By now, we're pretty sure you're just as obsessed with Netflix's Monster: The Ed Gein Story as we are. Yes, it's gruesome. Like, really gruesome. But we literally can't stop watching.
It's no wonder then that we've already taken a deep-dive into who Ed Gein was, how many victims he actually had, and what the inside of his house looked like (creepy photos, this way). Beyond that, the gripping series has also thrown up plenty of other questions, like how did Charlie Hunnam prepare for such a chilling role, and did Ed Gein really kill his brother? Which is exactly what we're going to get into here...
Did Ed Gein actually kill his brother?
Henry Edward Gein was Ed Gein's older brother. It's unclear whether the pair had a particularly close relationship, but reports from the time suggest that Henry shared concerns with his brother about his attachment to their mother. To this, Ed is thought to have reacted with shock and hurt.
Following the death of their father in 1940, Henry and Ed took up odd jobs around their local town, as well as working together to maintain the farmhouse they lived in in Plainfield. The house had a lot of acreage, and in May 1944, the pair set out to burn marsh vegetation away from the property—a common practice at the time.
During this task, the fire raged out of control, and the local fire department was brought in to help contain it. This took most of the day and, when the firefighters eventually left, Ed reported his brother—who was 43 at the time—missing. A search party for Henry was launched and his dead body was found lying face down on the grounds of the property. Reports from the time say he had not been burnt and he appeared to have been dead for some time.
Later reporting on the incident, biographer Harold Schechter claimed that Henry was found with bruises on his head. In Deviant: The Shocking True Story of the Original ‘Psycho’, Schechter wrote that police initially dismissed the idea of foul play, with the county coroner officially listing asphyxiation as the cause of death—although no autopsy was performed.
It wasn't until Ed was arrested years later—relating to the murders of two women in the community—that suspicion arose about his potential connection to Henry's death.
Per a 1981 biography, Edward Gein: America's Most Bizarre Murderer, state investigator Joe Wilimovsky brought up questions about Henry's death when questioning Ed in 1957. While Ed did not admit to having played a role in Henry's death, in the 1981 biography, experts who studied Ed and his crimes drew “possible and likely” similarities between him and his brother and the Cain and Abel tale.
For context, Cain and Abel is a biblical reference to the first two sons of Adam and Eve. According to the tale, God favored Abel over Cain, prompting Cain to murder his brother. This story marks the first human murder and the origin of evil, violence, and jealousy.
Stream all episodes of Monster: The Ed Gein Story on Netflix now.
