Featured Image Credit: Netflix
Ryan Murphy is back with another of his typically chilling creations, and while his Monster anthology series doesn't have the campy chaos of something like Scream Queens, Ratched, or even American Horror Story, the real-life horrors of the stories depicted always mean they were going to be a more serious affair. After blowing critics away when AHS favorite Evan Peters played Jeffrey Dahmer for the first season of Monster, Murphy then drummed up controversy for Netflix when season 2 followed the case of Erik and Lyle Menendez.
Like how the first two seasons were swamped with allegations that Murphy sensationalized the stories of these men, Netflix is again in the firing line for turning the story of a killer into entertainment. Lead actor Charlie Hunnam has defended Monster: The Ed Gein Story, but with the series sitting comfortably in second place in the global charts, it seems many of you aren't afraid of a little controversy.
Still, should you be afraid of Ed Gein? There's no escaping the horrors of Gein's crimes, with him confessing to the murders of tavern owner Mary Hogan in 1954 and hardware store owner Bernice Worden in 1957.
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This is just the start of Gein's heinous acts, as he's a suspected serial killer who's been connected to a number of other murders. That isn't even the worst of it, as Gein was known to exhume recently deceased bodies of women and keep parts of their anatomy as 'trophies'. A search of his home in 1957 supposedly led to the discovery of a lamp made from a human face, a belt made from nipples, and nine vulvas in a shoebox. After the death of his mother, Gein started creating a 'woman suit' so he could apparently become his mother "to literally crawl into her skin."
While Gein passed away at the age of 77 in 1984, his legacy lives on as he inspired everything from The Silence of the Lambs to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Although we'd like to hope there would never be another Ed Gein, one psychiatrist has warned that it could still happen in 2025.
Speaking to Reach Screen Time (via The Mirror), psychiatrist Paul E. Mullen explained how Gein's schizophrenia is still a very real issue: "One element of his crimes was losing a grip on reality as his fantasies took control.
“In today’s world, technology and immersive media create pre-prepared fantasy worlds that can blur reality for vulnerable individuals. Some may become immersed in cults of murder or sexual violence."
Mullen has interviewed more mass murderers than any of his peers alive today, and as something of an expert on the matter, he's flagged a number of warning signs to look out for when it comes to the 'next' Ed Gein.
Mullen continued: "Warning signs include social isolation, obsession with death, and inability to distinguish fantasy from reality."
He only published Running Amok: Inside the Mind of a Lone Mass Killer in 2025, which delves deeper into the psychology of people like Gein and what motivates them. There's also the chilling idea of how patterns emerge and how these solitary offenders work in contemporary times.
We're not saying you should have nightmares about the 'next' Ed Gein, but it's clear that his unhinged behaviour might not be confined to the past.
