The more I look at these ghastly stories, the more I wonder what creates these monsters. And then you go down that rabbit hole to look for the reasons that made them snap. You read about them, and you study them to figure out what actually went wrong. And in most cases, it is either the abusive parents or a childhood of neglect from which an individual never recovers. In Ed Gein’s story, it was his tyrant mother and an alcoholic father, who wasn’t actually around for him. But you already know much of that stuff, and you came here looking for an answer to a simple question: if Ed Gein ever babysat the kids in Plainfield. The truth is, he did.
Spoiler Alert
The financial condition of the Geins had never been stable. In all the years the family lived in Plainfield, they hadn’t been able to arrange enough money to afford a single improvement to the land. The house remained the same as when the family moved in, unequipped with either electricity or indoor plumbing. After their father’s death, Ed and Henry went out looking for a number of odd jobs to bring some extra income into the household. And it was during this period that Ed worked as a handyman, helping the townsfolk with painting houses, patching roofs, etc. He also occasionally did some babysitting. As per his biography, “Deviant,” the kids were quite friendly with Ed, and were glad to see him whenever he was around. Yes, this is one of the major deviations from his real-life story in Netflix’s Monster. However, it is true that Ed had his very peculiar methods to entertain the kids. He would roughhouse with the boys and do silly magic tricks for the girls. Also, this was before Ed started digging up graves, so it is unlikely that he ever scared any kid with his human skin mask. Ed also read to them the crazy adventures of headhunters and cannibals, the entertainment that he grew up consuming. For some reason, the kids enjoyed it, because much like Ed, even they couldn’t tell the difference between right and wrong. In the winter, Ed would join the local kids in their snowball fights, and in the summer treat them to ice cream.
Harold Schechter’s book further reveals that even though Ed never felt at ease with people of his age, he was quite comfortable around children. Maybe it was because he himself never grew out of his mother’s dark and domineering shadow, and lacked the wisdom that would have eventually stopped him from turning into a monster. As per all accounts, Ed had always been a lonely, shy little man who felt self-conscious and insecure around people his own age, particularly women. Ed’s biography also mentions testimonies from people who hired him for a variety of odd jobs and always believed him to be a good neighbor, unlike his evil mother. But it is true that most of them always found him a bit peculiar. He never spoke much to anyone. And his lips were constantly shaped into an unsettling grin, making it hard for anyone around to tell what he might be thinking. However, it is to be noted that Augusta’s demise took a serious toll on Ed’s psyche, and he stopped going out of the farm to look for odd jobs, keeping mostly to himself.
Coming to Netflix’s show, much of what we saw around Ed Gein’s babysitting gig is fictional. He was never hired by a woman named Mrs. Heller, nor did he ever babysit kids Frank Jr. and Enid. The makers of the show have picked up details from Ed Gein’s life to chalk down a fictional scenario heavily influenced by rumors and hearsay. In real life, there’s no hard evidence to prove that Ed Gein encountered a fifteen-year-old babysitter, Evelyn Hartley, or had anything to do with her strange disappearance. On the day Evelyn went missing, she was babysitting Viggo Rasmussen’s twenty-month-old daughter, and if the rumors are to be believed, Ed was in the same neighborhood when the young girl disappeared without a trace. However, Netflix’s show went on to depict that Ed had kidnapped Evelyn out of a vendetta, as he blamed her for stealing his job. He took her to his farmhouse, where he killed her. But in real life, the authorities never found any evidence at Ed’s house linking him to Evelyn’s death or disappearance.
Additionally, there’s no particular record or witness that suggests that Ed’s alleged girlfriend, Adeline Watkins, tried to fix him a temporary job. On the contrary, even his relationship with her is based upon a bunch of lies and media speculation. In real life, none of the townsfolk ever saw them together, so even if they dated each other, the relationship was short-lived or merely platonic.
