Psycho: The True Story

After watching the film Psycho, I was browsing the internet for more information on Ed Gein, the serial killer who is known to be the inspiration of the screenplay. The more research I did on Gein, the greater my sympathy became for Norman...yes I know, it's weird to feel bad for such a crazy, serial killer, but if the life of Norman was in fact inspired by Ed, then believe me, you should feel badly too.

At the age of 39, a single Gein had just lost his only brother and soon after, he lost his mother. Although she was a very controlling woman, Eddie was very attached to her and her death took a toll on him. "Weird old Eddie" as the people of his hometown referred to him as did not move out of the now haunted home he'd grown up in, instead he physically sealed off all rooms of the house except for two.

Gein's sick and intimate interest in the female body stemmed from his childhood when his mother forbid talk of anatomy and that sex was a terrible thing. His obsession was born when Gein studied the female anatomy in medical books, pornography magazines, etc. His first crime was digging up female corpses from local graveyards, dissecting the bodies and doing strange things with them. This is how it all began, if you know what I mean....

After moving on to the living, and being discovered, headless bodies of missing local women were found in the barn on Gein's property.

This shy, insecure man with some major psychological problems. A judge seemed to agree and sent him to a mental institution instead of a state or federal prison. It is said he was always a model prisoner--gentle, polite and discreet." Just like Norman, the same opinions about Gein were shared among the people of his hometown. In 1984, Gein died in the mental institution he spent his last six years.