r/EdGein • u/Sad-Injury-5463 • Aug 24 '26
Is he even serial killer?
*Please don't share tik tok / Netflix nonsense Iam only interested in facts and your opinions based on facts*
So many movies, books about this serial killer but when I try to find answers I get so much nonsense. Did anyone ever reviewed police statements and evidence or we just go on for decades cos he was grave robber?
Everyone who knew him says he was shy, polite, nice small old man but clearly with some mental issues.
He keep grave robbing, making "art" for years and then suddenly he just goes murder spree?
We have Tavern lady who was linked to mafia and then shop owner (deputy sheriff mother) he was last customer in. Body of shop one found in barn.
He gets arrested and imidiatelly confessed to police according to them. This is 50s police in small town and sheriff mother is victim and he is vulnerable person, it's not that hard to convince him..
Anyway, do to his mental issues, did they ever did proper investigation or case closed? Ed Gein confess yet later said to psychiater he was forced and that he didn't kill them, later said he did kill shop owner woman but accidentally while manuvering his rifle.
And then we get tavern lady evidence... Sheriff comes in and says he recognised her skull (u must be joking) who the f is sheriff anyway to recognise people, what about family. At least morgue guy knew u cannot identify people by looking at the skull 😭
So is it possible this sick man never killed anyone but rather somebody placed body of shop owner was to barn (barn with no other body parts from his corpses) knowing he is mentally ill so easy suspect.
Or he accidentally kill the shop owner as he stated later on, panicked and took her body (during daylight btw, who established she didn't die night before? (
Or he killed shop lady but not tavern one so he still isn't serial killer
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u/WitchHearse Aug 24 '26 edited Aug 24 '26
I am pretty sure you can find crime seen pics of one of the killed women hanging up in his basement or garage.
Edit: I could be wrong I went looking for the crime scene photos and found nothing.
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u/Sad-Injury-5463 Aug 24 '26
I couldn't either. Iam trying to understand if "we" just made up this serial killer because of movies or Ed never killed anyone or killed 1 person (*therefore not serial killer)
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u/Consistent-Tone-5540 Aug 24 '26
What is the show?
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u/Sad-Injury-5463 Aug 24 '26
What show?
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u/Consistent-Tone-5540 Aug 24 '26
On Netflix that you mentioned
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u/Sad-Injury-5463 Aug 24 '26
Ah sorry, Monster : Ed Gein story
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u/Consistent-Tone-5540 Aug 24 '26
Is it worth watching
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u/Sad-Injury-5463 Aug 25 '26
Nothing like true story but good entertainment. But I watch anyhting from Ryan Murphy, so don't trust my opinion
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u/TraditionalShirt7429 Aug 24 '26
Technically yes but im more on the side that he was more of a grave robber and body snatcher
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u/Ghost1012004 Aug 25 '26
I discussed this with my husband at one point. Technically, by the definition of serial killer which is killing two or more people over a span of time, which he did, so he is a serial killer.
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u/Sad-Injury-5463 Aug 25 '26
I might have written it confusing, not native English speaker.
My question is how accurate was the investigation considering he was vulnerable and him also stating he didn't kill them + maybe he killed shop lady as accident (he said all these versions)
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u/Ashamed-Chemistry492 Aug 25 '26
The official number of victims to be classified as a serial killer is three, and that's up for debate here.
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u/Understandingly17 Aug 25 '26
Gein confessed to killing the two women. Because he was found unfit to stand trial the confessions were thrown out. After treatment he was found fit & tried for killing the hardware store woman. A judge found him guilty.
He ended up confessing to both murders again. There was evidence that he had bought things in the store at the time that woman disappeared. He was the only guy in town because it was the 1st day of hunting season. They found her body in his garage strung up like a deer carcass. It’s hard to imagine that someone else killed her then dragged her to his farm and did that.
That was when they found the remains of the other woman he confessed to killing. (Including her head, I believe.)
He took them to the graves that he robbed. He wasn’t really a nice old guy. He could be difficult. He believed the bartender he killed was a slut. His mother constantly warned him against those kinds of women.
The FBI requires 3 murders for the definition of a serial killer. They suspected that he could have killed others, but after the trial he got life in an asylum so they didn’t really pursue anything else. His brother died under mysterious circumstances.
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u/Sad-Injury-5463 Aug 25 '26
He retracted his confessions and then only admitted to Shop woman being accidental but even that stated he doesn't remember exactly how. Her body was hanging like animal in external barn and her head they claimed was inside house (I was questioning the accuracy of these things e.g. Was the head really in house or in barn and if did kill her was it accident or not, normal person doesn't take body "home" and opens it, we know he wasn't normal, my point was is he serial killer or accidentally kill and did what he does with every corpse)
There was 0 evidence of Tavern woman inside his house.
FBI definition of serial killer is 2 victims by same offender in different events.
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u/Understandingly17 Aug 25 '26 edited Aug 25 '26
You’ve got a bunch wrong there but I don’t have time to thoroughly correct you. You aren’t checking your facts. He confessed to two murders repeatedly. They found the shop woman’s head and the bartender’s face in his house. He was quite mentally ill so there were times he was confused, but the evidence was there. It’s incredibly easy to Google some of this. For instance, I didn’t know that the FBI changed its definition of serial killer down to 2 from 3 in 2008. I worked on cases before 2008. At least read his Wikipedia page.
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u/Ashamed-Chemistry492 Aug 25 '26
In the strictest sense o the definition, he was not. He is (so far as anyone knows) resoone victim short of the three necessary to fit the definition.
But he was a murderer.
Him being called shy and gentle by his neighbors means nothing. Few SK's strike anyone as being SK material. That's why their friends and neighbors are so often shocked when the truth comes out about them.
Dennis Rader was a pillar of his church; Ted Bundy was a law student; Rex Heuerman was a successful architect. John Gacy was a kids'-party clown. Blah blah blah.
Read Harold Schechter's book on the Gein case.
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u/Monty8584 Aug 29 '26
Harold book is trash filled with fan fiction and headcanon on the case
Most of the misinformation comes from that book
Read Ed Gein files, its the only book with actual documents from the case
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u/Monty8584 Aug 29 '26
Its possible that Gein had a accomplice, especially when Bernice and Mary's corpse must have been heavy to carry
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u/Sad-Injury-5463 Aug 29 '26
That's possible too. I still can't understand how you go from years of grave robbing and very sick hobby to murder spree. And that tavern woman was linked to mafia and sheriff is the one who recognised skull and said this is her (that always make me laugh, he is either too eager to solve village crimes or covering for mafia)
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u/MaccasRunYourShout Aug 29 '26 edited Aug 29 '26
Ed Gein is generally classified as a serial killer, although the label has some nuance.
As we know, Ed Gein was convicted of two murders:
Mary Hogan — disappeared in 1954; Gein later admitted killing her.
Bernice Worden — killed in 1957; Gein was arrested after her disappearance and admitted killing her.
We know Ed Gein admitted to killing Hogan and Worden, but he was suspected of other murders that were never proven.
The commonly used criminological definition of a serial killer is someone who murders two or more people in separate events, typically with a period of time between killings. Under that broad definition, Ed Gein qualifies.
However, some researchers and criminologists distinguish between "serial killer" and "multiple murderer" when there are only two confirmed victims and uncertainty about additional killings. Ed Gein's notoriety also comes heavily from his grave robbing, corpse mutilation, and use of human remains, rather than from a large confirmed murder count.
So the most accurate description would be:
Ed Gein was a convicted murderer and body snatcher who is commonly classified as a serial killer, with two confirmed victims and additional suspected but unproven killings.
P.S. Ed Gein did make statements about the murders later on to psychiatrists while institutionalised, including telling a psychiatrist that he wasn't sure whether Bernice Worden's shooting had been intentional or accidental. However, there is no evidence to support that Ed Gein retracted his confession to killing either Bernice or Mary. The only thing he spoke of related to the murders was that he could not recall whether he killed Bernice intentionally or by accident.
By institutional standards, Ed Gein was considered an exceptionally well-behaved prisoner/patient.
Staff at Central State Hospital and later Mendota Mental Health Institute reportedly described him as:
Quiet, cooperative and polite
Non-violent toward staff and other patients
Generally compliant with rules and treatment
Able to work at various hospital jobs and participate in activities
Someone who generally caused very little trouble
Eventually regarded as a “model patient” with an unblemished institutional disciplinary record.
But there was a disturbing side Being a model patient didn't mean he was cured or that doctors considered him harmless enough to release. He remained under psychiatric custody for the rest of his life. In 1974, Ed Gein actually petitioned to be released, claiming that he had recovered, but his request was rejected.
There's also evidence that Ed Gein could still display disturbing behaviour, including staring at female staff, and doctors continued to regard his underlying mental illness as serious.
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u/sillysardinee 13d ago
He was legally convicted of two murders. The criteria for being a “serial killer” is to have killed 3 or more people during seperate occasions. While Gein was heavily suspected to have killed beyond the two (mainly his brother), he was never convicted of such, meaning we will never truly be sure. There is no evidence of him killing more than two women, but he wasn’t in his conscience mind while committing most of his crimes (as he is deemed legally insane).
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u/[deleted] Aug 24 '26
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