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Edward Theodore "Ed" Gein (August 27, 1906 July 26, 1984) was an American murderer and body snatcher. His crimes, committed around his hometown of Plainfield, Wisconsin, gathered widespread notoriety after authorities discovered Gein had exhumed corpses from local graveyards and fashioned trophies and keepsakes from their bones and skin. After police found body parts in his house in 1957, Gein confessed to killing two women: tavern owner Mary Hogan, in 1954; and a Plainfield hardware store owner, Bernice Worden, in 1957.
Initially found unfit to stand trial, following confinement in a mental health facility he was tried in 1968 for the murder of Worden and sentenced to life imprisonment, which he spent in a mental hospital. The body of Bernice Worden was found in Gein's shed; her head and the head of Mary Hogan were found inside his house. Robert H. Gollmar, the judge in the Gein case, wrote: "Due to prohibitive costs, Gein was tried for only one murder that of Mrs. Worden." With fewer than three murders attributed to him, Gein does not meet the traditional definition of a serial killer. His case influenced the creation of several fictional serial killers, including Norman Bates from Psycho, Leatherface from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Jame Gumb from The Silence of the Lambs.
LynneSin
(95,337 posts)ohiosmith
(24,262 posts)Initech
(100,102 posts)I can't hear the song "Hey Venus" anymore without cringing.
JustABozoOnThisBus
(23,364 posts)so probably not much of a dancer.
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)annually back in the late 80s-early 90s. He even had bottles of beer labeled "Gein Belt" - a take off of well-known and much-loved Minnesota brew Grain Belt.
"It takes all kinds of critters to make Farmer Eddie's fritters!"
Ol' Eddie was a few bottles short of a case, and I am not talking about beer.
Bruce Wayne
(692 posts)You bring the Swedish meatballs
jobycom
(49,038 posts)NV Whino
(20,886 posts)ohiosmith
(24,262 posts)RedCloud
(9,230 posts)ohiosmith
(24,262 posts)HopeHoops
(47,675 posts)ohiosmith
(24,262 posts)chest and take a bite of it before you hit the ground. But, I digress.
HopeHoops
(47,675 posts)ohiosmith
(24,262 posts)Tom Ripley
(4,945 posts)The majority of American serial killers rack up lots and lots of mileage on the road.
Just another reason it's not for me.
ohiosmith
(24,262 posts)geardaddy
(24,931 posts)ohiosmith
(24,262 posts)The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,836 posts)And almost immediately the Ed Gein jokes started to circulate - you can imagine how entertaining they were for a bunch of 5th-graders. I still remember some of them:
Q. Why did they keep the heat on in Ed Gein's house?
A. So the furniture wouldn't get goose bumps.
Q: What did Ed Gein give his girlfriend on Valentine's Day?
A: A box of farmers' fannies.
Q. What did Ed Gein say to the police when they arrested him?
A. "Aw, come on, officer; have a heart!"
Q: What's Ed Gein's favorite cookie?
A: Lady fingers.
And so forth. We thought these were hilarious. Sick little bastards.
ohiosmith
(24,262 posts)Manifestor_of_Light
(21,046 posts)How did they know Jeffrey Dahmer smoked?
They found butts behind the couch.
How did they catch Dahmer?
He sent out for a pizza with everybody on it.