A Boy’s Best Friend is his Mother: The Horrors of Ed Gein

Dark Histories

Ben Cutmore

History

4.8 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 2 September 2025

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Behind the doors of an isolated farmhouse on the outskirts of Plainfield, Wisconsin, a trove of macabre secrets were stashed out of sight of the locals that blurred the line between reality and nightmare. Unearthed in 1957, the world of quiet, shy farmer, Edward Theodore Gein, revealed a bizarre story of grave robbing, body parts fashioned into household items, and a fascination with death that was almost unparalleled in its depravity. A psychiatrist's examination stated plainly that, “The overall picture was not that of a well person,” which was, perhaps, one of the greatest understatements in medical and criminal history.SOURCES Schechter, Harold (1998) Deviant: The Shocking True Story of Ed Gein, Original Psycho. Pocket Books, USA. Borowski, John (2016) The Ed Gein FIle: A Psycho’s Confession & Case Documents. Waterfront Productions, Chicago, USA. Chicago Tribune (1957) Tell Gein’s Crime Motive. Chicago Tribune, 21 Nov 1957, p1. Chicago, USA. ------ For almost anything, head over to the podcasts hub at ⁠⁠darkhistories.com ⁠⁠ Support the show by using our link when you sign up to Audible: ⁠⁠http://audibletrial.com/darkhistories⁠⁠ or visit our Patreon for bonus episodes and Early Access: ⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/darkhistories⁠⁠ The Dark Histories books are available to buy here: ⁠⁠http://author.to/darkhistories⁠⁠ Dark Histories merch is available here: ⁠⁠https://bit.ly/3GChjk9⁠⁠ Connect with us on Facebook: ⁠⁠http://facebook.com/darkhistoriespodcast⁠⁠ Or find us on Twitter: ⁠⁠http://twitter.com/darkhistories⁠⁠ & Instagram: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/dark_histories/⁠⁠ Or you can contact us directly via email at ⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠ or join our Discord community: ⁠⁠https://discord.gg/cmGcBFf⁠⁠ The Dark Histories Butterfly was drawn by Courtney, who you can find on Instagram @bewildereye Music was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017 Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey folks, get ready for a new season of Blowback, coming Monday, September 22nd.
0:05.5	This time around, we're covering the Cold War Showdown in Africa.
0:09.9	When apartheid South Africa invades the newly independent nation of Angola,
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1:00.1	Behind the doors of an isolated farmhouse
1:02.6	on the outskirts of Plainfield, Wisconsin,
1:05.4	a trove of macabre secrets
1:07.0	were stashed out of sight of the locals
1:08.8	that blurred the line between reality and nightmare.
1:12.9	Unearthed in 1957, the world of the quiet, shy farmer Edward Theodore Gein
1:18.5	revealed a bizarre story of grave robbing, body parts fashioned into household items,
	...

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