Who Was Ed Gein's Mother? Inside the Monster Serial Killer's Childhood (and How It Allegedly Inspired His Crimes) By Yasmeen Hamadeh

Ed Gein had a complicated relationship with his mother, Augusta Wilhelmine Gein.

The American serial killer, whose crimes would go on to inspire a flurry of horror films (including Psycho and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre), was also known as the Butcher of Plainfield. Ed was arrested in 1957 after he was linked to the disappearance of a local hardware store owner, Bernice Worden, per History.

While authorities later found Worden’s dismembered body in Ed’s farmhouse, that wasn’t the only piece of evidence they discovered. Police learned that for at least a decade, Ed had been collecting human body parts and using them to fashion furniture, masks and even clothing around his home.

Investigators ultimately found the remains of at least 10 women in Ed’s home, and were also able to link him to the disappearance of local tavern owner Mary Hogan, whom Ed confessed to killing, according to History. Ed would later tell police that he dug up the graves of women who reminded of his mother, who died in 1945. He was ultimately diagnosed with schizophrenia later in his adult life.

“His schizophrenia made him feel very lonely and abandoned by his mother,” forensic psychiatrist Carole Lieberman told A&E Crime + Investigation in March 2025. “And perhaps is why he heard voices telling him to get another mother.”

With Charlie Hunnam and Laurie Metcalf taking on the helm as Ed and Augusta in the most recent dramatization of the serial killer’s life, Monster: The Ed Gein Story, here’s everything to know about Ed Gein’s childhood in real life and his relationship with his mother, Augusta Wilhelmine Gein.

Who was Ed Gein’s mother?

Augusta was born on July 21, 1878, in La Crosse, Wisconsin. A child of German immigrants, she married George Philip Gein in 1900 and went on to welcome two children, sons Henry George Gein and Edward Theodore Gein.

Around 1915, the family left behind their life in La Crosse, where George owned and operated a local grocery store, to move to a farm outside of Plainfield, Wis. It was there that Augusta, a religious woman, railed against modern women to her sons, even predicting that a flood would come to wash out women’s sins, per TIME.

What was Ed Gein’s upbringing like?

As a young boy, Ed rarely left his family’s farm, except to attend school, per Biography. He would often spend his days listening to his mother’s preachings about the innate immorality of women, according to Britannica.

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The mother of two would often caution her sons against making any friends at all, and growing up, Ed did not go on dates, per TIME. Nevertheless, Ed still idolized Augusta and would grow to become obsessed with appeasing her, according to Biography.

What happened to Augusta Gein?

Following George’s death from heart failure in 1940, Henry and Ed picked up odd jobs around town to make ends meet back home. Four years later, Henry died in 1944 after a fire erupted near the family’s farm, leaving Ed and Augusta alone at home.

In the year after Henry’s death, Ed tended to his mother’s every care following complications with her health. On Dec. 29, 1945, Augusta eventually died from a stroke, per Biography.

Ed proceeded to seal off his mother’s quarters from the rest of the farm house, leaving her room in an almost museum-like state. When police would raid the Gein home many years later, they noted how Augusta’s room was one of the only parts of the house to remain intact, while the rest was filled with clutter and evidence, per A&E Crime + Investigation.

“When you look at the crime scene photos, his house was an absolute disaster,” Louis Schlesinger, a psychology professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, told the outlet. “But his mother’s room was immaculate, just as it was when she died.”

It was in the aftermath of Augusta’s death that Ed’s crime streak began.

What did Ed Gein say about his mother’s influence on his crimes?

In the 12 years between Augusta’s death and his arrest, Ed regularly frequented cemeteries at night to exhume the corpses of recently deceased women whom he would later tell police reminded him of his mother, per History. Alongside using the corpses to create furniture for his house, Ed also began constructing a skin suit of a woman made from human remains of at least 15 women, per A&E.

He would later tell investigators that his relationship with his mother made him want to become her, with the suit apparently being his means to do so, according to the outlet.

Moreover, he told authorities that Hogan and Worden resembled his mother, according to The New York Times.

What happened to Ed Gein?

Ed was finally arrested in 1957 after he was linked to Worden’s disappearance. At the time, officials found that he was mentally unfit to stand trial and he was shortly diagnosed with schizophrenia soon after, per Biography.

For around a decade, Ed resided in several psychiatric institutions before law officials determined that he was able to participate in his own defense and trial. In 1968, he was found not guilty by reason of insanity, per the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

He was ultimately remanded to the Mendota Mental Health Institute in Wisconsin, where he remained until his death of a respiratory ailment in 1984, per The New York Times. He was 77.