Monster: The Ed Gein Story - 5 harrowing details about one of America's scariest criminals' true story

Monster: The Ed Gein Story, the third season of Netflix's Monster anthology series, streamed its entirety on Friday, October 3, 2025. The eight-episode miniseries explores the mind of the disturbing serial killer, who confessed to being the perpetrator of the murder of two women in the 1950s. In addition to the two murders, he committed several other crimes that shocked the US at that time.

Charlie Hunnam headlines the series as the notorious serial killer Ed Gein, whose story inspired iconic serial killer characters like Norman Bates (Psycho), Leatherface (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre), and Buffalo Bill (The Silence of the Lambs). As you get around to watching Monster: The Ed Gein Story this weekend, you should learn about these harrowing details about the Ed Gein story.

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Trigger Warning: Graphic description of bodies and skin. Viewer discretion is advised

Monster: The Ed Gein Story: Important details about Ed Gein's story:

Here are some of the harrowing details about the Ed Gein story that will also be seen on Netflix's Monster: The Ed Gein Story:

• His older brother died in mysterious circumstances

Ed was born in 1906 in La Crosse, Wisconsin, as the second child of Augusta and George Gein. The couple had an older son named Henry, and Augusta raised the kids in a strict Lutheran way. As George passed away in 1940, the brothers were working odd jobs, and he was about to move in with a divorced single mother. However, he passed away before that could happen.

Some believe that Ed killed Henry, and Monster: The Ed Gein Story portrays the titular character doing so. However, forensic analyses have ruled Henry's death due to asphyxiation, as they were trying to deal with the fire on their farm.

• The two brothers had opposing views of their mother

The family moved to Plainfield, Wisconsin, to live on a farm sometime later, which is where the family resided for the rest of their lives. As mentioned earlier, the boys were raised religiously. While a grown Henry realizes the unhealthy environment of the family, Ed was devoted to Augusta. This opposing view is why Monster: The Ed Gein Story's first episode portrays Ed killing Henry.

• We don't know the true extent of his crimes

One of the most harrowing details about the Ed Gein story is that we don't know which crime he is responsible for. To this day, he is known for murdering the tavern owner, Mary Hogan, in 1954, and Bernice Worden in November 1957. Some have even suspected him of abducting and killing Evelyn Grace Hartley (14 years old) and Georgia Jean Weckler (8 years old).

But the most shocking thing about him is that he desecrated the graves of people and skinned their bodies to create several household objects like lamps.

• He took inspiration from Ilse Koch, a N**i

Ed Gein learned about the notorious German N**i Ilse Koch's atrocities thanks to Adeline Watkins, who is rumored to be his romantic partner. For the uninitiated, Koch is an SS officer's spouse who is alleged to have made lampshades out of the holocaust victims' bodies.

• The dark reason behind skinning the bodies

Monster: The Ed Gein Story retains the reason why the serial killer was skinning the bodies: to create a full body suit out of women's skins that he would use to become his mother. The trailer also features scenes in which we hear Ed speaking with his mother. However, Augusta passed away in December 1945, meaning it is probably Ed himself speaking in two voices.

This aspect is something Alfred Hitchcock would use for Norman Bates in Psycho.

"Serial killer. Grave robber. Psycho. In the frozen fields of 1950s rural Wisconsin, a friendly, mild-mannered recluse named Eddie Gein lived quietly on a decaying farm — hiding a house of horrors so gruesome it would redefine the American nightmare. Driven by isolation, psychosis, and an all-consuming obsession with his mother, Gein’s perverse crimes birthed a new kind of monster that would haunt Hollywood for decades. From Psycho to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre to The Silence of the Lambs, Gein’s macabre legacy gave birth to fictional monsters born in his image and ignited a cultural obsession with the criminally deviant. Ed Gein didn’t just influence a genre — he became the blueprint for modern horror."

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The third season of Monster, following Ed Gein, is available on Netflix. Binge Monster: The Ed Gein Story, if you are a fan of true crime dramas.