Edward Theodore Gein :
(
/ɡiːn/; August 27, 1906
[1] – July 26, 1984), also known as the
Butcher of Plainfield or the
Plainfield Ghoul, was an American convicted
murderer and
body snatcher. Gein's crimes, committed around his hometown of
Plainfield, Wisconsin, gathered widespread notoriety in 1957 after authorities discovered he had
exhumed corpses from local graveyards and fashioned trophies and keepsakes from their bones and skin. Gein also confessed to killing two women: tavern owner Mary Hogan in 1954 and hardware store owner Bernice Worden in 1957.
Gein was initially found unfit to stand trial and confined to a mental health facility. By 1968, he was judged competent to stand trial; he was found guilty of the murder of Worden,
[2] but he was found legally insane and was remanded to a psychiatric institution. He died at
Mendota Mental Health Institute of respiratory failure, on July 26, 1984, aged 77. He is buried next to his family in the Plainfield Cemetery, in a now-unmarked grave.
Ed Gein
Gein c. 1958
Born
Edward Theodore Gein
August 27, 1906
La Crosse County, Wisconsin, U.S.
Died July 26, 1984 (aged 77)
Mendota Mental Health Institute(
Madison, Wisconsin)
Resting place Plainfield Cemetery
Other names
- Eddie
- The Mad Butcher
- The Plainfield Ghoul
- The Plainfield Butcher
- The Butcher of Plainfield
Occupation Numerous unspecified jobs
Conviction(s) Murder
Criminal penalty Institutionalized in the Mendota Mental Health Institute
Details
Victims 2 murders confirmed, 9 corpses mutilated (obtained from desecrated graves)
Span of crimes
1954–1957
Country United States
State(s) Wisconsin
Date apprehended
November 16, 1957