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Past Life
Gein lived in Wisconsin with his mother until she passed away. When his mother died, it dramatically affected his life as he proved to be mentally unstable after the event. He boarded up rooms that his mother had used in order to leave them untouched after her passing. He began to read death-cult magazines soon after especially containing cannibalism. He was a handyman and worked on road crews in the surrounding areas before he committed the crimes. -
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Gein Exhumes Bodies From Graveyards
Gein made as many as 40 visits to three local graveyards where on around 10 of those visits he dug up recently buried women he thought resembled his dead mother. He then took them home where he mutilated their bodies into "trophies" he displayed among his house. A few of these trophies include a corset made from a torso that was skinned from shoulders to waist and a pair of lips on his window shade drawstring. -
Murder of Mary Hogan
While Gein was never tried for the murder of Mary Hogan, he admitted to the crime in court. She was a tavern owner also living in Plainfield Wisconsin. Hogan disappeared from her Tavern and was shot by Gein with a 32 pistol in 1954. Three years later, after the death of Bernice Worden, Gein's property was investigated and Mary's face was found on one of his skull caps. -
Bernice Worden was murdered
Worden disappeared from her job at the hardwood store. Later that day she was found dead, decapitated on Gein's property. She was hung upside down with a crossbar at her ankles and ropes at her wrists.Officials described her body to be "Dressed out like a deer". -
Deputies Searched Gein's House
After discovering Worden, the sheriff's department searched Ed's house and found human bones and fragments, a waste basket of human skin, skulls on his bedpost, human skin covering his chairs, masks created from human heads, the sheriffs found many other disturbing sites across his household. -
Gein's Trial
Ed was tried for first-degree murder, where he was found not guilty by reason of insanity. He was diagnosed with Schizophrenia, making him unfit for trial. Gein was sent to a state hospital for the criminally insane. -
Selling of his Property and Car
Gein's house and property was to be auctioned to the public in hopes of becoming a tourist attraction, yet burned down before this could occur. His car that carried the bodies from the graveyard was sold at a public auction for $760 to a carnival man. -
Gein's Second Trial
Ed claimed Worden's death was by accident, he was trying to load a bullet into a rifle but it "discharged". After doctors examination, he was once again found not guilty by reason of insanity. He spent the rest of his life in a mental hospital never to be tried again. -
Death
Gein died from lung cancer at the Mendota Mental Health Institute at the age of 77. His gravestone at Plainfield cemetery was vandalized on multiple occasions until it was stolen in 2000. His grave is now unmarked but the place is not unknown to the public.