How accurate is Ed Gein on Netflix?

WARNING: This article contains spoilers from Monster: The Ed Gein Story

Netflix has just unveiled the latest season of Ryan Murphy's true crime anthology series, Monster: The Ed Gein Story, reports the Manchester Evening News.

The chilling series delves into the life and crimes of the lesser-known but equally horrifying serial killer and body snatcher, Ed Gein, portrayed by Charlie Hunnam, and has ended up with a low rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Gein, a seemingly mild-mannered farmer from Plainville, Wisconsin, had a house filled with the gruesome evidence of his heinous acts, which included stealing corpses, crafting household items and clothing from their skin, and engaging in necrophilia.

In addition to showcasing his ghastly deeds, creators Murphy and Ian Brennan have endeavoured to portray Gein's schizophrenic mind, blurring the lines between reality and his hallucinations, offering viewers a glimpse into his mental illness.

However, many are eager to distinguish what is factual and what is merely artistic interpretation by the show's creators. Here are seven inaccuracies and the reality behind them.

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How accurate is Ed Gein on Netflix?

Unlike several Netflix shows, such as The Crown and House of Guinness, The Ed Gein Story doesn't begin with any disclaimer indicating whether it's based on fact or fiction.

Monster: The Ed Gein Story straddles the line between fiction and fantasy, but compared to its predecessors, this season deviates significantly more from reality and the facts.

The show's tone seems to lean more towards the likes of Murphy's acclaimed series American Horror Story, with a shift towards a more exaggerated and theatrical horror style.

1. Ed Gein and Ted Bundy

Contrary to what is depicted in the show, Gein did not assist in capturing Ted Bundy (John T. O'Brien).

This sequence is merely a fantasy that Gein conjures up, along with the belief that he aided Mindhunter FBI agents John E. Douglas (Caleb Ruminer) and Robert Ressler (Sean Carrigan).

This is suggested when he watches a TV report and claims he helped, only for someone else to quickly change the channel.

In reality, Bundy was apprehended in 1978 by an unsuspecting police officer who pulled him over for speeding and discovered he was driving a stolen vehicle. The officer had no idea he'd just nabbed one of America's most notorious serial killers.

2. Ed Gein and Ilse Koch

Gein did not communicate with Nazi criminal Ilse Koch (Vicky Krieps) via a ham radio from his asylum. The show confirms this as a product of Gein's imagination, revealing that his own ham radio is disconnected. Meanwhile, the other two radios he purchased are stored away.

He also didn't converse with trans actress and singer Christine Jorgensen (Alanna Darby), who suggested he was likely gynephilic and attracted to femininity as an object.

In truth, Gein did own a ham radio while in hospital, a detail which the writers cleverly wove into the show.

Another point to note is that Gein didn't murder a nurse in the asylum with a chainsaw. This is merely another hallucination, confirmed when he sees Nurse Roz Mahoney (Linda Reiter) strolling down the corridor.

3. Ed Gein's influence on Psycho

Contrary to what the show implies, Gein's crimes didn't inspire author Robert Bloch while he was working on his novel Psycho, published in 1959. The Alfred Hitchcock film is an adaptation of this novel.

In a 1991 interview at the World Horror Convention in Nashville, Tennessee, Bloch stated that Gein wasn't the inspiration for Norman Bates "at all".

4. Ed Gein and Adeline Watkins

The series portrays a complicated and dark love affair between Gein and Plainville local Adeline Watkins (Suzanna Son), with the couple getting engaged and planning to start a family.

Initially, the real-life Watkins claimed she had a 20-year relationship with Gein and that he proposed, but she rejected him.

She later denied this, stating that while she did know him for two decades, they only dated intermittently for seven months.

Watkins also mentioned she never entered his house, which concealed his horrific trophies and crimes.

5. Ed Gein didn't correspond with Richard Speck

In the series, Richard Speck (Tobias Jelinek) wrote letters to Gein, but the Plainville Ghoul never replied.

In the Netflix drama, Speck claimed he was influenced by Gein's crimes and viewed him as a hero, even going to the extent of chemically or hormonally altering his own body to develop breasts.

There's no concrete evidence to suggest that the real Speck was influenced by or had any contact with Gein in his lifetime.

However, a deeply unsettling video made by the serial killer while he was incarcerated reveals that he did modify his body to possess more feminine characteristics. Speck also disclosed horrifying details about the student nurses he had killed, despite previously claiming he couldn't recall anything.

6. Ed Gein's affair with Bernice Worden

The series portrays Gein and hardware shop owner Bernice Worden (Lesley Manville) engaging in a brief sexual relationship, which ends tragically when he murders her.

In reality, there's no indication that the two were romantically involved, but Worden would indeed be Gein's final victim, leading to his capture.

7. Ed Gein and the babysitter

Gein is shown doing a spot of babysitting, which goes disastrously wrong when he takes the children back to his house and puts on a warped magic show.

He later kills babysitter Evelyn Hartley (Addison Rae) when she takes over from him.

In truth, Psycho: The Lost Tapes of Ed Gein reveals that the serial killer did perform some odd jobs, including looking after local children.

Meanwhile, the real Hartley did vanish in 1954 from La Crosse County, which was over a two-hour drive from Gein's residence.

As per the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Gein was questioned about Hartley's disappearance, but he denied having any involvement in it.

Monster: The Ed Gein Story is streaming on Netflix now