Who was Ed Gein? Details explored ahead of Netflix's third Monster anthology

Ed Gein is the Wisconsin farmhand whose 1950s murders and grave robberies shocked the U.S. and seeded a generation of horror. In 1957, he killed Bernice Worden and later confessed to killing Mary Hogan in 1954. Investigators uncovered extensive grave exhumations and human remains at his Plainfield farmhouse.

Courts deemed him incompetent in 1957. A 1968 bench trial found him guilty of Worden’s murder but legally insane, leading to lifelong confinement. He died in 1984. Those events frame Netflix’s third Monster anthology, Monster: The Ed Gein Story, premiering October 3, 2025, with Charlie Hunnam as Ed Gein, Laurie Metcalf as Augusta Gein, and Tom Hollander as Alfred Hitchcock.

All eight episodes drop the same day. Netflix’s trailer and coverage position the season as a study of whether “monsters are born or made” and why audiences keep looking. This article explains who Ed Gein was, what Netflix is releasing, and how his crimes echo through Psycho, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and The Silence of the Lambs.

Who was Ed Gein? A quick timeline of the “Butcher of Plainfield”

Ed Gein was born August 27, 1906, in La Crosse, Wisconsin, and grew up near Plainfield under a domineering mother, Augusta. After she died in 1945, he became increasingly isolated on the family farm. As per the Encyclopaedia Britannica report dated September 4, 2025, investigators later concluded that Ed Gein robbed nearby graves for years, using body parts to fashion household items and clothing.

From 1945 to 1957, the pattern escalated. On December 8, 1954, tavern owner Mary Hogan disappeared. Her remains were later found in Gein’s home.

As per the Encyclopaedia Britannica report, authorities ultimately recovered Mary Hogan’s head among the evidence at the farm. A TIME magazine report dated December 2, 1957, noted Gein admitted to shooting Mary Hogan and described investigators initially struggling to identify her face mask among the seized items.

On November 16, 1957, Bernice Worden vanished from her Plainfield hardware store. That day, deputies arrested Ed Gein and searched his property. As per the Encyclopaedia Britannica report dated September 4, 2025, police found Worden’s body in a shed and documented decapitation and other mutilations. Subsequent searches confirmed extensive grave-robbing.

Legal outcomes followed. In late 1957, he was judged unfit for trial and committed. In November 1968, a bench trial found Ed Gein guilty of Worden’s murder. He was then ruled legally insane and confined to state hospitals until his death on July 26, 1984.

Encyclopaedia Britannica summarizes the rulings and confinement. As per the Netflix Tudum report dated September 4, 2025, Charlie Hunnam, who plays Ed Gein in the series, stated,

“I wanted to get as close as possible to who Ed was.”

He also added,

"I was able to get access to the only known recording of Ed Gein, which was made two days after he was arrested,...It’s about an hour-and-10-minute interview with him, while he’s in custody. A lot of the musicality, and his inflection, and his choice of words, and where his energy sat, I was able to extract from it."

Monster: The Ed Gein Story: Release date, episode count, trailer, and cast

Netflix premieres Monster: The Ed Gein Story on October 3, 2025. All eight episodes are released on the same day. Charlie Hunnam plays Ed Gein. Laurie Metcalf portrays Augusta Gein. Tom Hollander appears as Alfred Hitchcock. The ensemble includes Suzanna Son, Vicky Krieps, Olivia Williams, Lesley Manville, and others.

As per Netflix Tudum reports dated September 15 and September 4, 2025, the full trailer frames the season around the question of whether

“monsters are born or created,”

ending with Hunnam’s Ed addressing viewers while breaking the fourth wall:

“You’re the one who can’t look away.”

As per the Netflix Tudum report dated September 4, 2025, co-creator Ian Brennan remarked,

“I think this is the best season of the three, and I think it’s going to blow people’s socks off.”

How Ed Gein’s case rewired horror and public memory

The Ed Gein investigation shaped horror’s visual and narrative language. Encyclopaedia Britannica (September 4, 2025) traces the line from Ed Gein to Norman Bates in Psycho (1960), Leatherface in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), and Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs (1991). The Plainfield farmhouse’s squalor became a template: isolated homes hiding hidden rooms, trophies, and ritualized violence. As per a TIME report dated December 2, 1957, investigators catalogued masks, skull-made bowls, and other items later echoed in cinema.

Stay tuned for more updates.