Saturday, May 31, 2014

May Monster Madness 2014

Greetings darklings, and welcome to my creepy contribution to May Monster Madness 2014.

This is the first year I have been involved with this wickedly wonderful celebration of monsters - a big thank you to Annie Wells, Emma, of Little Gothic Horrors, and Ked, of Something WicKED This Way Comes, for organising and hosting this fabulous event! 

While there are many monsters I find absolutely fascinating, probably the most important of all would have to be the real-life one who inspired so many of my favourite fictional villains - the timid little farmer from Wisconsin, Ed Gein.


Ed was a Mama's boy, a shy underachiever, a disturbed loner whose strict, religious mother distorted his view of women and the world. When she died, his entire way of being was shaken. As Harold Schechter in his book Deviant explained, Ed had "lost his
only friend and one true love. And he was absolutely alone in the world." Shortly after, Ed began body snatching, digging up bodies and wearing their faces while dancing in the moonlight so as not to feel alone. He started tanning the skins of recently buried women in order to create a 'woman suit' so he could pretend to be a female. He moved from grave-robbing to murder and killed two local women before being caught and imprisoned in a mental institution for the rest of his life. Upon raiding his farm house, the police found things they could not have even imagined - among other things, there were dining room chairs covered in human skin, bowls made of skulls, and this: "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

Sound like anyone we know and love in the world of horror fiction and films?

Ed's mother obsession? My beloved Norman Bates, pictured here when he was freshly inked on my calf last year as part of my Psycho leg sleeve.


Woman-skinning murderer? Jame Gumb aka Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs. If, like me, you were a big fan of the film, this video is priceless - watch it if you feel like a good laugh.
Buffalo Bill stitching his 'woman suit' together
Killer who uses his victims bones and skin for furniture? Leatherface in Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre's bone sofa
created by art director Bob Burns
Finally, here is Ed alongside some of the world's other most notorious killers, as drawn by my tattoo artist last year - can you name them all? 



Happy May Monster Madness everyone!




30 comments:

  1. Fascinating info here! Never actually heard of this guy before so its pretty cool to read about especially the similarities and inspirations for some the most iconic horror movie killers

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    1. Thanks Lexi! He was a pretty fascinating little man, old Ed - you'd never pick him for a ghoul would you? Hope you're having a great weekend :)

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  2. Truly one of the most horrifying tales in history!!! "Skin" crawling to say the least ;)

    His alter ego Norman was the subject of my post this year. Great minds think alike!

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    1. Haha love that - 'skin' crawling is right!

      I can't wait to pop over and read your post about Norman! Hope you're having a wonderful weekend :)

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  3. A truly creepy villain who inspired so many of my favourite films.

    LOVE your tattoo <3

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    1. Thank you Yvonne! I'm pretty happy with how it's coming along - will post pics when it's all finished :)

      Hope you're having a wonderful weekend - I'm loving this blogfest!

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  4. Ed Gein is the epitome of sick and twisted... I've done a research paper on him. Fascinating... he also had tons of junk (and nasty build up of rotten food) like a hoarder, which also inspired the house setting in TCM.

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    1. He sure is Annie, and not someone I would have ever picked to be such a ghoul. I would love to read your research paper on him, is it online?

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  5. All I could think of while reading this was the way the Nazis used the skin and bones of the victims of their concentration camps to make material, furnishings,etc. The documentary films they made of their victims and how they tortured and killed them are as bad or worse than any horror movie I've ever seen. Ed Gein would have fit in nicely with them.

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    1. You're absolutely right about those Nazi documentary films Lucretia, and about Ed fitting in with them - he was inspired by what they did with their victims' bodies, and the police found many periodicals about Nazi atrocities in Ed's house when they finally arrested him. Real life monsters all.

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  6. Ed is one of my favourite killers (If I may say so... ;)), he seemed so shy and quiet.
    I understand that he had a twisted mind, but can you really blame him with a childhood like his?
    A wonderful post!

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    1. Thank you Persephone!
      He's one of my 'favourites' too, as odd as that is to say when talking about murderers - I always found his story morbidly fascinating.
      And I know what you mean, with an upbringing like his it's not really surprising to me that he was disturbed.
      Thank you for stopping by, I hope you're enjoying May Monster Madness weekend!

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  7. Intriguing and interesting post. An enjoyable and informative read.

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    1. Thank you so much Fiona, I'm glad you enjoyed it!

      I hope you're enjoying May Monster Madness weekend :)

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  8. Definitely great choices of villains! I loved all the info. At the end, except for Ramirez (and Gein), I don't recognize the serial killers. Maybe Mao and Stalin?

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    1. Thank you so much Lexa, I'm glad you enjoyed it!

      And yep, you're right about Mao and Stalin, as well as Ramirez and Gein. In order, the killers are:

      Top - John Wayne Gacy, Ed Gein, Josef Mengele, Mao Zedong
      Bottom - Ted Bundy, Josef Fritzl, Richard Ramirez, Josef Stalin

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  9. Big Texas Chainsaw fan...Ed just makes it better for me!

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    1. Haha me too Ked! Hope you're having a great MMM weekend!

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  10. Ed was quite the sick little puppy wasn't he?! Wisconsin has the dubious honour of producing Dahmer too.

    Your Norman tattoo is brilliant... of course! :)

    It's great you picked a serial killer for your post. I'm loving all the variety in the MMM posts this year!

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    1. He sure was Emma! And you're right, Dahmer too - poor old Wisconsin, famous for cheese AND depraved killers :D

      I'm pretty happy with my Psycho piece, I can't wait til it's all finished - my tattoo artist has done a great job both in design and execution!

      I'm loving being involved with MMM, it's so much fun! Really enjoying checking out what everyone has come up with - such a great bunch of creepy creatives in this community :D

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  11. You get my vote for creepiest post! Its both repulsive and fascinating to consider how fragile the line is between sane and insanity. Excellent post!

    Ali

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    1. Thank you so much Ali, I'm so glad you enjoyed it! :)

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  12. Wow! Talk about creepy! Thanks for reminding me that real monsters live among us.

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    1. Thanks for popping by Nightwind. They sure do - I never would have picked meek and mild Ed for being such a ghoul, I think that's what makes him (and other monsters like him) so morbidly fascinating.

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  13. Your post creeped me out!! Totally excellent! I'm not going to bed till late tonight! LOL! Love your tattoo! The video was fantastic! Put the lotion in the basket! Silence Of The Lambs, still freaks me out today!
    Big Hugs and thanks again for a fantastically scary post ;)

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    1. Thanks Magic Love Crow!

      I'm so glad you enjoyed that video, it always makes me giggle :)

      I'm looking forward to getting that tattoo finished really soon and will post pics of the final result - my tattoo artist has done such an amazing job for this little Psycho fan!

      Big hugs to you too, thank you for stopping by xx

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  14. Though I love a great horror story/movie and am intrigued by serial killers, in later years I have grown increasingly uncomfortable with the fascination with all these incredibly misogynistic violent men, and the rape/torture obsession in TV shows and movies.

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    1. Hi Ms Misantropia, thank you for stopping by. I understand your discomfort. My interest in monsters like Ed Gein is academic in nature - it comes from a place of trying to understand what is perhaps not understandable, that is, what could possibly drive someone to commit such heinous acts. I think this could be what filmmakers and authors are trying to do also - Robert Bloch once said, "the real horror is not in the shadows, but in that twisted little world inside our own skulls."

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  15. Lots of cool stuff here. Welcome to the wonderful world of Monster Madness =)

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    1. Thanks Maynard! I have really enjoyed my first MMM, it's been great visiting everyone's awesome blogs and checking out what they came up with!

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