Case Study On A Real Life Crime:

Ed Gein

Edward Theodore “Ed Gein”In Ed’s early childhood he was brought up on an isolated farm in La Crosse

County, Wisconsin. He was restricted from making friends, if he tried he would be punished by his mother leading for him to have a poor social development. He was described as being shy and had weird mannerism such as random spells of laughter to himself.

His childhood home was a remote farm and the only time he left the farm would be to go to school. From a young age it was drilled into him that drinking alcohol was evil and that all women were natural prostitutes. Every afternoon he would have a story read to him from the Old Testament usually regarding death, murder or divine retribution.

Ed gein was known as an American murder and body snatcher. He confessed to the killing of two women - Mary Hogan(1954) and Bernice Worden (1957). He was put up for trial on November 21st 1957, for first degree murder however he pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. He was then sent to the Central State Hospital for the Criminally Insane and later transferred to the Mendota State Hospital in Madison, whereby he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. 11 years later doctors determined Gein was “mentally able to confer with counsel and participate in his defense”. He was then found guilty of first degree murder, but a second trial was held to deal with his sanity and was once again ruled “not guilty by reasons of sanity” and spent the rest of his life in a mental hospital.

“Body Snatcher”As mentioned before, Ed was also known as a body snatcher. Authorities discovered that Ed had exhumed corpses from local graveyards and made keepsakes out of their bones and skin. Some of the items that were found in his property were: human skin covering a numerous amount of chair seats, skulls on his bedposts, female skulls with the top sawed off, bowls made of human skulls, leggings made of female skin, masks made from skin of a female heads, Mary Hogan (one of the women he killed - her skull in a box and her face mask in a paper bag), Bernice Worden (the second women Ed killed - her entire head in a burlap sack and her heart in a plastic bag next to his stove), four noses, a belt man of female nipples, a lampshade made out of the skin of a human face, and many more.

Film relations from the crimes committed by Ed Gein.

‘Psycho’: The tale of Ed first came to the public's attention with a fictionalized version of ‘Psycho’ presented in Robert Bloch’s suspense novel which was later created into Alfred’s Hitchcock's masterpiece.

‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’: Despite claiming it was based on a true story, was merely just marketing in order to maintain a wider audience. The plot is entirely fictional, however, “Leatherface” as well as minor plot details were inspired by the crimes of Ed Gein.

‘Silence of the Lambs’: Ed was the model for the character of Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs.

Parallels: Ed Gein is relevant to me and the film I would like to create. Ed Gein was a murdered and a body snatcher and was undiscovered for a long time. Until he was arrested, no one had noticed or reported any missing bodies from graves and everybody was completely oblivious as to what he was doing in his house. Similarly, the antagonist in my film will be similar, he will be under the radar so no one would suspect anything.Additionally, Gein’s house was in an isolated location. As will be the location whereby my film is intended to take place.

Ed Gein’s isolated farmhouse, Wisconsin.

Ruislip Lido woods, where our trailer is intended to take place.