The SERIAL KILLER Serial by Jessie Horsting
ED GEIN: IN THE FLESH continues
The morning of May 16, 1944, the brothers started a fire to clear some marshland on their farm, but the fire grew out of control. They separated in order to contain the blaze. According to Eddie, Henry failed to return to the house after the fire was put out. Eddie asked some men to help him search for Henry, but they were unsuccessful. However, later in the day, when Sheriff Frank Engle came to Eddie with a second search party, Eddie was able to lead them almost directly to where Henry's body was discovered. Eddie's only remark was, "Funny how that works." Although Sheriff Engle noted at the time that the body was sooty, but unburned, and the head showed bruising, Coroner George Bader declared asphyxiation as the cause of death, and no inquest was held.
Eddie and his mother continued to manage the farm until, after a series of strokes, Augusta died on December 29th, 1945. The effect of her death on Eddie was profound— he blamed her death on the hardship of farm life and the moral degeneracy of the citizens of Plainfield, about whom Augusta complained ceaselessly. Ed also stated that he believed his mother's fatal stroke was caused by the stress of witnessing a neighbor beat a puppy to death.
In the space of five years,
Ed had lost his entire family and at the age of 40 was alone for the first time
in his life. After sealing off his mother's room and parlor from the rest of
the house, Eddie began his descent in
to
madness, perversion and murder.
The citizens of Plainfield, Wisconsin, saw nothing sinister in Ed Gein's eccentricities. He was described as "helpful" and "reliable" by those who knew him. He was not overly sociable, but would occasionally be seen at Mary Hogan's tavern in nearby Pine Grove, and would often have supper with neighbors Irene and Lester Hill, and do errands for whoever asked. He had no known intimate relationships with local women, though he had reportedly asked both Mary Hogan and shopkeeper Bernice Worden on different occasions to go out for a movie or dancing. Mary and Bernice were both fairy robust, middle-aged women who Ed would later confess "reminded" him of his mother.
In the period between 1946 and 1958, the communities surrounding Plainfield suffered a number of unexplained disappearances. On May 1, 1947, eight-year-old Georgia Weckler disappeared after a babysitter dropped her off in the driveway of her home. In 1952, Victor Travis, his dog, and a companion failed to return from a local deerhunting outing. Thought the dog and pieces of clothing were eventually recovered, the hunters and car had vanished from the area. On October 24, 1953, 15-year-old Evelyn Hartly was apparently abducted from the house where she was babysitting. All that remained of her in the house was her glasses, one shoe, and a bloody trial that led out through a basement window. None of the bodies were ever found.
The disappearance that alarmed the community was that of Mary Hogan. On December 8, 1954, local Portage County farmer Seymor Lester was the first to discover her missing when he walked into her usually busy tavern to find the place empty but for a pool of blood in the floor and a spent .32 cartridge shell nearby. Tracks of dried blood indicated Mary had been dragged to the back of the shop and loaded into a vehicle, Portage County Sheriff Harold Thompson had no leads or suspects and the case of Mary Hogan remained unsolved until 1957, when evidence of the most damning sort was discovered in the possession of Ed Gein.
Later, a neighbor reported that shortly after the disappearance of Mary Hogan, he was kidding Ed about her, saying, "if you'd spent more time courting Mary Hogan, she'd be cooking for you instead of being missing." Eddie was reported to have smiled and said, "She's not missing. She's down at the house now."
Between 1954 and 1957, the rumors in and around Plainfield regarding Eddie Gein grew stranger and stranger. Neighbors noticed his farmhouse had fallen into disrepair after the death of his mother. Although he survived by leasing parcels of land to surrounding farmers, and at one time made an effort to sell the property, word got around that her wouldn't allow prospective buyers to see any more of the onside of the house that the parlor and the upstairs rooms. Children in the are reported being shown "shrunken heads" that Eddie told them had been purchased through mail order. And there were persistent rumors of a "ghost" which had been seen at night in Eddie's yard: it appeared as a naked woman dancing, hair streaming in the moonlight. Two children reported, after actually visiting Ed's house, that he had "a bunch" of heads in his bedroom and that they didn't appear to be shrunken at all, but appeared to be dry, full-size heads. (Strangely, these and many other incidents involving Eddie prompted nothing more than gossip on the part of Eddie's neighbors.)
On Saturday, November 16, 1957, the first day of deerhunting season, most of the shops in Plainfield were closed as the local residents took to the woods. Opening day was a big event in the north woods. Bernice Worden, owner of the local hardware store, opened early and told her son Frank that she expected a busy day.
Bernice's first customer was Ed Gein. Ed had been there the day before, inquiring about antifreeze, and as he had promised, he had returned this Saturday morning just before 9:00 AM with a container. Bernice sold him the antifreeze wrote up the receipt and watched him leave. A few moments later, her returned. Could he try the Marlin .22 rifle? He had some shells in his pocket and wanted to see in the rifle could accommodate both the short and long .22.
Across the street, Bernard Muschinski was pumping gas at his Phillips 66 station, and recalled seeing the Worden delivery truck leaving the back of the store sometime between 8:45 and 9:30, but didn't think much of it at the time. Eddie's neighbor Elmo Ueeck was tying down the deer he shot when he saw Ed returning home. Hoping to apologize for hunting without permission on Ed's property, Elmo tried to wave Ed down, but Eddie just waved and smiled without slowing his car.
Bernice Worden's son Frank returned home from hunting that afternoon. He was surprised to find his mother's store with the lights on but locked, with no one in sight. His mother had said she was going to keep the store open all day. Frank hurried home to get a key and came back, entering the store. The delivery truck was gone.
Frank immediately called Sheriff Art Schley who, with Deputy Arnie Fritz, sped to the store. When they arrived, Frank Worden blurted out, "He's done something to her."
"Who?" Shley asked
"Eddie Gein."
Frank had been at the store on Friday when Eddie had been in. On the counter this Saturday morning was Bernice Worden's receipt for the sale of one quart of antifreeze.
Outside of town, Elmo Ueeck was troubled that Eddie would be angry about the deer he shot. Late on Saturday, he drove to the Gein farmhouse to apologize. Eddie was out front, changing the tires on his Ford. Eddie said not to worry about the incident, but Elmo was later struck by the fact that Eddie had begun taking the snow tires off his Ford, before winter had even begun.
Eddie had one more visitor that afternoon. Bob Hill the son of his neighbors Lester and Irene Hill, who owned the next farm over. Bob wanted Eddie to give him a ride into town to get a car battery. He came into the yard calling for Eddie, Eddie hurried out of the house, his arms bloody. He explained that he had been dressing a deer, but would wash up and give Bob a hand, He drove into town with Bob, picked up the battery and returned to the Hill farmhouse with the Hill's son. He stayed for dinner. That evening, Eddie was taken into custody by Deputies Dan Chase and Poke Spees in the Hill's driveway for the murder of Bernice Worden.