When Ed Gein was arrested on November 16, 1957, his subsequent confession to authorities revealed the disturbing mind of one of America’s most notorious killers. Through hours of interrogation by District Attorney Earl Kileen and other investigators, Gein provided chilling details about his crimes that shocked even hardened law enforcement officials. His matter-of-fact admissions about murder, grave robbing, and creating grotesque artifacts from human remains provided unprecedented insight into the psychology of a deeply disturbed individual.

The Confession Process and Legal Issues

Initial Interrogation Problems

Ed Gein’s first confession was dramatically compromised by police brutality. Sheriff Art Schley reportedly assaulted Gein during questioning by banging his head and face into a brick wall. As a result of this violent treatment, Gein’s initial confession was ruled inadmissible in court. This legal setback meant that many of the most detailed admissions from his early questioning could not be used as evidence in his trial.

The trauma of dealing with Gein’s horrific crimes apparently took a severe toll on Sheriff Schley himself. Many who knew Schley said he was traumatized by the horror of Gein’s crimes, and Schley died of heart failure in 1968 at age 43, before Gein’s trial. Colleagues believed the psychological impact of the case, combined with fears about having to testify about his assault of Gein, contributed to his premature death.

Subsequent Legal Questioning

After the inadmissible confession, investigators conducted new interrogations with District Attorney Earl Kileen leading the questioning. These later sessions, conducted under proper legal procedures, provided the admissions that could be used in court proceedings.

Gein’s Confession About the Bernice Worden Murder

The Hardware Store Killing

During his confession about the murder of Bernice Worden, Gein provided detailed but disturbing testimony about the events of November 16, 1957:

On entering the store: When questioned about going into Worden’s hardware store, Gein stated: “When I went into Mrs. Worden’s, I took a glass jug for permanent antifreeze. When I entered the hardware store she came toward me and said ‘Do you want a gallon of antifreeze?’ and I said, ‘No half a gallon.'”

The transaction: Gein described the normal business interaction: “She got out the antifreeze and pumped it out, and I held the jug for her to pour in it and then she pumped out another quart, and I was still holding the jar while she pumped that. Then I paid her with a dollar bill. She gave me back one cent because it was 99 cents.”

The moment of violence: Gein claimed to have little memory of the actual killing: “This is what I can’t remember from now on because I don’t know just what happened from now on, you see.” When asked directly if he remembered striking or shooting her, Gein replied: “No.”

Claims of Memory Loss and “Daze-Like” States

Throughout his confession, Gein repeatedly claimed to have been in altered mental states during his crimes:

About his mental state during the murder: “My memory is a little vague, but I do remember dragging her across the floor. I remember loading her body in the truck.”

His explanation for the killing: Gein told investigators: “I was in a regular daze like, and I can’t swear to it.”

Psychiatric testimony about the shooting: During his 1968 trial, a psychiatrist testified that Gein had told him that he did not know whether the killing of Worden was intentional or accidental. Gein claimed that while examining a gun in Worden’s store, the weapon discharged and killed Worden, and that he had not aimed the rifle at Worden and did not remember anything else that happened that morning.

Body Disposal and Mutilation

Gein’s confession included graphic details about how he disposed of Worden’s body:

Transportation: “Then I drove the truck out on the east road at the intersection where 51 and 73 separate east of Plainfield. I drove the truck up in the pine trees. Then I walked to town and got in my car and drove it out there and loaded her body in the back of the car, and also the cash register.”

“Dressing out” the body: When asked about cutting up the body, Gein made a chilling comparison: “You told me you thought you were dressing out a deer. That is the only explanation I can think was in my mind.”

Blood disposal: The confession revealed methodical cleanup: “You said that you took the blood from the body and put that out—buried it out by the toilet house… It must have been a pail… Probably galvanized. Probably a 10-quart pail.”

Confessions About Grave Robbing

The “Evil Spirit” He Couldn’t Control

Gein’s most extensive confessions dealt with his systematic grave robbing activities. His statements revealed both the compulsive nature of his crimes and his delusional thinking:

The compulsion to rob graves: In a chilling admission to District Attorney Earl Kileen, Gein explained: “I started to visit graveyards in the area regularly about 18 months after my mother died. Most nights, I would just stand and have private conversations… with my ma…. Other times, I couldn’t make myself go home without raisin’ one of ’em up first. Maybe on about nine occasions, I took somebody, or part of somebody, home with me. It was kind of an evil spirit I couldn’t control.“

The Scope of His Grave Robbing

Gein provided detailed information about the extent of his necrophilic activities:

Frequency of cemetery visits: Gein told investigators that between 1947 and 1952, he had made as many as forty nocturnal visits to three local graveyards to exhume recently buried bodies while he was in a “daze-like” state.

Success rate: On about thirty of those visits, he said that he came out of the daze while in the cemetery, left the grave in good order and returned home emptyhanded. Only on about nine occasions did he actually succeed in exhuming bodies or body parts.

Meticulous restoration: Gein explained that he was able to get away with this for about five years, as he always left the graves in “apple-pie order” when he was finished robbing them.

Target selection: He dug up the graves of recently buried middle-aged women he thought resembled his mother and took the bodies home, where he tanned their skins to make his paraphernalia.

Denial of Sexual Activity

Despite the obviously sexual nature of many of his crimes, Gein consistently denied engaging in necrophilia:

Rejection of sexual motives: When questioned about sexual activity with corpses, Gein denied having sex with the bodies he exhumed, explaining: “They smelled too bad.”

The “Woman Suit” Confession

The Ultimate Goal: Becoming His Mother

Perhaps the most psychologically revealing aspect of Gein’s confession dealt with his creation of what he called a “woman suit”:

The purpose revealed: Investigators learned that soon after his mother’s death, Gein began to create a “woman suit” so that “he could become his mother—to literally crawl into her skin.”

Psychological motivation: This confession revealed the depth of Gein’s obsession with his deceased mother and his desire to somehow merge with her identity through wearing artifacts made from human skin.

Confession About Mary Hogan Murder

Limited Memory of the Earlier Killing

Gein’s confession about the 1954 murder of Mary Hogan was less detailed than his admission about Worden:

Admission of guilt: During state crime laboratory interrogation, Gein admitted to shooting 51-year-old Mary Hogan, a tavern owner missing since December 8, 1954, whose head was found in his house.

Claimed memory loss: However, he later denied memory of details of her death, similar to his claims about the Worden killing.

Disturbing Details About His Artifacts

Casual Discussion of Horrific Items

Throughout his confession, Gein spoke about his gruesome creations with disturbing matter-of-factness:

Face masks explanation: A 16-year-old friend reported that Gein kept shrunken heads in his house, which he had described as relics sent by a cousin who had served in the Philippines during World War II. Upon investigation by police, these were determined to be human facial skins, carefully peeled from corpses and used by Gein as masks.

Reaction to the Destruction of Evidence

“Just as Well” – His Response to the Farmhouse Fire

When Gein’s farmhouse mysteriously burned down on March 20, 1958, his reaction was telling:

Casual acceptance: When Gein learned of the fire while in detention, he shrugged and said, “Just as well.”

This response suggested either genuine indifference to losing his “trophies” or perhaps relief that the physical evidence of his crimes had been destroyed.

The Psychological Profile Revealed

Self-Awareness of His Mental State

Despite his claimed memory problems, some of Gein’s statements showed a disturbing level of self-awareness:

Recognition of abnormality: In one recorded statement, Gein acknowledged: “Yes, so I know there’s something wrong—that no person in his right mind would do all that.”

Understanding the horror: This admission showed that despite his mental illness, Gein was capable of recognizing the abnormal nature of his actions.

The Impact of the Confession

Law Enforcement Response

The detailed nature of Gein’s confessions had a profound impact on the investigators and legal personnel involved:

Psychological trauma to officials: The horrific details traumatized even experienced law enforcement officers, with Sheriff Schley’s premature death often attributed to the psychological impact of the case.

National attention: The shocking admissions, when reported in the media, brought national attention to the case and influenced American popular culture for decades.

Legal Consequences

Despite the extensive confessions, legal technicalities limited their use:

Limited prosecution: Due to the inadmissible early confession and budget constraints, Gein was only tried for one murder despite confessing to two.

Insanity defense: The bizarre nature of the confessions actually supported the defense argument that Gein was legally insane at the time of his crimes.

Historical Significance

Ed Gein’s confessions represent one of the most detailed and disturbing admissions in American criminal history. His matter-of-fact descriptions of grave robbing, murder, and the creation of human artifacts from body parts provided unprecedented insight into the mind of a deeply disturbed individual.

The psychological revelations from his confession—particularly his desire to “become his mother” through the woman suit—became foundational elements in the development of fictional serial killers in popular culture. Characters like Norman Bates, Buffalo Bill, and Leatherface all trace their origins to the shocking admissions made by Ed Gein during those interrogation sessions in 1957.

The confession also highlighted important issues about police procedures, mental health evaluations, and the proper handling of suspects with severe psychological disorders. The initial assault by Sheriff Schley that invalidated the first confession became a cautionary tale about the importance of proper police conduct, even when dealing with the most heinous crimes.

Ultimately, Ed Gein’s words during his confession revealed not just the details of his specific crimes, but provided a window into the psychology of extreme dysfunction that continues to fascinate and horrify more than six decades later. His admissions remain among the most chilling statements ever recorded in American criminal history.