Eddie Gein :: essays research papers

Edward Theodore was born on August 27, 1906, to Augusta and George Gein in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Eddie was the 2nd of two children. Eddie's mother was a fanatically religious women, who was determined to raise the boys according to her strict moral code. Eddie's mother repeatedly warned her sons of the immorality and looseness of women, hoping to discourage any sexual desires the boys might have. ( In the Beginning) Augusta was a domineering and hard woman, while her husband George, was a weak man and an alcoholic. George had no say in the raising o the boys. Agusta began a grocery business in La Crosse the year Eddie was born, so she could save enough money to move away from the sinners in the city. In 1914 they moved to Plainfield, Wisconsin to a one-hundred-ninety-five-acre farm, isolated from any evil influences that could disrupt her family. Eddie's father died in 1940. ( In the Beginning ) Eddie was average in school, but he loved to read. His schoolmates shunned Eddie because he was effeminate and shy. He had no friends. In 1944 Eddies brother Henry mysteriously died. ( In the Beginning) On December 29, 1945, Augusta died after a series of strokes. Eddies foundations were shaken upon her death, he lost his one true friend. It was after his mothers death that Eddie began to immerse himself in his bizarre hobbies that included nightly visits to the graveyard. ( In the Beginning ) It was from the obituaries that Eddie would learn of the recent deaths of local women. Having never enjoyed the company of the opposite sex, he would quench his lust by visiting graves at night. Although he later swore to police that he never had sexual intercourse with any of the bodies ( they smelled to bad), he did take a particular pleasure in peeling their skin from their bodies and wearing it. He was curious to know what it was like to have breasts and a vagina, and he often dreamed of being a women. He was fascinated with women because the power and hold they had on men. ( Seriously Weird) After a while Gein decided that it was too laborious to dig up bodies alone. It was easier, he concluded, to murder women and bring their bodies to his farmhouse for more "experiments." His first victim was 51-year-old Mary Hogan, operator of a Pine Grove, Wisconsin, saloon.