In the very last scene of Netflix’s Monster: The Ed Gein Story, teenagers steal the killer’s gravestone. This scene is inspired by true events. Ed Gein’s gravestone had such a complex history that his grave is now unmarked.
Ed Gein was buried next to his mother
He died on 26th July 1984 in the Mendota Mental Health Institute in Wisconsin. Ed Gein was buried between his mother and his brother in the family plot in Plainfield Cemetery. His grave is a matter of metres away from that of a woman called Eleanor Adams, whose body he dug up.
@freyzel_productions The craziest thing about Ed Gein’s burial plot #cemeteryexploring #famousgraves #weird #fyp #cemeterytok
People used to steal parts of Ed Gein’s gravestone
Many people interested in Ed Gein used to pay a visit to his grave, then carve off part of the gravestone to keep as a memento. This photo from 1999 shows how worn away the gravestone became.
(Credit: Bryanwake)
Someone also carved the number 666 onto the top.
Yes, the gravestone was stolen
The caretaker of the grave realised in June 2000 that the headstone was gone. Investigators looked into occult groups, and checked to see if the object was up for auction.
In 2001, a punk music event called the Angry White Male Tour was advertising that the gravestone was among the objects being displayed as part of the tour. The event was organised by a musician called Shane Bugbee, who founded the Ed Gein Fan Club. The Seattle police confiscated the stone, and confirmed it was real.
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Shane Bugbee told Cult of Weird: “I had visited Gein’s homeland a few times, and every time the grave would be trashed… litter, crude and prophane scrawls on the stone and every time, there would be a person trying to have a gentle and sensitive moment visiting their departed loved ones.
“I just felt I was providing a service, to liberate the stone and bring it to those who had a morbid interest or dark ascetic, so it was taken from those who had no interest, those who were disturbed by the presence of outsiders dancing around a serial killers grave and, I brought it to those who really, really wanted to see it… Those who revelled in it.”
Police returned the headstone to Plainfield. The Waushara County Sheriff Department decided not to put the stone back in the grave, as they considered it likely the stone would be stolen again.
Monster: The Ed Gein Story is available on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news and drops, like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook.
