at 14 to care for her full-time, deepening his dependence.

When Augusta died of another stroke on December 29, 1945, at age 67, Ed Gein was devastated. He boarded up her rooms, turning them into a shrine, and lived alone, scraping by as a handyman and babysitter, as per Biography.

This solitude, combined with his mother's lingering psychological hold, set the stage for his disturbing actions in the years ahead. Psychologists later noted how Augusta's teachings fostered Ed's aversion to intimacy and fueled his obsessions with death and resurrection, according to All That’s Interesting.

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The crimes and their discovery

Ed Gein used to create items from dead bodies' parts (Image via Unsplash/ @ JOSHUA COLEMAN)

Ed Gein's criminal activities began quietly after his mother's death, escalating into acts of grave-robbing and murder driven by a fixation on middle-aged women who reminded him of Augusta. From 1947 to 1952, he confessed to digging up at least nine fresh graves from local cemeteries, targeting women buried recently. Using a stolen tow truck for transport, he would exhume bodies at night, drag them to his farm, and perform crude procedures, as per Biography.

He avoided s*xual acts with the corpses due to their condition but used their parts to create items for his home, believing it brought him closer to his mother, as per All That’s Interesting. His first known murder occurred on December 8, 1954, when 51-year-old Mary Hogan vanished from her tavern in Pine Grove, Wisconsin, according to the Crime Museum. Gein shot her with a .22-caliber rifle, decapitated her, and stored her head as a mask. Her disappearance went unsolved until years later.

The second killing happened on November 16, 1957, when 58-year-old Bernice Worden disappeared from her Plainfield hardware store. Gein, a regular customer, shot her in the head while she was alone, slit her abdomen, and hung her eviscerated body upside down in his shed to drain blood, as per Britannica. He took $40 from the register and left a receipt for antifreeze to mislead investigators. Suspicion fell on Gein when Worden's son, a deputy sheriff, found blood in the store and linked a receipt to him.

Police arrived at the farm that evening and spotted the body in the shed. Inside the cluttered house, with no running water or electricity, they uncovered horrors: four preserved heads (two as masks), a wastebasket lined with skin, lampshades and a corset from torsos and breasts, a belt of nipples, leggings from skin, and a shoebox with nine vulvas, as per All That’s Interesting. Furniture included chairs with skin seats and skull bedposts. Gein admitted the acts calmly, saying he wore the "suits" to become his mother.

Experts confirmed no links to other local cases, like the 1947 disappearance of 8-year-old Georgia Jean Weckler, as per Biography. The farm's contents were auctioned in 1958, but the house burned down soon after, possibly by arson, All That’s Interesting reported. These discoveries shocked Plainfield and the nation, revealing a man whose crimes blurred the lines between necrophilia and delusion, as per Business Insider.

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Arrest, trial, and institutionalization

Ed Gein died due to lung cancer (Image via Unsplash/ @ Emiliano Bar)

Following the gruesome find on November 16, 1957, authorities arrested 51-year-old Ed Gein without resistance at a local store. He was held in Waushara County Jail, where he quickly confessed to both murders and the grave robberies during questioning, as per Biography. A preliminary hearing on November 21 charged him with Worden's first-degree murder; he entered a not guilty plea by reason of insanity.

Psychiatrists diagnosed schizophrenia, describing him as detached from reality, with no remorse but full cooperation. Deemed unfit for trial due to his mental state, Ed Gein was committed indefinitely to Central State Hospital for the Criminally Insane in Waupun, Wisconsin, in late 1957, as per Britannica. There, he lived quietly, reading, playing the accordion, and joining supervised outings like bowling.

The state skipped prosecuting Hogan's murder to save costs, as Ed Gein would remain confined regardless. His 1947 Ford sedan, used to haul bodies, sold at auction for $760 to a carnival operator who charged 25 cents for viewings, according to All That’s Interesting. By 1968, after evaluations showed improvement, Gein was declared competent for trial. A bench trial without a jury, at his lawyers' request, began November 7 before Judge Robert H. Gollmar in Waushara County.

Prosecutors presented evidence from the farm raids, while defense experts reiterated his insanity. On November 14, Ed Gein was convicted of Worden's murder but found not guilty by reason of insanity in the sanity phase, as per Britannica.

He returned to Central State Hospital, eligible for release if cured, though he never sought it. In 1978, at age 72, he transferred to the lower-security Mendota Mental Health Institute in Madison for geriatric care.

Staff described him as a model patient: polite, non-violent, and engaged in hobbies, according to Biography. No further crimes occurred, and he received treatment for his conditions.

This period marked the end of Ed Gein's active threat to society, shifting focus from horror to questions about mental health care in the justice system. His case highlighted early understandings of schizophrenia and the challenges of prosecuting the mentally ill, as per Britannica.

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Final years and legacy

In his later institutional years, Ed Gein settled into a routine far removed from the chaos of his past. At Mendota Mental Health Institute, he spent time in the geriatric ward, maintaining his interests in reading mystery novels and playing the accordion, as per Biography.

Gein avoided discussions of his crimes, showing no aggression toward staff or fellow patients. Doctors monitored his schizophrenia, which had stabilized with medication and therapy, allowing him simple freedoms like group activities, according to Britannica.

Ed Gein's physical health declined in the early 1980s; he developed lung cancer, leading to respiratory issues. On July 26, 1984, at 77 years old, Ed Gein died peacefully in his sleep from respiratory failure secondary to cancer.

His body was buried in an unmarked grave in Plainfield Cemetery, next to his family, to prevent vandalism, though his headstone was later stolen and recovered in 2001, as per Biography. The farm, once a site of infamy, had long been razed, leaving only echoes in local memory.

Gein's story transcended his lifetime, shaping American horror. His acts directly influenced Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960), with Norman Bates mirroring his mother's obsession; Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), featuring Leatherface's skin masks; and Jonathan Demme's The Silence of the Lambs (1991), with Buffalo Bill's suits, as per Britannica.

Documentaries, books, films like Deranged (1974), and Ryan Murphy's Monster: The Ed Gein Story retold his tale. It examines his justice system journey, from trial to death, through Hunnam's nuanced performance, EW reported. While his crimes remain a dark chapter, they prompt ongoing talks on mental illness, family dynamics, and the media's role in turning killers into legends, as per TIME.

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