Ed Gein, the name alone evokes a shiver down the spine of anyone familiar with mid-20th-century American true crime. Born in 1906 in La Crosse, Wisconsin, Gein grew up under the iron grip of his domineering mother, Augusta, whose religious fervor shaped his isolated, reclusive life on a remote farm. By the 1950s, this unassuming handyman had descended into depravity, committing acts that shocked the nation and forever scarred the quiet town of Plainfield.
But what exactly did Gein do? He confessed to murdering two women: tavern owner Mary Hogan in 1954 and hardware store clerk Bernice Worden in 1957. The latter's disappearance led police to his ramshackle home, where they uncovered a house of horrors—human organs in jars, furniture upholstered with skin, and masks fashioned from faces. Gein admitted to robbing graves, too, digging up bodies from local cemeteries to fulfill his macabre fantasies inspired by anatomy books and his mother's twisted sermons. Authorities suspected him in other unsolved killings, but only those two murders stuck. The exact tally remains murky, with some estimates hinting at more victims, though evidence points firmly to two lives ended by his hand.
Gein's ghoulish legacy didn't fade; it fueled Hollywood's darkest imaginations. Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho drew from his story for Norman Bates, while Leatherface in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and even Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs owe debts to this real-life monster. Now, Netflix revives the nightmare with Monster: The Ed Gein Story, the third season of Ryan Murphy's anthology series, dropping today, October 3, 2025. Charlie Hunnam stars as Gein, capturing the killer's eerie duality, alongside Laurie Metcalf as the smothering Augusta. The show promises a raw dive into his psyche, blending fact with dramatic flair, much like Murphy's takes on Dahmer and Menendez.
Indeed, the series arrives amid a surge of true-crime fascination, but it raises questions about glorifying such evil. However, for many, it's a stark reminder of unchecked isolation's toll. And yet, as we binge these tales, one wonders: what draws us so relentlessly to the abyss?