The first episode of Netflix’s Monster season 3 introduced us to Henry Gein, the lesser-known elder brother of America’s most prolific butcher and grave digger, Edward Gein. Born on January 17, 1902, Henry was the more well-adjusted of the two, who could recognize the evil of their domineering mother, Augusta, and therefore had distanced himself from the toxic household for the sake of his own emotional and mental wellbeing. As per the reports, Augusta was fanatically religious, raised in a household that obeyed a rigid code of conduct, the breach of which often led to regular beatings. When Augusta married Henry and Ed’s father, George, she imposed the same Lutheran practices on her husband and her children, thereby assuming the role of a domestic tyrant. Augusta forbade her children to ever socialize with any women, and the growing men had no other option but to resign themselves to bachelorhood.
Henry Wanted to Leave the House
From a very young age, Henry knew that he wouldn’t be able to lead a comfortable life unless he escaped the dark shadow of his evil mother, and therefore made numerous attempts to leave the house. Shortly after America was dragged into the Second World War, Henry tried to enlist in the army in 1942, but he was too old for military service. Later, he started picking up odd jobs that kept him away from the family farm. This was the reason why Augusta didn’t seem worried in Netflix’s show when Henry didn’t show up at the house for a week, as she believed he might be away on a job as always.
There’s evidence that suggests Henry often tried to wean his younger brother away from their mother’s influence. On more than one occasion, Henry told his brother that his attachment to Augusta was concerningly strong. And while Henry didn’t mean to criticize or disrespect their mother, Ed found it offensive. Both of these brothers were in their early 40s during the 1940s, and Henry especially didn’t want to wind up spending the rest of his life at the old creaking house, becoming a psychological slave to their mother. He had actually found a girl, and he wanted to move in with her. The problem was, the girl already had a child of her own, and their zealous mother didn’t like that one bit. And that was the moment Henry died. While there’s no police evidence to prove that Ed killed Henry, many historians and researchers have believed that Henry died because Ed got upset with his older brother.
Henry Died an Unnatural Death
Netflix’s Monster revealed that Ed lost control of himself after Henry spoke ill of their mother. Ed ended up hitting his brother on the back of his head with a log of wood, killing him. However, as per the police records, on Tuesday, May 16, 1944, Ed and Henry were out in the field burning brush when Ed got separated from his brother and immediately ran back to town to bring help. In the evening, the search party eventually found Henry lying dead with his face down. The forensic reports highlighted Henry had been dead for some time when he was found. Many in town believed that the blaze was accidental, while others are of the opinion that it was started deliberately to burn off the dry grass. According to Ed, setting the fire was Henry’s idea, but the newspapers reported that Eddie insisted on burning the marsh, and Henry had come along to help. The most puzzling thing here was that it was Eddie who had guided the search party, including Deputy Sheriff Frank Engle, to the death site. Ironically, he hadn’t been able to locate his brother earlier and therefore had to call for help. Did he deliberately run to town so he could establish his innocence?
When the forensics took Henry’s body for further examination, they found a peculiar bump on the back of his head, yet they ruled that he died of asphyxiation, which is a common cause of death in the event of a brush fire. Based on the forensic report, the police stopped the investigation, and therefore the town never actually found out if it was Ed who killed his brother or if Henry died in an accident. However, Netflix’s Monsters visualizes the most probable theory and goes on to show on screen how Ed murdered Henry and later staged his death. On May 19, 1944, the family held a funeral for the lost brother. He was 43 years old.
The experts believe that Ed’s fanatic obsession with his mother eventually became the cause of Henry’s death. If only he hadn’t disrespected her or tried to turn Ed against her, Henry might be able to walk out of the farm to lead a simple life elsewhere. But what Ed didn’t expect was that Henry’s death would take a toll on their mother’s health. Shortly after Augusta lost her eldest, she suffered a stroke and was bedridden. She died a year later, on 29th December, 1945, leaving Ed all alone in this big world, ready to swallow him whole. Maybe in those dark hours, Ed often blamed himself for his mother’s death, because he started a chain reaction by killing Henry (if we entertain the possibility that he actually killed him). And such a guilt-ridden conscience often loses its path. Ed let his demons out so he could cope with the loss, and in doing so, he became a monster the world wasn’t ready for.
