The Ed Gein Story changed Frank Worden in the worst way, so here’s what actually happened

In Netflix’s Monster: The Ed Gein Story, the Butcher of Plainfield’s final victim was shown to be Bernice Worden, whose son, Deputy Sheriff Frank Worden, investigated his own mother’s disappearance and subsequent death.

Bernice Worden’s brutal killing made for one of the more graphic scenes in Monster: The Ed Gein Story. Though the murder itself was committed by Ed using a gun, he proceeded to mutilate her body; stringing it up in the barn and removing parts of it for his skin-designs. Her remains were then discovered by her son Frank, who soon spiralled into alcoholism as he tried to sell Ed’s estate at auction.

Though Ryan Murphy’s Monster franchise doesn’t claim to be a factually accurate retelling, despite being offered in that manner, the alteration of Frank Worden’s story borderlines on the offensive.

Frank Worden was quite different to the man in The Ed Gein Story

Credit: Netflix

According to a report from Misceiana, how Frank Worden actually reacted to his mother’s brutal murder was totally different to how it was portrayed in the new Netflix show.

In the eight-part series, a drunk Frank seeks retribution for Ed Gein’s crimes by selling off his possessions in a gross display of morbid curiosity. People queued for hours to purchase things Ed might have used, and while the estate was ultimately burned down, it made for an incredibly difficult watch as Frank flogged off the very tools used by his mother’s killer.

But as is the case with a lot of Monster plotlines and moments, it just didn’t happen. Frank did find solace at the bottom of a bottle, but he never participated in or supported the auction of Ed’s belongings.

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Credit: Netflix

Instead, he passionately criticised it, fully removing himself from the gross spectacle. He called it an “insult” to Ed’s victims, and in the few interviews he did offer, slammed the “indignity” of the fanfare the case generated. When Ed’s property was burned to the ground, he and the other victims’ families thought of it as a “symbolic act of justice.”

Frank Worden remained at the Plainfield sheriff’s department for a number of years after the Ed Gein case, but he rarely spoke of his crimes. Little else is known about his later life, but as per a report on The Family Search, Frank Worden died on 6 August 2001, in his home town of Plainfield. He was 78 at the time and buried in Plainfield Cemetery.

Monster: The Ed Gein Story is available on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news and drops, like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook. 

Featured image credit: Netflix