Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Some Monsters Are Indeed Real...!


We all have, on occasion, had nightmares. Dreams of monsters and ghost and bogeymen are not uncommon.

However, in our waking hours there are enough living, breathing monsters to go 'round! This is a story of just one of them taken from the folks at History.com! Not only was he real, but he inspired some of the most terrifying stories of our time!

Jul 26, 1984:

Real-life Psycho Ed Gein dies

On July 26, 1984, Ed Gein, a serial killer infamous for skinning human corpses, dies of complications from cancer in a Wisconsin prison at age 77. Gein served as the inspiration for writer Robert Bloch’s character Norman Bates in the 1959 novel Psycho, which in 1960 was turned into a film starring Anthony Perkins and directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

Edward Theodore Gein was born in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, on July 27, 1906, to an alcoholic father and domineering mother, who taught her son that women and sex were evil. Gein was raised, along with an older brother, on an isolated farm in Plainfield, Wisconsin. After Gein’s father died in 1940, the future killer’s brother died under mysterious circumstances during a fire in 1944 and his beloved mother passed away from health problems in 1945. Gein remained on the farm by himself.

In November 1957, police found the headless, gutted body of a missing store clerk, Bernice Worden, at Gein’s farmhouse. Upon further investigation, authorities discovered a collection of human skulls along with furniture and clothing, including a suit, made from human body parts and skin. Gein told police he had dug up the graves of recently buried women who reminded him of his mother. Investigators found the remains of 10 women in Gein’s home, but he was ultimately linked to just two murders: Bernice Worden and another local woman, Mary Hogan.

Gein was declared mentally unfit to stand trial and was sent to a state hospital in Wisconsin. His farm attracted crowds of curiosity seekers before it burned down in 1958, most likely in a blaze set by an arsonist. In 1968, Gein was deemed sane enough to stand trial, but a judge ultimately found him guilty by reason of insanity and he spent the rest of his days in a state facility.

In addition to Psycho, films including Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Silence of the Lambs were said to be loosely based on Gein’s crimes.

Now if that wasn't enough to scare you and you need even more proof that real monsters exist, then all you need to do is pick up any newspaper, watch any news story on television, or just listen to the radio! They do indeed exist!

We don't need to fear the "Zombies" or the "Werewolves" or the "Vampires" made up from folklore and imagination! We have so many more real life monsters all around us, spreading death and destruction and creating chaos all around! Some are our leaders, some are our friends or family, and some might even be our neighbors! How's THAT for scary?

Now that we all have our juices flowing this morning, how about some fresh coffee on the patio?

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is scaring to know that there are plenty of them out there. Not all do what they have in their minds but plenty enough to give You nightmares.

We haven´t had especially many of those here and the one we thought we had was insane and it seems he took responsibility for plenty of murders he just couldn´t have done.

As it looks now he probably never killed anyone. So that means one or a couple murderers still are out there.

Have a great day!
Christer.

HermitJim said...

Hey Christer...
Many of us, including myself, don't like to think of the real monsters that are all around!

Sweden is lucky to not have so many as we do here. No one really knows the cause, but they do exist and their numbers seem to be increasing...at least to me!

I thank you for coming by today, my friend!

Ben in Texas said...

Wonder what Doctor Sigmund Freud would have had to say about all those whack O's ?

Old Jules said...

The guy made quite a stir at the time. All the magazines had articles and photos of the lampshades made from human skin and the charred remains in the oven of his cookstove. It all stayed in my youthful mind to have remained all the decades since to be yanked up and dusted off when I read your post.

The guy probably wouldn't stay on the mental radar so long today because it does happen with more frequency. And it wouldn't have stayed on the radar so long a century or two before our time, because it was happening frequently enough then to raise eyebrows, but only draw a helpless shrug because the times were different and it took more to make a monster.

No point in my elaborating on the historical details of what the whites and the various tribes occupying lands where the whites wanted to be used to do to one another on a somewhat routine basis.

We humans are sometimes fairly selective about what we consider unacceptable behavior, but that guy in Wisconsin probably would never have been welcomed anywhere.

SHARON said...

Well, I'm glad it's daylight out. I never watched 'Silence of the Lambs" and the one guy at work would always tease me about it. He made sure to remind me when it came on TV. Then he'd laugh. I did watch Psycho, and, to this day, I have a dog in the bathroom with me when I take a shower. Too much imagination, I guess.

chinasyndrome said...

Jim,wow you are right buddy,some of the worst monsters of all time were human.Well they started out as human.I read a story as a child about a guy in Chicago who built a mansion of horrors.Wit different workers so no one knew the whole lay out.Including lye pits to dispose of victims.Sick sick people,or possibly just pure evil!

Tell me about the Lambs Clarice!

China
III

linda m said...

I don't know who is scarier - people who are living today or the "monster" of years ago? I live in WI and grew up hearing about Ed Gein. When I think of all the "sickos" out there today murdering all these innocent people it just scares the crap out of me.

Sixbears said...

It's always disturbing to see what a human is capable of.

JoJo said...

The minute I started to read I thought of Silence of the Lambs. tingles up the spine I tell you. Like reading the book wasn't enough I had to watch the movie.
Coffee sounds nice with a dear friend.

BigBadSis@gmail.com said...

Ditto, Sixbears. One of the really scary things about some of these sickos is that they can appear normal or even likable. I speak for myself because I met a suspected serial murderer and worked around him daily for many months. I could easily see how he, for one, could have lured the unspecting into his car,etc. At the time I knew him he was infamous enough for his name to be recognized by many.

HermitJim said...

Hey Ben...
I'm thinking that the good doctor would have a lot to say about our society in general!

I know that my opinion is...we have way too many sicko's running around free!

Thanks, buddy, for coming by today!


Hey Old Jules...
One thing that really bothers me is that we are making some sort of heroes out of these crazies! Recent case in point, the mother of Caylee!

I see where she is being offered as much as 5 million dollars for just an interview!

The message that goes out from this? Kill your child, get acquitted, then become rich because of it! Sick!!

Hey, thanks for coming by today!


Hey Sharon...
Some movies make quite an impression on us that last for a long, long time! Psycho was certainly one of those!

I think that some of these movies serve to remind us just how scary things could be!

A dog in the shower? Well, whatever works for you, I say! Certainly can't hurt!

Thanks for dropping in today!


Hey China...
Unfortunately there are way too many cases of pure evil around!

I don't even want to get started thinking about the small children and babies that get murdered by their parents every day! What's up with that?

Really messes with my head and heart, for sure!

Thanks for coming by, my friend!

HermitJim said...

Hey Linda...
In my opinion, the ones around today are more scary, just because they are still here!

Not only here, but multiplying! At least, it seems so to me! Either way, it's scary!

Thanks for the visit today!


Hey Sixbears...
That it is, my friend! That it is!

Guess all it takes is lots of practice!

Thanks for coming by today!


Hey JoJo...
Makes the chill bumps start, huh?

I don't think you would want to be around me come Halloween! I used to be pretty scary in the old days!

Come to think about it, I guess I could be scary enough today, but there is just way too much competition around anymore!

Thanks, sweetie, for coming over this morning!


Hey Sis...
That's the nature of the Beast, I suppose! Folks like Lucas, Ramirez, the Green River Killer and all the rest are experts at making you feel comfortable around them!

Don't know who to trust anymore! Or so it seems!

Thanks, Sis, for coming by today!

TROUBLEnTX said...

My bro sold Lucas a car when he was in Austin. Years ago. TG Tx has the death penalty.