Norman Bates in Psycho, Leatherface in Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs all had origins in the same true story, the story of Ed Gein. Geins crimes were committed against the living and the dead. Ed Gein: born on August 27, 1906 in La Crosse County, Wisconsin.

One deer season, when all the men were out in the woods hunting for food, in the small town of Plainfield, a person went missing. This person, was one the town would notice to be gone- a hardware store owner, Bernice Worden. When her son came home from deer hunting himself, he found the place was a mess. There was blood all over the floor. When the police interviewed the son, he mentioned a customer he'd met just the day prior checking on the price of anti-freeze. This was Ed Gein. He was a 51 year old bachelor who lived in an isolated home outside of town. Members of the community explained him as 'the village oddball'.

The policeman explained, "If you ever wanted to have a Halloween party, that was the place to have it. It was a spooky house. It was dark, with no sign of life." The doors of the house were locked, so the officers decided to check out the woodshed. With flashlights they went in to investigate, when one felt something brush against his shoulder. He flashed the light upon it, and it was indeed Bernice Worden, hanging from the rafters upside-down. She was beheaded, and gutted. Ed Gein was arrested that evening.

While Ed Gein was in his holding cell the night of his arrest, the police went back to investigate the rest of the woodshed and home. They found that Bernice Worden was merely the latest in a long line of crimes. The home was filled with trash, and described as, 'chaos'. Beyond the less than poor housekeeping, were scattered pieces of human remains. There were bowls made from human skulls, a string of women's aerolas, a shade pull made from a woman's lips, a lampshade of human skin, chairs upholstered in human skin, and face masks hung on the wall as decorations.

An officer stumbled upon a brown bag which contained a 'hank' of human hair. It was a woman's face, one that they recognized, a local bar owner- Mary Hogan. She had been missing for 3 years.

Ed Gein asked for a slice of apple pie with cheddar cheese, and complied with all the authority's requests. He told them everything they wanted to know. However, Gein only confessed to 2 killings, Bernice Worden and Mary Hogan. The rest of his 'artifacts' were crafted from corpses he had stolen from graves. The town was utterly horrified, not just by the 2 murders, but all the other gruesome crimes. He'd lived in the community almost all his life, and even babysat their children.

As reports of Ed Gein's arrest hit the news, journalists from all over the nation flocked to the small town- igniting what was to be the next cultural icon of horror. A fellow resident of Wisconsin (and an author at that), Robert Bloch, was immediately inspired to write, 'Psycho', which Alfred Hitchcock would make into a film in 1960. One of the key things the author took from the Gein case was the psychological relationship between Gein and his mother.

Ed Gein's mother, Augusta, had been dead 12 years at the time of Ed's arrest. As the police had worked their way through the home on that fateful day, they found a boarded up doorway. What they found in the room was perfect preservation, unlike any other in the home. The bed was made, a Bible on the table, and essentially it was a shrine to his mother.

Ed was was born to an alcoholic father, and a strong-willed Christian mother. When he was 8 years old, the mother insisted they move away from their town she considered 'evil'. They settled in Plainfield, Wisconsin at this time. Ed worshiped his mother, but also had a love/hate relationship with the woman.

When he was 34 years old, the father died. In 1944, there was a brush fire on their property. The police came to the scene, and although Ed told them he didn't know where his older brother was, he was able to lead them directly to his dead body. Rumors were the body had unexplained bruises on his head, but it was never investigated.

Months after the brother died, the mother had a stroke and was partially paralyzed. Ed became her care-taker. She ended up having another stroke, and died. This was a devastating blow to Ed. It was explained that at her funeral he reacted like a mourning school boy, as she had completely undermined his manhood while alive. For the first time, Ed was on his own, at almost 40 years old.

Ed earned his money doing odd jobs around the town. He was described as a good guy, and a hard-worker. He would commonly eat at townspeople's homes after working on crews. The women would later say he made them feel very uncomfortable when he looked at them. Growing up, his mother taught and preached that all women were evil, whores.

He had no electricity or indoor plumbing in his home. He entered into a state of psychosis, living in inner-fantasies. Gein's mother had left him terrified of human contact, but of women in particular. In his loneliness, he sought ought his own sick version of companionship. He began to make night-time raids at local grave yards. He preyed upon newly buried bodies.

Although it was never determined if Ed practiced cannibalism or necrophilia, they found incomprehensible creations about his home. There was a 'mammary vest' that he cut from a woman and attached straps to. There were also leggings he made from a woman's legs. He would sometimes even 'wear' female genitals and pretend to be a woman. He eventually would not be sufficed by these already dead women, and began frequenting the bar owned by Mary Hogan.

Mary Hogan was described as 'jovial', but a dirty talker. She would have been everything his mother warned him about, yet domineering and in some ways paralleling his mother in that domineering fashion. One day, the bar was found empty and in upheaval, with blood on the floor- much like the later scene in Bernice Worden's hardware store. No one suspected Ed Gein, and he was never questioned. The case would go unsolved, until she was found in Ed's home on the same day as Bernice Worden.

When Ed went to trial, the judge found him legally insane. He was sent to a state hospital for the criminally insane.

An auction was planned for Ed Gein's personal effects on Palm Sunday in 1958, but somehow, the home was burned to the ground before it could happen. The blaze remains a mystery. Still, hundreds flocked to the estate to purchase what was left. One being his car, which eventually went on 'tour' and to county fairs.

Ed was considered a 'model patient' in the hospital. A hospital employee explained that Ed would become strange during full moons. At these times he would speak of women and the 'things' he wanted to do to them. But as the full moon passed, so did the behavior.

In 1968, he was considered competent to stand trial. After a 9 day trial, the judge found him guilty. He was sent back to the hospital to live out the rest of his days.

In the 1970s, a new series of films began from inspiration of Ed Gein as the Psycho films: 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre'. Seventeen years after, more of Ed Gein's world would enter into 'Silence of the Lambs' as Buffalo Bill. In 2001, a low budget film specifically about Ed Gein was produced, simply titled, 'Ed Gein'. Most recently, the production of 'Ed Gein: The Butcher of Plainfield', 2007.

Ed died of respiratory failure in 1984. He was buried right beside his mother in the Plainfield cemetary.