The latest of installment of Netflix's Monster anthology series, The Ed Gein Story, explores the life of the titular serial killer. While creators Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan have dramatized Gein's life to bring entertainment to audiences, he was a very real man whose horrific crimes inspired films including Psycho and The Silence of the Lambs.
Gein first came onto law enforcement's radar in 1957 after the disappearance of Worden. Police arrested him after he was discovered driving her truck.
It was then that they discovered evidence of the true malice behind the quiet, unassuming Wisconsin farmer.
"I've been killing for seven years," Gein told authorities during questioning, curling his hands into claws.
Police had found Warden's headless body strung up in a lean-to on Gein's farm. They also found at least 19 skulls on his property, along with a human heart in a pot on the stove, bundles of his mother's clothing, shrunken heads, and furniture, masks and belts made of human skin.A judge found him mentally incompetent and his murder conviction was dropped after he was found legally insane. Gein ultimately told authorities he killed the two women because they resembled his dead mother. He also said he looted the graves of about a dozen other women to collect the bones and other remains found in his home.
While police also suspected in several other slayings and disappearances in Wisconsin, they were never able to prove his involvement.
Monster: The Story of Ed Gein explores the fictional stories and films inspired by Gein's real-life crimes. Charlie Hunnam stars as the so-called Plainfield Ghoul in the series along with Laurie Metcalf as his mother, Augusta; Tom Hollander as Alfred Hitchcock, who directed Psycho; Joey Pollari as Anthony Perkins, star of Psycho; Rondo Reed as Hogan; Leslie Manville as Worden. Suzanna Son, Vicky Krieps, Robin Weigert, Charlie Hall, Tyler Jacob Moore, Alanna Darby, Addison Rae and Elliott Gould also star.
