While Ryan Murphy's gripping Netflix series, 'Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,' has captivated audiences worldwide, it draws a direct and chilling line back to one of America's most infamous and influential murderers: Ed Gein.
The series itself features a poignant moment where Dahmer, portrayed by Evan Peters, watches a news report about Gein, seemingly fascinated by a kindred spirit in depravity. This is more than just a fictionalised detail; it underscores a dark truth in the world of true crime.
The Butcher of Plainfield: Ed Gein's Real Horrors
Ed Gein, often dubbed the 'Butcher of Plainfield' or the 'Plainfield Ghoul,' was a solitary Wisconsin farmer whose gruesome discoveries in 1957 shocked the nation. Upon investigating the disappearance of a local store clerk, police unearthed a house of horrors that surpassed their worst nightmares.
Inside Gein's dilapidated farmhouse, authorities found:
- A collection of human skulls mounted on bed posts.
- A human heart preserved in a plastic bag.
- A belt meticulously crafted from female human nipples.
- A lampshade, a soup bowl, and various other household items made from human skin and bones.
- The face of his most recent victim, Mary Hogan, skinned and fashioned into a mask.
Gein later confessed to digging up corpses from local graveyards to use for his macabre projects. He also admitted to the murders of two women: Mary Hogan and Bernice Worden, whose headless body was found hanging in his shed, dressed out like a deer.
The Ultimate Pop Culture Inspiration
Ed Gein's profoundly disturbing acts became the unlikely blueprint for some of horror cinema's most iconic villains. His legacy is etched into film history:
- Psycho (1960): Norman Bates's cross-dressing and relationship with his deceased mother were directly inspired by Gein's behaviour and the shrine he kept to his domineering, dead mother.
- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974): Leatherface and his family of cannibals who wear masks of human skin are a brutal homage to Gein's skin-crafting.
- Silence of the Lambs (1991): Buffalo Bill's desire to create a 'woman suit' from the skin of his victims is a concept ripped straight from the Gein case files.
A Legacy of Macabre Fascination
Netflix's 'Monster' brilliantly uses this historical connection to add a layer of depth to its portrayal of Jeffrey Dahmer. It positions him not as an isolated monster, but as part of a grim American tapestry of violence that both repulses and fascinates in equal measure.
The series suggests that Dahmer saw in Gein a precursor, a man who also blurred the lines between the living and the dead in his twisted pursuits. This real-life inspiration makes the Netflix drama all the more terrifying, reminding viewers that the most unsettling stories are often those rooted in truth.
