Ed Gein, full name Edward Theodore Gein, was an American serial killer and grave robber known as the "Butcher of Plainfield" and the "Plainfield Ghoul." He was born on August 27, 1906, in La Crosse County, Wisconsin, and became infamous for his gruesome criminal activities in the 1950s. Gein's crimes centered around his rural hometown of Plainfield, Wisconsin. He confessed to the murder of two women: Mary Hogan in 1954 and Bernice Worden in 1957, but he is also suspected of involvement in other disappearances. What made Gein particularly notorious was not only his murders but also his practice of exhuming corpses from local cemeteries and using body parts to create macabre items such as furniture, clothing, and accessories made from human skin and bones. These disturbing discoveries shocked the nation and contributed significantly to the fields of criminal psychology and forensic study. Gein's disturbed psychological state was influenced by his strict religious upbringing under a domineering mother and the isolation on the family farm. After being found guilty of murder, he was declared legally insane and spent the remainder of his life in psychiatric institutions until his death in 1984. His horrific crimes inspired several famous fictional characters in horror films, including Norman Bates from "Psycho," Leatherface from "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre," and Buffalo Bill from "The Silence of the Lambs".
