Talk:Ed Gein

Manson family link?

i think one of the members of marilyn mansons band was nicknamed gidget gein, after this guy. Most of the members of the band have nicknames like that. Made up from the name of a famous woman and a serial killer. Irresponsible 16:58, 14 Jan 2005 (UTC)

So?

NPOV

I think this article is not NPOV enough. The article implies that Ed Gein's murderous behavior can be attributed to family and environmental problems. There is plenty of evidence that contradicts this viewpoint, including the belief that Ed Gein was a sociopath. The cause of sociopathy is unknown, so i believe that the implicit viewpoint of this article should be neutralized. king 22:53, 15 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Please rewrite this article, somebody seems to have defaced it.

Agreed. Agivith 01:21, 7 October 2006 (UTC)

Gein childhood

I don't know if this is true, but I heard somewhere that Gein's mother (Augusta) would frequently go into the shack to do business. She would strictly tell her boys to not open the door and look inside. One day Eddie peeked in and saw his mom having intercourse with an animal. After that he became really upset with her and thats when he started rejecting his mother's views. I don't know if this is true. Could someone look it up?

Sounds more like it was his older brother who witnessed it since he later criticized his mother while Ed always loved her but I've found no source for this.

Childhood

first paragraph under childhood, last sentence - he often liked to dance the jig? sounds like vandalism. And he liked it elbow deep during cavity searches.

latent homosexuality

this seems like pure speculation. does anyone have a source that would back this up?--Alhutch 18:04, 11 October 2005 (UTC)

This source, http://www.radford.edu/~maamodt/Psyc%20405/serial%20killers/Gein,%20Ed.htm, specifically addresses his orientation and mentions nothing about homosexuality, latent or otherwise. -Willmcw 20:31, 11 October 2005 (UTC)

Rotten.com article?

The link to the Rotten.com article should be removed or, alternately, the article needs revision. The rotten bio directly contradicts some of the info listed in the main article, i.e.: cause of Augusta's death (cancer vs. stroke) and Gein's eventual sentencing (not guilty by reason of insanity vs. sentenced to life in prison). Additionally, the Rotten.com article claims that Augusta encouraged her sons to masturbate, whereas this article claims she punished Ed for the same act.

I'd clean this up myself, but frankly i have no idea which of the two (if either) competing accounts is correct. Just thought i'd mention it.

As an aside, i never thought my first contribution to Wikipedia would be around Ed Gein's bio, but there you go.

The first full paragraph after the list of items found in Gein's home contains a cited quote. It says that Gein committed insane transvestite acts (or something to that effect). When one checks the citation, the author of cited article was in fact referring to a fictional character loosely based on Gein, not Gein himself.

Writing quality?

A lot of this article isn't very well written. For instance: Despite her deep contempt for George, the atrophic marriage persisted. With its roots in Evangelicalism, divorce was not an option. This could be said a lot more straightforwardly.

The general tone isn't very encyclopedic; it sounds more like a narrative than an article. Someone should probably do some cleanup on this. (Not me! ^_^)

Yeah. Could somebody clean up and clarify "Later Central State Hospital turned into the prison Gein was transfered to Mendota State Hospital in Madison Wisconsin When, in 1968, his doctors determined he was sane enough to stand trial, he did so and was found not guilty by reason of insanity, and spent the rest of his life in the hospital."? I would, but I don't even know what its TRYING to say.

(Comments above unsigned)

Not sure how this is supposed to read, but "outrs" isn't a word: "Augusta decided to move to this desolate location to prevent outrs from influencing her sons." James A. Stewart 01:04, 22 November 2006 (UTC)

sex change ed

http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/crime/serial-killers/ed-gein/

"Sex change" does not equal "gay". Bearcat 08:51, 29 December 2005 (UTC)

it equals a tran. grazon 01:09, 1 January 2006 (UTC)

More Info?

   * severed heads acting as bedposts in the bedroom;
   * skin used to make lampshades and chair seats;
   * skullcaps made into soup bowls;
   * a human heart (it is disputed where the heart was found; the deputies' reports all claim that the heart was in a saucepan on the stove, with some crime scene photographers claiming it was in a paper bag);
   * a face mask made out of real face skin found in a paper bag;
   * a necklace of human lips;
   * a waistcoat made up of a vagina and breasts; and
   * other items fashioned from the parts of human bodies including a belt fashioned from nipples.

All articles on the internet seem to mention these things but no one really has proof or more details, help?

Don't you think the first line under "Childhood" caption is partially incorrect? What was Ed's father's name?

Corpses a-plenty

The article states that, while Geins house was full of human remains, Gein himself said that they were primarily from (relatively fresh) graves he robbed, not from people he killed, and that he has only been definitively linked to the deaths of two people. Wouldn't grave robbery on the scale required to get all the body party described have been pretty obvious? Was it confirmed that there were lots of bodies missing from the local cemetary? --Jfruh (talk) 14:54, 7 June 2006 (UTC)

Sorry to break the news, but when you die they won't open your coffin every year or so to make sure you're still there ;). As long as he was subtle I don't see how they would of known except by accident. --A Sunshade Lust 23:35, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

Gein stated, if I read correctly in another source, that he chose fresh graves, dug up the remains, and reburied the coffins. No one could tell the difference.

---

I was reading from one of the books about gein, and noticed this was not written anywhere on this page. he read about Ilsa Koch, wife of a nazi death camp leader, and how she used the skin of others in order to 'please herself'. specificallly organs frozen over in fermaldehyde, as well as making book bindings out of human skin. this might be a possible reaosn for his skin-crafting.

just a thought.----

Childhood Corruption

I believe the reasoning for his actions may have a lot to do with the way he was raised and his upbringing. According to this document his mother did not speak very well of women and sexual acts. Discovering sex is normal for any young child and as it states his mother poured scoulding water on him when finding him exploring his sexual nature. Parents who tend to interfere with natural findings do corrupt their child in some ways. Because of his mothers harsh ways in talking about the female sex obviously he grew up thinking it was okay to kill off any woman because in her words "their evil and whores". I base his actions mostly on his mothers teachings.

His Death

A link provided at the bottom of the artical as a reference states the following: "On July 26, 1984, he died after a long bout with cancer. He was buried in Plainfield cemetery next to his mother, not far from the graves that he had robbed years earlier" The Wiki article states that he died of respitatory issues. This is a blatant contradiction. I will fix it now. \

Under the title of DEATH the sentence "this was too good for such an evil man so showuld have been tourtured to an inch of his life." is obvious vandalism and should be deleted.

Plagarism

You guys should clean up the plagarism found in certain areas of the article. For example, you guys say "not far from the graves that he had robbed years earlier". This phrase is also relayed in the Crime Library article cited under External Links. Clean this up! -Marty

Thanks for the alert. I removed that sentence. I haven't been able to find any others taken from the same source. If you notice any mopre please let us know. -Will Beback 02:12, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

Pronunciation

How is his last name pronounced? Does it rhyme with "bean", "pain", "pine", or something else? —Angr 22:44, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

I have heard it pronounced like "Bean." 68.116.143.113 15:35, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

It is a German name and thus should rhyme with 'Wine'. - Hesselius

According to Harold Schechter's book Deviant, his name is pronounced to rhyme with "fiend". Caligulathegod 05:14, 16 March 2007 (UTC)

Wikilink to "Deviant"

The article refers to a book by Harold Schechter, titled Deviant. This word "deviant" wasn't wikilinked, so I did that. It directs to an article that describes the meaning of the word, but I will create a 'disambig' page and start an article about Schechter's book as well. There is a lot of printed material out there, and a lot on the Internet, about Ed Gein and what he did. Anyone with some free time could do some research and really fix up the article. I'll work on it when I can. As sick as this guy was, he serves as the inspiration for a lot of fictional book and movie characters, a lot of rock bands and songs, etc. He will likely continue to have a 'cult' following for generations. Hurrmic 17:47, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

Unreferenced Movies

• Gein was widely believed to be the basis for main character Norman Bates in Robert Bloch's novel Psycho although Bloch later denied this in an interview.
• Leatherface, the homicidal, human skin-wearing villain of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre series, was also based on Gein.
• Buffalo Bill, and Hannibal Lecter the main antagonists in The Silence of the Lambs, were partly modeled after Ed Gein.
• The film See No Evil, with WWE superstar Kane, also depicts some of Ed Gein's relationship with his mother.
• Gein's crimes are referenced in a number of other movies including House of 1000 Corpses, Maniac and American Psycho.
• In the Light of the Moon (known as Ed Gein in the US), a film depicting Gein's childhood and crimes.

• While reading this, it reminded me of Raymond Andrew Joubert, the "space cowboy" of Gerald's Game, someone should review the book and see if it would be worthwhile to add this reference. -CrimsonKing 05:03, 1 March 2007 (UTC)
• There is a 1974 film based directly on the Ed Gein case (with names changed) called Deranged that probably should be included. The film even has its own wiki page. Edit: I noticed that article at one time did include this film but was removed for lack of "reference". What kind of reference is needed? I can't find a single reference to the film that doesn't acknowledge its source as Ed Gein. See the film. It's not a "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" with a character suggested by Gein. It is a direct and quite faithful adaptation of the Gein story with only the names and locations changed. I understand not including every film with a grave robber with mother issues, but not including Deranged in a section about films based upon Gein borders on negligent. Caligulathegod 22:06, 8 March 2007 (UTC)

Surely, the book American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis, rather than the film, should be referenced for the mistaken quote. As it originally appeared in there, verbatim.

Popular Culture

This section tends to get way too much unsourced or non-noteable junk in it. I am removing such anytime it shows up. If you want to add something, it better be properly cited or sourced and should also be have direct relevance to Ed Gein, not just any killer who had issues with his mom or dismembered someone. -- Patrick Berry 13:36, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

He wasn't a cannibal

It was never proven and he never admitted to commit cannibalism. Also according to a National Geographic documentary, Leatherface is based on Ed Gein. 194.46.245.210 18:32, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

Not a serial killer?

I thought you have to kill at least 3 people to be a serial killer. Gein murdered only two. ... Gein may have committed more murders. He is hence an alleged serial killer.

Exactly, Gein was convictd of two murders, though he likely murdered his brother, too. GoodDay (talk) 21:14, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

The article Serial Killer has been abused by editing & constantly changes from roughly -two or more- to -more then two-. The Wiktionary says 'serial killer' is someone who kills more then two people. GoodDay (talk) 02:02, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

The FBI classifies serial killers as someone who murders three or more people with a period of time between each murder. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.61.19.47 (talk) 04:25, 14 May 2008 (UTC)

Revenge of the Prowler#3

Gein actually appears in Revenge of the Prowler#3 in a back-up where he encounters the Prowler during an investigation. The Prowler does not suspect Gein, as he is not investigating one of his crimes.

In the Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Cut! one-shot from Wildstorm, Gein is elliptically referred to, since some tourists are mentioned as looking for the house of some "psycho" in Wisconsin only to find out that it burned down.

Enda80Enda80

Mother castrated Gein?

I am perplexed by the following inclusion:

• "When Gein reached puberty, Augusta became increasingly strict, once dousing him in scalding water after she caught him masturbating in the bathtub, grabbing his genitals and calling them the "curse of man". Shortly there after she proceeded to cut off his penis.[2]"

I have read some material on Gein, and have never read that Gein had been physically castrated by his mother. The source provided for this claim leads nowhere. I am curious if this is truthful information? ExRat 00:38, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

I've read this too, it's from a good book. The castration part seems tacked on, though. Ed said he didn't have sex with corpses because "They smelt too bad" not "Because I don't have a penis". Gatesofawesome! 16:22, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

Castration also means removal of the testicles, not the penis. Suffor —Preceding unsigned comment added by Suffor (talk • contribs) 04:25, August 29, 2007 (UTC)

Question About Links

I apologize ahead of time if this is not the appropriate place for this question. I am the webmaster for PainAndPaintings (a website that offers serial killer bios, trivia, interviews, artwork, etc). This website does not sell anything or have ads on it. Therefore, I was wondering why this link: [SPAM LINK REMOVED] was removed from this article. Any clarification on why this happened and how I can go about resolving the problem would be a great help.— Preceding unsigned comment added by Killercalendar (talk • contribs)

WP:SPAM, WP:COI and WP:EL all make that link completely inappropriate. DreamGuy 06:52, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

New link

A NEW LINK SO YOU HAVE MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE CASE OF ED GEIN MORE COMPLETELY AND SAFE! ED GEIN BIOGRAPHY WITH BACKGROUND INFORMATION

THANK YOU.anne — Preceding unsigned comment added by Psycho emily (talk • contribs) 22:36, July 17, 2007 (UTC)

Yeah... hmmm sockpuppets anyone? --Chuck Sirloin 19:18, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

---

You guys got to recheck the stuff. I found "*A collection of Harry Potter" in the arrest section, but I deleted it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by MrZhuKeeper (talk • contribs) 23:08, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Repeatedly Vandalized

This article has been repeatedly vandalized. I will attempt to help clean up the most obvious false edits but it is in need of an expert to review it at this point and make corrections. I recommend it be locked for this reason. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Anthm76 (talk • contribs) 00:00, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Necrophiliac

He was a weird type alright, but did he technically qualify as a necrophiliac? I thought from reading the article he was just interested generally in the dead, but didn't get anything sexual out of the whole affair. TIME magazine refuted the claim too, but I'll have to dig around for a cite for that. Alastairward (talk) 00:50, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

Ed Gein certainly had some kind of love for the dead, being around and touching dead bodies. But in all the information I've read there's never been a mention of sex with dead bodies, which is how most people define necrophilia. I think the article could definitely use some sources on if Ed Gein should be termed a necrophiliac or not. - Stephoswalk (talk) 19:32, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

more plagiarism?

There seems to be more material from the Crime Library page in the "Deaths of family members" section.

http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/notorious/gein/2b.html

In fact, rather large parts appear to have been lifted directly, though occasionally a sentence is missing or slightly different.

Tabethah (talk) 16:41, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

Thank you for this, I was wondering why the article reads like a biased biography rather than an NPOV encyclopaedia reference. This needs a re-write, citations and independent verification of facts. I'll put this on my watch list and try to contribute when I can. - and you will know know me by the trail of dead. (talk) —Preceding comment was added at 04:44, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

New picture

Can we please remove the picture standing of Ed Gein right now? It seems relatively unknown and I could provide a much better one of him right after his arrest. Also, is it alright to add pictures from the crime scene, or would it be too grisly for wiki standards? Crazyconan (talk) 05:12, 14 May 2008 (UTC)

Eddie?

Just wondering, why is Gein referred to as "Eddie" several times in the article? This is unprofessional, I assumed it was vandalism at first, but even now, several weeks after I first noticed, "Eddie" is present in the "Death of family members" section many times.

I believe he be referred to as either "Ed" or "Gein", but not "Eddie". Can I fix this? GSMR (talk) 20:36, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

• He was mentioned as Eddie in the films and some documents, but yes, some of this should be revised. - Crazyconan (talk) 04:32, 21 May 2008 (UTC)