WHEN ASKED IF HE WORE THE SKIN FACE MASKS OVER A PROLONGED PERIOD OF TIME, ED GEIN QUOTED "NOT TOO LONG, I HAD OTHER THINGS TO DO.“

Edward Gein(aka: The Butcher of Plainfield)

Gein’s Background Born on August 27th 1906 in La Crosse Country, Wisconsin Domineering: rule or power over in a cruel manner.

Second of the two children (Brother: Henry Gein)

Very domineering mother (Augusta Gein) who despised her husband (George Gein) and considered him a failure for being an alcoholic and unable to keep a job.

Augusta owned a local grocery shop and sold the location for a farm to near Plainfield, Wisconsin

Ed’s mother took advantage of their farm’s isolation by turning away outsiders from influencing her sons

Gein’s mother punished him for trying to make friends

Only would leave the farm to attend school.

Classmates remember Gein as being very shy and having strange mannerisms (seemingly random laughter)

Gein has poor social development and was sometimes bullied

Gein’s father died at age 66 due to heart failure due to his alcoholism

Edward’s brother was concerned with the close relationship between him and their mother

Reported his brother missing after a fire on the farm and found him face down and found no burns (assumed heart failure) Mannerism: peculiar behavior

Shortly after Henry’s death, Augusta suffered from a stroke and Gein took care of his mother for quite some time

Gein’s Conviction Crime Date Victim Punishment

Investigators found the decapitated body of Worden in Gein’s shed, hung upside down by ropes at her wrists, with a crossbar at her ankles. The torso was "dressed out like a deer, She had been shot with a .22-caliber rifle, and the mutilations were made after her death.

November 21st, 1957

Bernice Worden Convicted of first degree murder and sent to jail, but was later sent to Central State Hospital for the Criminally Insane for reasons of insanity and was later transferred to Mendota Mental Health Institute where he spent the rest of his life.

Evidence of Gien’s Crimes human skin covering several chair seats

bowls made from human skulls

human skulls on bedpost

masks made of human skin

belt made of nipples

whole body bones and fragments

(these are only some of the disturbing evidence found by investigators in the Gein household)

Cultural References to Edward Gein Movies: - Texas Chainsaw Masacre (Leatherface)

-Psycho (Norman Bates)

-American Horror Story (Bloodyface)

Books:

- “Welcome to Plainfield” by Shawn Weaver

- “Deviant: The Shocking True Story of Ed Gein,

The Original Psycho” by Harold Schechter

Which Sociological Theory of Deviance Does Gein Fit Under?

Social Control Theory focuses on how the absence of close relationships with conventional others can free individuals from social constraints, thereby allowing them to engage in delinquency. In the case of Edward Gein, biological genes and the fact that his mother controlled his environment as a child did create the perfect circumstance for him to become a criminal. The intensity of a bond between Gien and his parents determines the likeliness for him to act negatively or be delinquent. The reason for Edward acting this way is due to the fact that the relationship between him and his parents are valued and important, something that the child wouldn’t want tainted. Such a childhood was already having a perverse effect on Gein, who would later describe one of his earliest childhood memories as peering through the open door of the slaughter house behind his parent’s grocery store and watching, mesmerized, as his father held up a trussed pig. Then, he remembered in vivid detail, how his mother skillfully slit its belly and drew out the entrails with a long knife.

Gein was able to take steps toward a goal being close to his mother again by committing these atrocious acts. Attachment is described as the level of values and or norms that an individual holds in society. Attachment is especially important when it come to the person’s parental figures. This theory suggests that conventional figures, such as parents, when bonded make a huge impact in the deterrent of criminal acts. Attachment to other peers tend to be just as supportive as parental ties, just as long as these ties are positive and do not deviate from the social norms of society.