2
7
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369
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his  grotesque activities, he was at
last stopped.


ÊÌPRESS AND PROFITÈË

Ed  Gein  was  revealed on a Friday,
and before the weekend had ended the
news  had  spread  itself  over  the
whole  USA.  News-reporters from all
over  the country invaded the little
town   of  Plainfield.   Newspapers,
radios    and   TV   "competed"   in
reporting  the  most  horrid report.
And  for  once sake they didn't need
to  exaggerate.   Ed  Gein  and  his
actions  were  hammered  into  USA's
consciousness; this was the ultimate
insane killer.

Gein's   car   was   bought   by   a
market-conscious  man  for $700, and
he  started  showing it at fun fairs
and  markets.   A  doll  behind  the
wheel  of the car was supposed to be
Gein,  and  in  the  open  trunk lay
another  doll.   2000 people paid 25
cent  to  see  this  car  until  the
authorities  forbade  it.  The house
was supposed to be auctioned away to
cover   Gein's  debt.   Hundreds  of
peoples   came   to   the   auction.
Rumours  told  that  a man wanted to
buy    the    farm    to    make   a
"Gein-museum".  But the night before
the  auction  the  farm burnt to the
ground.   There  were limits of what
the citizens of Plainfield could put
up with.  The case was dropped as an
unsolved arson.

Even 30 years after the occurrences,
people  in  Plainsfield  refuses  to
make    a    statement   about   the
Gein-case.   They are bitterly aware
of  the  fact  that  Plainsfield  is
famous  for  only  one  reason:   Ed
Gein's activities from 1946 to 1957.
An  activity  which took place right
in  front  of their noses, and which
no  one  of  them  had been awake to
discover.


ÊÌTHE TRIALSÈË

Ed   Gein  was  officially  declared
insane  in  1958.   Consequently  he
couldn't  be  prosecuted, and he was
placed  in Central State Hospital in
Wapun.   In  1968  the doctors meant
that   he  was  well  enough  to  be
prosecuted;     he     could     now
differentiate   between   right  and
wrong.   Under  the  trial, Gein was
shown    some    pictures   of   the
maltreated  body  of Bernice Worden.
He  throwed  a short glance at them,
and  put  them away.  He then picked
them up again and examined them.  É"I
don't  remember  this"È,  he mumbled.
The court-verdict was obvious:  Gein
was  guilty of the murder of Bernice
Worden,  but  he  was  insane at the
moment  of  action  and could not be
imprisoned.  He was sent back to the
mentalhospital.   In  1974,  when he
was  68  years old, Gein asked to be
released.   He now meant that he was
well.   But  under  the inquest, the
four psychiatrics confirmed that his
condition   had   in  little  degree
changed  since 1957.  On the 26th of
July  1984, Ed Gein, died at Mendota
Mental  Health  Institute,  77 years
old.   He  was buried in an unmarked
grave at the cemetery in Plainsfield
- next to his mother.


ÊÌREALITY AND MYTHSÈË

But  Ed Gein will live further on in
people's  consciousness.  The author
Robert  Bloch  adapted the story and
wrote  a novel about a young man who
runs  a  remote motel.  Every time a
young, attractive woman checks in at
the motel, his dominate mother kills
her.   Alfred  Hitchcock, the famous
director,  read the book, and during
five  weeks  he  put it into a film,
starring  Tony Perkins as the insane
killer   Norman   Bates.   The  film
"Psycho"  had  premiere  in 1960 and
became a big success.

Some  years  later  Tobe Hopper used
the  same material in his famous and
notorious   movie   "Texas  Chainsaw
Massacre".       Filmseries     like
"Halloween"  and  "Friday  the 13th"
are  also based on Gein's story.  In
many   ways   the   occurrences   in
Plainsfield  were  starting-point of
the  whole  wave of "slasher-movies"
which overflowed us in the '80s.

Ed   Gein's   activities   were   so
grotesque   and   macabre  in  their
character  and in their extent, that
it made an indelible impression.  At
the same time the case was magnified
by  the  press' use of it.  First in
form  of  news,  then as rawmaterial
for stories in books and on film.
ÿ