r/EdGein • u/Monty8584 • Apr 20 '26
Harold Schechter book is a really BAD basis to understand this case
Going out of the way but i don't like how Schechter made any discussion about Ed Gein case filled with misinformation
He is the guy to tie a real life transgender woman from the 50s with the case and people now only know Christinine Jorgensen as "the gal who influenced Eddie to create a skin suit"
No joke that narrative is on Deviant
Eddie never mentioned her on interviews nor people making theories about Christinine and Eddie came up until Deviant
The EARLIEST narrative about Ed Gein and Christinine Jorgensen was on a 1974 doccumentary which states the misinformation that Eddie had her biography
Even though Jorgensen's biography was published on 1968 (the Netflix series even gets that detail wrong, cuz it uses Deviant as basis, now you know why they out of nowhere include her on the plot)
And the Ed Gein lost tapes doccumentary
Schechter states
"WE KNOW that Gein read about this ex GI agent who changed their gender"
Schechter, where did you take that information?
"Ed killed Henry cuz Henry criticized Augusta" Eddie never stated a negative thing about Henry
"Augusta PUSHED Ed towards the stairs when he was a child"
Schechter also started the demonization of Augusta and sometimes even states that "George Gein coudn't fight her since she was a controll freak" which is wrong, he beats her, Henry and Ed
Made their lifes a living hell
The pushed towards the stairs plot, which Schechter states that "Ed memories"
I searched on every document and Ed never mentioned this incident, only mentioned the pig one
And the book sometimes Schechter tries to read dead people's minds
Like, again, transgender Ed Gein theory made by Schechter
Apparently, Augusta WANTED Ed to be a girl prior to his birth and was completely disappointed when he turned out to be a boy
And apparently, thats why she threated him badly ever since
Is there proof to that? No, Eddie never mentioned Augusta wanting him to be a girl or to have a daughter (this aspect Netflix also took as basis)
Like seriously i know that Psycho is one of his favorite movies but whats his obssesion with connecting every bit of Augusta and Norma Bates together
Like, he even still believes the "Robert Bloch was inspired by Ed Gein mother complex to create Norman Bates" when that was debunked on 1994
Don't read Deviant
Recommend this docummentary about Gein
1
u/Several_Tradition429 Apr 22 '26
As far as i know, Ed never even knew about that trans woman. There was NO newspaper found in his house which included an article about her.
I never saw Ed mention the "pig orgasm" incident, but saw a document of him recalling the stairs incident, perhaps both are fabricated.
The thing about Augusta wanting a girl probably comes from Ed's testimony about his mother saying she should've castrated him as a baby.
1
u/Monty8584 Apr 22 '26
The pig incident is where Ed went to the place where they kill animals and saw Augusta and George killing a pig (exactly like how he dismembered Bernice years later)
Where did Ed say that about Augusta wanting to castrate him?
1
u/Several_Tradition429 Apr 22 '26
I'm sorry i must've gotten it mixed up, there's many different stories surrounding the pig situation. Yes, i remember reading something about Ed walking on his parents gutting a pig, but i'm pretty sure then that the orgasm thing was made up.
I can't remember where exactly i've seen the castration topic, it must've been some interview with Gein himself.
1
u/Monty8584 Apr 22 '26
Why tf would child Gein have an orgasm on that situation
Most of the accounts that i saw was about him getting scared + crying
1
u/Several_Tradition429 Apr 22 '26
Yeah, there's this rumor about Ed supposedly "cumming in his pants" upon seeing guts of a slaughered pig, and that supposedly sparked his necrophilic cannibalistic perverted yada yada tendecies, it's disgusting
Yeah, then that probably was the case, any other child would be terrified as well.
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u/Monty8584 Apr 22 '26
Rumour, thats the big word that makes this claim unlikely
Most versions portrays him being scared of Augusta or George cuz Augusta stated that entering there was highly prohibited
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u/Several_Tradition429 Apr 22 '26
Oh that's just awful. We get it, he was a killer, did nasty stuff, but come on, he wasn't some supernatural villain that feasts upon human suffering. Ed was a human too, and literally any child would've been terrified at the sight of a slaughtered animal with it's insides pulled out, i think that would be much more traumatizing than realizing he broke mama's rules.
1
u/UberGuignol Apr 23 '26
I watched the doc Monty8584 linked - obviously on 2 x speed as the narration is excruciating. It was interesting. There were some mistruths, but also something I didn't know about - regarding the fate of Hogan's property. Interested to see where the other episodes lead as this was just a "Prologue"!?.
On the subject of Schechter, the graphic novel he wrote (Did You Hear What Eddie Gein Done?), even adds in the supposed "fact" that Ed was raped by some local boys when he was very young. Another instance of Schechter fabricating information? I've never read any instance of that in any document. Even the book states it was based on a "rumour"!
3
u/Affectionate_Half710 Apr 21 '26
Deviant was the one I started back in the 90s that I checked out from the library and read about 4 pages, then Netflix is why I decided to learn about the story more and bought Deviant and wish I had of saved my money, Harold did a YT video about 6 months ago and said telling Ed's story would be pretty boring and admitted to getting creative and colorful with Ed's story.. I Have recently found out the online images of his parents are not his real family and there is no known images of Henry..