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We are diving into one of the most disturbing and historically significant cases in American criminal history. The story of Edward Theodore Gein, better known as the Butcher of Plainfield. Now, this isn't just another serial killer story. Ed Gein's crimes were so shocking and so bizarre that they literally changed how America viewed criminal behavior and directly inspired some of the most notorious horror movie villains of all time, including Norman Bates from Psycho, Leatherface from Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs. We're going to explore Gein's twisted family dynam, his isolated upbringing in rural Wisconsin, the psychological breakdown that followed his mother's death, grave robbing, and the absolutely horrifying discoveries police made when they searched his farmhouse in 1957. So if you are ready to learn about one of America's most notorious criminals and understand how his story shaped our modern understanding of criminal psychology, you're in the right place. So sit back, relax, and welcome to Camp.
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See mintmobile.com what's up, people? And welcome back to camp. My name is Mark Gagnon and thank you for joining me in my tent where every single week we go through the most interesting, fascinating and controversial stories from around the world, from all time through all ages. The purpose of the show, if you don't know, is for me to deep dive into all the topics that I find fascinating, some of which are morbidly fascinating, such as today. Now, as always, I'm joined by a dear friend, a compadre, a brother, a father figure, in many ways, the Greek freak himself, Christos Papadopados. What's up, everyone? I didn't even. I didn't even ask you a question. You just jumped in for no reason, dude. I mean, oh, my. The comments are going to cook you for this one. All right, if. If you've. If you feel like the commas were rough before, I mean, just wait. Ugh. I mean, this put me in a terrible mood. But maybe that's the point, because this is unfortunately a terrible topic. Okay. This is quite morbid and dark and twisted in many different ways. But if you're like me, growing up, I was fascinated by the psychology of serial killers. I actually took a class in college that was dedicated to this. It was a philosophy class that was diving into this exact topic. The. The paraphilias in the internal workings of the criminal mind. Why these people exist in our society, why they go through these cooling periods, why there is even such a fascination about them. I think they embody so much of our deepest fears. Like they're these humans that almost become monsters in their own right. And what led them to be this way? And what are the details about their lives that, you know, might be unsavory for, you know, mainstream media? Well, today we're. We're diving in. We're going into the story of Ed Gein. If you're not familiar with this guy, let me take you back to 1957. Police are investigating the disappearance of a widow, a woman named Bernice Worden. She's the owner of a hardware store where, you know, they got some raw materials and other things are sold. And they have a suspect, a man named Ed Gein. And the police arrived to his farm without really knowing what they were going to find. And they were following basically like a, you know, a 5, 7 guy. He had, like, a droopy eyelid and an accent that was like, maybe German or something. And besides, that was just, you know, had somewhat of a slow sort of, you know, sort of droning kind of voice. And they discovered that the house was completely full, full in every corner with different things. That includes plates made of human skulls and lamps made out of human skin and cutlery with bones, and some of the most twisted and darkest inventions of a master psychopath. So today we're going to learn all the details about the infamous and disgusting Edward Gein. Now, before we dive into this too far, I just want to say I'm not going to try to get, you know, too lost in the case here. There's some things when it comes to, like, the analysis of serial killers and psychopaths that I, on a personal basis, am just morbidly curious about. You know, I like to know what caused it, if, if anything, why these people exist. And like I said before, I just want to know the internal working. So I'm gonna do my best to not glorify the gory parts because again, to me, that is not what these things are about. But unfortunately, in order to understand the totality of this awful story, there's gonna be some parts that I'm gonna dive into. So heads up, preface, yada yada. But you clicked on a video like this, you pretty much knew what you were getting into. But again, my, my curiosity. I always watch these interrogation videos of like, you know, psychopaths and serial killers, and I just want to know truly what is going on? How do they act? I'm just, I'm so fascinated by this dark facet of humankind. So this story is one of the more well documented ones in terms of its pull on pop culture. I mean, there are movies today that exist solely because of this evil man. I mean, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Leatherface, you know, this killer from this series is based on this guy, Edward Theodore Gein. Interestingly, Edward Gein was actually not a serial killer by the strictest definition, according to, you know, FBI experts. So what professional investigators define typically as a serial killer is a person who murders typically three victims or more with, you know, in a given time period, typically with a month of cooling down. So a serial killer needs to kill three people a month in between each murder. I mean, if you're a crazy person and you kill three people in the same day, that would make you a mass murderer, and that's it. So before we go any further into Ed Gein, we should probably go to the beginning where, you know, most of us get our start, and that's our parents. So Ed Gein, his father was George. He was born in 1879, and George experienced a lot of hardships in his early life. Though the specific details of his childhood are not really documented in any historical records. What we do know is that George grew up to be what we describe as a weak willed man, in some ways somewhat frail in stature. He was known to have struggled with alcohol and had difficulty really maintaining employment. And he worked sort of various jobs, including an insurance salesman and a carpenter and whatever he had to do in order to get by. And on the other hand, we have Ed Gein's mother, Augusta, and she is very important to Ed's psychological development as a child. Historical records indicate Augusta came from a strict German immigrant family and was raised with very harsh religious discipline. Though the specific details of her childhood are not exactly known. Augusta grew up in a harsh environment that shaped her into a domineering personality. The description of Augusta shows her as a woman of German descent. She was tall, she was loud, and she was very strong, almost like a physically imposing woman, though her exact height is somewhat disputed. And this background led Augusta to develop strong resentment and more specifically, negative views towards many women. Augusta is a person who, in documented accounts, expressed views that women were opportunists and morally corrupt, and they came to the world to corrupt men. Reflects, you know, Augusta's worldview in a pretty clear way. So George meets Augusta, and she, you know, seeing him as someone weak and malleable, was able to control and manipulate him. And that was Augusta's approach through their whole relationship. Besides getting married, Augusta wanted children, specifically hoping for a daughter so she could raise her according to a strict moral code. Their first child was born in 1902, and they named him Henry, Henry Gein, that is, Ed's older brother. After that, about four years later in Wisconsin, little Edward was born in 1906. By this point, we already have two children in the Gein family, and we should also remember that Augusta had strong negative feelings towards women in general. So when she found herself with two sons instead of a daughter, she developed certain frustrations and told them regularly about the dangers of succumbing to what she viewed as the corrupting influence of women. So she had raised them with this misogynistic mindset. Regarding Ed's early childhood experiences and memories, specific memories are difficult to really historically verify. What we do know is that Augusta was documented as being extremely controlling and verbally harsh with her children. Historical accounts describe a household where Augusta dominated through intimidation and discipline. And by 1909, George, Ed Gein's father, bought a store with his savings, a grocery store, which he worked at for a long time. He worked very hard, and the town kind of began to know him pretty well. People already recognized it as the Gein store, and there the Geins began to become, you know, a somewhat respected name. Also remember that this little town, La Crosse, Wisconsin, was extremely small. So eventually Augusta took control of the store from George. That's right. Accounts of the Gein family didn't document Augusta making George sign contracts that seeded the business. What is documented is that by 1911, the city directory listed Augusta as the store's proprietor, while George was just a lowly clerk. And some contemporary reporting again portrays her as this dominant spouse in the household. Eventually, Augusta decided to sell the store, and with all the money that they collected, they moved to Plainfield now. Yes. This is the infamous name where Edward Gein is known as the cannibal or the Butcher of Plainfield. What's up, people? Quick announcement. If you are a fan of Camp Gagnon or Religion Camp, I have great news because we are dropping History Camp. That's right. This is the channel where we're gonna be exploring the most interesting, fascinating, controversial topics from all time throughout. All right, you probably know about Benjamin Franklin, I don't know, Thomas Jefferson, Nikola Tesla, interesting figures from history, and you probably learned about them at school, and they were pretty boring. But not here. No. As you know, I was raised by a conspiracy theorist. So I'm gonna be diving deep into all of the interesting, strange, occult, and secretive societal relationships that all of these famous, influential men from our shared past have. So if you're interested, please go ahead and subscribe to the YouTube channel. It will be pinned in the description as well as the comments. And if you're on Spotify, this doesn't really apply to you, but these episod will be dropping as well. Just go ahead and give us a high rating because it really helps the show. What's up, guys? We're going to take a break really quick because we got merch, if you don't know, we got camp research and development merchandise. You can see it right here. Also, my buddy Andrew Schultz was actually just out hanging with his fam, having a good old time. All of a sudden, a dude walks up to me, goes, yo, what's up, Schultze? And guess what? He was wearing this shirt right here. So shout out to that legend, whoever you are. You're the man. I appreciate that. And if you want to cop your very own camp threads, go to camp-rd.com we're dropping all sorts of new gear. You can see some of the images here of some of the products that we got. And anytime you buy a T shirt, you help this show directly operate. It is a huge, huge lift. And I'm very grateful for everyone that reps the gear, especially at the live show. Seeing you guys wearing the T shirts at the shows truly makes my life is the coolest thing ever. I cannot believe people are actually wearing clothes that me and my friends are designing and sending imessage chats like, yo, you think this is cool? It's the craziest thing in the world. And I'm so grateful for everyone that does it. Check it out. We got the link in the description. Now let's get back to the show.
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Mom, Dad, I humbly suggest you save some money and shop Amazon for back to school. It's for my growth, meaning my body's growing at an alarming rate. And clothes you buy me this year will be very small very soon. Plus, the clothes I love today will be out of style tomorrow. But at least your wallet doesn't have to be my fashion victim. If you shop low prices for school at Amazon. Hopefully this is helpful. Amazon. Spend less, smile more.
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Now, if you don't know what Plainfield is, it's a community that today is, you know, more or less developed. But in those times it was very rural where to get, you know, to the center of town, you had to travel a considerable distance. And in other words, just to get to their next door neighbor, the Geins had to walk significantly. And that's just how isolated they were completely from society, towns, everything, basically. And this isolation seems like it had a really negative effect on little Ed. So by age 7, he would start to recount some of these experiences. So when Ed would return from school or from errands, any mention of friends or social interaction would result in some severe punishment from Augusta, who viewed the outside influence of the world as corrupting and dangerous. One would think that this type of strict upbringing, you know, so much indoctrination of Augusta's beliefs that her children would fear her. But it isn't necessarily so. According to some psychological analysis. Actually, Ed Gein developed a complex relationship with his mom. Despite her harshness, he came to view her as, you know, this central good, like a figure in his life, someone that he both feared but also depended on completely. So while Ed was exploring around Plainfield on the farm that they had, he discovered areas of the farm dedicated to butchering livestock. And like most farm children, Ed was exposed to the realities of, you know, animal slaughter as a part of, you know, farm life. And while some accounts suggest that this had a particular psychological effect on Ed, the details and his reactions are again largely matter of speculation. So continuing with his development, Ed didn't have many friends at school. In fact, his mother discouraged really any friendship. And if Ed came home from school mentioning friends, his mother would respond harshly, telling him that children outside of the house were again corrupting his pure soul. So this was the type of treatment that Augusta had to towards her son just for making friends at all. I mean, specifically female friends who was just completely written off because women, again according to his mother, were extremely corrupting. These incidents and the general atmosphere of control led Ed to some social difficulty. In many of the photos of Ed, you can see that he had a facial asymmetry, Though the specific cause of, you know, this sort of physical characteristic is not documented in medical records. It was a challenge for him, and he was often bullied. So among the challenging upbringing in the social isolation, Ed also couldn't develop normal social skills. He had problems communicating clearly and connecting with others. He was described as being intellectually slow, maybe on the lower threshold of what you would consider even, you know, intellectually capable. So his manner of speaking was in the clearest, and he was awkward in social situations. And he was also so isolated on his farm that this led to common bullying throughout school. I mean, he was a target for many bullies. And on the other hand, the girls were afraid of him. And as a result, he was even more and more reclusive. But not everything was negative in Ed's life. He enjoyed reading, and he would read books about crime and adventure stories in various magazines. And this was actually a common hobby for many young people of the era, though, that other people would read, you know, a lot of significance into his reading choices. So as he grew up, his mother's strict control intensified, and her punishments were more severe over time. Among the rules, she made them read the Bible every day and instilled in them the strict moral codes about sexuality and the evils of lust and relationships with women, insisting that they remain pure and avoid the female corruption. And all this controlling behavior continued until Ed was in his 20s and even into his 30s and already being an adult. This level of maternal control was very strange, and the specific nature of the relationship has been subject to a lot of speculation from psychologists. Although the exact daily interactions that they had is not known, we know that they had a psychological dependency, and typically, this just refers to an unhealthy reliance on another person for emotional stability and decision making. And Ed developed an extreme emotional dependency on his mother that would continue well into his adult years. But what about his brother Henry? He grew up in basically the same environment, and despite all of the, you know, same treatment from their mother, he was somewhat more independent than Ed. He was able to interact more normally with the townspeople and even had some social relationships that he kept private from his mom. At various times, Henry expressed concerns about Ed's extreme attachment to their mom and his extreme detachment from everyone else. Eventually, in 1944, at age 40, a significant event occurred that may have been Ed's first involvement with violence. This is suspected, but not conclusively proven, but basically a brush fire started on the outskirts of the farm, and this was somewhat common in rural Areas both brothers went to help fight the fire. During this incident, Henry disappeared. And when Ed reported a missing and led authorities to Henry's body, there were some inconsistencies in Ed's account that raised suspicions amongst the investigators. The official cause of Henry's death was listed as asphyxia, presumably from smoke inhalation. However, some investigators noted aspects of the scene and Ed's behavior that seemed strange, Although no charges were officially filed and the death was ruled incidental. Again, this was 1944. Ed's account of the events had some inconsistencies. He claimed that the fire started in the morning, but it was the evening when Henry was found. And there were other details that didn't quite align, leading some to suspect that Ed had some involvement or potentially even cover up, although this was, of course, never proven. Now, going back a bit to 1940, his father George, also died of heart failure. So this might seem like it would be devastating for the family, but the reality is that George's death had basically no impact on any of the kids or his wife. George had been such a peripheral figure in the family, and due to his alcoholism and somewhat detached, borderline abusive behavior, didn't really seem to affect the kids as much. Now, the same cannot be said for ed's mother. In 1945, Augusta Gein suffered a stroke which left her bedridden for months. And she was able to recover somewhat and was mobile again by the winter of 1945 until she suffered another stroke in December. And the specific circumstances surrounding her strokes are not definitively documented. But what's clear is that Augusta's death had a profound and devastating psychological impact on Ed, who had been completely dependent on her for emotional stability and life direction. Now, it's important to note everything that has built up until this point. You have a kid who is developmentally disabled in some capacity. I don't know if at this point he had been strictly diagnosed with schizophrenia, but is certainly dealing with the mental health issues that we will learn about later. He's extremely isolated, raised in a very strict household, has a detached, you know, abusive father and a strict mother who despised alcohol and instilled all of this religious guilt and I mean, misogynistic ideas about women. And now the woman that he relied on for everything is now gone. Obviously, this made Ed, you know, now no longer a young man, devastated and filled with this psychological turmoil. In fact, in later interviews and evaluations, mental health professionals identify her death as the critical turning point in his psychological deterioration. Rather than attributing his psychological Break to a single incident. Mental health professionals who examined Ed combine a bunch of factors. Everything we mentioned, I mean this, you know, strange maternal dependency and mental health issues and isolation, all exacerbated by the death of his mother. So now we have a 41 year old adult with all the psychological background we've analyzed dealing with this profound loss, living on an isolated remote farm with no living family left. Besides all that, he had never really developed normal adult independence or social skills. Basically he only knew kind of survival skills due to his delayed developmental state. So he knew how to generally cook and some farm work and all these crucial developmental phases where individuals, you know, create relationships and independence from their parents is non existent. Immediately after the passing of his mother, Ed's behavior began to get increasingly, increasingly more bizarre. So he sealed off the rooms in his house that had belonged to his mother and his brother and preserved them. And exactly as they had been, these rooms became almost like shrines that he maintained but rarely ever entered. And then sometime after his mother's death, Ed made the bizarre decision to exhume her body from the cemetery. Now this is an act that obviously represents a clear break from reality and the normal grieving process and really marks the beginning of his descent into criminal paraphilic behaviors that would later shock the entire nation. Now, I told you at the beginning of this video that Edward Gein cannot be considered a serial killer for two reasons. One, he wasn't proven to have killed more than two people. And the victims he did kill were not spread out over the typical serial killer timeline. Several disappearances occurred in the area during the 1940s and 50s, and some have actually speculated that those are connected to Gein. So Just in short, May 1, 1947. Georgia Wechler, just a young 8 year old girl, mysteriously disappears when she left her house to walk to school. And the only evidence of her disappearance were some tire marks where she was last seen. June 17, 1952. Victor Travis and Ray Burgess, two middle aged men, disappeared after leaving a local bar. Witnesses report hearing a vehicle leave the area quickly. 1953. Evelyn Hartley, 15 years old, disappears while babysitting. Her clothing was found some distance from the house, along with evidence of struggle. These disappearances put Plainfield in the spotlight as people began to wonder what was happening in this small town. However, there's no definitive evidence linking Ed Gein to these cases. They do remain unsolved to this day. Now we move into Ed Gein's first confirmed victim, Mary Hogan, a 60 year old woman who owned a local tavern in 1954. This woman was described as a large, imposing figure who could handle difficult customers and had a commanding presence in her establishment. And there are various theories about why Ed targeted Mary Hogan specifically, with some suggesting that she may have reminded him of his mother in some way. Though this is just psychological speculation between Ed and the townspeople. There was generally a relationship of casual acquaintance. Ed wasn't seen as threatening, and most people viewed him as just kind of like a quiet oddball who lived in an isolated farm. And people recognized him but didn't really pay him much attention, seeing him as just, you know, a harmless guy. Remember, we're talking about the 1950s. This was an era of much less suspicion and fear, and communities, especially small ones, were pretty trusting, and acts of random violence were so rare. So Mary Hogan had some interaction with Ed as she, you know, he occasionally would go to her tavern. And one day in December 1954, Mary Hogan disappeared from this very tavern. The scene showed signs of violence with blood evidence, but no body was found at the time. At the time, there wasn't the, you know, sophisticated investigation techniques that we have today. And Mary Hogan's disappearance, while concerning to the community, didn't immediately lead to any arrests. Among local speculation, Ed's friend made a comment to him about the disappearance, and Ed's response reportedly was, she isn't missing. She's at the farm. Though the friend assumed that this was just Ed's odd sense of humor, the subsequent behavior began to unfold. Ed later described experiencing periods of psychological disturbance following his mother's death. Though the specific details are again his own later accounts. What is documented is that after Mary Hogan's murder, Ed began to systematically visit local cemeteries, and he would read obituaries in local newspapers and identify recently deceased individuals, specifically women, and then he would go and exhume their bodies. For reasons that mental health professionals still continue to debate till this day, Ed's method was to visit cemeteries at night and basically dig up these bodies. And in that era, these burial practices were a little different, right? Graves were typically a bit shallower and less secure than, you know, graveyards today. Ed later claimed that during these activities, he experienced disassociative episodes, though the accuracy of these, you know, self reported episodes is just his own personal statements. He said he would find himself back at his farm with the exhumed remains without any clear memory of the process, though this could represent, you know, like a genuine disassociation or an attempt from him to actually minimize his culpability and just say, hey, I was insane. Now Having grown up on a farm, Ed had learned practical skills related to animal processing like we had mentioned, like skinning animals, preserving hides, meat processing, and actually creating, you know, different items from animal parts. And as a result, it's important to clarify that for someone raised on the farm, these skills are really normal and necessary for rural life. Learning to process animals and work with hides is extremely useful and profitable for, you know, an agricultural setting. But what made Ed's situation abnormal is that he would use these farming skills and apply them to the human remains. And again, the psychological motivations behind this have been subject to extensive research and speculation. Now, this leads us to what eventually gets Ed captured. So we fast forward three years to November 16, 1957. Ms. Bernice Worden owned a hardware store that sold various supplies and materials needed by the community. And this 58 year old woman was well known in town and had regular interactions with many of the local residents. But on this day, Bernice Worden disappeared from her store. Evidence at the scene indicated once again, violence had occurred with blood found on the premises. Ed's critical mistake here was that Bernice Worden was not just any townsperson. She was the mother of Frank Warden, a local law enforcement officer. Frank had previously been suspicious of Ed due to his unusual behavior and had noted that Ed's frequent visits to this very store, Ed left considerable evidence at the crime scene. Most obviously, there was a receipt with Ed's name at the store indicating that he had been there on the day of the disappearance. Additionally, witnesses had seen a man matching Ed's description and vehicle leaving the area. Unlike the general townspeople who viewed Ed as, you know, a harmless, eccentric guy, Frank Warden had observed Ed's behavior more critically and had concerns about his interactions with his mother. This professional law enforcement perspective led to Ed being quickly identified as a suspect. Now, as you might expect from someone with Ed's limited social skills and his psychological state, when police arrived to question him about Bernice Worden's disappearance, his response immediately raised suspicions. When police asked Ed if they knew anything about Bernice Worden or her disappearance or where she is, he just became defensive and nervous. His responses were inconsistent, and he volunteered information that hadn't been requested at all, including references to her being dead before police had even established that she was murdered. Ed's behavior during questioning clearly indicated guilt, and his story contained numerous inconsistencies about his whereabouts and activities on that specific day. Based on this suspicious behavior and the evidence from the crime scene, police obtained a warrant to search Ed's property. And what they found is truly disturbing. When police searched Ed's house, they initially found the first floor covered in just dust and debris, filled with old furniture. And the house appeared to be generally in a state of decay, with evidence of pest infestations and poor maintenance. However, when they expanded their search to the outbuildings, this is where they found some of the most horrifying discoveries in law enforcement to this day. A shed behind the house, the police found Bernice Warden's body. It was decapitated and hanging upside down, similar to how an animal would be treated. Times reporting published two weeks after the arrest also noted her head was in a box and her heart was in a different compartment near the stove, which confirms organ removal. Accounts from Wisconsin outlets say that the deputy who first lit the scene ran outside and vomited. Another local piece quotes participating officer and says sheriff Art Schley also became sick. The discovery is documented in crime scene photos that remain some of the most disturbing images in American criminal history. Ever. The search of Ed's property continued for over a week because after finding Bernice Warden's body, investigators realized what they had initially dismissed as, you know, old, dusty furniture was actually items made from human remains. The complete inventory of Items found included 10 skulls with the tops taken off and used as bowls, and human skulls mounted as bedposts and a heart found in a bag and human skin. And many more discoveries that are personally just too gruesome to even detail. And the motivations behind Ed's creation of these items is still again, debated amongst psychological experts. Various people have proposed different theories around the psychology that actually drives this behavior. Some mental health professionals have suggested that Ed's actions represent attempts to cope with death, Specifically, his mother's passing and his own psychological issues. Though the specific mechanisms involved continue to be debated, what is clear from the evidence is that Ed had been systematically collecting human remains and fashioning them into functional and decorative items. Over a period of several years, Ed did seal off certain rooms in the house that belonged to his mother, preserving them as they were when she was alive. And these rooms contained his mother's belongings and appeared to, you know, be a shrine to her. The discovery of Bernice Worden's body, processed in this manner, indicated that Ed had killed her fairly recently. And during the search, investigators also found what they initially thought was a wig. And upon further examination, it was actually an entire skull. This was later identified as belonging to Mary Hogan, Ed's first confirmed victim from three years before. Now for clarification. While Ed's house contained remains from numerous individuals. He was only charged with two murders. The additional human remains were determined through investigation to have come from exhumed bodies rather than additional murders. Now, Ed provided evidence to support this claim by showing investigators which graves he had disturbed. And when authorities checked in these locations, they found that the graves had indeed been opened and their bodies had been removed. This distinction was important for the legal proceedings, as it meant that Ed was charged with two murders and various counts of grave robbing and desecration of human bodies, rather than classified as multiple independent murders. Ed was arrested and initially confessed to the murders of Bernice Worden and Mary Hogan. He maintained that the other human remains in his house were just from grave robbing, which was largely corroborated by the physical evidence. Due to questions about his mental competency, Ed was initially declared unfit to stand trial and was committed to the Central State Hospital for the Criminally Insane for psychiatric evaluation. In 1968, 11 years after his arrest, Ed was deemed mentally competent to stand trial, and he was tried for the murder of Bernice Worden and found guilty of of first degree murder. But due to his documented mental illness, he was sentenced to life in a mental health institution rather than prison. Ed spent the remainder of his life in Wisconsin state mental health facilities, first at Central State Hospital and later at Mendota Mental Health Institute in Madison, where he died of respiratory failure July of 1984 at age 77. Now, this story is obviously gruesome and disturbing for many reasons, but Ed's story has left a lasting impact on American culture and crime psychology to this day. I mean, his case has been studied extensively by criminologists and mental health professionals as an example of how extreme childhood trauma, social isolation, and mental illness can all come together to contribute to the development of severely deranged behavior. His crimes have inspired numerous fictional characters and psychopaths in films that we have mentioned before. And the case continues to be studied in academic settings as researchers seek to understand the complex psychological and social factors that can contribute to such deranged criminal behavior. Ed's story will continue to be remembered as one of the most disturbing cases in American criminal history ever. And it illustrates, you know, the profound impact that psychological disturbances can have when they are left untreated in certain extreme situations. I mean, truly, I mean, grotesque. Like the fact that he would do this alone and like this disassociation. I remember a professor, even when I took this class in college, he would describe, you know, people that would do these things and they would disassociate. And in a certain Way, you know, I think that that's probably him trying to absolve himself from guilt. You know, like, he was found competent to stand trial after being in this mental hospital for a while. So I wonder truly how psycho he was. Like, of course, like, you can see his behavior. This guy is not a normal human being. But was he actually disassociating the entire time? I don't know. It is interesting to me that not everyone with childhood trauma goes on to commit these atrocious acts, and not everyone with mental health issues will go on to do these things. But having a specific sort of conflation of multiple things all at once with a trigger could cause someone to truly do the most disturbing and grotesque behavior you could even possibly imagine. For whatever reason, in the mind of Ed Gein, due to the trauma as well as the schizophrenia, he saw the desecration of these bodies as somehow a solution for the grief that he was experiencing, that somehow he could become his mother, this woman that he had this psychological dependence on, and that if he was able to exhume these bodies and somehow interact with them, that he would no longer be distant from this woman that he needed. And it is a disturbing, bizarre way that the brain would try to cope with some type of loss. And I think in a lot of ways, this case underscores the importance of understanding the intersection between mental health and violent crime and the role of community awareness and prevention. And in a lot of ways, the necessity of forensic psychology in profiling offenders, potentially even before they offend. And his legacy not only reshaped public fears. I mean, truly the most macabre desecration of a human person, but also inspired deeper academic and investigative approach to pathology. And the hidden warning signs of, you know, future violence. And ultimately, you know, these crimes remind us that criminology must continue to evolve not only to solve crimes after the fact, but to identify and address the conditions that make such horrors possible. And this, ladies and gentlemen, is the bizarre and twisted psychology of Ed Gein. Thank you guys so much for joining us for this episode. If there's anything I missed, feel free to drop a comment. If there's anything that you learned or if you have any personal thoughts as to what kind of events can turn someone into a killer like Ed, please drop them in. Like I said, I read every single comment. And if there's other profiles of other killers or monsters you're interested in, I enjoy doing these psychological deep dives. So drop them in the comments. Thank you guys so much for joining us for another episode of camp. I will see you guys next week. Peace. If you've made it to the end of this episode, you are clearly someone who understands that beneath every historical event lies a deeper truth within waiting to be uncovered. You're the type of person who knows that real history is more fascinating than any fiction, and we deeply appreciate that about you. I'll be honest, that's exactly why I personally invite you to sign up for Today in History, our free newsletter that goes beyond the surface of historical events. 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