WEBVTT - A Morbid Obsession 0:00:02.640 --> 0:00:06.600 You're listening to American Shadows, a production of iHeartRadio and 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:18.040 Grimm and Mild from Aaron Manky. 0:00:18.920 --> 0:00:23.200 In late nineteen fifty three, four senators convened in Washington, 0:00:23.280 --> 0:00:27.240 d C. They had formed a bipartisan subcommittee with the 0:00:27.280 --> 0:00:31.000 purpose of trying to understand the causes of the nation's 0:00:31.120 --> 0:00:35.520 juvenile delinquency problems, and at the center of their concerns 0:00:35.720 --> 0:00:40.800 were comic books. Less than two decades before, comics were 0:00:40.840 --> 0:00:44.839 forever changed. When the world met Superman Clark Kent spawned 0:00:44.880 --> 0:00:48.040 an entire genre, and his arrival marked the beginning of 0:00:48.080 --> 0:00:51.600 what's now known as the Golden Age of comics. Throughout 0:00:51.640 --> 0:00:55.120 World War II, Captain America, Wonder Woman, and many others 0:00:55.200 --> 0:00:59.960 joined the heroic ranks. Together they provided a hopeful, pace, 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:04.920 priotic distraction to readers. These were the good guys. After 0:01:04.959 --> 0:01:09.080 the war, superheroes continued to dominate the market, but there 0:01:09.120 --> 0:01:14.440 were challengers on the horizon. Nostalgic westerns competed with science fiction. 0:01:15.000 --> 0:01:18.080 Archie and his Riverdale friends lived out the teenage experience, 0:01:18.560 --> 0:01:21.639 and of course, Whalt Disney entered the fray with Mickey Mouse. 0:01:22.760 --> 0:01:23.840 It may seem. 0:01:23.600 --> 0:01:27.039 Silly to us today that paper bound illustrations could cause 0:01:27.040 --> 0:01:30.880 such a moral panic, but by the nineteen fifties, comic 0:01:30.880 --> 0:01:33.959 books were the single most popular form of reading material 0:01:34.000 --> 0:01:37.520 for young people. The dramas of good and evil played 0:01:37.560 --> 0:01:41.720 out between their pages. The nation was captivated, and some 0:01:42.000 --> 0:01:45.880 parents were worried. What worried the most were the stories 0:01:45.959 --> 0:01:50.240 that also had a wildly popular reception, those about crime 0:01:50.520 --> 0:01:55.280 and horror. For a single dime, America's children ravenously consumed 0:01:55.320 --> 0:01:58.000 titles such as Tales from the Crypt and Seduction of 0:01:58.000 --> 0:02:01.840 the Innocent. In the night mares of these parents, comics 0:02:01.880 --> 0:02:05.920 were leading their children down a dark path. By nineteen 0:02:05.960 --> 0:02:09.280 fifty four, the State Subcommittee convened two hearings on comic 0:02:09.320 --> 0:02:12.240 books and what to do about them. In response, the 0:02:12.280 --> 0:02:15.760 industry adopted a voluntary code of conduct that outlined but 0:02:15.919 --> 0:02:19.760 could and could not be published. For example, it said 0:02:19.800 --> 0:02:24.919 that all lurid, unsavory, gruesome illustrations shall be eliminated, and 0:02:25.360 --> 0:02:28.800 no comic magazine shall use the words horror or terror 0:02:28.880 --> 0:02:32.880 in its title. Scenes of excessive violence were also prohibited, 0:02:33.080 --> 0:02:36.079 as were of any storylines that suggested any kind of 0:02:36.160 --> 0:02:40.200 sympathy for those convicted of a crime. Horror had no 0:02:40.360 --> 0:02:44.480 place in society. They thought, even with tales from the imagination, 0:02:44.840 --> 0:02:47.000 there was always a chance it could leap from the 0:02:47.040 --> 0:02:53.720 pages into real life, and sometimes it did. I'm Lorn Vogelbaum, 0:02:54.320 --> 0:03:07.800 Welcome to American Shadows. Eddie wasn't even seven years old, 0:03:08.080 --> 0:03:11.560 but his mother entrusted him with an important task. She 0:03:11.680 --> 0:03:14.519 sent him to the nearby German bakery for a fresh 0:03:14.560 --> 0:03:17.680 loaf of bread. She gave him some coins and told 0:03:17.720 --> 0:03:20.760 him to come right home. When little Eddie arrived at 0:03:20.800 --> 0:03:24.600 the store, he realized something awful. The coins had fallen 0:03:24.639 --> 0:03:27.840 out of his pocket. His mother was going to be furious. 0:03:28.840 --> 0:03:32.720 He slunk back home to face the consequences. If only 0:03:32.760 --> 0:03:35.400 he could atone for his sins, then maybe he would 0:03:35.440 --> 0:03:38.840 learn how to be responsible. But any hopes he might 0:03:38.880 --> 0:03:41.240 have had were dashed as soon as his mother saw 0:03:41.280 --> 0:03:44.760 his empty hands. In a tone more cutting than angry, 0:03:45.160 --> 0:03:50.120 Augusta admonished her son, you, dreadful child, Only a mother 0:03:50.200 --> 0:03:54.600 could love you. And it was just that the potential 0:03:54.720 --> 0:03:58.200 to be loved that Eddie longed for. To be worthy 0:03:58.240 --> 0:04:00.200 of the love of his mother, the most or a 0:04:00.200 --> 0:04:04.000 woman in the world, was the dream. As he grew up, 0:04:04.160 --> 0:04:07.960 his mother's words seemed to be true. His father abused 0:04:08.040 --> 0:04:12.160 him and his older brother, Henry. Their father, George, had 0:04:12.200 --> 0:04:14.920 been orphaned by a flash flood and raised by his 0:04:15.080 --> 0:04:19.440 loveless grandparents. It was a rough, demanding environment for a child. 0:04:20.800 --> 0:04:21.360 As a young. 0:04:21.279 --> 0:04:25.000 Adult, George met Augusta Lurk, who seemed to have everything 0:04:25.040 --> 0:04:29.359 he lacked. A big, loud family, steely conviction, and a 0:04:29.400 --> 0:04:33.600 mind for business. Augusta had been born in Lacrosse, Wisconsin, 0:04:33.960 --> 0:04:39.000 and herself grown up in a volatile world of abuse. Traumatized, 0:04:39.000 --> 0:04:42.520 Augusta looked for a way out, and George Geene seemed 0:04:42.600 --> 0:04:46.560 like a promising option. George was twenty four and Augusta 0:04:46.640 --> 0:04:49.680 nineteen when the two married on December fourth of eighteen 0:04:49.760 --> 0:04:53.720 ninety nine. You can't help but wonder what their first 0:04:53.800 --> 0:04:57.600 Christmas was like, if they had any hopes or dreams 0:04:57.680 --> 0:05:00.760 for not just a new life together, but a new year, 0:05:00.920 --> 0:05:04.599 a new century. But if there was a spark, it 0:05:04.680 --> 0:05:06.520 fizzled as quickly as it came. 0:05:07.800 --> 0:05:08.080 Soon. 0:05:08.320 --> 0:05:12.640 Augusta and George were abusers and abused, which was the 0:05:12.680 --> 0:05:17.880 only cycle they knew. George's dependence on alcohol aggravated his moods, 0:05:18.080 --> 0:05:22.800 along with his wife's disgust Augusta's strength became an unwavering 0:05:22.880 --> 0:05:27.640 stream of criticisms. Then George's reserve demeanor turned into stonewalling, 0:05:28.000 --> 0:05:31.120 which was only broken by flashes of physical violence against 0:05:31.120 --> 0:05:35.960 his wife. Into this household arrived Henry on January seventeenth 0:05:36.000 --> 0:05:39.880 of nineteen oh one. Five years later, their second child, Edward, 0:05:39.960 --> 0:05:42.640 was born on August twenty seventh of nineteen oh six. 0:05:43.600 --> 0:05:47.040 It didn't take long for baby Eddie to become Augusta's favorite. 0:05:48.279 --> 0:05:52.480 While in Lacrosse, the Guenes managed a grocery store. At first, 0:05:52.560 --> 0:05:55.880 George was in charge as things were done, but whether 0:05:56.080 --> 0:05:59.719 perceived or real, his ineptitude left Augusta no choice but 0:05:59.760 --> 0:06:03.560 to take take over more and more responsibility. Eventually, she 0:06:03.720 --> 0:06:07.440 owned and operated the store, and George became her employee. 0:06:08.640 --> 0:06:12.240 The Green family moved to Plainsfield, Wisconsin in nineteen fourteen. 0:06:13.040 --> 0:06:16.560 They settled on a farm outside of town. As business owner, 0:06:16.640 --> 0:06:19.800 Augusta had penny pinched and now in her hands. She 0:06:19.839 --> 0:06:22.279 held a deed to almost two hundred acres of land 0:06:22.320 --> 0:06:25.200 and a two story farmhouse. It was in her name 0:06:25.560 --> 0:06:27.240 and she was going to turn it into a safe 0:06:27.279 --> 0:06:31.400 haven from the outside world. Eddie hoped that his mother 0:06:31.440 --> 0:06:34.479 would finally be happy, that she could relax in the 0:06:34.600 --> 0:06:38.320 isolation of their remote farm. But as the boys grew, 0:06:38.640 --> 0:06:43.000 so did Augusta's fixation on carnal sin. Her boys were 0:06:43.000 --> 0:06:47.240 coming into adolescence, and she feared for their souls. The 0:06:47.279 --> 0:06:49.960 farmstead had once been a place of hope, but by 0:06:49.960 --> 0:06:52.360 the end of the nineteen thirties what had been new 0:06:52.400 --> 0:06:57.599 and promising had become decrepit and squandered, tarnished by time, 0:06:57.760 --> 0:07:01.760 by failure by sin. They thought no matter what they did, 0:07:01.800 --> 0:07:07.239 the farm just wouldn't yield. Augusta continued to pray, and 0:07:07.320 --> 0:07:10.880 as the farm struggled, young Ed and Henry did as well. 0:07:12.160 --> 0:07:15.880 Both received abuse from their parents, but Henry saw life 0:07:15.920 --> 0:07:20.280 beyond the farm and ways other than his mother's. Ed, however, 0:07:20.440 --> 0:07:24.200 adored her and bought in completely. He had no want 0:07:24.280 --> 0:07:27.960 or need for any other perspective. To him, his mother 0:07:28.160 --> 0:07:30.960 was as godlike as a person could be, and not 0:07:31.080 --> 0:07:35.120 to be challenged. George died on April Fool's Day in 0:07:35.200 --> 0:07:39.200 nineteen forty, an ironic end as far as Augusta was concerned. 0:07:39.760 --> 0:07:41.800 He had been unable to work for years due to 0:07:41.840 --> 0:07:46.400 the tolls of abuse, and addiction. Perhaps he found peace, 0:07:47.240 --> 0:07:51.920 but grief only exacerbated Augusta's paranoia. As they tended the 0:07:51.960 --> 0:07:55.160 failing farms dead together, Henry mustered up the nerve to 0:07:55.320 --> 0:07:58.880 voice his concerns to Ed. He had worked odd jobs 0:07:58.880 --> 0:08:01.120 away from the family and had seen a little bit 0:08:01.120 --> 0:08:04.960 of the world beyond Augusta's clutches. But perhaps, he suggested 0:08:05.000 --> 0:08:08.680 to Ed, their mother was judging people a little too harshly. 0:08:09.560 --> 0:08:12.800 Maybe the world outside their house wasn't pure evil and 0:08:13.040 --> 0:08:18.040 she was wrong. Day in day out, Henry had seen 0:08:18.280 --> 0:08:22.080 firsthand just how deeply Ed admired their mother, how attached 0:08:22.120 --> 0:08:25.000 he was, and how he clung to every word she said, 0:08:25.040 --> 0:08:28.920 no matter how biting or cruel. But they were brothers 0:08:29.000 --> 0:08:31.720 and had been through so much abuse together. Ed would 0:08:31.760 --> 0:08:36.719 have to understand, or so he thought. Unfortunately, Ed did 0:08:36.760 --> 0:08:41.360 not see reason in Henry's words. He was devastated, shocked 0:08:41.480 --> 0:08:46.000 that his brother could question their divine mother. Augusta had 0:08:46.040 --> 0:08:50.240 picked her favorite child well, and when tested, he proved 0:08:50.280 --> 0:08:55.240 to be completely loyal. Soon thereafter, the farm caught fire. 0:08:56.360 --> 0:08:59.440 According to Ed, the fire was started intentionally too clear 0:08:59.480 --> 0:09:02.240 a field, but it got out of hand, and in 0:09:02.280 --> 0:09:05.120 their efforts to contain it. Henry went one way while 0:09:05.280 --> 0:09:09.120 Ed went another. Night came on quickly and the fire 0:09:09.280 --> 0:09:12.160 was soon contained. But when Ed went looking for Henry, 0:09:12.240 --> 0:09:16.439 he had disappeared. With no telephone, Ed drove into town 0:09:16.520 --> 0:09:19.920 to get help. Once back at the farm, Ed allegedly 0:09:20.000 --> 0:09:23.240 walked them directly to Henry's lifeless form in the field, 0:09:23.840 --> 0:09:28.640 untouched by flame. Two days later, the County Corner filled 0:09:28.679 --> 0:09:30.000 out Henry Gane's deaths. 0:09:29.920 --> 0:09:30.400 To fit it. 0:09:30.960 --> 0:09:37.440 Accidental death asphyxiation was the official cause. Ed's apparent harmlessness, 0:09:37.720 --> 0:09:41.199 coupled with an acceptance that these things just happened, made 0:09:41.200 --> 0:09:45.240 foul play seem next to impossible. Back at the farm, 0:09:45.440 --> 0:09:49.240 Ed and Augusta were alone. It was nineteen forty four. 0:09:49.880 --> 0:09:52.840 Ed was almost forty years old, and he finally had 0:09:52.840 --> 0:09:57.480 his mother all to himself. Together they managed the remaining 0:09:57.520 --> 0:10:01.439 crumbs of the farmstead and lived there, isolated lives, much 0:10:01.480 --> 0:10:05.240 as they had before. Augusta read her Bible and Ed 0:10:05.360 --> 0:10:10.800 read well comic books and horror stories. After experiencing two 0:10:10.880 --> 0:10:14.880 strokes in quick succession, Augusta was bedridden and reliant on Ed. 0:10:15.600 --> 0:10:19.640 It was thankless work, but his mother needed him. She 0:10:19.760 --> 0:10:22.200 always knew to look out for signs of sin and 0:10:22.320 --> 0:10:26.720 evil that she was aware of, but Augusta hadn't modernized 0:10:26.760 --> 0:10:29.960 her fears enough. It was then, and the backbone of 0:10:29.960 --> 0:10:33.480 the family incapacitated, that she finally took note of the 0:10:33.520 --> 0:10:38.319 materials ed loved to read. He devoured dark stories, and 0:10:38.720 --> 0:10:43.120 she who knew him best, was uneasy. For a brief moment, 0:10:43.520 --> 0:10:46.040 ed had everything he dreamed of and his pure mother 0:10:46.280 --> 0:10:49.920 all to himself, but before he could settle in, she 0:10:50.040 --> 0:10:54.319 was gone. Augusta died in December of nineteen forty five. 0:10:55.120 --> 0:10:58.679 For the first time in his life, Edward Theodore Gheen 0:10:59.240 --> 0:11:11.360 was completely alone. Bernice Warden had worked at Warden Hardware 0:11:11.400 --> 0:11:15.079 and implement Company since the nineteen twenties, and she worked 0:11:15.080 --> 0:11:19.120 it well. Widowed, young, she wound up expanding the original 0:11:19.160 --> 0:11:23.160 offerings and pushing the boundaries of what women business owners achieved. 0:11:23.920 --> 0:11:27.320 She was beloved by the Plainsfield community. The year that 0:11:27.360 --> 0:11:30.120 the local paper started running a column honoring a citizen 0:11:30.160 --> 0:11:33.160 of the Week, Bernice was the first to receive the title. 0:11:34.080 --> 0:11:37.120 She was close to her family in every way, particularly 0:11:37.200 --> 0:11:40.720 doting on her grandkids. Although she was busy, she often 0:11:40.760 --> 0:11:44.360 made time for her favorite hobby fishing, But on one 0:11:44.400 --> 0:11:48.680 dreary morning in November of nineteen fifty seven, Bernice probably 0:11:48.720 --> 0:11:51.440 didn't mind staying at the shop. It was the first 0:11:51.520 --> 0:11:54.160 day of hunting season, and someone was bound to have 0:11:54.200 --> 0:11:57.000 forgotten something if they pulled up to the store only 0:11:57.040 --> 0:11:59.640 to find it closed. While that would be a real disappointment, 0:12:00.679 --> 0:12:03.960 the days had been getting shorter. Back on his farm, 0:12:04.160 --> 0:12:08.679 Ed didn't have electricity, heating, or any living company. A 0:12:08.760 --> 0:12:11.199 winter was coming and it would be nice to get 0:12:11.200 --> 0:12:13.760 out before the cold made it terribly unpleasant to do. 0:12:13.880 --> 0:12:17.000 So he left the farm that morning with a short 0:12:17.040 --> 0:12:18.040 to do list in hand. 0:12:18.800 --> 0:12:20.199 Ed liked going into town. 0:12:20.920 --> 0:12:23.280 No one could come close to replacing his mother, but 0:12:23.440 --> 0:12:27.720 he was a social creature. In spite of Augusta's best efforts, 0:12:28.200 --> 0:12:31.079 Ed had found that not all human connection was as 0:12:31.080 --> 0:12:34.240 bad as his mother had preached. For a while, had 0:12:34.320 --> 0:12:37.719 enjoyed drinks and the company of Mary Hogan, the proprietor 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:41.240 of a local watering hole. However, she had disappeared in 0:12:41.320 --> 0:12:44.040 nineteen fifty four and it seemed that he was out 0:12:44.080 --> 0:12:47.920 a friend. Ed found the trek and town easily managed 0:12:48.040 --> 0:12:51.600 no matter the season. The plainsfield had essentials that he didn't, 0:12:51.760 --> 0:12:54.079 specially since he had completely given up on the farm 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:57.840 after his mother died. That had been twelve years ago, 0:12:57.920 --> 0:13:01.199 and he was dependent on the modern meanses that only 0:13:01.200 --> 0:13:04.880 the town could offer. Warden's Store was the place for 0:13:05.120 --> 0:13:08.760 just about everything, and by some accounts, Ed had taken 0:13:08.760 --> 0:13:12.840 a liking to Bernice. Later that evening, Bernice's son, Frank, 0:13:12.880 --> 0:13:17.760 returned from his hunt, empty handed and somewhat confused. He 0:13:17.800 --> 0:13:19.960 had heard through a friend that the Warden's Store had 0:13:20.000 --> 0:13:23.319 been closed all day, which was strange. He couldn't think 0:13:23.360 --> 0:13:25.640 the reason why his mother would leave the shop on 0:13:25.720 --> 0:13:29.199 such an important day of the season. When Frank arrived 0:13:29.200 --> 0:13:33.040 at the store, he immediately knew something was wrong. There 0:13:33.120 --> 0:13:35.560 was blood on the floor, and he saw that the 0:13:35.600 --> 0:13:38.840 cash register was missing, and next to the empty space 0:13:39.000 --> 0:13:42.160 was the receipt book. He glanced down at the last line, 0:13:42.200 --> 0:13:44.040 where his mother had made a note of the last 0:13:44.080 --> 0:13:49.760 sale anti freeze to one ed Gean. It all came 0:13:49.800 --> 0:13:52.240 back to Frank in a rush. The night before, he 0:13:52.280 --> 0:13:54.160 and his mother had been in the shop when Ed 0:13:54.240 --> 0:13:57.120 walked through the door. Ed had inquired about the price 0:13:57.120 --> 0:13:59.679 of anti freeze and had casually asked. 0:13:59.400 --> 0:14:01.600 Frank if he was going out to hunt the next day. 0:14:02.720 --> 0:14:04.920 At the time, it had barely registered as more than 0:14:04.960 --> 0:14:09.360 small talk. Now leaning against the counter where his mother 0:14:09.440 --> 0:14:13.560 should have stood, Frank feared the worst. He worried that 0:14:13.840 --> 0:14:20.320 strange Ed was responsible for all of this, whatever this was. Meanwhile, 0:14:20.720 --> 0:14:24.240 Ed was wrapping up dinner at a neighbor's house. Earlier 0:14:24.280 --> 0:14:27.080 that day, sixteen year old Bobby Hill had arrived at 0:14:27.200 --> 0:14:30.560 Ed's farm to ask a favor. This was something his 0:14:30.600 --> 0:14:33.600 family did often, paying Ed to help with odd jobs. 0:14:34.520 --> 0:14:36.880 When he and his sister got there, they found Ed 0:14:37.000 --> 0:14:41.280 covered in blood, but it was hunting season, and Ed 0:14:41.360 --> 0:14:44.160 said that he was dressing a deer to Bobby, who 0:14:44.200 --> 0:14:46.360 had gone hunting with Ed a number of times, this 0:14:46.480 --> 0:14:47.080 made sense. 0:14:48.160 --> 0:14:49.000 Ed cleaned up. 0:14:48.920 --> 0:14:52.280 Before giving Bobby and his sister a ride back at 0:14:52.280 --> 0:14:55.160 their home. Their mother, Irene, did the polite thing and 0:14:55.200 --> 0:14:58.680 invited him to stay for supper. As they were finishing up, 0:14:58.800 --> 0:15:02.440 Irene's son in law turned home. He mentioned the commotion 0:15:02.600 --> 0:15:05.640 down at the Warden store. Bobby wanted to go see 0:15:05.680 --> 0:15:08.880 for himself, and Ed offered to drive him, so he 0:15:08.960 --> 0:15:12.440 went out to start the truck. Frank had alerted the 0:15:12.480 --> 0:15:15.440 police that Ed was the last sale registered at the shop. 0:15:16.400 --> 0:15:18.240 He was known to the cops and they went to 0:15:18.280 --> 0:15:20.840 look for him. They knew he had a history of 0:15:20.880 --> 0:15:24.000 helping around the Hills farm, so they started their investigation 0:15:24.400 --> 0:15:25.560 on Irene's doorstep. 0:15:26.440 --> 0:15:28.800 They knocked and asked if she knew where Ed was. 0:15:29.480 --> 0:15:32.640 Irene pointed to the driveway where Ed sat in his 0:15:32.680 --> 0:15:33.440 idling truck. 0:15:34.240 --> 0:15:35.360 The officers walked over. 0:15:36.080 --> 0:15:38.640 At rolled down the window and gave the officers a 0:15:38.680 --> 0:15:42.360 small smile. They asked him to come with them. They 0:15:42.520 --> 0:15:46.920 had some questions. Ed agreed, turned off the truck and 0:15:47.240 --> 0:15:56.560 got into the back of their cruiser. While Ed had 0:15:56.600 --> 0:16:01.000 dinner at the Hills, dark settled over the countryside. The 0:16:01.040 --> 0:16:05.640 Green's farmhouse had never been wired for electricity, so Art's 0:16:05.640 --> 0:16:09.840 sly was Shura County Sheriff and Captain Lloyd Shopboyster of 0:16:09.920 --> 0:16:13.840 the Green Lake County Sheriff's Department, grabbed their flashlights and 0:16:13.920 --> 0:16:17.440 began their search. They had a lead for a missing woman, 0:16:18.040 --> 0:16:21.920 and it took them into Ed's most private world for 0:16:21.960 --> 0:16:25.040 the first time in years. Outsiders freely moved about the 0:16:25.080 --> 0:16:28.760 interior of the green property. While Ed was away, Art 0:16:28.840 --> 0:16:32.240 pointed his light into the outdoor summer kitchen and discovered 0:16:32.280 --> 0:16:33.920 a sight that would haunt him to the end of 0:16:33.920 --> 0:16:39.400 his days. There hung the headless corpse of Bernice Warden, carved, 0:16:39.720 --> 0:16:44.800 empty skinned, and suspended from the ceiling. Art somehow made 0:16:44.800 --> 0:16:48.840 it out before vomiting. That wasn't the worst of it. 0:16:49.600 --> 0:16:54.200 In their search, they discovered evidence of macab crafting a 0:16:54.240 --> 0:16:57.800 box of genitalia, a full suit made of human skin. 0:16:58.880 --> 0:17:02.280 Inside the house, they peered around at masks made from 0:17:02.400 --> 0:17:05.680 human faces, a bowl fashioned out of a skull cap, 0:17:05.760 --> 0:17:10.000 and chairs upholstered with flesh. Art and Lloyd went about 0:17:10.040 --> 0:17:14.440 the gruesome task of finding the rest of Bernice inside 0:17:14.480 --> 0:17:17.280 the home. Her heart was found wrapped in a plastic 0:17:17.320 --> 0:17:20.600 bag by the stove. Other organs were found wrapped in 0:17:20.680 --> 0:17:24.679 newspaper and stuffed into an old suit. Her head was 0:17:24.720 --> 0:17:27.320 found in the corner of a room and threaded with 0:17:27.400 --> 0:17:31.439 string as if to hang it up too. Though they 0:17:31.440 --> 0:17:35.000 felt they could take no more, they entered one last room, 0:17:35.280 --> 0:17:39.159 behind a closed door. It had an air of reverence 0:17:39.440 --> 0:17:45.080 and quiet dust sat undisturbed. It was his mother's room, 0:17:45.480 --> 0:17:48.560 which he had kept as nothing short of a shrine. 0:17:49.440 --> 0:17:53.120 Ed's compliance at the squad car was just the beginning 0:17:53.119 --> 0:17:57.119 of his amenability with law enforcement officials. He proved to 0:17:57.160 --> 0:18:01.280 be forthcoming and confessed to having murdered Bernice Warden as 0:18:01.320 --> 0:18:05.359 well as Mary Hogan years earlier, but when asked about 0:18:05.440 --> 0:18:09.040 the other remains, he denied having killed more than twice. 0:18:09.320 --> 0:18:13.040 He was adamant, so where did the other body parts 0:18:13.080 --> 0:18:17.000 come from? Who did they come from, and how did 0:18:17.320 --> 0:18:22.040 Ed get them? To everyone's horror, Ed finally admitted that 0:18:22.160 --> 0:18:25.240 perhaps he had a habit of grave robbing. 0:18:25.880 --> 0:18:27.680 In fact, he could provide them with a. 0:18:27.680 --> 0:18:31.360 List of graves he had robbed, all from three local graveyards, 0:18:31.760 --> 0:18:35.360 with all of the deceased victims bearing an uncanny resemblance 0:18:35.520 --> 0:18:39.040 to his mother. Once Ed was finished with his confession, 0:18:39.359 --> 0:18:42.560 he asked Art's live they could return to the farmstead. 0:18:43.160 --> 0:18:46.800 At the time, reporters swarmed the property like flies, day 0:18:46.840 --> 0:18:49.760 in and day out, but Ed wanted to show the 0:18:49.760 --> 0:18:54.159 sheriff something, so Art did what he could. It was 0:18:54.200 --> 0:18:58.200 his last visit home, and there he brought Art over 0:18:58.440 --> 0:19:01.679 to a remote area of his father. There sat an 0:19:01.720 --> 0:19:05.840 ash heap, the rest of Mary Hogan burned up. After 0:19:05.880 --> 0:19:09.880 he had harvested what he wanted from her. Ed Gean 0:19:10.080 --> 0:19:13.600 was escorted to wapon Wisconsin, where he was admitted to 0:19:13.720 --> 0:19:18.080 the Central State Hospital for the criminally Insane. Once there, 0:19:18.160 --> 0:19:23.359 the month long evaluation period began. Meanwhile, with lightning speed, 0:19:23.640 --> 0:19:28.960 sensational headlines appeared in local Sunday editions. Soon national papers 0:19:29.000 --> 0:19:33.160 caught on, and one could argue they never really stopped. 0:19:34.240 --> 0:19:38.880 Many details emerged from this period of intense pressure, paranoia 0:19:39.000 --> 0:19:43.919 banned anticipation. Ed himself cited memory issues to a doctor 0:19:43.960 --> 0:19:48.359 in the hospital. A professional noted Ed's abnormal attachment to 0:19:48.400 --> 0:19:52.760 AUGUSTA Life magazine published a juicy detail that Ed had 0:19:52.760 --> 0:19:56.320 always wanted to be a woman fanning the selacious flames. 0:19:57.800 --> 0:20:01.080 In the meantime, Plainsfield was left to reckon with the 0:20:01.200 --> 0:20:05.399 nature of Gene's confession. The townsfolk were reluctant to believe it. 0:20:05.840 --> 0:20:09.119 The neighbors had accepted gifts of venison from him, and 0:20:09.160 --> 0:20:11.840 now they weren't sure whether it had been venison at all. 0:20:13.040 --> 0:20:15.280 The rug had been pulled out from under their feet 0:20:15.640 --> 0:20:19.400 and hidden beneath it, heard the desecrated corpses of their neighbors, 0:20:19.440 --> 0:20:24.360 their loved ones, their friends. Plainsfield Cemetery had more visitors 0:20:24.359 --> 0:20:27.399 than usual on November twenty fifth of nineteen fifty seven. 0:20:28.240 --> 0:20:30.720 Of the nine graves that had named as his targets, 0:20:30.880 --> 0:20:34.919 authorities had picked three to exum. The grave of Eleanor 0:20:35.000 --> 0:20:38.120 Adams was chosen as the starting point, so they got 0:20:38.160 --> 0:20:41.800 to work. When the shovel hit something more solid than dirt, 0:20:42.160 --> 0:20:44.920 everyone at the grave side perked up. After a couple 0:20:44.960 --> 0:20:49.040 more swipes, the lid of a casket came into view. However, 0:20:49.119 --> 0:20:52.280 when the lid was opened, there was nothing inside except 0:20:52.280 --> 0:20:57.159 for dust and the crowbar. Thirty yards away, Mabel Eversin's 0:20:57.200 --> 0:21:01.160 grave was similarly disturbed, although her cast held an assortment 0:21:01.240 --> 0:21:05.840 of bones, dental plates, and a golden wedding band. With 0:21:05.960 --> 0:21:09.879 two of the three graves checked, Wisconsin, authorities decided that 0:21:10.119 --> 0:21:13.840 Dean was telling the truth. He had killed Mary Hogan 0:21:13.920 --> 0:21:17.240 and Bernice Warden, but the other remains had truly been 0:21:17.400 --> 0:21:21.640 sourced from the grave. In January of nineteen fifty eight, 0:21:22.080 --> 0:21:25.880 Ed's observation period at Central State was over. The Sanity 0:21:25.920 --> 0:21:29.000 hearing brought all evidence to bear, and experts weighed in. 0:21:29.920 --> 0:21:33.800 He was declared insane and therefore unable to stand trial 0:21:33.880 --> 0:21:39.040 for his crimes. Disappointment spread through Plainsfield. It seemed there 0:21:39.119 --> 0:21:43.040 was no justice in sight. As Ed got settled back 0:21:43.040 --> 0:21:46.320 at the hospital, affairs were settled at the home that 0:21:46.480 --> 0:21:49.320 he had never see again. In the first few months 0:21:49.359 --> 0:21:53.280 of nineteen fifty eight, papers were still driving curious readers 0:21:53.280 --> 0:21:57.560 to Plainsfield and that worn down farmhouse seven miles outside 0:21:57.600 --> 0:22:01.520 of town. Just as Ed had delighted in tales of terror. 0:22:02.080 --> 0:22:07.159 These tourists arrived in droves quickly, overwhelming Plainsfield's infrastructure, banned 0:22:07.160 --> 0:22:11.919 its residence. Geiner's, as they were called, were criticized for 0:22:12.280 --> 0:22:16.159 macabre voyeurism. But it didn't start with Edgyane's House of 0:22:16.200 --> 0:22:20.919 Horrors in Plainsfield, and it certainly didn't end there. And 0:22:20.960 --> 0:22:24.440 so when news spread that AD's property and belongings were 0:22:24.480 --> 0:22:28.320 going to be auctioned off, and stomachs throughout Plainsfield churned 0:22:28.359 --> 0:22:32.760 with dread. Then, in the pre dawn darkness of March 0:22:32.800 --> 0:22:36.280 twentieth of nineteen fifty eight, when even the reporters were 0:22:36.280 --> 0:22:41.200 in bed, the fire destroyed Ed's home. The Wisconsin Crime 0:22:41.280 --> 0:22:44.600 Lab had already removed all necessary elements from the crime scene. 0:22:45.280 --> 0:22:48.040 Just the day before, clean up crews had burned trash 0:22:48.040 --> 0:22:50.399 in a heap seventy five feet away from the house. 0:22:51.000 --> 0:22:54.840 The papers officially reported the deputy fire Marshal's opinion that 0:22:55.080 --> 0:22:58.720 lingering flames or burning embers could have started the fire. 0:23:07.600 --> 0:23:10.959 On March thirtieth of nineteen fifty eight, the auction of 0:23:11.040 --> 0:23:13.760 what was left of the gue and homestead took place. 0:23:15.040 --> 0:23:18.200 One of his vehicles was purchased by a sideshow manager, 0:23:18.280 --> 0:23:21.600 Bunny Gibbons, but Midwestern audiences who turned up for his 0:23:21.680 --> 0:23:25.120 other acts apparently felt this one cross the line. If 0:23:25.160 --> 0:23:28.520 someone was behind the fire, they must have been pleased. 0:23:28.680 --> 0:23:32.000 The tourism to Plainsfield and the tangible relics of ed 0:23:32.080 --> 0:23:36.320 Geen were largely destroyed. They may have thought that if 0:23:36.359 --> 0:23:39.240 the shrine of evil was gone, no one would want 0:23:39.280 --> 0:23:42.200 to make the pilgrimage, and the town could put all 0:23:42.240 --> 0:23:45.679 of this behind them. But it was too late. The 0:23:45.760 --> 0:23:49.840 horror wasn't contained in the house. It lived in the 0:23:49.880 --> 0:23:52.760 papers and in the minds of those who read them. 0:23:54.080 --> 0:23:57.560 The rumors were in Plainsfield and they were beyond it. 0:23:58.119 --> 0:24:03.040 Ed tucked away in his grim farmhouse, reading scary stories 0:24:03.119 --> 0:24:07.760 by candle or Lamplight, was a perfect villain, a superb 0:24:07.920 --> 0:24:11.600 creature in the night. He was a phantom haunting graveyards 0:24:11.640 --> 0:24:15.680 and brought horrors from books and stories to life right 0:24:15.720 --> 0:24:19.960 there in Plainsfield, USA. Desecration of the dead is a 0:24:20.000 --> 0:24:24.280 taboo that transcends time and place, and to learn that 0:24:24.359 --> 0:24:27.960 a small statured farm boy hid such a monster under 0:24:28.000 --> 0:24:32.440 his checked hunting cap was something that no purification by 0:24:32.520 --> 0:24:36.800 fire could undo. Ed finally did go to trial in 0:24:36.880 --> 0:24:40.000 nineteen sixty eight, almost eleven years to the day that 0:24:40.200 --> 0:24:43.960 he had killed Bernice Warden. He was found not guilty 0:24:44.160 --> 0:24:49.640 by reason of insanity and institutionalized again. For everyone else, 0:24:49.680 --> 0:24:52.840 it had been a decade of waiting for justice, and 0:24:52.920 --> 0:24:56.240 after just one week, the ghoul of Plainsfield was back 0:24:56.240 --> 0:25:00.760 inside the state hospital, guilty but not guilty, imprisoned but 0:25:01.280 --> 0:25:05.919 not suffering from accountability. Ed's return to the public eye 0:25:05.960 --> 0:25:09.560 was brief, but long enough to remind people why they 0:25:09.600 --> 0:25:13.800 had been grossly fascinated all those years before. In early 0:25:13.880 --> 0:25:17.320 nineteen seventy four, Ed wanted to leave the hospital a 0:25:17.440 --> 0:25:20.840 citing of full mental recovery. His petition was filed and 0:25:20.960 --> 0:25:24.600 he held out hope, but by the summer it was rejected. 0:25:25.040 --> 0:25:27.240 In the eyes of the law, Ed was a risk 0:25:27.440 --> 0:25:31.240 they were not willing to take. After this rejection, Ed 0:25:31.320 --> 0:25:35.119 appeared content in the hospital once again. By all accounts, 0:25:35.200 --> 0:25:39.600 he was a good patient, and that makes sense because 0:25:39.720 --> 0:25:43.040 for the first time in his life, Ed was getting 0:25:43.119 --> 0:25:48.879 used to receiving good, consistent care. Though Ed was confined 0:25:48.920 --> 0:25:52.439 to the hospital, the world outside found its way in 0:25:53.480 --> 0:25:57.480 filmmakers Errol Morris and Werner Herzog had been introduced by 0:25:57.480 --> 0:26:00.920