Ed Gein lived a repressive and solitary life on his family's farm with a weak older brother and domineering mother (Woods, 1995). The boys did the work, but their mother ruled every aspect of their lives. She insisted they remain unmarried, and instilled the belief upon her sons that women would separate the family and betray any love given. Ed's mother died in 1945. When she died Ed was a thirty-nine-year-old bachelor, who was emotionally enslaved to his mother who had tyrannized his life (Schechter, 1989). .
It was after his mother's death that Ed sealed off the upstairs, the parlor, and his mother's bedroom. He stopped working the farm because he was able to survive off a government stipend. In his spare time Ed read books on human anatomy and Nazi concentration camp experiments. He was quite interested by the female anatomy, with an inner desire to become a female himself (Woods, 1995).
Over the next ten years Ed checked the newspaper for freshly buried female bodies so he could dig up the corpse and taking his prized possession home. He even dug up his mother's corpse so she could keep him company. He would construct objects from the bones and skin and would store the organs in the refrigerator to eat later. He also committed acts of necrophilia on the bodies (Martingale, 1995). .
When police officers went to look for Ed at his house they let themselves in and found a nightmare.
