Necrophilia: The Obsession of Ed Gein - Research Paper Example

Necrophilia: A Case Study of Ed Gein No one will ever get to know what exactly was happening with Ed Gein’s mind. What was this horrible and dark world that he lived in that made him turn into a grave robber? Why did he make a female skin as his second skin? What made him live in what seemed little more than a being’s abattoir and kill two women who consequently went through evisceration and mutilation? Gein, after he was arrested, related comprehensively to the psychiatrists regarding the way he robbed the graves, even though was not in a position of giving an explanation as regards what had transpired when he killed; the furthest he ever went was a confession to murdering one person by claiming that he had no other option but to do so. Gein’s mother is sorely to blame for her son’s evil acts; her attempt to protect her sons’ was just but doing more harm than good. What makes an Ed Gein? According to Aggrawal (2010), like in most individuals who have psychological damage, his madness’ seeds were sown several years before. George Gein and Augusta had their second born child in the remote town called La Crosse in Wisconsin in the year 1906. However, to Augustas disappointment, we find that it was another baby boy. Augusta a religious fanatic did not trust men, and she justified her feelings by stating that she would be beaten up by her husband whenever he was drunk. She wanted to raise her children in accordance with her strict moral and ethical codes. Her world was inhabited by sinners and endured that the teachings of the bible were instilled in her boys every day. She always warned her sons of the acts of immorality together with the women’s looseness, with the hope of ensuring that all the sexual desires among them are discouraged, as she had the fear that they could be casted down into hell. Augusta was really a hard and domineering woman who had the belief that her perceptions of the world were absolute and real. She did not find it difficult to impose her beliefs on her husband as well as sons. Her husband on the other hand was an alcoholic and very weak, thus did nothing in the raising of the children. His wife, in fact had hatred for him considering him useless not worthy of holding down a job, meaning that raising the children was a toll order for him. Augusta accepted the fact that raising the children in accordance with her beliefs as well as ensuring that the family is stable financially was her responsibility (Aggrawal, 2010). Her efforts to ensure that her children are kept off from the evils and immoralities of the of the city went to an extent that she decided to relocate to the rural areas of the country. However, her desire to keep her children away from the outside world was not that successful as they needed to go to school. The performance by Eddie in school was not that bad, especially in reading whereby he excelled (Aggrawal, 2010). Nevertheless, we find that his reading of the books of adventure is what had some great stimulation in his imagination, consequently enabling him to transitorily enter his own world. Aggrawal, (2010) asserts that Augusta was determined to protect her children from corrupting the influences of the immoral, godless people that were all over. However, until her death thirty nine years later, she had complete dominance over her son and this resulted to the development of a serious and strong love-have connection or bond between son and mother. This kind of relationship perhaps brought about the horrendous personality disorder that led Gein to committing the dreadful crimes. As Gein grew up, we find that his mother did not let him have any friends of his own. Any time that he appeared to be trying to make friends or even just coming close to some individuals deemed to be his friends, his mother would ensure that it is brought to an abrupt end by finding fault with the particular individual or even their family, and she was always successful. Augusta saw evil everywhere besides the fact that it was her responsibility to ensure that her sons were safe and well protected by trying hard to see that they are effectively isolated from the world that she considered wicked. Her major obsession was virtue, as she talked much about issues regarding sex, which she considered to be a very dirty activity and she forced her children to give her a promise that they would never ever get involved in this bad act. A childhood as such was already having an obstinate impact on the lastborn son, who later came to describe one of the memories of his earliest childhood as peering through the slaughter house’s widely open door behind the grocery store of his parents and watching, perplexed, as his father was holding up a tethered pig. He them remembered in great detail, how his mother expertly slit its stomach drawing out the contents with a long knife. The continued efforts by Augusta to ensure that her sons did not get involved in the bad activities of the world by keeping them off from some other people around her went to the extent that they were not comfortable in school. In school, they did not interact with the others and they were forced to be interactive among themselves, which was not that successful as they did not get along well. Those who knew Ed at this stage in his life described him as a sensitive and shy boy who could barely bear a sight of blood. However, in private, we find that he tended to show unique interest in gruesome horror as well as the war comics. In addition, he did not have anything good to remember of his early or childhood years. He later came to remember that he was never hugged by his mother, yet he did not at any time question his beliefs and cherished her more than any other person. George Gein passed on in the year 1940 due to liver cirrhosis, which came as a result of several years of drinking alcohol. As a consequence, the responsibility or duty of running the farm was left up on Ed and Henry. Henry was older than Ed, thus Ed had to take a subservient role, and this did not go down well with him. However, during the same year, one of the Gein farm’s barn caught fire and as they struggled to contain the fire, they eventually got separated. When the fire was reduced and put off, the dead body of Henry was found in a corner. Nevertheless, despite a lot of bruising to his face, the verdict of the coroners was death by asphyxiation – however, in light of what was to transpire it appears like Henry might have been the first victim of his brother. When Augusta learned about the death of her son, she was seriously shocked that caused her to have stroke and, even though she was nursed by her son Ed, she came to pass on just within one year. After the death of his mother, Gein remained alone in this world that he did not know anything about, because she had been told that it was a hostile and evil one, by his mother (Judge, 2001). His mother was actually the only one, who showed him any attention, insalubrious as it was; it is really not astonishing that those who were targeted by his affection were women who looked like her. Gein was a keen reader and he became obsessed with the evils that were committed by the Nazis in the Second World War, and the medical tests that were conducted by them on the Jews. This led him to also being attracted by the female anatomy, a company from which he had been excluded by his mother. His interest was fed with pornographic magazines together with the medical encyclopedias. As he increasingly retreated into a world of fantasy, his childhood’s aggression, coldness and suppression became gruesomely twisted in his entire mind. Although he had much hatred for his mother, he greatly admired her character and wanted to be like her (Schechter, 2003). It was difficult for him to approach living individuals, thus he decided to seek consolation in the Wisconsin’s graveyards, whereby he always visited when there was the full moon. He exhumed women’s bodies together with their body parts and then took them to his increasingly dilapidated farm. When he later went to see psychiatrists while putting on the skins that he made from the dead bodies, it gave him a sense of strong satisfaction. Although the conduct seems outrageous, it actually worsened or became serious in the year 1954 when he started going for the women who were still alive. During the month of December in that particular year, a lady known as Mary Hogan, and who resembled his mother mysteriously disappeared from her bar. Bernice Worden, who was in her 50’s, and who was running a store of Plainfield hardware also disappeared three years later. However, this time, it was noticed by the victim’s son that the last person to have been served at the store was Ed Gain. Gein was then arrested and made a confession that he had shot death Mrs Worden, but was not in a position to recall whether he was also the one behind Mary Hogan’s death. He was then taken through psychiatric examination whereby he talked politely regarding the dismemberments and flaying, the grave robbing, not showing sympathy and sounding very proud and delighted of his anatomical awareness (Reavill, 2007). Nonetheless, due to the mental state of Gein, he was deemed inappropriate to be able to stand trial for a period of ten years. However, in his eventual trial, he was actually found guilty of killing both women, but not due to his mental state. Cases concerning such people are always difficult to carry out or conduct because it involves a lot (Schechter, 1998). First, it is always necessary or a must that the individual accused or claimed to be the serial killer is taken through medical examination so that it can be established whether the crimes or murders were done under the condition of insanity so that the judgment can be done accordingly. That is why Ed Gein had to be taken through psychiatric examination so that the truth could be ascertained. He then spent the rest of his life in refuges (Gollmar, 1991). He committed crimes that were so terrible, which makes him one of the most debauched killers of the twentieth century. His ugly for movies like ‘Psycho, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, as well as the Silence of the Lambs’ by Alfred Hitchcock. These movies have ensured that Gein’s notoriety is ensured. The fact that the story of Gein had a permanent or lasting impact on the western culture, which is very evident in the movies means that he was a very exceptional character compared to some other serial killers. He particularly targeted the older women and this is due to the kind of love-hate relationship that he had with his mother (Aggrawal, 2010). Even though there are a number of serial killers, Ed Gein stands out of the rest and this can be confirmed by the impact that his actions have left in the culture and lives of the people around where he carried out his evil acts. References Aggrawal, A. (2010). Necrophilia: Forensic and Medico-legal Aspects, CRC Press. Gollmar, R. (1991). Edward Gein, Pinnacle Books. Reavill, Gil. (2007). Aftermath, Inc.: Cleaning Up After CSI Goes Home. Gotham. Schechter, H. (2003). The Serial Killer Files. Random House. Judge, R. (2001). Edward Gein, Pinnacle Books. Schechter, H. (1998). Deviant: The Shocking True Story of Ed Gein, the Original Psycho. New York: Simon and Schuster. Read More