Life and psychological portrait of Ed Gein, "The Butcher of Plainfield" (1/2)

First part of the biography and psychological portrait of Ed Gein, the Butcher of Plainfield.

Ed Gein was one of the most infamous most notorious killers in the criminal history of the United States, also known as "The Butcher of Plainfield" (1/2).He was also known as the "Butcher of Plainfield" (Wisconsin), after the town where he committed the murders. His case inspired many of the most famous and iconic characters of literary and cinematographic works of horror and suspense of the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s, such as Norman Bates ("Psycho", by Alfred Hitchcock, 1960), Leatherface ("The Texas Chainsaw Massacre", by Tobe Hooper, 1974) or Buffalo Bill ("The silence of the lambs", by Jonathan Demme, 1990).

The context of Ed Gein's life and murders

To better understand Gein's story, we must move to the deep America of the 1950s, a society marked by prejudices and sexist ideals that are already outdated in our days. A clear example would be the censorship that was made in the radios and televisions with respect to married life (many were shown in programs or television commercials sleeping in separate beds in the same room), in addition to an evident will to eliminate all those symbols and images that could incite to commit 'carnal sins'.

Ed Gein was born and raised on a farm on the outskirts of a town called Plainfield (La Crosse County, Wisconsin), the fruit of the union of George, an abusive alcoholic who was characterized by his lack of devotion to his family, and Augusta. She, who was a religious fanatic with strong convictions who despised men, considered women the object of sin from which she had to keep her two sons, Henry (1902) and Edwin (1903).Henry (1902) and Ed (1906).

This marriage was characterized by a poor parenting style that was the first relevant factor contributing to Ed's antisocial personality. Ed's antisocial personalityMany sociopaths are sociopaths not only because of inherent characteristics that shape them in this way, but much more importantly, because they have received an upbringing from their parents that has alienated them from any prosocial activity and has led them to a deviant socialization, rendering them incapable of assuming responsibilities and/or adapting to the rules and expectations of the society in which they live.

As a result, Ed and his brother's childhood was very hard: their mother imposed strict discipline and constantly punished and beat them, unable to show any affection or love for her children; while their father spent all his money in the village tavern. Contrary to what it might seem years later, Ed Gein had a great aversion to Blood and the slaughter or sacrifice of animals, typical activities in towns dedicated to livestock. In fact, he was very marked when, as a teenager, he witnessed through the glass of the door of the slaughterhouse of his parents' store how he held a pig by the legs while the other, armed with a long, sharp knife, cut open its belly and pulled out the guts with great skill from the animal, which agonized between shrill squeals.

Ed Gein's personality: a stormy adolescence

Despite this, it is also true that Ed was fond of reading comics, magazines and books about murder, death or violence ("Tales from the Crypt", among others) and even about the tortures that were carried out in the Nazi Concentration Camps. These subjects caused a great fascination in him, absorbing and isolating him until he lost the notion of reality. Although he attended school, his mother forbade him to forge any friendship with his classmates (and much less with his female classmates) alleging, Bible in hand and with the help of verses, that they were sinners and he should stay away from them.

While the first parental responsibility is to provide for the basic needs of the children (feeding, sheltering and protecting), the second most important function is the socialization of the children, which can be carried out by either parent, the father or the mother. In this case, the mother. So because of Augusta's incompetence in educating Ed, giving him the necessary resources to be able to live in society and allowing him to socialize with his peers, Ed's tendency to withdraw increased, Ed's tendency to withdrawal, marginalization and loneliness increased.He took refuge in the fantasies of death and depravity of the comics and books he read locked up in his room. This hermit and obsessive predisposition would compose the second factor that forged his personality and defined him for the rest of his life.

The death of his father, George Gein

After years of drunkenness, beatings of his wife and children, humiliations and constant contempt, George Gein died in 1940 at the age of 66.. From that moment on, the family business began to go bad, and Ed and Henry had to look for work and bring money home. This brought their relationship closer, but it became strained when Henry observed the dependent relationship and the obvious Oedipus complex developed by his younger brother.

The Oedipus Complex is an expression that Sigmund Freud used to refer to the supposed conflict that children experience when they feel an incestuous desire for their mother, while towards their father and anyone who threatens that relationship the feelings are of hostility and anger. That is why Henry chose to walk away and try to stay out of such a toxic relationship, opposing his mother's orders.

He died in strange circumstances in a fire caused by some stubble that he and his brother burned behind the garden of their farm, and although his body had obvious blows to the head made with a blunt object, the death report cataloged death by asphyxiation. The year was 1944. Shortly afterwards, Augusta Gein suffered a heart attack and Ed devotedly cared for her until her death twelve months later.. After what happened, he locked his mother's room, keeping it intact just as she had left it, and began to do small jobs for his neighbors.

The loss of his mother was the third factor that shaped Ed Gein's personality. molded Ed Gein's personality and was the trigger for the murders and acts he committed, which had two clear motives: the first was to kill his mother and the second was to kill his mother.The first was the desire to keep alive the idea or illusion that his mother was still alive and at home. The second, the obsession for the feminine gender product of years of repression, reprimands and punishments that Augusta had exerted on him.

His first murders

On December 8, 1954, a local farmer named Seymour Lester entered the Hogan's tavern and found it deserted despite the door being open and the lights on. Seeing that no one came out to serve him, he inquired around the room and found a .32-caliber cartridge next to a trail of dried blood that started just behind the bar and led past the back door.. 

The trail led to the parking lot behind the bar, where the man could see that the owner's car, Mary Hogan, was still parked in its usual spot and that the river of blood was lost next to freshly made tire marks in the snow.

(...)

Read the 2nd part of the Ed Gein story: Life and psychological portrait of Ed Gein, the Plainfield butcher (2/2)