In Monster: The Ed Gein Story, Ryan Murphy once again dives into an infamous case involving an American killer, following up on Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story and Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, both iterations which went on to receive Emmy nominations.
In the latest Netflix installment, Charlie Hunnam slides into the role of Ed Gein, the Wisconsin serial killer known as the Plainfield Butcher, whose mutilating murders went on to inspire works of horror such as Psycho and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. But what parts of the show are actually true?
**Quick note before we go any further: This article contains spoilers for the first episode of Monster: The Ed Gein Story**
If you watch the first episode of the Hunnam and Laurie Metcalf-led horror series, you’ll discover that before Gein ever laid his hands on an innocent victim, he took the life of his brother, Henry Gein, possibly as an accident. This scene has already sparked controversy and intrigue over whether or not he was truly responsible for killing his older brother. So, did he do it?
Here’s everything you need to know about the real-life events that inspired the first episode of Monster: The Ed Gein Story.
Did Ed Gein Kill His Brother, Henry Gein?
In the first episode (“Mother!”), while Ed and Henry (Hudson Oz) are hanging out in the barn on their family property, Ed hits Henry over the head, causing him to fall to the ground with his eyes wide open. Ed — who, in real life, was later diagnosed with schizophrenia and found mentally incompetent to stand trial — thinks that he is playing a silly prank on his brother, even imagining that Henry wakes up and pretends he was just sleeping.
In reality, Ed’s actions were actually fatal as he later goes back out to the barn and finds Henry’s body lying stiff and cold. At the time, there’s also a pool of blood in the hay near his head, leading Ed to realize his actions, while unintentional, caused Henry to die.
Terrified of how his mother (Metcalf) will react, Ed drags his brother out to the open field, covers his body with branches and twigs, and sets fire to the brush pile. He then calls out for his mom, telling her to get the fire department out to the farm. Upon arrival, investigators discover Henry’s body and announce to his family that he has died, ultimately ruling his cause of death as asphyxiation and possibly heart failure, most likely from smoke inhalation from the blaze.
Is that how it happened in real life, though? Well, it turns out much of this is true. In reality, according to a local newspaper’s account of the incident, Henry’s body was found face down in a field on the Gein farm after a brush fire used to clear the farm for vegetation got out of control. After firefighters were sent in to help control the blaze, Ed reported Henry missing and a search party was dispatched to check the property. The group ultimately discovered Henry’s remains, unburned and seemingly having suffered a heart attack.
While an autopsy was never conducted as the coroner listed the cause of death as asphyxiation, biographer Harold Schechter — who wrote Deviant: The Shocking True Story of the Original “Psycho” about Ed Gein – posed in his own book that Henry’s body had bruises on the head at the time of discovery. This, paired with the fact that he had seemingly been dead for some time when he was found, caused Schechter to wonder if Ed may have been involved.
In truth, it has never been fully confirmed if Ed was responsible for his brother’s death, but it does seem at least to be a contested matter. It’s unlikely that we’ll ever get a true and final answer, but Murphy and the other producers of Monster: The Ed Gein Story do seem to think they’ve figured it out.
Monster: The Ed Gein Story is now streaming on Netflix.
