Ed Gein

Edward Theodore Gein was born on August 27, 1906 in La Crosse, WI. They later moved to Plainfield. Ed went to Roche-a-Cri grade school when he was eight. Later the school merged with the white school and that is where Ed completed his education in the eighth grade at the age of sixteen. Ed was an odd little boy with a droopy eyelid due to an abnormal growth on it. People could tell Ed was different, even Ed knew something wasn’t right. He “felt overwhelmingly alone, hopelessly cut off from his classmates. (Schechter 19) No one got close to Ed. He was considered an “off beat, distant little boy.” (Woods 9) Kids were mean and insulted him calling him “milksop” and “saggy baggy eye.” (Woods 12) This would make Ed upset, he would cry and run away. At home Ed didn’t have it much better. His mother Augusta was very protective and overbearing to Ed and his brother Henry. Gein was an isolated child with an over obsessive mother. Augusta thought all woman were evil, she was very religious and made Ed her little pet. She was determined not to let Ed turn out like all the other men in the world. It seemed every time Ed got close to having a friend his mother would find out and always had a reason why Ed couldn’t talk to them. Either the “boys family had a bad reputation, or there were dark rumors about the fathers past or the mother was known to be a woman of questionable virtue.“ (Schechter 20) Before Augusta even had children, after she was married , she “quickly assumed the role of domestic tyrant. Her own deformities of character - her harshness, rigidity and fierce intolerance became ever more pronounced.” (Schechter 11) The teasing and insensitivity of the other children just made Ed think his mother was right about everything. Once Augusta caught Ed in the bath with a National Geographic magazine she asked “Edward are you diddlin with yourself again?” (Woods 17) Then she grabbed his genitals and said “you know this is the curse of man.” (Woods 17) Augusta made her