The real-life serial killers who were ‘influenced’ by Ed Gein’s horrifying crimes

Ryan Murphy’s true crime drama, Monster: The Ed Gein Story, has reminded everyone of the gruesome crimes of Ed Gein, but did he actually inspire other serial killers?

Ed Gein became known as the “Butcher of Plainfield” in 1957 after police discovered what was inside his farmhouse: Furniture made of human skin, bowls carved from skulls, and even a “woman suit” crafted from body parts. He admitted to grave robbing and killing two women, claiming he was trying to recreate his late mother, with whom he had an extremely unhealthy obsession.

The Netflix show touches on all of that but also dramatises how Gein’s legacy supposedly spread beyond Wisconsin. It even shows him as an inspiration to killers like Ted Bundy and Richard Speck.

So, did Ed Gein really inspire other serial killers?

via Netflix

Not directly. There’s no real evidence that Gein was ever in contact with Speck or Bundy, or that he helped the FBI catch anyone, for that matter. Those scenes in the show are completely fictional.

In an interview with Reach Screen Time, world-renowned psychiatrist Professor Paul E. Mullen explained that while direct influence is uncertain, Gein’s story did leave a mark on later killers.

“It is possible some serial killers were influenced by Gein,” Professor Mullen said. “Though direct inspiration is uncertain.”

So, which serial killers were influenced by Ed Gein?

via Netflix

No killer ever admitted to being inspired by Ed Gein. Still, according to A&E, some definitely mirrored his disturbing methods; the mutilation, the obsession, and the keeping of trophies.

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So, here are a few killers who appeared to echo Gein’s behaviour:

Edmund Kemper (The Co-Ed Killer) – Like Gein, he had a toxic relationship with his mother that fuelled his crimes. He murdered eight people, including her, and mutilated their bodies.

Robert Berdella (The Butcher of Kansas City) – He tortured and dismembered his victims, keeping their remains in his home, strikingly similar to Gein’s gruesome collection.

Gary Heidnik – His Philadelphia basement was described as a “house of horrors”. That’s where he held women captive and mutilated them, eerily like Gein’s post-mortem desecrations.

Jeffrey Dahmer (The Milwaukee Cannibal) – Perhaps the closest modern reflection of Gein’s legacy. Dahmer kept skulls, bones, and body parts as trophies, and even planned a shrine made from human remains.

So, while there’s no concrete evidence that Ed Gein directly inspired anyone, the eerie similarities between him and the killers who followed suggest his crimes may have quietly shaped the way some of them acted.

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.