Wisconsin killer, body snatcher Ed Gein’s voice heard in unearthed recordings: ‘Barney Fife with a chainsaw’

Authorities weren’t prepared for the house of horrors that awaited them when they began to investigate Wisconsin farmer Ed Gein.

It was 1957 and the awkward bachelor's filthy farmhouse held a skin-crawling collection that came out of their worst nightmares. They uncovered lamps, mugs, chairs and soup bowls made of human flesh and skulls, a heart in a frying pan, human face masks, a suit made of body parts, as well as jars filled with organs.

Some officers rushed outside, gasped for air and became violently ill after walking inside the dark, dingy property that had no electricity and reeked of death. Inside was a headless body hung up like a deer that had been hunted. It was missing woman Bernice Worden.

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The case that continues to shock the nation over 60 years later is now the subject of a four-part docuseries on MGM+, "Psycho: The Lost Tapes of Ed Gein." It features never-before-heard recordings of one of the most notorious killers in history. The series also features new interviews with true-crime scholars and experts, as well as some of the last living locals who encountered Gein before he died in 1984 at age 77.

"I had no idea these tapes existed," Harold Schechter, author of "Deviant" who listened to the recordings in the docuseries, told Fox News Digital.

"I have always imagined Ed Gein’s voice sounding as one way, but it was totally different – and it brings you so much closer to the reality of the case," he explained. "It was quite eye-opening… I think Gein has become such a mythical character that hearing his actual human voice was revelatory in certain ways."

"I always think of him as a Barney Fife with a chainsaw, this seemingly harmless guy, a bit of a laughingstock," he said. "Someone you wouldn’t think of digging up corpses, bringing them back to his farmhouse, dismembering them and turning them into furniture."

Gein’s crimes have inspired numerous horror films, including "Psycho," "Silence of the Lambs" and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre." But real life was far more terrifying than fiction.

And it all goes back to mother.

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According to the docuseries, Gein was raised by Augusta Gein, a domineering, puritanical matriarch who preached that sex was evil. His father, George Philip Gein, was an alcoholic who died in 1940. Gein’s brother Henry passed away in 1944 at age 43 from asphyxiation following a mysterious fire.

Gein’s obsessive devotion to his mother couldn’t save her. She died in 1945 at age 67 from a stroke, leaving Gein alone in their farmhouse. Her room always remained untouched as both the rest of the property and his mental health deteriorated.

"We know from Gein’s confessions that his mother was a fanatically religious woman who regarded the modern world as a sinful, decadent, Sodom and Gomorrah," Schechter explained. "She instilled in him this deep fear of women, of sexuality. She kept him very tightly bound to her… He was enslaved to his mother, and she made all these efforts to not only keep him tied to her apron strings but to keep him infantilized."

"Even as a grown man, Gein appeared as this little boy who worshiped this powerful goddess that was his mother," Schechter continued. "Gein lived alone for many years with his mother in this very isolated place that was cut off from other meaningful human contact. His mother just became the center of his emotional, and at some level, sexual life. Now, I’m not implying that they had sex, but his sexuality was channeled into this slavish relationship with his mother."

Schechter suspected that Gein attempted to dig up his mother’s corpse shortly after her burial but wasn’t successful.

"After that, he began digging up other women," he said. "Their graves were kind of located in a circle around Augusta’s."

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Investigators later found the remains of 10 women in Gein’s home. It has long been speculated that the body count in the properly was much higher.

Gein admitted to killing two women, including Worden, The New York Times reported. According to the outlet, Gein told authorities he killed them because they resembled his mother. The other victim, Mary Hogan, was a tavern operator.

Schechter said he wouldn’t classify Gein as a serial killer.

"I think he murdered these women because he ran out of corpses of local women who vaguely reminded him of his mother," he said. "Unlike people like Ted Bundy and Edmund Kemper, he didn’t torture his victims – he executed them very swiftly. He essentially was a necrophiliac. He was in love with dead bodies… He turned them into relics… He got some gratification from being surrounded by the dead."

Schechter said he wondered if Gein was "taking some horrible revenge" on his late mother.

"For all the things inflicted on him, he would always proclaim that he had nothing but love and worship for his mother," he said. "But it seemed to be a classic case of protesting too much."

The docuseries revealed that despite Gein being known as the town "oddball," no one suspected him of being a killer or a grave robber. He supported himself as a maintenance person and occasional babysitter.

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"There were certainly rumors floating around from some neighborhood kids I interviewed," said Schechter. "But this wasn’t the kind of thing people would naturally suspect… And he was seen as very simple-minded. His criminal activities were so beyond the pale that no one would possibly suspect what was going on. Even now, decades later, there’s nothing comparable to what he was doing in the history of American crimes."

It was Worden’s son Frank, a deputy sheriff, who became suspicious of the recluse following his mother’s disappearance. A trail of blood was discovered in the matriarch’s shop at the time she went missing.

According to reports, Frank’s concerns led to investigators apprehending Gein. Authorities attempted to connect Gein with other recent disappearances but were unsuccessful.

After Gein was arrested, recordings were made of him being questioned by investigators. According to the New York Post, the tapes were placed in the safe deposit box of a judge. His family uncovered the recordings in 2019, years after he passed.

Gein was diagnosed with schizophrenia and declared mentally incompetent. He spent the rest of his life in mental institutions where he was described as a mild-mannered, unassuming "model patient." Schechter said based on his research, Gein never expressed remorse for his crimes.

Schechter said hearing Gein’s voice today was haunting. But it shows listeners that his story was far more horrifying than any Hollywood tale. 

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"Many of the people who analyzed Gein aren’t around anymore," he said. "The filmmakers dug up a lot of new material. And scholars interested in the case are certainly going to want to study this. It’s like finding a new letter by Jack the Ripper."

“Psycho: The Los Tapes of Ed Gein" is available for streaming on MGM+.