Infamously christened as the “Plainfield Ghoul” and “The Butcher of Plainfield”, Ed Gein was one of America’s most notorious serial killers and body snatchers.
Though he was convicted of killing two women, he was linked to several other unresolved cases, and his home was stuffed with keepsakes crafted out of human body parts. Gein spent his latter years in a psychiatric facility where he died—but not before capturing the popular imagination with his heinous acts.
Details of his horrific crimes, his strange, almost-incestuous attachment to his religious fanatic of a mother, and the grisly artefacts recovered from his home have attracted the attention of countless biographers, criminologists, film makers and curious folk.
Indeed, soon after Gein’s arrest, Psycho by Robert Bloch was published—whose protagonist Norman Bates is an insane serial killer with an uncanny resemblance to Gein. Psycho was, of course, made into a hit film by Hitchcock, just a year later.
Ed Gein served as the inspiration for other fictional villains, both on-screen and off, including Leatherface in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs.
Recently, the third season of Monster, a Netflix biographical crime drama series created by Ian Brennan was devoted entirely to Ed Gein’s atrocities, with Charlie Hunnam playing the Plainfield killer.
So, whether you’ve always had a morbid fascination with true crime and serial killers, or you’re just curious to learn more about the notorious Plainfield Ghoul, our list of books inspired by Ed Gein's horrific crimes will answer all your burning questions!
The Ed Gein File: A Psycho's Confession and Case Documents
A Psycho's Confession and Case Documents by John Borowski: While even the most faithful of biographies may contain a fair degree of speculation, John Borowski’s The Ed Gein File neatly lays out all the facts of the case—with legal documents, police reports, newspaper clippings, psychiatric notes, and more.
Of particular note, is the transcript of Gein’s confession—highlighting the careful line of questioning that led Gein to admit to his horrific deeds.
Given the rumors and conjectures that have naturally sprung up around the Butcher of Plainfield, Borowski’s informative book does a good job separating fact from untruths, allowing the readers to come to their own conclusions.
Psycho
Partly thanks to Hitchcock’s hit adaptation, Robert Bloch’s Pyscho which tells the grisly and tragic story of motel owner Norman Bates, has remained relevant in popular culture.
And while Bloch wasn’t initially aware of the Gein case, by the time the manuscript was finished, he inserted a reference to the Plainfield Ghoul in one of the final chapters. Compulsively readable and entertaining, Psycho remains one of the most successful and influential horror novels published last century.
Both Bates (in Psycho) and Gein (in real life) struggled with long periods of isolation and had overbearing mothers with strong religious leanings. So, if you want to see a serial killer in action—within the pages of fiction—give Psycho a read.
Did You Hear What Eddie Gein Done?
Suppose you’re more of a comics person and you’re obsessed with the Ed Gein case. In that case, you should definitely check out the meticulously researched and cleverly illustrated graphic novel, Did You Hear What Eddie Gein Done? by true crime biographer, Harold Schechter, and Eisner Award-winning graphic novelist, Eric Powell.
The comic provides a comprehensive biography of the murderer and grave robber, along with insights from the small-town community in which Gein lived.
Morbidly compelling and accompanied by macabre illustrations, the comic mostly sticks to the facts and yet manages to do a tremendously good job of delving into Gein’s turbulent mental state, making for an utterly engrossing read.
Edward Gein
Unlike other murderers who are mostly focused on luring and killing their victims, Ed Gein was different.
While he confessed to killing two women, he also had other gruesome habits and tendencies—he robbed the recent graves of elderly women, exhumed their corpses, and made furniture and other artefacts out of human remains.
It’s this last horrifying detail that makes it hard to dismiss Gein as just the run-of-the-mill serial killer. Robert H. Gollmar’s enticing book, Edward Gein: America's Most Bizarre Murderer focuses on Gein’s uniqueness in true crime history, highlighting his body-snatching hobbies and negrophilic inclinations, along with the murders.
A disturbing and chilling read.
Deviant
Finally, if you’re looking for a definitive biography on Ed Gein written by a true crime expert, check out Harold Schechter’s Deviant, which reads like a fast-paced horror novel that gets scarier with each turn of the page.
It’s a sharp character study of a notorious figure, exploring his mental issues, isolation, and dysphoria, and what drove him to do all the things that he did.
Packed with graphic details of his atrocities, Deviant isn’t for the faint of heart.
Featured image: Annie Spratt / Unsplash
