Places and How to Get There

   Out of the people who type "Ed Gein" into an Internet search engine, 80% are doing so to find directions to his house, his grave, Worden's Hardware or some such place. The other 19% are trying to find tips on making a nipple belt of their own, and the remaining 1% are confused Red Green fans who have just stumbled upon the reason they won't be sleeping tonight.                          

More likely to have a suit made out of duct-tape than human skin.  

   Countless people have grabbed their buddies and aimed the car towards Plainfield, not having the slightest clue where they're going.

  "We'll find it, trust me. I mean, how hard can it be? We'll just drive around until we see the house with the human skin siding."
  Upon arriving at what they believe to be the old Gein farmstead, they pile out of the vehicle and stand there, talking of the "terror radiating from the place", the "eerie, haunting feeling of being watched by something", the "over-powering sensation of being smothered by sinister moods" and so forth...only to find out later they were standing in the middle of the old Dairy Queen parking lot.



"I hear the tormented cries of Dilly Bars..."

  And if you decide to haul out your phone and bring up the Internet, most web pages have the directions buried so far into their site that you'd need good ol' Eddie's grave-digging prowess to find them. And it is such a joy to scroll through page after page at one in the morning on the side of a creepy country back road with hardly any signal because you're in the middle of Bumfuck, Wisconsin.

  That's why I'm cutting through the bullshit and posting a page solely dedicated to giving you the directions to all Gein-related places of interest. But first, a few important points...

•   DON'T TRESPASS. There are literally hundreds of "NO TRESPASS" signs all around the Gein property. This is for a reason, and it's not because the guy who sells the "NO TRESPASS" signs was having a really good sale one day. There are currently foresting operations being performed out there, which means lots of big ol' machinery with sharp corners that they don't want you crawling around on and plenty of gapping holes in the ground just perfect for you to tumble into and break your neck. Those signs are there for your safety, obey them. Besides, dying because you wanted to snap a photo of an odd looking tree is a really stupid way to go, and it's pretty certain they will mock you constantly in the after-life for it.     
•  OBSERVE ALL RULES AND LAWS. Just because you have a camera doesn't mean you can go knocking around wherever you want, whenever you want, however you want. See, Plainfield has it's laws just like everywhere else, but, it also has the misfortune of being the stomping grounds of one of the most infamous serial killers in history, which has brought quite the flow of sight-seers in the past couple of decades. This has resulted in a very heightened police presence, meaning if you're in an area Gein-related, expect a squad car to show up, and to possibly be questioned about what you're up to. When this happens, it'd be for the best if you had no reason for them to slap the cuffs on you.    
• BE RESPECTFUL. Regardless of how you feel, what was revealed that November in '57 was considered a tragedy to the people of Plainfield and the surrounding areas, and still is. Many family members of Gein's victims (those he killed and those whos' bodies he defiled) still live there, and the town as a whole has long met it's quota of being sociable to camera-totting dip shits wearing "Gein's Rib Shack" shirts and asking "where the murders and junk are". Plainfield residents DO NOT want to talk about anything that has to do with Gein and will clam up if he is mentioned. If you plan on conducting a little Gein tour, it's highly advised that you fly under the radar as low as possible; if you're suspected of nosing around by any town folk, you will be tagged as what they call a "gawker". Word travels fast in little towns like this and you will quickly find yourself shunned at every turn. And leave the jokes at home. Walking into one of the local taverns and asking for a Gein burger is probably one of the most ignorant things you could do. Awhile back, a friend's uncle stopped off at one of the bars and asked for a Worden beer (no head, ice cold). Immediately three large men hoisted him off his bar stool, dragged him out back and beat the living shit out of him. Be respectful, even if just for your own safety, because they do not play around. Plus it's just common sense not to mess with people who come from a town that, when it's named is mentioned, the first thing that comes to mind is hanging people on meat hooks and making furniture out of body parts as a way to pass the time. 

       
   *NOTE* DIRECTIONS TO ALL LOCATIONS WILL USE I-39 AS A STARTING POINT.  


    PLAINFIELD CEMETERY

  HOW TO GET THERE: Take the 136 exit off of I-39. Travel east on HWY 73, taking an immediate left (north) onto 5th Avenue. Follow the slight S-curve to the cemetery on your right.
  GEIN CONNECTION: This is one of the cemeteries which Ed made nighttime visits to for the purpose of digging up bodies and taking them home and is, ironically, where he himself was finally buried, next to his father, mother and brother. Ed's headstone is no longer there (more about that else where), but, people tend to leave everything from flowers, make-shift wooden crosses to even a bleached cow skull upon where the stone once was.

    This is also the final resting place of Gein's last victim, Bernice Worden, as well as her husband and son.

          

  WORDEN'S HARDWARE

HOW TO GET THERE: Take the 136 exit off of I-39. Travel east for a bit on HWY 73, which will turn into North Street as you enter Plainfield. Clark's True Value will be on your right, on the corner of North Street and South Main Street. The store has been changed drastically, inside and out, in an effort to deter sight-seers.
GEIN CONNECTION: Clark's True Value was formerly Worden's Hardware, owned and operated by Bernice Worden and her son, Frank. Gein was a regular customer at the store and, though she found him odd, Bernice felt no reason to fear him. That all changed on November 16, 1957, when Ed came in asking to look at the .22 rifles. Though Gein claimed he "blacked out" and had no idea what occurred, it is apparent that he loaded the rifle with one of his own bullets and shot Bernice. Ed dragged Bernice's body out to the loading dock and placed her in the Worden store truck, went back inside to get the cash register and then drove the store truck to his farm. A receipt for anti-freeze with Gein's name upon it would later lead police to his house, where they would uncover some of the most macabre and perverse crimes in known history.

THE GEIN PROPERTY

       
HOW TO GET THERE: Take the 136 exit off of I-39. West on Hwy 73 a little over a mile, then left (south) on Hwy KK. After two miles, turn right (west) on Archer Ave. The former Gein property is one mile west, at the corner of 2nd and Archer. The driveway is blocked by a cattle gate.
GEIN CONNECTION: Seriously?
  This former 160 acres (now down to just 40 acres after being carved up over the years and sold off) became home to the Geins when they moved to Plainfield from La Crosse. You can guess what happened after that.
  After Ed's arrest in '57, an auction was to be held on the property on Palm Sunday. This bothered the resident's of Plainfield, who didn't want to become a stop on a ghoulish sight-seeing tour. Those feelings grew to outrage when word got around that someone planned to buy Ed's house so they could turn it into a museum, ensuring a steady stream of gawkers wanting to see "where it all happened" for years to come.
  A few days before the auction, Plainfield residents awoke to the south-west sky glowing a bright orange. Fire crews were immeaditly dispatched to the Gein property, but, by the time they arrived the decaying farm house had burned to the ground, along with whatever other horrible secrets it may have contained. Frank Worden, son of Bernice Worden, who just happened to be the fire chief, claimed it was a total accident that the fire trucks ended up taking an extra long alternative route to the Gein farm. Frank didn't need to worry about anybody questioning his decision, though; the people of Plainfield didn't seem all that heart broken over the loss.
  Ed, who was off passing time at the Central State Hospital for the Criminally Insane until it was felt he was all together enough to stand trial, was for once on the same thought pattern as his former neighbors; when told that his home for the last forty-some years had been set to torch and was now nothing but a pile of ash, Gein simply shrugged his shoulders and said, "Just as well."
  The grandfather of Mike Fisher, the current owner, bought the 160 acre property at the auction that was held a few days later. He planted rows of red pines all over the property in an attempt to try in some way to redeem it from it's ugly past, but, did next to nothing else with the land, aside from using it for deer hunting. He later sold off some of the land to relatives and friends, and the 40-acre homestead site was passed down to Fisher and his brother, who realized they couldn't do any more with the "cursed thing" than their grandfather had.
  In 2006, Fisher put the property up for sale on eBay with the asking price of $250,000, a steep sum for any piece of wooded land in Central Wisconsin. People were quick to say that Fisher was using the notoriety of Gein to jack up the price, with Fisher responding that he wasn't in any way trying to capitalize on the fact. His eBay heading of "Ed Gein's Farm . . . The REAL deal!" made others think different.
  Regardless, eBay pulled the ad five days after it was listed, calling it a violation of the site's murder memorabilia policy. In the time that it was up, the ad attracted 10,000 hits, but, no serious offers.
  And so it remains to this day, still for sale, but, no takers. And probably never will have any.

***A number of websites and blogs have stated that the shed that currently sits on the property is Ed's. This is false. Nothing, aside from the land itself, is from when Gein lived there.****