Psychological Profile and Biography of Ed Gein
On August 27, 1906, Edward Theodore Gein was the second son born to his alcoholic father George Gein, and his religiously fanatic mother Augusta Gein in La Crosse, Wisconsin. His older brother, Henry Gein, was 7 years older than him (BBC, 2008). Despite the children and Augustans contempt towards George, who was drunk and unemployed most of the time, they stayed together as divorce was not an option because of the family’s religious beliefs. Augusta did however run a small grocery store and when Ed was around the age of 8 they bought and moved to a farm in Plainfield where the nearest neighbors were over a mile away. This was because Augusta wanted to get the kids away from the evils of society
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(Ed Gein, 2009). Augusta would preach to her children about the immorality and evil of alcohol and women, often reading to them verses from the bible dealing with death, murder, and divine retribution. In school, Ed was never able to make any friends, much less hold any kind of relationship with someone of the opposite sex. Somewhat shy, Ed had an effeminate body and a slight growth over his left eye, which caused him to be bullied by the boys; and because it had been drilled into his head by his mother that all women, except herself, were evil and whores, he never had any real interest in girls. Whenever Ed tried to make friends he was severely chastised by his mother (Ed Gein, 2009). Ed did however do fine in academics until he dropped out of school after eight grade, although he still showed great interest in reading. Both brothers continued to live in the house with their extreme religious mother and their increasingly violent alcoholic father.
George, however, died in 1940 of pneumonic fluid in his lungs. At which point Henry and Ed had started working as handymen around town to support the house (Radford University, 2012). However, not too long after Henry started to openly challenge and go against his mother even in front of Ed, who still respected and idolized her. Four years later in 1944 Henry mysteriously died due to a marsh fire. He and Ed were running away from the fire and Ed told authorities he had lost sight of Henry, even though he later led them straight to his body. The coroner examiner put down the cause of death as asphyxiation due to the smoke. The notion of foul play was dismissed as no one believed Ed was capable of killing (BBC, …show more content…
2008). Augusta started to become very ill, and the next year, 1945, she died of a series of strokes. After this Ed became increasingly deranged, then, 18 months after his mother’s death, Ed began his grave robbing routines in 1947 until he turned to murder in 1954 and then caught after his second victim in 1957 (Biography, 2010). By this point Ed had never gone to a psychologist or diagnosed with any other medical condition other than the growth on his left eyelid, which had prevented him from being drafted years earlier. After arrest and interrogation Gein went through a psychological analysis prior to his sanity hearing.
At this point he was diagnosed with Schizophrenia. He was also labeled as a sexual psychopath that had engaged in necrophilia and even experimented with human taxidermy. (Radford University, 2012). After his sanity hearing, where only the initial charge of theft was brought forth, Gein was declared “mentally unfit for trial and was committed to the Central State Hospital in Waupun, Wisconsin.” (BBC, 2008). Ten years later, 1968, Gein was determined as competent to stand trial. Nine months later and after a one-week trial, the court found him guilty of both first degree murder but ruled as not guilty for reason of insanity. Gein returned to Mendota State Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin. Here, he spent the rest of his life until he died of respiratory and heart failure due to cancer on July 26, 1984. He was 78 years of
age. According to Kitaeff’s (2011) “Serial Killer Typologies” Gein would most fit into the Power Seeker category. This is because he was not as interested in the person or the act of killing as he was in the body itself. Trying to have control over the body to fulfil his own wants and needs and use them as he pleased.
Both men went to trial in Garden City. These men went through a psychiatric evaluation, which showed signs of mental illness and emotional dysfunction. Perry was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Dick had brain damage from a car accident as a young adult. Perry finally admitted to all four murders. The doctors stated that this was unconscious retribution for all the bad luck and dissatisfactions from his childhood.
Mary Eugenia Surratt, née Jenkins, was born to Samuel Isaac Jenkins and his wife near Waterloo, Maryland. After her father died when she was young, her mother and older siblings kept the family and the farm together. After attending a Catholic girls’ school for a few years, she met and married John Surratt at age fifteen. They had three children: Isaac, John, and Anna. After a fire at their first farm, John Surratt Sr. began jumping from occupation to occupation. Surratt worked briefly in Virginia as a railroad contractor before he was able to purchase land in Maryland and eventually establish a store and tavern that became known as Surrattsville. However, the family’s fina...
“William Henry Furman, a twenty-six-year-old black man with a sixth grade education, was not what most people called a “bad” man,” (Herda 7). Furman was just laid off of his job and was struggling to find work. But there was none. Every job did not pay enough, or was a short term job. Eventually, depressed, hungry, and broke, Furman turned to breaking and entering and to petty thievery by means of survival. Furman was caught a few times and was given a light sentence. He was also examined by a psychiatrist and was determined to be mentally impaired, but not enough to go to a mental institution. But on August 11, 1967, Furman went to rob the house of twenty-nine-year-old William Joseph Micke, Jr. with his wife and five young children. When searching through the house, Furman made too much noise, which alerted Micke. Furman heard Micke walking down the stairs and pulled out his gun that he used for scaring people away. But Micke kept walking downwards. Not wanting to be caught, Furman tried to run away and tripped over an exposed cord. His gun discharged. The bullet ricocheted to the back door. On the other side, a body fell to the floor. William Joseph Micke Jr. was dead. “The police responded to the call quickly and, within minutes, they had apprehended Furman just down the street from the scene of the crime. The murders weapon was still in his pocket,” (Herda 9). Furman tried to plead guilty by insanity and the psychiatrists described him as legally insane. But then, several days later one of the psychiatrists revised their medical opinion. Because he was not insane, the case would go on. The state of Georgia charged him with murder and issued the death penalty. This was because Georgia state law stated that any form of murder is...
Sandy Wilson, the author of Daddy’s Apprentice: incest, corruption, and betrayal: a survivor’s story, was the victim of not only sexual abuse but physical and emotional abuse as well, in addition to being a product of incest. Sandy Wilson’s story began when she was about six years old when her birth father returns home from incarceration, and spans into her late teens. Her father returning home from prison was her first time meeting him, as she was wondered what he looked like after hearing that he would be released (Wilson, 2000, p. 8). Not only was her relationship with her father non-existent, her relationship with her birth mother was as well since she was for most of her young life, cared for by her grandmother and grandfather. When she was told that her birth mother coming to visit she says, “…I wish my mother wouldn’t visit. I never know what to call her so I don’t all her anything. Not her name, Kristen. Not mother. Not anything (Wilson, 2000, p. 4).” This quote essentially demonstrated the relationship between Sandy and her mother as one that is nonexistent even though Sandy recognizes Kristen as her birth mother.
In the young life of Essie Mae, she had a rough childhood. She went through beatings from her cousin, George Lee, and was blamed for burning down her house. Finally Essie Mae got the nerve to stand up for herself and her baby sister, Adline as her parents were coming in from their work. Her dad put a stop to the mistreatment by having her and her sister watched by their Uncle Ed. One day while Essie Mae's parents were having an argument, she noticed that her mothers belly was getting bigger and bigger and her mom kept crying more and more. Then her mother had a baby, Junior, while the kids were out with their Uncle Ed. Her uncle took her to meet her other two uncles and she was stunned to learn that they were white. She was confused by this but when she asked her mom, Toosweet, about it her mom would not give her an answer one way or the other. Once her mom had the baby, her father started staying out late more often. Toosweet found out that her dad was seeing a woman named Florence. Not long after this, her mother was left to support her and her siblings when her father left. Her mother ended up having to move in with family until she could obtain a better paying job in the city. As her childhood went on she started school and was very good at her studies. When she was in the fourth grade, her mom started seeing a soldier named Raymond. Not too long after this, her mother got pregnant and had James. Her mother and Raymond had a rocky relationship. When James was born, Raymond's mother came and took the baby to raise because she said that raising four children was too much of a burden for a single parent to handle. Raymond went back to the service for a while but then when he came back he and Toosweet had another baby. Raymond's brothers helped him build a new house for them to live in and they brought James back to live with them. During this time Essie Mae was working for the Claiborne family and she was starting to see a different point of view on a lot of things in life. The Claiborne's treated her almost as an equal and encouraged her to better herself.
The Gladney family left in the fall of 1937 by a Jim Crow train for Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the night that George, Ida Mae’s husband, settled with Mr. Edd for his
The struggle of sibling rivalry over ability and temperament has taken East of Eden in a whole new perspective. Steinbeck’s portrait on sibling rivalry shows the good vs. evil of each character in the story. The nature of good vs. evil as natural selection is also seen in siblings, as a compete for something physical, mental, or something emotional. The sibling rivalry from the biblical characters embraced Steinbeck’s characters throughout every concept in the novel, the good vs. evil confines the characters personality in every idea of Steinbeck’s novel. From the biblical story of Cain and Abel to Adam and Charles to Cal and Aaron the story continues through out every generation.
In conclusion, George killing Lennie was a murder because of lack of consent and Lennie was not suffering physically. In this society, people are scared of the unknown, and that is how they lived. No one realized what they were doing was wrong. But Lennie was just like everyone else, only different because of a small, mental setback. The characters did not seem to realize that Lennie believed in a future ahead of him, and that he had hopes and dreams just like them. Life is incredibly short, and no one should deserve
Henry suffers from retrograde amnesia due to internal bleeding in the part of the brain that controls memory. This causes him to forget completely everything he ever learned. His entire life is forgotten and he has to basically relearn who he was, only to find he didn’t like who he was and that he didn’t want to be that person. He starts to pay more attention to his daughter and his wife and starts to spend more time with them.
George and Ophelia grow up in significantly different environments with exposure to vastly dissimilar experiences; their diverse backgrounds have a profound impact on the way they interpret and react to situations as adults. George and Ophelia both grow up without their parents, but for different reasons. George grows up at the Wallace P. Andrews Shelter for Boys in New York. The Shelter’s strict surroundings did not provide the warm and inviting atmosphere that a mother strives for in a home. The employees at the Shelter are not “loving people,” (p. 23) but they are devoted to their job, and the boys. At a young age, Ophelia loses her mother. We learn very little about her apparently absent father. Mama Day and Abigail raise Ophelia. Abigail provides a source of comfort and love for Ophelia as she fulfills the role of mother figure. Mama day, Ophelia’s great aunt, acts more as a father figure. “If Grandma had been there, she would have held me when I broke down and cry. Mama Day only said that for a long time there would be something to bring on tears aplenty.” (p. 304). Ophelia grows up on the small island of Willow Springs. Everyone knows each other and their business, in the laid-back island community. The border between Georgia and South Carolina splits down the middle of the island. Instead of seeing any advantage to belonging to either state, the townspeople would prefer to operate independently. For George and Ophelia, the differences in their backgrounds will have a tremendous impact on many facets of their adult lives.
Gacy made three confessions, but declined to testify at his trial for murder. The Jury who tried him were told by a psychiatrist that Gacy was suffering from a personality disorder that did not amount to insanity. Seeing this, on the 13 March 1980, Gacy was sentenced to life imprisonment, but this was changed to a death sentence. Just after midnight on 10 May 1994 Gacy was executed by lethal injection at Stateville prison in Joilet, Illinois.
I think that some intensive psychoanalysis would prevent the actions of Gein and save the life of at least the one woman that he murdered. I do not think he could avoid all dysfunctions but there could have been a remarkable difference.
In the 1840’s, the Perkins’ family worked in the brick-making factory, and they were wealthy for a short period of time. Many businesses collapsed and were bought out, so the wealth didn’t last long. In 1870, the Perkins’ turned to dairy farming to get their money. Shortly after, Frances’ father, Frederick married a woman by the name of Susan Bean. On April 10th, 1880 in Boston, Massachusetts Fannie Coralie Perkins was born. In 1884, when Fannie was four years old, Frederick and Susan had a second child, Ethel (Downey 7). Fannie was very close to her family her entire life. She often spoke of ancestors, she adored and their ways of thinking helped her when she had to make big decisions later on in her life.
...osed a plea bargain. The plea bargain stated that the prosecution could no longer seek the death penalty, and in return Gary would plead guilty to the seven original charges and to the 40 to 47 additional counts of murder. He also would have to provide truthful information about his murders and help find the remains of the rest of his victims. The prosecution decided to accept the plea deal. He plead guilty to 49 charges of aggravated first degree murder and was sentenced to 480 years in prison without the possibility of parole and is serving his time at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla, Washington. He has helped investigators find his most of victims, but some he could not remember because he would only remember his dumpsite locations and not who he killed. He also has done many interviews to help understand what drove him to become a serial killer.
Her parents meet at a social gathering in town and where married shortly thereafter. Marie’s name was chosen by her grandmother and mother, “because they loved to read the list was quite long with much debate over each name.” If she was a boy her name would have been Francis, so she is very happy to have born a girl. Marie’s great uncle was a physician and delivered her in the local hospital. Her mother, was a housewife, as was the norm in those days and her father ran his own business. Her mother was very close with her parents, two brothers, and two sisters. When her grandmother was diagnosed with asthma the family had to move. In those days a warm and dry climate was recommended, Arizona was the chosen state. Because her grandma could never quite leave home, KY, the family made many trips between the states. These trips back and forth dominated Marie’s childhood with her uncles and aunts being her childhood playmates.