Not everything in Netflix’s “Monster: The Ed Gein Story” is factual. We separate fact from fiction.
The Netflix TV miniseries “Monster: The Ed Gein Story” takes its share of liberties with the story of Ed Gein, a notorious killer from Plainfield, Wisconsin, who skinned and repurposed his victims.
Nothing gets more metatextual than the eighth and final episode of the series, which largely fictionalizes Gein’s later years confined in a hospital. Here are some things that might be helpful to know.
Warning: This article contains spoilers for “Monster: The Ed Gein Story” and includes descriptions of the graphic details portrayed.
Did Ed Gein help catch Ted Bundy?
Seemingly creating an eye-winking homage to another popular Netflix/serial killer saga, “Mindhunter,” the show portrays real-life FBI agents John Douglas and Robert Ressler visiting Gein during the process of trying to catch a serial killer that the audience already knows is Ted Bundy.
The actors portraying the two agents look startingly like actors Jonathan Groff and Holt McCallany, who play characters based on the agents in “Mindhunter,” a wildly popular Netflix show that first debuted in 2017 and tells the story of FBI agents interviewing serial killers to gain a greater understanding of their patholgy.
The show even brings in Happy Anderson, the actor who played “Shoe Fetish Slayer” Jerry Brudos — the same role he played on “Mindhunter.”The episode tries to convince us that most of the era’s serial killers used Gein as inspiration, and that the agents were ultimately able to catch Bundy because of information passed along by Gein. The show leaves enough ambiguity to make the viewer question whether it’s all a schizophrenic episode generated in Gein’s own mind. But none of that actually happened.
Bundy was initially arrested fleeing a patrol car, and there’s no indication Gein was ever interviewed by Douglas and Ressler.
Who was Ted Bundy?
The notorious serial killer was executed in Florida in 1989 at age 42. He was convicted of three murders but confessed to 30, with the total number of killings unknown. He sexually assaulted and murdered women in the Pacific Northwest, Colorado, Utah and Florida between 1974 and 1978. He escaped custody twice.
Did Ed Gein have any connection to Ted Bundy?
No, nor is there evidence he communicated with another notorious serial killer from prison. In the show, the connection between Gein and Richard “Birdman” Speck brings about the evidence that helps authorities catch Bundy.
Is Ed Gein a serial killer?
Not by the traditional definition of three or more murders in separate events, though it fits if the definition is two events. Evidence and Gein confessions pointed to the Plainfield man killing two women, in addition to digging up the graves of nine to 10 others. Gein killed tavern owner Mary Hogan in 1954 and hardware store owner Bernice Worden in 1957; he was apprehended after the latter victim’s body was found in his shed.
Another clue that Ryan Murphy’s Netflix show is messing with the viewer
In case the “Mindhunter” tie-in wasn’t enough of a wink from the show’s creators — especially for fans of the show who have been clamoring for a third season — there’s a scene in the finale where the head nurse at the institution holding Gein advises him to write a book, noting that so many other people have taken liberties with his story.
It is absolutely safe to assume the creators of the show intend that to be slightly comedic, since the show itself takes ample liberties, most prominently with its depiction of characters like murder victim Bernice Worden and Gein’s girlfriend and confidante, Adeline Watkins.
