Aug. 8, 1906 — Ed Theodore Gein is born to Augusta Wilhelmina Lehrke and George P. Gein in La Crosse.
1907-1940 — Ed was greatly influenced by his mother, who was a strict and religious woman. His father, George, was an abusive alcoholic who his mother treated with contempt. The family moved to Plainfield during this time and eeked out a living farming and running a small grocery.
March 1944 — Ed’s brother, Henry Gein, dies fighting a brush fire on the family property. Months earlier Henry had begun to openly criticize their mother, which upset Ed greatly. Although Ed told the police he had lost sight of Henry during the fire, he later led them directly to his body. There is some speculation that this may have been Ed’s first murder.
Dec. 29, 1945 — Ed’s mother, Augusta, dies after a series of strokes. Ed, who has been living alone with his mother on the farm, is devastated by her death.
Dec. 8, 1954 — Tavern owner Mary Hogan disappears from her establishment. Police suspect foul play after finding blood and a spent bullet casing, but they are unable to solve the crime.
Nov. 16, 1957 — Bernice Worden disappears from her hardware store. A receipt for anti-freeze with Ed Gein’s name is found and deputies go to his farm to question him about the disappearance. At Gein’s house the police discover his gruesome secrets. Worden’s body is found strung up and gutted in a shed on the property. The farmhouse is full of rotting garbage and unimaginable horrors.
Nov. 19, 1957 — Gein claims he robbed graves of the recently deceased to gather his gruesome collection of body parts.
Nov. 20, 1957 — The face of Mary Hogan is discovered among his collection of “masks.” Gein claims he was unable to remember the killings and was in a dazed state at the time.
Nov. 21, 1957 — Gein pleads innocent by reason of insanity to the charges of murder.
Nov. 22, 1957 — The judge in the case orders that Gein undergo a sanity test before the trial.
Nov. 25, 1957 — Police open two graves Gein claimed to have robbed and discover the body missing in one and the other mutilated as he had described.
Jan. 6, 1958 — Gein is found unfit to stand trial and sent to the state mental hospital
March 27, 1958 — Gein’s farmhouse burns to the ground. Residents of Plainfield seem happy the home is gone and relieved that their small community will not be a sight-seeing stop on some kind of macabre killer tour.
Jan. 22, 1968 — After being judged sane, Gein is put on trial.
Nov. 14, 1968 — Gein is found guilty of murdering Bernice Worden but insane and sent him to the state mental hospital
for life.
Dec. 6, 1973 — Gein petitions the court to be released, saying everyone would have forgotten about him. The court denies Gein’s request.
July 26, 1984 — Gein dies while incarcerated at the state mental facility.
Ed's mother was Augusta Wilhelmina Lehrke.
ReplyDeleteGrocery business was in La Crosse- family moved to Plainfield in 1914.
Noted and changed - tip of the old hunting cap to ya. Thanks.
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