#2 – Horror Movies

On November 20, 1957, the town of Plainfield, Wisconsin discovered the horrifying truth that they were living with a serial killer among them. In the home of 51 year old handyman, Ed Gein, a local missing woman’s body was found, hanging by her feet, decapitated and eviscerated! That was only the beginning of the horror that awaited the police officers once they entered the house. Some of the gruesome discoveries in the Gein’s home included: chairs reupholstered with human skin, a soup bowl made from a human skull, masks made from human faces, a vest made from a female torso, and human heads in jars just to name a few of the atrocities! All in all the remains of eleven women were found in Gein’s home. Ed Gein was declared insane in 1958 and spent the rest of his life in a mental institution until his death at the age of 77 from cancer. Ed Gein’s gruesome legacy lives on in three famous horror movies that were inspired by his heinous crimes. Both the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Silence of the Lambs films characters of Leatherface and Buffalo Bill were based off of Ed Gein. The most enduring horror character based off of Ed Gein was that of Norman Bates from the horror movie classic, Psycho. A man by the name of Robert Bloch published a book called, Psycho in 1959, in which Ed Gein was the inspiration for his main character, Norman Bates. Alfred Hitchcock turned the book into the horror classic it is today!

Thanks to Kev and Heather @ APEx