Ed Gein -- Psycho! (Paperback)

~ (Author) "If anything ever portended grimly for the future of Goerge Gein and his family, it was his own sad beginning..." (more)
Key Phrases: Central State, Norman Bates, Wide World Photos (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"On the kitchen table was a cup. The cup held four noses. Human. With horror, the sheriff opened Gein's icebox and found various human organs-livers, hearts, lungs-wrapped in butcher's paper. He was, by definition, a ghoul." --Milwaukee Journal
-- Review

Review

"On the kitchen table was a cup. The cup held four noses. Human. With horror, the sheriff opened Gein's icebox and found various human organs-livers, hearts, lungs-wrapped in butcher's paper. He was, by definition, a ghoul." --Milwaukee Journal

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Product Details

• Paperback: 165 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; 1st edition (October 15, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312130570
• ISBN-13: 978-0312130572
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #611,006 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars This is a sick book, May 29, 2000

By	Jeffrey Leach (Omaha, NE USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Any book about Ed Gein, the infamous Wisconsin cannibal, is bound to contain some distasteful material. What is particularly galling about this book is the camp way that it is written. We get a retelling of Ed's exploits and then how Gein has influenced pop culture, with a cult of "Geinophiles" arising in books, comic books, music and movies.

The author takes great liberties in telling us Gein's story, inserting thoughts that no one could be sure were ever part of what happened. The list of what cops found when they went into Gein's farmhouse is truly nauseating, and there are some pretty sick pictures in the book as well, including one showing Gein's last victim, gutted and hanging from a hook.

This is not to say that there aren't some good factoids in the book. Who knew that Anton LeVay, the founder of the Church of Satan, actually helped interview Gein and supposedly could do a perfect impression of Gein? It's also neat to see Gein's death certificate, which is included in the book.

I think this book should have been marketed as more of a pop culture reference guide. As a true account of what really happened, look somewhere else.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars An uncomfortable homage, January 16, 1998

By	P. Mann (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Ed Gein was a man who went from grave robbing to murder and whose exploits shocked the town of Plainfield, Wisconsin, in the 1950s. His crimes inspired several films, including to one degree or another "Psycho," "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre," "Deranged" (1974), "Three on a Meathook," and "The Silence of the Lambs." Unlike latter-day serial killer Ted Bundy, Gein was hardly a charismatic figure, and yet he has inspired a cottage industry that includes a fan club. Paul Anthony Woods's book skirts a very uncomfortable line between documenting the crimes and exploiting them.

"Ed Gein--Psycho!" does document the crimes Gein, though much of the material is apocryphal, but the book is as much a study of the fascination with and even worship of Gein. A significant portion of the book is devoted to the films mentioned above and to the merchandise that seeks to capitalize on the Gein notoriety. Unfortunately, what could be an insightful sociological study is instead a rather insipid and sometimes uncomfortably close to admiring look at the killer and the phenomenon that is the interest in him. For readers who are squeamish, the full-page photo of the eviscerated body of one of Gein's victims should be most uncomfortable. Even for those who are not so squeamish, it becomes necessary to question the degree to which this book further exploits the victims while canonizing their killer.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars psycho, April 14, 2003

By	Adam Paul Bailey (australia) - See all my reviews

I bought this book because I thought it would give me more details about weirdo serial killer Ed Gein, after I had read Deviant by Harold Schector. I was sorely disappointed. Psycho doesn't really go extensively into more facts about this interesting man and I firmly believe that Deviant does. This book is too short. The final chapters rave on about the movies,songs and comics they made about him and even though that has some indirect relationship to the man, I mean really... what does it have to do with Ed Gein? Ed Gein was probably unaware that any movies were being made about him while he was in the institution and he certainly wasn't like the Zodiac Killer; he didn't care.
The story is that Ed Gein was raised by a strictly religious mother, Augusta Gein and an apathetic father who took to drinking heavily to escape his mundane existence. Ed Gein idolized his mother, like his brother too but Edward Theodore Gein was more of a momma's boy.
Ed's brother Henry dies in a fire and there is suspicion that Ed had something to do with it but there is no proof.
Later, when Ed's mother dies, after his father, Ed takes to grave-robbing and wearing human faces as masks over his face.Not to mention he makes furniture out of human skin. Ed denies that he has sexual intercourse with these corpses because they smell too bad but who knows?
After Ed dies in 1984 of respiratory illness, he becomes a hero.Maybe we are living in a sick society where a murderer of two, possibly three women is considered a hero.
I recommend Deviant by Harold Schector. Avoid this one.