Copyright 2019 by Gary L. Pullman
After his father's death,
Ed Gein (1906-1984) was reared by his mother, a religious fanatic
with twisted ideas about sex in particular and about life in general. He
was unable to function on his own, and after his brother's death (as
a result, some claim, of Ed's having murdered him) and his mother's
demise, as a result of natural causes, Ed was left alone on the
family farm outside Plainfield, Wisconsin. A man without friends, he
occasionally babysat for a neighbor, but, otherwise, didn't much interact with the community.
Left alone, he read
stories about the Nazis' atrocities and became interested in
cross-dressing. Some believe he attempted to bring his mother back by
dressing in women's clothes and adopting her personality. To improve
on his female mimicry, he added a “torso vest” made from the
skinned abdomen, including the breasts, he removed from a female
cadaver he'd dug up from a local or nearby cemetery.
Ed also upholstered
chairs in human skin, and he made a curtain pull featuring female
lips; a lampshade of human skin; a belt decorated with female
nipples; masks cut from women's faces; wall hangings of women's skin,
breasts, and severed fingers; dresses made of women's skins; an apron
made of female breasts and women's faces; and a pair of gloves made from
women's skins. He collected women's ears and noses as well.
Charged with first-degree
murder in the death of shopkeeper Bernice Worden, Ed pleaded not
guilty and was found “mentally
incompetent to stand trial” as a result of schizophrenia. He
was confined in the Wisconsin Central State Hospital for the
Criminally Insane in Waupun, Wisconsin. He was later transferred to
the Mendota State Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin, where he died.
Although he was tried only for Worden's death, Gein also admitted to
having murdered tavern owner Mary Hogan.
Ed Gein inspired Norman
Bates, of both Robert Bloch's 1959 novel Psycho
and the 1961 movie of the same name,
directed by
Alfred Hitchcock; Leatherface, of the 1974 movie The
Texas Chainsaw Massacre,
directed by Tobe Hooper; Buffalo Bill, of the 1988 Thomas Harris
novel The Silence of the Lambs
and the eponymous1991 film, directed by Jonathan Demme; and
Dr. Oliver Thredson of the television series American
Horror Story: Asylum.
There's
no doubt about it: Ed was a genuinely creepy guy. In fact, he was so
disturbing that, to cope with the revelation of his monstrous crimes,
the American public invented Ed Gein jokes of the morbid, gallows
humor variety. As the Wikipedia
article
on this type of humor points out, it is used to make “light of
subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly
subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discuss.”
Ed's deeds certainly qualify as such a topic.
A
few Ed Gein jokes can be found on the Internet. Here are a few from
the Imgur
website:
- What did Ed Gein say as the hearse passed by? “Dig you later, baby!”
- What did Ed Gein say to the sheriff who arrested him? “Have a heart.”
- Ed Gein [was] popular with the ladies. There were always women hanging around his place.
- Why do they let Ed Gein out on New Year's Day? So he can dig up a fresh date.
- Customer: “Bartender, give me a Gein beer.” Bartender: “It has lots of body but no head.”
- Have you heard the Defense Department has called on Ed Gein? They want him to ship arms to Vietnam.
Among
others, the Tripod
website offers these gems:
- Why did Ed Gein's girlfriend stop going out with him? Because he was such a cut-up.
Why won't anyone play poker with Ed Gein?
He might come up with a good hand.
- Ed Gein liked to keep abreast of things
- Ed Gein always put his best foot forward.
- Ed Gein had a grave disposition.
- At bake sales, Ed Gein's pastries didn't sell well: people feared there'd be a finger in every pie.
- As a house guest, Ed Gein expected to be waited on hand and foot.
- Ed Gein was barred from the theater after he took Mark Antony's plea to “lend me your ears” literally.
While
it must be admitted that Ed Gein jokes tend to be corny (and a bit
juvenile), except my own, of course, we can see how they might help
people cope with the astonishingly bizarre, heinous deeds of the
insane killer from Plainfield.
5 comments:
Why did Ed Gein always keep his home hot.
So the furniture wouldn't get goosebumps.
What did Ed Gein keep in his cookie jar?
Ladyfingers.
What did Ed give his girlfriend for Valentines? A box of farmers fannies.
What did Ed Gein keep in his sewing box? Belly buttons
Anonymous
When Eddie Gein was arrested, the finance company was there to repossess his furniture. Eddie said, “Go on, take it! It ain’t no skin off my ass!”
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