Ed Gein: The Butcher of Plainfield

Ed Gein, a socially awkward farmer, lives alone on the outskirts of Plainfield after his mother's death. He becomes despondent and begins digging up and borrowing the bodies of women who remind him of her, with the reluctant help of his only friend, Jack. This sets the stage for a fractured psyche that will drive the later violence.

Ed's obsession deepens as he starts digging up and using women's remains as a macabre substitute for family. He enlists Jack’s reluctant help to procure bodies, further normalizing his grisly behavior.

In 1957, Ed suffers a psychotic break and becomes a spree killer. His violence escalates from desecration to murder and abduction around Plainfield.

Becky, a stranded motorist, is murdered by Ed during the early killings of the spree. The crime marks a turning point from desecration to deliberate homicide.

Ed turns on his friend Jack and murders him as part of the rampage. The betrayal heightens the danger surrounding Plainfield.

During the spree, a graveyard security guard is killed by Ed while he conducts his crimes. The violence spreads beyond the immediate houses and roads.

Ed abducts bartender Sue Layton, murders her in his barn, and begins constructing a flesh suit from her remains. The assault marks a brutal culmination of his fixation.

Ed abducts Vera Mason during the rampage, extending his reign of terror to another victim. Vera’s disappearance unsettles the local community.

Vera Mason’s son, Deputy Bobby Mason, is away in another county with his girlfriend Erica when he learns Vera has vanished. He rushes back to Plainfield to help. The urgency intensifies the police response.

While Bobby searches for aid, he crashes on the road and Erica is wounded. Ed seizes the opportunity and abducts her, continuing his violent spree.

A witness reports a woman's feet dangling from Ed's truck, prompting a police search. Officers find what’s left of Sue and Vera in Ed's home as Ed has fled with Erica.

In the woods, Erica appeals to Ed's humanity, asking if he has any compassion. He responds with a nihilistic view that life is worthless and that we are all just flesh.

Bobby saves Erica from Ed, and the sheriff and Erica persuade Ed not to kill her. The confrontation marks the end of his immediate danger.

An intertitle states Ed was charged with two of the ten murders but was found unfit to stand trial. He spends the rest of his life in a mental institution.

Ed Gein dies of cancer in 1984 while living in the mental institution. His grim story ends remorselessly within the state facility walls.