Speaker 1: You're listening to American Shadows, a production of iHeartRadio and
Speaker 1: Grimm and Mild from Aaron Manky.
Speaker 2: In late nineteen fifty three, four senators convened in Washington,
Speaker 2: d C. They had formed a bipartisan subcommittee with the
Speaker 2: purpose of trying to understand the causes of the nation's
Speaker 2: juvenile delinquency problems, and at the center of their concerns
Speaker 2: were comic books. Less than two decades before, comics were
Speaker 2: forever changed. When the world met Superman Clark Kent spawned
Speaker 2: an entire genre, and his arrival marked the beginning of
Speaker 2: what's now known as the Golden Age of comics. Throughout
Speaker 2: World War II, Captain America, Wonder Woman, and many others
Speaker 2: joined the heroic ranks. Together they provided a hopeful, pace,
Speaker 2: priotic distraction to readers. These were the good guys. After
Speaker 2: the war, superheroes continued to dominate the market, but there
Speaker 2: were challengers on the horizon. Nostalgic westerns competed with science fiction.
Speaker 2: Archie and his Riverdale friends lived out the teenage experience,
Speaker 2: and of course, Whalt Disney entered the fray with Mickey Mouse.
Speaker 3: It may seem.
Speaker 2: Silly to us today that paper bound illustrations could cause
Speaker 2: such a moral panic, but by the nineteen fifties, comic
Speaker 2: books were the single most popular form of reading material
Speaker 2: for young people. The dramas of good and evil played
Speaker 2: out between their pages. The nation was captivated, and some
Speaker 2: parents were worried. What worried the most were the stories
Speaker 2: that also had a wildly popular reception, those about crime
Speaker 2: and horror. For a single dime, America's children ravenously consumed
Speaker 2: titles such as Tales from the Crypt and Seduction of
Speaker 2: the Innocent. In the night mares of these parents, comics
Speaker 2: were leading their children down a dark path. By nineteen
Speaker 2: fifty four, the State Subcommittee convened two hearings on comic
Speaker 2: books and what to do about them. In response, the
Speaker 2: industry adopted a voluntary code of conduct that outlined but
Speaker 2: could and could not be published. For example, it said
Speaker 2: that all lurid, unsavory, gruesome illustrations shall be eliminated, and
Speaker 2: no comic magazine shall use the words horror or terror
Speaker 2: in its title. Scenes of excessive violence were also prohibited,
Speaker 2: as were of any storylines that suggested any kind of
Speaker 2: sympathy for those convicted of a crime. Horror had no
Speaker 2: place in society. They thought, even with tales from the imagination,
Speaker 2: there was always a chance it could leap from the
Speaker 2: pages into real life, and sometimes it did. I'm Lorn Vogelbaum,
Speaker 2: Welcome to American Shadows. Eddie wasn't even seven years old,
Speaker 2: but his mother entrusted him with an important task. She
Speaker 2: sent him to the nearby German bakery for a fresh
Speaker 2: loaf of bread. She gave him some coins and told
Speaker 2: him to come right home. When little Eddie arrived at
Speaker 2: the store, he realized something awful. The coins had fallen
Speaker 2: out of his pocket. His mother was going to be furious.
Speaker 2: He slunk back home to face the consequences. If only
Speaker 2: he could atone for his sins, then maybe he would
Speaker 2: learn how to be responsible. But any hopes he might
Speaker 2: have had were dashed as soon as his mother saw
Speaker 2: his empty hands. In a tone more cutting than angry,
Speaker 2: Augusta admonished her son, you, dreadful child, Only a mother
Speaker 2: could love you. And it was just that the potential
Speaker 2: to be loved that Eddie longed for. To be worthy
Speaker 2: of the love of his mother, the most or a
Speaker 2: woman in the world, was the dream. As he grew up,
Speaker 2: his mother's words seemed to be true. His father abused
Speaker 2: him and his older brother, Henry. Their father, George, had
Speaker 2: been orphaned by a flash flood and raised by his
Speaker 2: loveless grandparents. It was a rough, demanding environment for a child.
Speaker 3: As a young.
Speaker 2: Adult, George met Augusta Lurk, who seemed to have everything
Speaker 2: he lacked. A big, loud family, steely conviction, and a
Speaker 2: mind for business. Augusta had been born in Lacrosse, Wisconsin,
Speaker 2: and herself grown up in a volatile world of abuse. Traumatized,
Speaker 2: Augusta looked for a way out, and George Geene seemed
Speaker 2: like a promising option. George was twenty four and Augusta
Speaker 2: nineteen when the two married on December fourth of eighteen
Speaker 2: ninety nine. You can't help but wonder what their first
Speaker 2: Christmas was like, if they had any hopes or dreams
Speaker 2: for not just a new life together, but a new year,
Speaker 2: a new century. But if there was a spark, it
Speaker 2: fizzled as quickly as it came.
Speaker 3: Soon.
Speaker 2: Augusta and George were abusers and abused, which was the
Speaker 2: only cycle they knew. George's dependence on alcohol aggravated his moods,
Speaker 2: along with his wife's disgust Augusta's strength became an unwavering
Speaker 2: stream of criticisms. Then George's reserve demeanor turned into stonewalling,
Speaker 2: which was only broken by flashes of physical violence against
Speaker 2: his wife. Into this household arrived Henry on January seventeenth
Speaker 2: of nineteen oh one. Five years later, their second child, Edward,
Speaker 2: was born on August twenty seventh of nineteen oh six.
Speaker 2: It didn't take long for baby Eddie to become Augusta's favorite.
Speaker 2: While in Lacrosse, the Guenes managed a grocery store. At first,
Speaker 2: George was in charge as things were done, but whether
Speaker 2: perceived or real, his ineptitude left Augusta no choice but
Speaker 2: to take take over more and more responsibility. Eventually, she
Speaker 2: owned and operated the store, and George became her employee.
Speaker 2: The Green family moved to Plainsfield, Wisconsin in nineteen fourteen.
Speaker 2: They settled on a farm outside of town. As business owner,
Speaker 2: Augusta had penny pinched and now in her hands. She
Speaker 2: held a deed to almost two hundred acres of land
Speaker 2: and a two story farmhouse. It was in her name
Speaker 2: and she was going to turn it into a safe
Speaker 2: haven from the outside world. Eddie hoped that his mother
Speaker 2: would finally be happy, that she could relax in the
Speaker 2: isolation of their remote farm. But as the boys grew,
Speaker 2: so did Augusta's fixation on carnal sin. Her boys were
Speaker 2: coming into adolescence, and she feared for their souls. The
Speaker 2: farmstead had once been a place of hope, but by
Speaker 2: the end of the nineteen thirties what had been new
Speaker 2: and promising had become decrepit and squandered, tarnished by time,
Speaker 2: by failure by sin. They thought no matter what they did,
Speaker 2: the farm just wouldn't yield. Augusta continued to pray, and
Speaker 2: as the farm struggled, young Ed and Henry did as well.
Speaker 2: Both received abuse from their parents, but Henry saw life
Speaker 2: beyond the farm and ways other than his mother's. Ed, however,
Speaker 2: adored her and bought in completely. He had no want
Speaker 2: or need for any other perspective. To him, his mother
Speaker 2: was as godlike as a person could be, and not
Speaker 2: to be challenged. George died on April Fool's Day in
Speaker 2: nineteen forty, an ironic end as far as Augusta was concerned.
Speaker 2: He had been unable to work for years due to
Speaker 2: the tolls of abuse, and addiction. Perhaps he found peace,
Speaker 2: but grief only exacerbated Augusta's paranoia. As they tended the
Speaker 2: failing farms dead together, Henry mustered up the nerve to
Speaker 2: voice his concerns to Ed. He had worked odd jobs
Speaker 2: away from the family and had seen a little bit
Speaker 2: of the world beyond Augusta's clutches. But perhaps, he suggested
Speaker 2: to Ed, their mother was judging people a little too harshly.
Speaker 2: Maybe the world outside their house wasn't pure evil and
Speaker 2: she was wrong. Day in day out, Henry had seen
Speaker 2: firsthand just how deeply Ed admired their mother, how attached
Speaker 2: he was, and how he clung to every word she said,
Speaker 2: no matter how biting or cruel. But they were brothers
Speaker 2: and had been through so much abuse together. Ed would
Speaker 2: have to understand, or so he thought. Unfortunately, Ed did
Speaker 2: not see reason in Henry's words. He was devastated, shocked
Speaker 2: that his brother could question their divine mother. Augusta had
Speaker 2: picked her favorite child well, and when tested, he proved
Speaker 2: to be completely loyal. Soon thereafter, the farm caught fire.
Speaker 2: According to Ed, the fire was started intentionally too clear
Speaker 2: a field, but it got out of hand, and in
Speaker 2: their efforts to contain it. Henry went one way while
Speaker 2: Ed went another. Night came on quickly and the fire
Speaker 2: was soon contained. But when Ed went looking for Henry,
Speaker 2: he had disappeared. With no telephone, Ed drove into town
Speaker 2: to get help. Once back at the farm, Ed allegedly
Speaker 2: walked them directly to Henry's lifeless form in the field,
Speaker 2: untouched by flame. Two days later, the County Corner filled
Speaker 2: out Henry Gane's deaths.
Speaker 3: To fit it.
Speaker 2: Accidental death asphyxiation was the official cause. Ed's apparent harmlessness,
Speaker 2: coupled with an acceptance that these things just happened, made
Speaker 2: foul play seem next to impossible. Back at the farm,
Speaker 2: Ed and Augusta were alone. It was nineteen forty four.
Speaker 2: Ed was almost forty years old, and he finally had
Speaker 2: his mother all to himself. Together they managed the remaining
Speaker 2: crumbs of the farmstead and lived there, isolated lives, much
Speaker 2: as they had before. Augusta read her Bible and Ed
Speaker 2: read well comic books and horror stories. After experiencing two
Speaker 2: strokes in quick succession, Augusta was bedridden and reliant on Ed.
Speaker 2: It was thankless work, but his mother needed him. She
Speaker 2: always knew to look out for signs of sin and
Speaker 2: evil that she was aware of, but Augusta hadn't modernized
Speaker 2: her fears enough. It was then, and the backbone of
Speaker 2: the family incapacitated, that she finally took note of the
Speaker 2: materials ed loved to read. He devoured dark stories, and
Speaker 2: she who knew him best, was uneasy. For a brief moment,
Speaker 2: ed had everything he dreamed of and his pure mother
Speaker 2: all to himself, but before he could settle in, she
Speaker 2: was gone. Augusta died in December of nineteen forty five.
Speaker 2: For the first time in his life, Edward Theodore Gheen
Speaker 2: was completely alone. Bernice Warden had worked at Warden Hardware
Speaker 2: and implement Company since the nineteen twenties, and she worked
Speaker 2: it well. Widowed, young, she wound up expanding the original
Speaker 2: offerings and pushing the boundaries of what women business owners achieved.
Speaker 2: She was beloved by the Plainsfield community. The year that
Speaker 2: the local paper started running a column honoring a citizen
Speaker 2: of the Week, Bernice was the first to receive the title.
Speaker 2: She was close to her family in every way, particularly
Speaker 2: doting on her grandkids. Although she was busy, she often
Speaker 2: made time for her favorite hobby fishing, But on one
Speaker 2: dreary morning in November of nineteen fifty seven, Bernice probably
Speaker 2: didn't mind staying at the shop. It was the first
Speaker 2: day of hunting season, and someone was bound to have
Speaker 2: forgotten something if they pulled up to the store only
Speaker 2: to find it closed. While that would be a real disappointment,
Speaker 2: the days had been getting shorter. Back on his farm,
Speaker 2: Ed didn't have electricity, heating, or any living company. A
Speaker 2: winter was coming and it would be nice to get
Speaker 2: out before the cold made it terribly unpleasant to do.
Speaker 2: So he left the farm that morning with a short
Speaker 2: to do list in hand.
Speaker 3: Ed liked going into town.
Speaker 2: No one could come close to replacing his mother, but
Speaker 2: he was a social creature. In spite of Augusta's best efforts,
Speaker 2: Ed had found that not all human connection was as
Speaker 2: bad as his mother had preached. For a while, had
Speaker 2: enjoyed drinks and the company of Mary Hogan, the proprietor
Speaker 2: of a local watering hole. However, she had disappeared in
Speaker 2: nineteen fifty four and it seemed that he was out
Speaker 2: a friend. Ed found the trek and town easily managed
Speaker 2: no matter the season. The plainsfield had essentials that he didn't,
Speaker 2: specially since he had completely given up on the farm
Speaker 2: after his mother died. That had been twelve years ago,
Speaker 2: and he was dependent on the modern meanses that only
Speaker 2: the town could offer. Warden's Store was the place for
Speaker 2: just about everything, and by some accounts, Ed had taken
Speaker 2: a liking to Bernice. Later that evening, Bernice's son, Frank,
Speaker 2: returned from his hunt, empty handed and somewhat confused. He
Speaker 2: had heard through a friend that the Warden's Store had
Speaker 2: been closed all day, which was strange. He couldn't think
Speaker 2: the reason why his mother would leave the shop on
Speaker 2: such an important day of the season. When Frank arrived
Speaker 2: at the store, he immediately knew something was wrong. There
Speaker 2: was blood on the floor, and he saw that the
Speaker 2: cash register was missing, and next to the empty space
Speaker 2: was the receipt book. He glanced down at the last line,
Speaker 2: where his mother had made a note of the last
Speaker 2: sale anti freeze to one ed Gean. It all came
Speaker 2: back to Frank in a rush. The night before, he
Speaker 2: and his mother had been in the shop when Ed
Speaker 2: walked through the door. Ed had inquired about the price
Speaker 2: of anti freeze and had casually asked.
Speaker 3: Frank if he was going out to hunt the next day.
Speaker 2: At the time, it had barely registered as more than
Speaker 2: small talk. Now leaning against the counter where his mother
Speaker 2: should have stood, Frank feared the worst. He worried that
Speaker 2: strange Ed was responsible for all of this, whatever this was. Meanwhile,
Speaker 2: Ed was wrapping up dinner at a neighbor's house. Earlier
Speaker 2: that day, sixteen year old Bobby Hill had arrived at
Speaker 2: Ed's farm to ask a favor. This was something his
Speaker 2: family did often, paying Ed to help with odd jobs.
Speaker 2: When he and his sister got there, they found Ed
Speaker 2: covered in blood, but it was hunting season, and Ed
Speaker 2: said that he was dressing a deer to Bobby, who
Speaker 2: had gone hunting with Ed a number of times, this
Speaker 2: made sense.
Speaker 3: Ed cleaned up.
Speaker 2: Before giving Bobby and his sister a ride back at
Speaker 2: their home. Their mother, Irene, did the polite thing and
Speaker 2: invited him to stay for supper. As they were finishing up,
Speaker 2: Irene's son in law turned home. He mentioned the commotion
Speaker 2: down at the Warden store. Bobby wanted to go see
Speaker 2: for himself, and Ed offered to drive him, so he
Speaker 2: went out to start the truck. Frank had alerted the
Speaker 2: police that Ed was the last sale registered at the shop.
Speaker 2: He was known to the cops and they went to
Speaker 2: look for him. They knew he had a history of
Speaker 2: helping around the Hills farm, so they started their investigation
Speaker 2: on Irene's doorstep.
Speaker 3: They knocked and asked if she knew where Ed was.
Speaker 2: Irene pointed to the driveway where Ed sat in his
Speaker 2: idling truck.
Speaker 3: The officers walked over.
Speaker 2: At rolled down the window and gave the officers a
Speaker 2: small smile. They asked him to come with them. They
Speaker 2: had some questions. Ed agreed, turned off the truck and
Speaker 2: got into the back of their cruiser. While Ed had
Speaker 2: dinner at the Hills, dark settled over the countryside. The
Speaker 2: Green's farmhouse had never been wired for electricity, so Art's
Speaker 2: sly was Shura County Sheriff and Captain Lloyd Shopboyster of
Speaker 2: the Green Lake County Sheriff's Department, grabbed their flashlights and
Speaker 2: began their search. They had a lead for a missing woman,
Speaker 2: and it took them into Ed's most private world for
Speaker 2: the first time in years. Outsiders freely moved about the
Speaker 2: interior of the green property. While Ed was away, Art
Speaker 2: pointed his light into the outdoor summer kitchen and discovered
Speaker 2: a sight that would haunt him to the end of
Speaker 2: his days. There hung the headless corpse of Bernice Warden, carved,
Speaker 2: empty skinned, and suspended from the ceiling. Art somehow made
Speaker 2: it out before vomiting. That wasn't the worst of it.
Speaker 2: In their search, they discovered evidence of macab crafting a
Speaker 2: box of genitalia, a full suit made of human skin.
Speaker 2: Inside the house, they peered around at masks made from
Speaker 2: human faces, a bowl fashioned out of a skull cap,
Speaker 2: and chairs upholstered with flesh. Art and Lloyd went about
Speaker 2: the gruesome task of finding the rest of Bernice inside
Speaker 2: the home. Her heart was found wrapped in a plastic
Speaker 2: bag by the stove. Other organs were found wrapped in
Speaker 2: newspaper and stuffed into an old suit. Her head was
Speaker 2: found in the corner of a room and threaded with
Speaker 2: string as if to hang it up too. Though they
Speaker 2: felt they could take no more, they entered one last room,
Speaker 2: behind a closed door. It had an air of reverence
Speaker 2: and quiet dust sat undisturbed. It was his mother's room,
Speaker 2: which he had kept as nothing short of a shrine.
Speaker 2: Ed's compliance at the squad car was just the beginning
Speaker 2: of his amenability with law enforcement officials. He proved to
Speaker 2: be forthcoming and confessed to having murdered Bernice Warden as
Speaker 2: well as Mary Hogan years earlier, but when asked about
Speaker 2: the other remains, he denied having killed more than twice.
Speaker 2: He was adamant, so where did the other body parts
Speaker 2: come from? Who did they come from, and how did
Speaker 2: Ed get them? To everyone's horror, Ed finally admitted that
Speaker 2: perhaps he had a habit of grave robbing.
Speaker 3: In fact, he could provide them with a.
Speaker 2: List of graves he had robbed, all from three local graveyards,
Speaker 2: with all of the deceased victims bearing an uncanny resemblance
Speaker 2: to his mother. Once Ed was finished with his confession,
Speaker 2: he asked Art's live they could return to the farmstead.
Speaker 2: At the time, reporters swarmed the property like flies, day
Speaker 2: in and day out, but Ed wanted to show the
Speaker 2: sheriff something, so Art did what he could. It was
Speaker 2: his last visit home, and there he brought Art over
Speaker 2: to a remote area of his father. There sat an
Speaker 2: ash heap, the rest of Mary Hogan burned up. After
Speaker 2: he had harvested what he wanted from her. Ed Gean
Speaker 2: was escorted to wapon Wisconsin, where he was admitted to
Speaker 2: the Central State Hospital for the criminally Insane. Once there,
Speaker 2: the month long evaluation period began. Meanwhile, with lightning speed,
Speaker 2: sensational headlines appeared in local Sunday editions. Soon national papers
Speaker 2: caught on, and one could argue they never really stopped.
Speaker 2: Many details emerged from this period of intense pressure, paranoia
Speaker 2: banned anticipation. Ed himself cited memory issues to a doctor
Speaker 2: in the hospital. A professional noted Ed's abnormal attachment to
Speaker 2: AUGUSTA Life magazine published a juicy detail that Ed had
Speaker 2: always wanted to be a woman fanning the selacious flames.
Speaker 2: In the meantime, Plainsfield was left to reckon with the
Speaker 2: nature of Gene's confession. The townsfolk were reluctant to believe it.
Speaker 2: The neighbors had accepted gifts of venison from him, and
Speaker 2: now they weren't sure whether it had been venison at all.
Speaker 2: The rug had been pulled out from under their feet
Speaker 2: and hidden beneath it, heard the desecrated corpses of their neighbors,
Speaker 2: their loved ones, their friends. Plainsfield Cemetery had more visitors
Speaker 2: than usual on November twenty fifth of nineteen fifty seven.
Speaker 2: Of the nine graves that had named as his targets,
Speaker 2: authorities had picked three to exum. The grave of Eleanor
Speaker 2: Adams was chosen as the starting point, so they got
Speaker 2: to work. When the shovel hit something more solid than dirt,
Speaker 2: everyone at the grave side perked up. After a couple
Speaker 2: more swipes, the lid of a casket came into view. However,
Speaker 2: when the lid was opened, there was nothing inside except
Speaker 2: for dust and the crowbar. Thirty yards away, Mabel Eversin's
Speaker 2: grave was similarly disturbed, although her cast held an assortment
Speaker 2: of bones, dental plates, and a golden wedding band. With
Speaker 2: two of the three graves checked, Wisconsin, authorities decided that
Speaker 2: Dean was telling the truth. He had killed Mary Hogan
Speaker 2: and Bernice Warden, but the other remains had truly been
Speaker 2: sourced from the grave. In January of nineteen fifty eight,
Speaker 2: Ed's observation period at Central State was over. The Sanity
Speaker 2: hearing brought all evidence to bear, and experts weighed in.
Speaker 2: He was declared insane and therefore unable to stand trial
Speaker 2: for his crimes. Disappointment spread through Plainsfield. It seemed there
Speaker 2: was no justice in sight. As Ed got settled back
Speaker 2: at the hospital, affairs were settled at the home that
Speaker 2: he had never see again. In the first few months
Speaker 2: of nineteen fifty eight, papers were still driving curious readers
Speaker 2: to Plainsfield and that worn down farmhouse seven miles outside
Speaker 2: of town. Just as Ed had delighted in tales of terror.
Speaker 2: These tourists arrived in droves quickly, overwhelming Plainsfield's infrastructure, banned
Speaker 2: its residence. Geiner's, as they were called, were criticized for
Speaker 2: macabre voyeurism. But it didn't start with Edgyane's House of
Speaker 2: Horrors in Plainsfield, and it certainly didn't end there. And
Speaker 2: so when news spread that AD's property and belongings were
Speaker 2: going to be auctioned off, and stomachs throughout Plainsfield churned
Speaker 2: with dread. Then, in the pre dawn darkness of March
Speaker 2: twentieth of nineteen fifty eight, when even the reporters were
Speaker 2: in bed, the fire destroyed Ed's home. The Wisconsin Crime
Speaker 2: Lab had already removed all necessary elements from the crime scene.
Speaker 2: Just the day before, clean up crews had burned trash
Speaker 2: in a heap seventy five feet away from the house.
Speaker 2: The papers officially reported the deputy fire Marshal's opinion that
Speaker 2: lingering flames or burning embers could have started the fire.
Speaker 2: On March thirtieth of nineteen fifty eight, the auction of
Speaker 2: what was left of the gue and homestead took place.
Speaker 2: One of his vehicles was purchased by a sideshow manager,
Speaker 2: Bunny Gibbons, but Midwestern audiences who turned up for his
Speaker 2: other acts apparently felt this one cross the line. If
Speaker 2: someone was behind the fire, they must have been pleased.
Speaker 2: The tourism to Plainsfield and the tangible relics of ed
Speaker 2: Geen were largely destroyed. They may have thought that if
Speaker 2: the shrine of evil was gone, no one would want
Speaker 2: to make the pilgrimage, and the town could put all
Speaker 2: of this behind them. But it was too late. The
Speaker 2: horror wasn't contained in the house. It lived in the
Speaker 2: papers and in the minds of those who read them.
Speaker 2: The rumors were in Plainsfield and they were beyond it.
Speaker 2: Ed tucked away in his grim farmhouse, reading scary stories
Speaker 2: by candle or Lamplight, was a perfect villain, a superb
Speaker 2: creature in the night. He was a phantom haunting graveyards
Speaker 2: and brought horrors from books and stories to life right
Speaker 2: there in Plainsfield, USA. Desecration of the dead is a
Speaker 2: taboo that transcends time and place, and to learn that
Speaker 2: a small statured farm boy hid such a monster under
Speaker 2: his checked hunting cap was something that no purification by
Speaker 2: fire could undo. Ed finally did go to trial in
Speaker 2: nineteen sixty eight, almost eleven years to the day that
Speaker 2: he had killed Bernice Warden. He was found not guilty
Speaker 2: by reason of insanity and institutionalized again. For everyone else,
Speaker 2: it had been a decade of waiting for justice, and
Speaker 2: after just one week, the ghoul of Plainsfield was back
Speaker 2: inside the state hospital, guilty but not guilty, imprisoned but
Speaker 2: not suffering from accountability. Ed's return to the public eye
Speaker 2: was brief, but long enough to remind people why they
Speaker 2: had been grossly fascinated all those years before. In early
Speaker 2: nineteen seventy four, Ed wanted to leave the hospital a
Speaker 2: citing of full mental recovery. His petition was filed and
Speaker 2: he held out hope, but by the summer it was rejected.
Speaker 2: In the eyes of the law, Ed was a risk
Speaker 2: they were not willing to take. After this rejection, Ed
Speaker 2: appeared content in the hospital once again. By all accounts,
Speaker 2: he was a good patient, and that makes sense because
Speaker 2: for the first time in his life, Ed was getting
Speaker 2: used to receiving good, consistent care. Though Ed was confined
Speaker 2: to the hospital, the world outside found its way in
Speaker 2: filmmakers Errol Morris and Werner Herzog had been introduced by
Speaker 2: a mutual friend when they found something else in a
Speaker 2: shared interest in the story of Ed Geen. Of all
Speaker 2: the rumors about Ed, from cannibalism to serial killing, one
Speaker 2: seemed more plausible than the rest. Ed had confessed to
Speaker 2: grave digging already, but he had denied desecrating the most
Speaker 2: significant grave of all. So Errol and Werner formed a
Speaker 2: plan to meet in Plainsfield and dig up the grave
Speaker 2: of Augusta Geen. When they agreed, upon evening arrived. Werner
Speaker 2: waited at the Plainsfield Cemetery shovel in hand, but Errol
Speaker 2: never showed up. The film project never materialized, but Errol
Speaker 2: eventually spent about a year in Plainsfield. What he found
Speaker 2: was an uptick in murderers in the town. After Ed's
Speaker 2: secret was discovered, some speculate that it was ed who
Speaker 2: made the town murderous. In the late nineteen seventies, ed
Speaker 2: was transferred from his longtime home in wapon to a
Speaker 2: mental health institution in Madie, Wisconsin. On July twenty sixth
Speaker 2: of nineteen eighty four. Ed Geen died from respiratory failure.
Speaker 2: The next morning at six a m attendants buried his
Speaker 2: remains in Plainsfield Cemetery, the place he had disturbed numerous
Speaker 2: times before. They buried him in the designated plot between
Speaker 2: his brother Henry and beloved mother Augusta. Ed's life and
Speaker 2: crimes have been covered at nauseum, but they still make
Speaker 2: for good media to this day, having inspired the likes
Speaker 2: of Norman Bates and Leatherface. It's difficult to imagine a
Speaker 2: world without ed Geen. He's given us nightmares beyond even
Speaker 2: his wildest dreams, and that's really saying something. There's more
Speaker 2: to this story. Stick around after this brief sponsor break
Speaker 2: to hear all about it. In the fall of two
Speaker 2: thousand and five, James Fallon had on his desk not
Speaker 2: one but two major research projects. Before him sat a
Speaker 2: stack of brain scans from serial killers and another for
Speaker 2: Alzheimer's research. The latter pile included images of james brain
Speaker 2: along with the brains of his loved ones. James had
Speaker 2: been working with the University of California, Irvine to map
Speaker 2: out patterns between psychopathic brains. He had spent hours with
Speaker 2: scans from everyone from everyday depressives to prolific serial killers.
Speaker 2: But what he didn't expect was to find clear signs
Speaker 2: of psychopathy in one of the scans from the Alzheimer's pile.
Speaker 2: There it was clear as day a brain that showed
Speaker 2: the hallmarks of psychopaths diminished empathy, morality, and impulse control,
Speaker 2: and it belonged to someone in his family. James backtracked,
Speaker 2: but the machine that had taken the images was in
Speaker 2: working order. He had to know who it was. Anonimity
Speaker 2: be damned. James looked up the code from the image
Speaker 2: and put a name to the brain, and there on
Speaker 2: the screen he had his answer. He himself was a psychopath.
Speaker 3: How could it be?
Speaker 2: James took a look at his own life and behaviors.
Speaker 2: He was very successful, having been motivated by power and
Speaker 2: long having a knack for persuading others in his favor.
Speaker 2: He opted in for genetic testing and the results were
Speaker 2: indeed interesting. His DNA was coded with high risk aalieles
Speaker 2: for aggression, violence, and low empathy, all psychopathic traits. James
Speaker 2: marveled more than anything. He wasn't terribly upset, more so intrigued.
Speaker 2: He had never done anything really wrong and certainly didn't
Speaker 2: get the mold of.
Speaker 3: Someone like Gee.
Speaker 2: What we know now to be true is that there
Speaker 2: is a whole spectrum of psychopathy. The closest it comes
Speaker 2: to inclusion in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental
Speaker 2: disorders is antisocial personality disorder and dissocial personality disorder. James
Speaker 2: might not be a serial killer, but he might be
Speaker 2: the person you'd flip off in traffic for not letting
Speaker 2: you merge. He attributes his pro social success in life
Speaker 2: to steadfast, supportive familial support. A loving childhood enabled a
Speaker 2: psychopath to find a fulfilling, beneficial career and build a
Speaker 2: loving family of his own. It's undeniable that James was
Speaker 2: dealt a good hand in life, and his nurturing likely
Speaker 2: made a big difference for him. The same can't be
Speaker 2: said for members of the rest of his family. Looking
Speaker 2: back at his family tree, James noticed something striking in
Speaker 2: his lineage. He counted seven convicted murderers, including Lizzie Borden.
Speaker 2: American Shadows is hosted by Lauren Vogelbam. This episode was
Speaker 2: written by Taylor Haggerdorn and Robin Minatter and researched by
Speaker 2: Taylor Haggridorn, with fact checking by Jamie Vargas. It's produced
Speaker 2: by Jesse Funk and Trevor Young, with executive producers Aaron Menke,
Speaker 2: Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. To learn more about the show,
Speaker 2: visit grimminmild dot com, and for more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
Speaker 2: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
Speaker 2: to your favorite shows.