Posted November 15, 2007

Anniversary rings for grisly small-town murder

A no trespassing sign hangs on a pole near Ed Gein’s former home on Archer and Second Avenue near Plainfield. Tom Loucks/For the Marshfield News-Herald

PLAINFIELD — It has been 50 years since the small town of Plainfield learned it was home to a man who would inspire nightmares, horror movies and a pop culture following.

Ed Gein robbed graves in the Plainfield area and killed at least one woman, acquiring a macabre collection of body parts that he turned into furniture, ornaments and clothing. News of the gruesome scene shocked central Wisconsin and the entire nation after Gein, 51, was taken into custody Nov. 16, 1957.

Among those who had trouble believing the developments was Wilma Booth, 76, who lived down the road from Gein from 1952 until 1956. Booth, who had a young son and was pregnant with her second child, had moved to her father’s farm after her husband disappeared. Gein, who was robbing graves at the time, helped her with the barn chores and even baby-sat for Booth’s 1-year-old son, Jim. She remembers Gein as helpful, quiet and a little bit strange.

“He always did good things for me; he never hurt me,” Booth said. “He was always good to kids.”

Many people in the community teased Gein, but Booth’s father, Henry Pynakker, taught his family to be kind to everyone, and they often had Gein as a guest at their farm. Gein later blamed many of his problems on the way he was treated by his neighbors.

Gein’s father died in 1940, his brother in 1945 and his mother in 1945. The deaths took away the structure and meaning in his life, according to a psychological report ordered by a judge. He began reading about the Nazi atrocities, head shrinking and body exhumation clubs. Interactive map, timeline and slideshow

Night of discovery

On Nov. 16, 1957, Frank Worden returned to his family’s hardware store in Plainfield about 5 p.m. after the opening day of deer hunting season. His mother, Bernice Worden, was missing, and there was a pool of blood on the floor and a trail leading to the store’s back door. He called Waushara County Sheriff Art Schley and told him his mother had been murdered.

Suspicion quickly turned to Gein, according to court documents. He reportedly had an interest in Bernice Worden — she looked like his mother — and he asked her to go roller skating. The last receipt in the store was made out to Gein for antifreeze. He was soon located and arrested at a friend’s house where he had been eating supper and playing checkers. At about the same time, officials went to his home to try to locate the missing woman.

After knocking and not receiving an answer, an officer went into his residence and found the headless body of Bernice Worden hanging upside down in the attached shed. Its torso had been cut open similar to the way a deer would be dressed.
Ten years later, Gein’s attorney argued officers overstepped their authority by searching the home without a warrant, even though a local judge was present for parts of the search. The judge chose not to throw the evidence out because there was the possibility of finding a victim who needed help and of finding a suspect — time was a factor, he ruled.

The horrors within

In the residence, officials discovered Gein’s collection of body parts, including skulls he used to decorate his bed posts and furniture made from skin.

During the search, officers found part of the remains of Mary Hogan that had been fashioned into a mask. Hogan was a tavern keeper in Portage County’s Pine Grove who disappeared in December 1954.

Booth remembers a party at her father’s farm where Gein admitted to killing the missing bartender. No one believed him at the time.

“He was always saying things that were kind of strange,” she said.

Gein was smart, Booth said. He would often talk about rockets and going to the moon. Her neighbor also was private. Although some people reported being inside the home, Booth was never aware of anyone getting past the porch.

Gein confesses

Authorities took Gein to jail the evening of Nov. 16, 1957, and interrogated him in the presence of three deputies, according to court documents. He didn’t have an attorney, and since it was before the time of Miranda rights, he hadn’t been told he had the right to one.

In the early morning hours of Nov. 17,Sheriff Art Schley, a former highway department worker who had taken office six weeks prior to Worden’s murder, returned to the jail and asked the deputies whether Gein had confessed. When he was told no, according to court documents, Schley grabbed Gein and threw him against a wall. The interrogation became so violent that three deputies had to intervene.

At 4:30 a.m. Nov. 17, Joseph C. Wilimavsky Jr., a lie detector expert from the state crime laboratory in Madison, took his turn questioning Gein, who was interrogated intermittently from 4:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Gein was taken Nov. 19 to Madison where the questioning continued, all without an attorney.

The Wilimavsky interviews of Gein produced a confession that is more than 200 pages long. In 1968, Circuit Court Judge Robert H. Gollmar, presiding over Gein’s murder trial, threw out the confession because of Gein’s mental state — he was diagnosed with chronic schizophrenia — and the manner in which it was obtained.
Gein admitted to stealing bodies from graves. He said he would wear the female parts he removed and dance around outside in the moonlight.

Although the media descended on Plainfield as soon as the story began to get out, Booth’s father instructed her family not to talk to the press. The discovery was upsetting, but didn’t sink in immediately.

“It wasn’t until I saw the first movie about him that it really hit me what he had done,” she said.

Gein was sent to a state hospital for a mental evaluation after his arrest. In early 1958, he had a hearing in Wisconsin Rapids on the charges of the murder of Bernice Worden and the theft of a cash register from her store. Judge Andrew Cotter found probable cause and set a $10,000 cash bond for Gein. He was later found unable to stand trial because of mental illness, according to court documents and was sent to Central State Hospital for the Criminally Insane in Waupun.

In 1968, it was determined court proceedings could occur. Gollmar presided over the trial, which was held in Wautoma, the Waushara County seat. Gein waived his right to a trial by jury, allowing Gollmar to decide his fate.

Gein was quiet and polite during his time of incarceration, said current Waushara County Chief Deputy Ron Thurley, who was in charge of the jail when Gein stood trial in 1968.

“He was just an old man,” Thurley said.

Gein claims death was an accident

Gein testified during the trial that he had gone to the Worden Hardware store to buy antifreeze but then decided to look at a rifle. Bernice Worden waited nearby while he removed it from the display, took out a bullet he had in his pocket and put it in the gun. Gein said he had trouble with the rifle, which was different from his own, and the gun accidentally discharged, striking Worden.

After hearing a metallic noise, Gein saw Worden on the floor. He said the sight of blood caused him to black out, and he did not remember much that happened next, although he recalled dragging Worden to the truck outside the back door.

The court proceedings were held in two parts, the first to determine his guilt. Gollmar found Gein guilty of murder. In the second part of the trial, the judge found Gein not guilty by reason of insanity and sent him back to the mental institution.

Gein was never charged with the death of Hogan or with grave robbing. To confirm his story, officials dug up two of the graves in the Plainfield Cemetery that he indicated he had robbed, but never checked the remaining eight graves Gein claimed to have disturbed.

In February 1973, Gein petitioned the Waushara County Circuit Court for a re-examination and release. The release was denied, but the evaluations give additional information about Gein.

A letter written by Dr. Thomas J. Malueg on May 16, 1974, said, “Mr. Gein has little insight concerning the possibility that society will remember him and his notoriety, and may continue to respond to him in ways that could be anxiety provoking. He feels that everyone has forgotten him and that he will be able to simply walk away from harassment should it occur. He has some unrealistic plans about going to Australia after being released, although he is not certain about how to arrange his travel plans.”

Gein died July 26, 1984, in the Mendota Mental Health Institute in Madison. He was 77.