If you might have noticed, Netflix’s The Ed Gein Story doesn’t put out a disclaimer that it is based on a true story. And that’s because it isn’t. It’s a fictional TV show based on a real-life psycho killer, who lived a very private life on a secluded farm in Plainfield, Wisconsin. The thing is, no one knew the real Ed Gein, except for his mother and his older brother. But unfortunately, both of them were by the time he was arrested. This lack of information gave the makers of Netflix’s show an opportunity to take creative liberties beyond anyone’s wildest imagination. I think that was their plan from the very beginning. To tell a historically inaccurate and heavily sensationalized story so that people on the internet start discussing their magnum opus (pun intended). Now, there are some trending questions, like “did Ed Gein kill his alleged girlfriend, Adeline Watkins?” Well, no. It was just a scene inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s famous shower scene in Psycho. Netflix’s Monster depicts its lead, Ed Gein, killing Adeline, just like Norman Bates stabbed Marion Crane to death. The second most trending question is, “did Ed Gein kill a nurse in the asylum?” Here also, the answer is a straight no. In fact, Ed didn’t even hurt a fly during his time in Central State Hospital, Waupun.
Netflix’s Monster introduced us to two nurses: Nurse Salty Maguire and Nurse Roz Mahoney. Neither of them are real-life figures. In the show, Salty had been incredibly sweet and kind to Ed Gein, but she was later demoted and replaced by strict and stern Roz. Ed didn’t like her much, and he made us believe that she didn’t like him either. She didn’t let Ed choose his undergarments, and therefore he decided to “chainsaw” her in his imagination. But Ed didn’t know it was all in his head. Due to his troubled mind, Ed thought he actually killed Roz and was quite taken aback when he saw her all well and alive walking in the corridor. Now, the reason there’s so much conversation about this scene is because of the whole setup of the show. The viewers (counting myself in) who don’t know Ed Gein’s real story end up half convinced that Ed Gein might have killed a nurse at the mental hospital, but that’s not what really happened in real life. So if you are interested in knowing how the real-life Ed Gein ended up in a mental institution and how he actually died, then follow along with me.
Shortly after his arrest, Ed Gein was sent to Central State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, where Dr. Edward Schubert, head psychiatrist and superintendent of the hospital, and a team of the state’s best psychiatrists evaluated Ed Gein’s mental condition. In the end, Schubert sent a detailed report to the Honorable Herbert A. Bunde, concluding that the subject has a long history of schizophrenia, and therefore he should be committed to Central State until fit for trial.
Ed’s life inside the mental institution looked a lot like what we saw in Netflix’s Monster, except for the parts where he started imagining things. As per the testimony of the real psychiatrists, nurses, and other hospital staff, Ed had always been a calm and composed patient. As Netflix’s Monster mentioned, Ed did use the money he had earned at the hospital to buy a ham radio, however, he never got to use it. Most of the time, Ed kept to himself and did menial jobs at the hospital. Unlike other patients, Ed never troubled the hospital staff or needed medication to keep him in control. But it wasn’t like Ed was perfectly normal. He had strange habits that made many of the female staff uncomfortable. According to reports, he used to stare fixedly at them whenever they walked past him. No one really knew what was going on inside his head, but most of them expressed the same opinion: “Gein’s harmless.” According to a consulting psychologist, Dr. Julian Sherman, there wasn’t any malice in his eyes. It was only confusion and concern. But at the end of the day, everyone agreed that he was clinically insane and should be treated with caution.
In 1968, some ten years after Ed Gein was sent to the mental institution, Schubert wrote a letter to Judge Robert Gollmar, informing him that he and the hospital’s psychiatric staff were of the opinion that Ed had recovered enough to understand the charges against him. He assured the judge that Ed was competent to stand trial. During the first trial, Ed was found guilty of first-degree murder. However, in the second trial, the psychiatrists reconfirmed to the court that Ed’s mental condition hadn’t really improved. He had a history of schizophrenia, and they still believed he was haunted by the demons in his head. Judge Gollmar assessed the situation and finally declared that the defendant, Ed Gein, was not guilty by reason of insanity and should remain institutionalized. He was recommitted to the Central State till 1978 and was later transferred to the Mendota Mental Health Institute in Madison, where he took his last breath. On July 26, 1984, Ed Gein died from cancer. He was 75 years old.
