Monster: The Ed Gein Story debuted at No. 2 on Netflix, proving the public continues to be fascinated with The Butcher of Plainfield.
That fascination stretches all the way back to the date Gein’s crimes were discovered. When he was arrested in 1957, newspapers like The Milwaukee Journal ran photos of the serial killer and his home below headlines such as “Murder Farm Horror Grows” and “Widow Butchered; [Police] Find 10 Death Masks.”
Through the decades, Gein’s horrific crimes inspired all-time classic films such as Psycho, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Best Picture winner The Silence of the Lambs. Now, Ryan Murphy has mined Gein’s story for the latest installment of his Monster series.
Scroll through the photos below to see comparisons between actual photos of Gein, his family and the crime scene with actors and images from Murphy’s The Ed Gein Story. You’ll also find images from and comparisons to the films his crimes helped inspire.
Photos From Ed Gein’s Life, ‘Monster’ & The Movies His Crimes Inspired
Image Credit: Netflix/Getty
Charlie Hunnam as Ed Gein; Ed Gein himself
Photos From Ed Gein’s Life, ‘Monster’ & The Movies His Crimes Inspired
Image Credit: Netflix/Courtesy
Laurie Metcalf as Augusta Gein, Ed Gein’s mother; Augusta Gein
Photos From Ed Gein’s Life, ‘Monster’ & The Movies His Crimes Inspired
Image Credit: Netflix/Bettmann Archive/Getty Images
Suzanna Son as Adeline Watkins who nearly married Ed Gein before his confession and prosecution; the actual Adeline Watkins
Photos From Ed Gein’s Life, ‘Monster’ & The Movies His Crimes Inspired
Image Credit: Netflix/Getty
Vicky Krieps as Ilse Koch, the Nazi “Beast of Buchenwald,” who served as a twisted inspiration for Gein’s use of human remains. While the real Koch died in prison, in Monster she exists in Gein’s fantasies; Ilse Koch mug shot
Photos From Ed Gein’s Life, ‘Monster’ & The Movies His Crimes Inspired
Image Credit: Netflix/Getty Images
Lesley Manville as Bernice Worden, a victim of Ed Gein; an archival photo of Worden
Photos From Ed Gein’s Life, ‘Monster’ & The Movies His Crimes Inspired
Image Credit: Netflix
Addison Rae plays Evelyn Hartley, a babysitter in Plainfield. In 1957, authorities questioned Gein regarding Hartley’s disappearance, as he had been visiting a relative near the Rasmusen home when she vanished. Although Gein denied involvement, passed two lie detector tests and was officially cleared, he remains a suspect in the minds of some. a class photo of Evelyn Hartley
Photos From Ed Gein’s Life, ‘Monster’ & The Movies His Crimes Inspired
Image Credit: Netflix/Getty
Tom Hollander as Alfred Hitchcock in ‘Monster.’ The director’s genre-defining horror masterpiece ‘Psycho’ was inspired in part by Gein’s crimes; Hitchcock with the clapperboard for the film
Photos From Ed Gein’s Life, ‘Monster’ & The Movies His Crimes Inspired
Image Credit: Netflix/Getty
Olivia Williams as Alma Reville, Alfred Hitchcock’s wife. Reville was a screenwriter and editor who collaborated closely with the director, co-writing films like ‘Shadow of a Doubt,’ ‘Suspicion,’ and ‘The Lady Vanishes’; Hitch and Williams in repose
Photos From Ed Gein’s Life, ‘Monster’ & The Movies His Crimes Inspired
Image Credit: Netflix/Everett Collection
Joey Pollari plays Anthony Perkins in ‘Monster.’ The actor is best known for his role as Norman Bates in Psycho, a character directly inspired by the crimes of Ed Gein.
Photos From Ed Gein’s Life, ‘Monster’ & The Movies His Crimes Inspired
Image Credit: AP Photo/Paul Shane
Ed Gein, 61, sits alone behind the defendant’s table and waits for the judge to call the court to order in Wautoma, Wis., on Jan. 22, 1968. Gein, was charged with the slaying of a Plainfield, Wis., woman.
Photos From Ed Gein’s Life, ‘Monster’ & The Movies His Crimes Inspired
The Gein Home in Plainfield in Wisconsin, circa 1957. Ed Gein murdered women in his town, robbed graves and stored body parts in his house.
Photos From Ed Gein’s Life, ‘Monster’ & The Movies His Crimes Inspired
Image Credit: Everett Collection
Many say the iconic exterior of the Bates residence in ‘Psycho’ architecturally refernced the Gein farmhouse. While director Alfred Hitchcock undeniably drew on Gein’s life and crimes to develop the Norman Bates character, he never confirmed that Gein’s actual home served as the model for the film’s famous Gothic Victorian house.
Photos From Ed Gein’s Life, ‘Monster’ & The Movies His Crimes Inspired
Image Credit: Netflix
A scene from Monster: The Ed Gein Story. The inside of Gein’s home did, in fact, inspire the macabre furnishings of the Bates’ residence (such as the sealed-off room shrine), as police found grotesque artifacts made from human remains inside the farmhouse.
Photos From Ed Gein’s Life, ‘Monster’ & The Movies His Crimes Inspired
Image Credit: Getty Images
In a scene later to be echoed by the cluttered and creepy home in ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre,’ an unidentified police officer examines the junk-littered kitchen in Gein’s house. Authorities found human skulls made into bowls and other adulterated human remains. They also discovered the butchered body of Bernice Worden hung in a shed near the house.
Photos From Ed Gein’s Life, ‘Monster’ & The Movies His Crimes Inspired
Image Credit: Everett Collection
Gunnar Hansen as Leatherface in ‘The Texas Chain Saw Massacre,’ which was partially inspired by Ed Gein, primarily through the macabre practice of fetishizing human skin and remains. A scene in ‘Monster’ has Gein mirroring the macabre chainsaw dance that Leatherface perfoms in Tobe Hooper’s classic.
Photos From Ed Gein’s Life, ‘Monster’ & The Movies His Crimes Inspired
Image Credit: Orion Pictures Corporation/ Courtesy: Everett Collection
While Gein was never confirmed to be a cannibal, some have drawn parallels between him and Dr. Hannibal Lector in Thomas Harris’ books and the films based on them. Harris, however, has said he based the character on an emprisioned doctor he met in Mexico. The man was suspected of killing and dismembering several hitchhikers in the countryside during the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Photos From Ed Gein’s Life, ‘Monster’ & The Movies His Crimes Inspired
Image Credit: Orion/courtesy Everett Collection
Ted Levine played serial killer Buffalo Bill in the 1991 ‘Silence of the Lambs’ adaptation. In both the film and the book, Buffalo Bill is more directly inspired by Gein. Both fashioned trophies and keepsakes from the remains of their victims. Each also made masks and lamps from human skin.
Photos From Ed Gein’s Life, ‘Monster’ & The Movies His Crimes Inspired
Image Credit: Getty Images
Smoldering ruins is all that remains of the House of Horrors after a fire of undetermined cause destroyed the two story frame building on March 20, 1958. The house was to be auctioned. Police suspected arson.