Shock Docs (2020–…): Season 1, Episode 5 - Ed Gein: The Real Psycho - full transcript

In 1960, Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho
changed the face of horror.

But the most terrifying part?

It was based on true events.

There really was a Norman Bates.

His name?

Ed Gein.

The Plainfield Butcher.

The Body Snatcher.

The ghoul who transformed
the corpses of his victims

into a skinsuit
to remind him of his dead mother.

Gein not only inspired Norman,
but also an entire culture



of cinematic psychos
that haunt our dreams.

Now, 63 years later,
on the anniversary of Ed's arrest,

and for the very first time,
we seek proof and answers.

Does Ed Gein still torment
Plainfield, Wisconsin today?

Mary?
Will the evil spirit of Ed Gein

and the atrocities committed here...

I don't even want to see this.
Oh, God!

...forever haunt
this small Midwestern town?

First day of investigation.

It is November 12th, 2020.

And I'm in Plainfield, Wisconsin.

Population just barely over 900.

I'm here to investigate claims of
the paranormal by local residents

who believe the spirit of Ed Gein,



one of the most monstrous killers in
American history,

is haunting this community.

On the night of November 16th, 1957,

a missing persons investigation
was underway in Plainfield.

Bernice Worden, owner of the local
hardware store,

had vanished that morning
after a visit

from the town's reclusive handyman,
51-year old Ed Gein.

With the suspect
already taken into custody,

investigators executed
a search warrant on his home.

Check upstairs.

By morning, the depth of Gein's
depravity had been fully revealed.

Not only did police find Bernice
Worden's decapitated body

hanging from the rafters,
they also uncovered a chair

upholstered with human skin,
skulls turned into bowls,

silverware made from bones,

a belt made from nipples,

and, finally, Gein's masterpiece,

a suit sewn together
from the skins of multiple women.

Amongst the grisly collection,

police also found the face
of Mary Hogan,

a Plainfield tavern owner
who'd mysteriously disappeared

in the middle of a shift
three years earlier.

Bernice and Mary were the only women
Gein admitted to killing.

The other ten, he had dug up
from the local cemetery

to use in his creations.

Is it any wonder
that many Plainfield residents

believe the spirit of Ed Gein
still terrorizes this area?

That's why I'm here.

Ever since Ed Gein's
house of horrors was discovered,

Plainfield, Wisconsin, has been
a hotbed of paranormal activity.

The activity runs the gamut
of everything from personal attack,

people being scratched, shadowy
figures, disembodied voices,

and some of the residents actually
believe the spirit of Ed Gein

is making them physically ill.

Here, I have several sites of
interest where the inhabitants

and the owners claim to have extreme
paranormal activity.

My goal is to investigate and
interview everybody we possibly can.

And right now, we need to head to
our first location,

which is the original home
of Ed Gein, the Ed Gein Farm.

So, right now,
we're going through the heart

of small town, downtown, Plainfield.

It's so small, it's so remote

that you can imagine how close-knit
it must be.

And when you drive through here,
you can just only imagine

how much the Ed Gein murders
affected this community.

It must of have just sent shock
waves right through the whole town.

Cindy Kaza
is a renowned psychic medium

who can communicate
with the spirit world.

I've asked her to meet me
at Ed Gein's property

and have only told her the basic
details of the case.

As we approach the Gein farm,
I'm definitely getting excited,

got a nervous energy about me,

I just wanna get out there,
see what I can see,

feel what we can feel.

Yeah, that's it.
That's Ed Gein's farm.

Right there's the gate.

It's kind of an ominous feeling
just being here in this spot.

This will be the first time
in history

anyone has been allowed
back on the property to investigate,

just five days before
the anniversary of his arrest.

In the months after the murder,
the Gein farm

became a ghoulish attraction visited
by locals and tourists alike,

eager for a glimpse
of real-life horror.

But that all came to an abrupt end
in March of 1958.

The farm where Ed Gein lived

and where much of the grizzly
evidence has been found,

has been levelled.
It burned down one night.

All these years later,
trees and brush have overgrown

most of the farm site. But Cindy
should still be able to sense

if the ghost of Ed Gein
still lurks nearby.

I want to see if Cindy can sense
where the house was

and tap into the paranormal energy
on the land.

Cindy. Steve, good to see you.
Good to see you, too.

How's it going? Good. Thanks so much
for coming out. Absolutely.

So, we're about to walk into
a lot of energy that I worry

could affect us mentally and
emotionally, so just be on guard.

OK.
Yeah. Absolutely.

I couldn't agree more.
Yeah.

Yeah. There's gotta be
something really significant

about this area right here.

It's like, I keep feeling there,
but then they're like, "No, go back,

stand right here, stand right here.

This is where you need to be."

So, I need to trust it. So, it
should be right...

..right there.

You're spot on. This is exactly
where the Ed Gein farm house was.

It's super intense here.

So every... Everything has energy
attached to it.

So what I want to do
is touch the ground

and see what feelings or images come
to me when I do that.

Oh, wow! That's not good.

I-I-I just keep seeing blood.

I keep seeing throats being slit
and blood pouring out of the neck.

Is there a hill?

Or is there, like, a...

any part of this land
that has a little bit of a hill,

or a mound or something?

I think there's a bit of a slope
like that about 20 yards this way.

A mound. The hill...
I keep...

I keep seeing it, but I keep feeling
there are bodies buried there.

There's bodies buried there.
There's more...

There's more death on this property
that happened.

And... And there are pieces...

of remains spread out on this land.

OK. Um...

In my mind,
I see this flash of a woman.

And this woman, she's wearing
like a nightgown,

like a sleeping outfit.
She is standing right there.

I can see her, she's following us.

I see her. Like she is... It's kinda
like she's stalking us, Steve.

She's very, very aware
that we're here.

And she's not happy about it.
I can sense her.

I sense her.
I honestly feel like it's mother.

I feel like she's here, honestly.
I feel like she's here.

And she's also protective of her
family's reputation.

She doesn't like it.

I believe that Cindy is picking up
on the spirit of Augusta Gein,

Ed Gein's mother.

We've only been on the farm here for
a few minutes

and she's already tapping into
Augusta's energy.

Mom, Mother,
is calling me a little witch.

She's...she's calling me a witch.

I feel her spirit still.

Her spirit still walks around here

and she is really pissed off that
I'm here,

because I'm doing the devil's work,
in her mind.

I sense her.

I honestly feel like it's Mother.

I feel like she's here. Honestly,
I feel like she's here.

And she's also protective of her
family's reputation.

So anytime we start to dig up dirt,
she's not gonna like it.

So the more that we uncover...
She doesn't like it.

She was an extremely
dominating force. Yeah.

From Ed's psych evaluation,

it's clear Augusta shaped her son
into the madman he'd become.

With Ed's father
consumed by alcoholism,

it was Augusta who ran the household
with an iron fist.

A domineering religious zealot

who taught her sons
that women were evil.

After his father died of heart
failure in 1940,

and his older brother Henry
was killed

in a suspicious fire
on the farm in 1944,

it was just Augusta and Ed
living together.

Townsfolk thought Ed was a little
weird and kind of effeminate,

peculiar for never starting a family
of his own.

No one really knew the half of it.

For this small Wisconsin community
of under 700 persons,

they remember the shock and the fear
that suddenly gripped them

when the grizzly tale of Ed Gein
became public.

Well, I've known him
ever since he was a little boy.

And he seems to be a little odd.

Odd? Odd. I always figured
he was just perfectly harmless.

Augusta died in 1945 when Ed was 39,

and that's when his behaviour
started to change.

Could it be Augusta's
hold on her son was so strong

that she controlled him
from the grave?

And I think that's exactly the
energy that Cindy is picking up on.

And it's extremely unpleasant.

I feel we're gonna uncover deeper
things...about this property itself.

A night investigation here,
I can only imagine. Yeah.

This entire investigation
of everything, be careful.

We should probably trek out
of here. You ready? Yeah.

We just got done
walking the Gein Farm.

I can tell you the energy here
at the farm is extremely powerful.

I can feel it, Cindy's picking up on
a lot of different things.

I think we're gonna stop now.
We need to head into town,

get our bearings and come back
with more information.

But we are definitely coming back
here for a full-on investigation.

While Cindy regroups before
tonight's investigation,

I'm headed to Worden's hardware
store in downtown Plainfield.

That's where Ed murdered Bernice

before bringing her back to his
house and stringing her up

and gutting her like a deer.

The theory is after Augusta died,

Ed was so devastated he would
do anything to bring her back.

The Worden's hardware store is one
of the most infamous locations

involving the Gein murders.

On November 16th, Ed went there

under the guise
of purchasing antifreeze.

Bring your jug?

But most people believe his
real goal was to kill Bernice,

who reminded him of his dear mother.

'Do it now.

Be careful.'

Some people even claim
that Ed heard Augusta's voice

urging him to do
these terrible things.

Do it, Ed. Do it now!

No!

After Bernice's murder,
fewer and fewer people

wanted to step foot
in the hardware store.

It went out of business
and the building was sold.

It's now a storage facility.

The current owners feel like
they're being watched all the time

and there
are unexplained cold spots.

And one time, a glass flew off
the shelf and broke on its own.

Ed Gein confessed to killing Bernice
Worden inside this building,

but the question remains, why?

The theory is
that he targeted middle-aged women

who resembled his mother
just to use them in his skin suit.

Hey, Cindy.
What's up, Steve?

Here you go.
Thank you.

OK.

Worden's Hardware store.
Right.

We know Ed killed Bernice Worden
right here in this very shop.

And I'm wondering if the
evil from that brutal murder

remains here to this day.
Right.

Is Worden's even haunted?
And if so, by who?

Also, I wanna see if you can
pinpoint and sense

the exact location
where Bernice was murdered.

I've got devices
set up in multiple spots,

I've got infrared light covering us.

I think I want to
just kind of take a second

to feel into...where I'm drawn.

I'm here, right. I'm here,
but I'm also...at his house.

I can't separate my visions
from here and his house.

That beeping, where is that
coming from? That's the REM pod.

This device alerts
when a spirit is in close proximity.

Is somebody here with us?

I wanna do some automatic writing in
here,

but, in all honesty,
I'm a little bit afraid

to open myself up to the energy
of this...this case.

So, I'm gonna do it,

because I think it will help us
put some pieces together,

but I'm gonna need you to make sure
to watch my back. OK.

In case things get really weird.

100%.
Yeah.

This is insane, Cindy.
I know.

So you can sit right there and you
can put your lantern on the table

and your tablet.
OK.

Automatic writing is a technique
Cindy uses

to open herself up
to the spirit world.

She's hoping to connect directly
to Bernice.

But the REM pod beeping is nonstop.

Honestly, every time I
try to tap in or I start zoning in,

they go off.
It's like a distraction.

It's almost like...
to stop me from getting answers.

Cindy's only been in Worden's
for a matter of minutes

and already the activity is through
the roof.

And now something is beginning
to target her specifically.

OK, so the woman...who worked here,

the woman who had died,
he...he hit her on the head.

Bernice was actually
shot in the back of the head.

That's what you're picking up on.

That's the hit to the head.
And then it also said

that like he led her
or she led him to get something.

Je must have come into the store
to get something or tricked her.

I feel
that's very much what happened.

It's exactly what happened.
It's what happened.

He came in here to buy antifreeze.
Oh, my God!

I honestly don't feel
that her spirit is...is here.

It's not stuck here. I feel like

there's some psychic imprinting
thing that could happen,

or memory
attached to the building... Right.

..but I don't feel like she's...

..stuck here.

If you don't think Bernice is here,

what do you suspect is the activity
that the owners' describe?

The feeling of being watched?

Honestly, the thing with Ed
is that I feel once you start

tapping into his presence
or his energy, it follows you.

It follows you. It can be anywhere.
Once you're on that land,

it's like it gets into you.

Let's go take a look.

A lot of broken glass right here.

It sounded like knocking or tapping.

What was that?
Your camera died?

It's insane, the battery drain
in this building.

Everything's dying.
There was a knocking.

I heard it. I heard it.
If your camera is dead,

go ahead and put it down
and go get the SLS system.

Let's see if we can capture
an anomaly here.

Throughout
the investigation tonight,

we've used a lot of different gear,

but right now,
I'm gonna focus on using an SLS.

Basically, the SLS shoots out
a pattern of infrared lights

and anything that's
three-dimensional, like a person,

will appear on the screen
as an anomaly.

Well, whatever and whoever
is in this building...

..likes to mess with people.

My ear just started ringing.

It's weird.

His spirit is definitely here.

His energy
is definitely in this building.

Mm-hm.

It's right next to you, Cindy.
I mean, right next to you.

I feel something coming close.

Oh, God!
Are you OK?

Yeah. No, I just had an image
of my ear being chewed off,

like bitten off.

There's something building,
it's coming right behind me.

I feel it in my chest.

Something with my ear
being sliced off.

If this is you, Ed, are you
threatened by Cindy's presence?

Her ability to call these things out
as she sees them?

And now it's gone.
Hm.

I feel like he's not gone, though.

I'm trying to feel where...

..where the trail...
where the body would've been.

Where did this happen?

It's almost like
I wanna be right in here.

I do have something here
that may be able to help us.

Ed Gein used the excuse to come here
to Worden's hardware store

because he needed antifreeze.

This could be
a perfect trigger object.

Using a trigger item
helps to remind the spirit

of something
that's important to them,

to entice the spirit to communicate.

Was this the spot, Ed?

Is this where it happened?
Can you set the record straight?

Ed, is there more bodies
on the farm?

Yeah.

Sounds like Ed has more to tell us.

I definitely think there's a lot
more to the story.

There's no question in my mind, we
contacted Ed Gein tonight. I agree.

This is a really dangerous space
to be walking in.

So, that investigation
was extremely intense.

I had no idea we were gonna capture
that much activity,

or that Cindy was gonna tap into
Gein's energy,

basically right off the bat.

He can interact with us, he's aware
of our presence,

and he is trying
to communicate with us.

We are definitely dealing with
an intelligent being,

it's an intelligent haunting.

The old Worden's hardware store
in Plainfield Wisconsin,

definitely haunted.

During
the investigation at Worden's,

I truly believe that the spirit of
Gein was trying to attach

or attack or harm Cindy,
because she's a woman.

All of Gein's victims were female.

And I believe
he was trying to get to her.

Tonight was our first night on the
Gein investigation

and...man, it was intense.

As a woman on this case,

I feel like I'm a target.
I feel like Gein wants to harm me.

I feel like
I'm a walking trigger object.

And being that this is only day one,

I really have no idea what we're
in for,

but I know that I really need
to keep my guard up.

Now that we know that Worden's
is haunted,

I'm curious if other locations
around town are haunted as well.

Many of the locals claim
that the old Waushara County Jail

is actually haunted.
That's the jail where Ed Gein

was held and questioned
by police for three days.

Bernice was murdered
inside her hardware store

on the morning of November 16th.

Less than 24 hours later,

police found her decapitated body
hanging from Gein's ceiling,

gutted liken an animal.

Inside a nearby burlap sack,

they discovered her head.

Police quickly found Ed having
dinner at a neighbour's house.

They arrested him and brought him
down to the station.

For the first 30 hours
of his arrest,

Gein refused to talk to the police.

He initially denies everything.

How long? Huh?

How long has this been going on?

I got a tip today that a local
paranormal investigator

named Michelle actually visited
the old Waushara County Jail,

which is now a museum.

She claims she was physically
attacked by Gein himself.

So, tomorrow I wanna meet with her

and learn everything I can about
her experience at the old jail.

But I wanna do it by myself
without Cindy.

I don't want Cindy to have any
information about the case

or how or why the old jail
could be haunted.

Hi. Thanks so much
for meeting me out here.

Nice to meet you.
You too.

You've got some evidence
for me to check out? I do.

We were investigating the jail
at Waushara County

on some EVP and you could hear him
say "Ed" and then "Edward".

Felt a sensation
on the back of my neck,

and all of a sudden
there was a burning sensation

from the right to the left,

and it felt like
I was being scratched.

Since then, I actually feel that...

he still is somehow attached to me.

So...

You seem pretty shook up right now
just even talking about it.

Yeah, it...it bothers me, actually.

I really appreciate you doing this.

I know it probably feels like
opening up wounds again. Yeah.

But we're just really trying

to get to the bottom of what's
happening here in Plainfield. Yeah.

Let me play the video recording you
and your group captured at the jail.

Edward.
That's incredible.

What's your name?

And this is the cell that he was in
for four days.

You can start seeing
my body language.

Like, that's when I started feeling
something in the back of my neck.

"Eat them."

"Eat them."
That's exactly what it says.

He's there, he hasn't left.

From right... From right there.

Right there. Yeah, you can see it.
Right there. Yeah.

Once again, it's interesting.
There's some guys in your team

and it didn't go after them. No.
But it went after the female,

which is true to Ed Gein's nature.
Correct.

It's one thing for people to say,

"we believe the spirit of Ed Gein
still haunts our community,"

but you were personally marked.
Mm-hm.

Well, being marked is scary,

because you don't know what's next,
what's gonna happen next.

That's a little frustrating for me,

cos I don't know what his
intentions are.

He is a very strong...presence,

and I think that controls a lot
that goes on in this area.

What Michelle experienced
is truly incredible.

And what's really amazing to me

is she still feels targeted by Gein
even after her encounter.

Now it's time
for Cindy to visit the museum

and see if she can connect to
the old jail that once stood here

and its most notorious prisoner.

All right, Cindy, I'm gonna give you
one of these. Great. Thank you.

It's like I want to come right here.

I'm really confused, cos I feel here
and then... I don't...

Was there ever another one?

Another cell that used to be here
but isn't here any more?

Something like that, yes.
That's why I feel so confused,

cos it's like I feel like it used to
be here, but it's not here.

Like, there's something missing.

Um...

OK.

There's something about this door.

This door feels really important.

It feels...

I feel like this door is right,
other things have been moved.

Something's been moved and changed,
but this is right.

What's shocking to me, Cindy,
is you were drawn to this room.

This was Ed Gein's cell.

And the reason this differs from the
smaller more traditional cells,

is they knew they were gonna be

coming in here
questioning him a lot,

trying to get confessions

and possibly to keep him away from
the other inmates,

because I'm sure they wanted to do
him harm.

The thing that I feel is, is I keep
hearing...I keep hearing him say,

"I think Mother would be proud."
But...

"Mother would be proud
of the work I did."

Like he really felt
he was making his mother proud

by killing these women.

Could it be possible that Ed

was being influenced or controlled
by his mother from the grave?

He's very manipulative though,
the way that he treats people.

He's so manipulative.
The lies, there's so many lies.

So many lies.

So you think he was being pretty
deceitful with his confessions,

not telling everything
or misleading the facts? Absolutely.

My head is getting tingly.
That's really weird.

Let me turn on my Mel Meter.
If Ed's currently here with us,

perhaps we'll see spikes in EMF and
fluctuation in temperature.

Who's with us?

That sounded like a response.
Yeah.

Did you say Ed?

This is crazy.
Yeah.

I mean, this is crazy.
Yeah.

Ed, are you with us?

Interference.

As soon as I turned on my devices,

everything went completely haywire.

The K2, the Mel Meter.

The spirit of Ed Gein
is absolutely here

and the old Waushara County Jail
is definitely haunted.

Huge hits...repeatedly.

This is crazy.
Yeah. I mean, this is crazy.

Yeah.

It was like all chaos at once.
Mm-hm.

Well, I think we got an answer.

Yeah, immediate answer.

I gotta be honest, I don't...

I'm not often afraid

and I don't wanna go so far
as saying that I'm afraid.

I... We have to be really careful.

We have to be really careful.

Yeah. And the crew, everyone.
Everybody. Everybody.

Everybody has to be
really, really careful,

cos we're about to kick the
hornet's nest.

Investigating the jail tonight
was...crazy.

I mean, I definitely believe

there is something going on
with Ed and his mom.

And I really believe that he thought
that if he did all of these things,

that his mom would be proud of him.

And that's exactly why he was
doing all of these things.

What an incredible day.
We definitely made contact

with the spirit of Ed Gein,
we wholeheartedly believe that.

Cindy was able
to tap into his energy.

And with all the information that
we've acquired

and all the knowledge that we now
have,

the next move from here?
I wanna go back to the Ed Gein farm.

We're on the way to the Gein Farm. I
truly believe his spirit,

his energy is plaguing and haunting
the town of Plainfield.

And especially, of course,
his nature of targeting women.

We're also feeling the power

of everything that's been said
about him for so many years.

Nobody can forget this guy's name.

His legacy is burned and just seared

into the minds, actually,
of millions. Mm-hm.

This is about as evil
as anything could be.

We've got everything set up.

I've got the spirit box
located back there.

Right here is the Ovulus.

Over here I've got the REM pod
set up on that stand.

And, of course, the trigger
item, which is the antifreeze can,

basically what Ed Gein used to
falsely gain Bernice's trust

to go into Worden's Hardware store
when he murdered her.

Man, this dark here, it is dark.
I'm telling you, it is dark here.

It's like you can feel...

That feeling of being watched
right now is so intense.

I feel like...

Oh... Oh, that's interesting.

His mother never let him have a
voice or...or a thought of his own.

It was always from her,
it was always what she said.

He never had a voice.

She was the true evil.
She's really evil.

And I keep feeling like she would
say things like,

"I'm gonna get the demons
out of you. The demons out of you."

Right, like already he grew up
thinking he was evil

and women were evil. Everything
around him is evil except her,

so, you know...
But she's really evil, the mom.

As a young child, I...
I'm sad for him.

I'm sad for him.

Because I don't think he was...

I don't think he was born this way.

You think he was created?

I...I feel like
she created a monster.

All right, spirit box session.

Ed, are you here?

Major interference.

Come on, Ed, come through.

I don't know what the hell's
happening right now.

This thing is just completely fried!

Just like at the jail,

as soon as I turn on my Mel Meter,
instantly it began going crazy

with tons of readings.
Something is definitely here,

something is trying to communicate
with us.

I wanna see if Cindy can do
an automatic writing session

and try to tap into and make some
form of communication and contact

with the same spirit.

OK.

Ed Gein,
are you here with us right now?

He wanders the fields...

..in search of her body.

I feel like I'm gonna throw up,
I'm getting really, really nervous.

Like, I don't feel good.

OK.

Oh.

He will not leave this field or
this town until she is with him,

like he wants to be near his mom.

It feels evil. It feels really evil.

It feels just evil. And every time
I feel into the mother,

it just feels so dark!

I started feeling how much of an
effect Ed's mom, Augusta,

had on him and it was overwhelming.

For a moment there,
I just really had empathy for Ed,

because I knew
that he had been abused.

I knew that his mother...
really hurt him.

It's as if I was looking through
Ed's eyes and through his emotions,

and I knew that everything that he
did...was for his mother.

I think it's time to use the GeoPort

and see if Ed
or his mother will speak to us.

Ed Gein, are you here?

Communicate with me.

What is your name?

Gein.

It said Gein.

Why did you kill Bernice Worden?

Ed. Does it. Mom.

Ed. Does it. Mom.

Augusta, are you present?

Be gone. Female voice, be gone.

If you have that intelligence,
prove it.

What is my name?

Steve.

What is my friend's name that came
with me?

Cindy.

It just said Cindy.

Augusta, we would like to
communicate with you. Are you here?

Here. It said here.

Are you OK
with us being on the property?

Stay out.

Why would you want Ed to hurt women?

Demon.

Now I'm asking him in my mind,

where are the rest of the women
that you killed?

Where are the rest of the bodies?
Like where are they?

"There were 12...that died.

He took...

..the 11th...

to the barn."

Oh, God!

I can't...
I don't even want to see this.

He made her wear
his mother's necklace.

Like he would actually
take his mother's things

and put them on these women.

Oh!

Oh, God!

I can't...
I don't even wanna see this.

This is too much.

Dude, this is a lot.

Like, this is so...
this is so intense.

I'm not surprised Cindy is
having such a strong reaction

to the atrocities
Ed committed on this property.

After his arrest, Gein admitted that
he didn't just sew the suit

to bring his mother
back from the grave,

he wanted to crawl inside it
and actually become his mother.

Ed's bizarre behaviour
raises so many questions.

Did he kill and dismember women

because his mother taught him
they were evil?

Was his gruesome craft project
some type of offering to her?

And why wear the skin suit?
To feel his mother's love

or somehow
revel in her power over him?

Honestly, it's gonna take me a while
to shake this location.

Yeah, it's draining.
I think at this point

there's no question that we both
came in contact with Ed Gein,

his mother Augusta, that's clear.

Tomorrow, I wanna go
to the Plainfield Cemetery.

That's where both of their bodies
are laid to rest

and I think that's where we
need to go. Yeah.

Tonight, um...

..is just really tough.

To see what Ed did to these women
and to see...

..how evil this was,
it's just pure evil.

And, you know, I'm supposed to open
myself up

to experience the things in a case
so I can sense what happened,

but I just don't feel safe doing
that any more at all.

While using the GeoPort to
investigate,

voices were coming through the
device that would lead us to believe

that Augusta Gein, Ed's mother,
was responsible, in a sense,

for these murders.
That she was urging and wanting Ed

to kill these poor, innocent women.

At this point, I wanna put more
focus on Augusta

and go out to the cemetery
where she's buried,

where the locals claim to actually
see a female apparition,

possibly her apparition.

And I wanna dig into more of her
story to find out

could Augusta Gein
really be responsible?

Was she influencing Ed
to commit these atrocities?

Cindy, we're getting very close
to the Plainfield Cemetery.

I'm gonna go meet with my contact,
Dave, who's a local here.

He's gonna show me where Ed Gein's
unmarked grave actually is.

And I know you like to go into these
cases blind,

so I'll just have you
kind of sit here in the truck.

That's better for me.
This is a well-known case,

but I want to go in as blind
as possible,

and if I know what people
have been experiencing,

it might affect what I receive.

So it's better that I just get
what I get. All right, excellent.

The Plainfield, Wisconsin Cemetery
is an eerie place.

In one row, you can find Ed Gein,
his brother, Henry,

his mother, Augusta, his father,

and just a mere 50 yards away

is the grave of Ed Gein's victim,
Bernice Worden.

Night two of our investigation,

and Plainfield historian,
Dave Bignell,

has agreed to meet me at the
cemetery on the outskirts of town.

So, Dave, how long have you lived
in this area?

I've lived in this area my entire
life.

There is a lotta...
history in this cemetery.

Ed is buried
amongst a lot of his victims,

a lot of the people that he dug up.

So, this is where
Ed was laid to rest.

You notice his headstone is gone.

That's because people would come in
and chip away at it.

People come in here, steal some
dirt, maybe do some occult stuff.

Black magic? Absolutely. Yeah,
that would be my first thought.

That's very unusual to see
all the hair

and tufts of different feathers.

In addition
to killing Mary Hogan in 1954

and Bernice Worden in 1957,

Gein admitted to digging up corpses
of at least nine middle-aged women

from three cemeteries in the
Plainfield area, including this one.

After carrying a body home,
Ed would get to work,

harvesting the raw materials he
needed for his gruesome creations.

It was the skin he treasured most,

carefully removing it,
then tanning it like leather.

Gein's women suit
may have been his showpiece,

but he also was obsessed
with his victims' faces,

peeling them from their skulls
to create a series of human masks.

This is his brother, that he
is considered to have killed,

although he was
never charged with it.

And his mother...

..whom he wanted
to raise from the dead.

Once again, Dave is confirming
theories that we've learned so far.

One, that Ed
was obsessed with his mother

and wanted to bring her back
from the dead.

'Rise!' And two, he heard voices,
possibly his mother's voice,

instructing him
to kill and rob graves.

Dave, do the locals really believe
that this cemetery is haunted?

The people who will talk about it do
believe that this area's haunted.

If they walk through here
with lights,

they see shadows where shadows
shouldn't be, that are moving.

They can hear screaming
and wailing, mostly female.

With everything that happened over
all those years,

there's a pretty widespread belief
that this is a haunted area.

Do you think the spirit of Augusta
Gein is here in the cemetery?

Absolutely.
It was time to bring in Cindy.

But just as I was about to walk to
the car,

I realised we weren't alone.

We're tired of people like you

coming here and doing this.

You need to leave!

As Dave and I were finishing up
our conversation,

some locals were approaching us very
upset at our presence

here at the Plainfield Cemetery.
This is a place of rest.

They have loved ones here

and they may even be related
to the victims of Ed Gein.

The wound has not been healed here.

I can understand
where they're coming from.

So, out of respect for them, we're
just gonna leave

and see if Cindy can do some
remote viewing of the cemetery.

Cindy, I know you've got the ability
to tap in with remote viewing.

Now can you kind of explain to me
the process?

I'll project myself to the location,
to the cemetery,

and see what I feel,
because I don't actually

have to physically be there
to sense what's going on there.

OK.
Yeah. OK.

When it comes to the location
of his grave,

something has definitely
been changed

that's not just
his stone being moved.

There's another piece
that's missing,

there's another piece that I feel
is hidden from the public.

Something's different.

I'm just sensing that...

Ed doesn't feel
he's actually with his mother.

Even in death...
Ed dug up bodies from graves.

Wow! That's interesting.

I see him in this attempt

to lay down next to her and hug her.

It's almost like he wants to get in
the grave with her

and hold her.

Like if he had actually gotten her
out of the grave.

He used to brush his mother's hair.

There's something with that,

cos I see him
wanting to brush her hair.

Oh, man!

And then the sense I get is...
every woman that he killed,

it's like an offering to his mother.

Like, "See what I did Mom?
See. Look.

This is for you.
I'm doing this for you."

It's all for her.
It's all for Mother.

After she died...

Mother, I'm here.

..he would have conversations with
her in his mind.

In his mind, he was still living
with his mother?

He's still living with his mother.

Like the movie Psycho got it right.

That's exactly it.

Do you really believe that Gein

thought he could raise
his mom from the dead?

I don't feel he thought he
could raise her from the dead

and that
she would start talking again.

I feel like...
he couldn't be without her.

The absence of her,
he couldn't handle.

I sense...on that cemetery...

..he was feeling
something was also watching him.

His eyes would go black.

I don't feel that he...

..even knew
what was happening to him.

In his psych evaluation,
Ed Gein said

he doesn't remember digging up
bodies in graveyards

or killing Bernice Worden
and Mary Hogan,

as if he were in a daze.

So, what caused him
to commit such atrocities?

Did the spirit of Ed's mother

control him as much in death
as in life?

Did he hear Augusta's voice
instructing him

to make a woman suit out of corpses?

Did Ed create that suit
to become his mother?

Finally, did the abuse he suffered
as a child make him hate women?

I do have the GeoPort set up here

because I had so much action on it
at the farm.

I was wondering if you'd wanna
this time participate with me.

Absolutely. Needless to say,
you've tapped into the energy

of Ed, Augusta, numerous times
since we've been together.

And like you said,

even just speaking about them
in this community, they're here. Hm.

So, I feel like,
with the GeoPort right now,

we could try
to get some more answers,

see what we get,
try to connect some dots.

Mm-hm. Yeah, let's do it.

All right.

Ed, did you take some of the body
parts and bury them on your land?

Mound.
The mound! Mound.

You had mentioned right at the
beginning of the investigation

on the farm that you thought there
were more bodies on the land.

Was there like a mound or something?

I keep... I keep seeing it,

but I keep feeling
there are bodies buried there.

There's bodies buried there.

This is so crazy it. I don't know,
now I'm getting chills.

I don't know, but something drove
him to use those bodies

and put them back into the earth.

Ed, are there more bodies buried on
the farm that weren't discovered?

Possessed? Did you hear that? I did.
It sounded like "possessed". Yeah.

Who was possessed?

Ed.

It says "possessed".

We say, who is possessed? "Ed".

I swear it just said,
"Put on the suit."

Really?
That's what I heard.

Are you talking about what you used
to put on, Ed?

Wearing other people's skin?

Oh, my God!

I got chills like...

When you try to enter the mind of Ed
Gein, it's a terrifying place.

It's very terrifying.

Because this is such a pivotal
moment in the investigation,

I wanted to listen to see what we
had captured, one more time.

I've got a lot of things queued up
here on my laptop

that I wanna play you from the
remote viewing session.

The GeoPort, a lot of different
voices will come through it

and sometimes spirits will actually
step over each other,

so when you go back
and really listen,

you'll hear things that we couldn't
hear at the time. Right.

So, I wanna go ahead
and play you some of these.

Oh, my God!
I hear...

"Put on the suit".

That was so clear.
And of course,

we know Ed Gein had a skin suit that
he would put on.

It's a female voice,
as if Augusta's saying,

"Ed, put on the suit".
Put on the suit.

Everything that he was doing...
was to get his mother's love.

He's looked at as a monster.

Is that the lack of empathy
of a psychopath,

or is there
something greater at work?

He was influenced,
but had no idea he was influenced.

Hearing the words, "put on the
suit."

I mean, this kind of evidence
is unheard of.

Ed literally wanted the female suit
so he could become his mother.

I mean, it's just sick.

This investigation
just keeps getting creepier.

I was just contacted by a local
Plainfield resident

who claims he purchased an item
at auction

that he believes
belonged to Ed Gein

and will blow our minds. He's never
shown anyone this object before.

I'm really excited
to head to Tom's house.

He's a local resident here
and I got a tip that he has

some pretty interesting artifacts
of high interest to this case.

So we're gonna head there right now.
I'm really looking forward to seeing

if you can kind of tap into
the items he has

and see if you can connect any dots.
I can do what's called psychometry.

So, I can hold an object and sense
the memory attached to the object

or the emotions
attached to the object.

Well, this is my house.

A lot of antiques here, huh?
Yeah.

Cindy, Tom has some very interesting
artifacts that he has set out here,

and I would just like you to see if
you can sense anything.

Skinning.
Skinning.

It's something
involved in that process.

You couldn't have been
more accurate.

Here are two knives that Tom
believes belonged to Ed Gein.

Do you think that these items
were used by Ed Gein?

It feels like
there's memory attached to it.

And I feel like there's some...
something was feeling...

like there would've been evil
brought into the house

or something dark.

So, Tom, let me ask you how did you
acquire these items?

What's the story behind these?
There was an auction that came up,

my wife and I started bidding on.
We're antique collectors.

so they're antiques
and they've got history,

so it's nice to have 'em. The items
that you got from the auction,

you get 'em back to the house here
and what happens next?

Well, I put 'em in the garage

and we didn't have any problems for
a few weeks,

and then, suddenly, I started seeing
a shadow, a tall skinny shadow

going from the garage door,
past the TV and the fireplace

and outside of the house.

But then the birds started getting
sick and dying, two a day.

The rest of my animals
died after that.

My ma died.
Then my dad died on Father's Day,

and then my wife
died on the following Christmas.

Do you think these items
are responsible

for all the tragic
deaths in your family?

Most definitely.

Well, Tom, Cindy's definitely
picking up on a presence

and picking up on a lot of
information that you confirmed.

I think we need to start
investigating right away,

if that's OK with you.
That'd be great. OK.

Our goal's to figure out

if these objects that belonged
to Ed Gein are cursed as well.

I got Jaime now
with the SLS system set up.

I've got the Mel Meter,
I got the REM pod,

motion detector set up there.
Two K2 meters.

I think we should just start.

Ed Gein, are you present with us?

Did you use these objects?

Dude!

Ed, is that you?

Ed, are these your personal items?

What the hell?!

It's like right in front
of the sensor.

Mel Meter's going off,
we're picking up motion detection,

and something is near the Mel Meter
on this side of the room.

Where is at, Jaime?
Is it on this side? Yes.

Ed...I'm gonna take your item here,

I'm gonna set it on this chair.

Now, if that's yours,

let us know.

If that's truly yours,
can you come stand by here?

I feel a male...presence.

Dude, Cindy, I'm not trying to freak
you out,

the fur on your coat just went down
a little bit here.

I don't think a draft did that.
It just kind of went like this.

Did you feel anything? No,
I can just feel this presence near.

I can feel it coming. There's a man
like breathing down my neck.

I swear to God.

I feel like there's a man breathing.

Are you serious?

Oh, my God!

Right now?

The activity is second to none here.

I mean...every meter, the SLS,

we ask it to come to the knife if
it's Gein. "If this is you,

come to your weapon."
I'm just freaked out even more

because we were shown this last
night. I know.

Everything you were saying
last night

is all coming together right here.
Yeah.

He's with us everywhere we go.
He's everywhere.

Last night, we heard a voice
say, "Put on the suit."

Today, Cindy confirms
that this was the knife

that Ed Gein used to make that suit.

It's almost as if Gein
is following us all over town.

And he definitely
wants his knife back.

Tom, you have
one of the most active homes

I have ever investigated
in my life, first and foremost,

but I don't need to tell you that.

I usually keep these out in
the shed because, you know,

after the animals started dying
and people getting sick,

you know, seeing the shadow running
back and forth,

I decided, "Out in the shed.
You can go outside."

Would you consider letting us borrow
this item

to take it to the farm
for our final investigation? Yeah.

I think I'll be OK with that.
OK. We'll definitely return it,

cos I have no plans on adding this
to my collection.

And I'm not taking it
with me anywhere.

At this point, I'd like to go back

to the
Waushara County Historical Society

and really kind of dig into the
archives,

speak to somebody about the history
of the property.

What happened on this land?

So, Lori, of course you know we're
here conducting an investigation

about the Ed Gein farm.

And Cindy immediately upon
stepping up on that land

starting having a lot of visuals.

She was really picking up on

spiritual energy
coming from the land itself.

And she thinks it goes back before
the Geins moved there.

I felt immediately
a Native American history

attached to the land. So I knew that
there was something connected.

And then I kept seeing...

I call them night walkers.

There's something about
these spirits

connected
to the Native American culture

that walk ton he land at night.

What type of history can you tell us
about Ed Gein's property

far before the Geins
actually purchased the acreage?

The Black Hawk War of 1832

was in this area between several
different tribes

and the US military.

It was a very tragic war
and it's estimated

that between 400 and 600
Native Americans were killed.

And when Native Americans
were buried,

they were always buried in...
mounds..

..throughout the whole state.

The battle happened right around
where Ed Gein's farm stands today.

And now the Ho-Chunk tribe

is the largest...
in the Wisconsin area.

Lori, with all this information
and learning about this battle,

do you think they could have left
some type of residue on the land?

Or something causing the paranormal
activity taking place today?

Yes, definitely.

All Waushara County has a lot
of residue from the battles.

Do you think Plainfield, Wisconsin,
is haunted?

Yes...totally.

I suggest you talk
to one of the Ho-Chunk elders,

they'll know a lot more of the land.

So receiving that information was
critical and absolutely amazing.

I would like to get the perspective
from a local tribe,

maybe seek out an elder, get some
information about their history,

and find out
what could these spirits be.

Why is there so much unrest?

Cindy, right now we're about to meet
with Brother Thundercloud,

who is an elder
in the Ho-Chunk tribe in this area.

And he's going to tell us more
about the land, their cultures,

and their beliefs to see if that can
shed some light on this case

and even some of the visions
you were having in this area.

When God created Earth,
God created the human beings.

There were also spirits
that were created.

And these spirits
are in everything that we see.

You know, this sand, this water,

the rocks, the trees, the leaves,

you know, they're all spiritual.

When we were walking on the land
at Ed Gein's farm,

I walked on it and I knew
I was standing on...sacred land.

I became aware of these spirits
that looked like shadows.

And I kept hearing "night walkers".

Do you have anything similar to that
in Ho-Chunk culture?

There are...
what we'd call night spirits.

These night spirits are not...
not all bad.

Our term for spirits is.

It's just plain spirit. They go
about in order to protect us.

There are...good ones
and there are...bad ones.

Bad spirit.

I mean, Ed Gein, and his mother,

they brought a lot of darkness
to that land,

so maybe we were dealing with the
protective good night walkers

that were just trying to protect.

We do believe in
good and evil spirits.

They do exist.

And do you believe those spirits
are still on Earth here today?

Oh, yes, they're here.

Brother Thundercloud told us

that night walkers could be good
and like soldiers on a the land,

or they could be evil. So what are
we dealing with on the Gein farm?

Is it good...or evil?

Knowing this information
can help us decipher

what's going on at the Gein farm.
So we definitely need to go back

and figure out what the heck
is going on?

Walking into
the final investigation,

we know that Ed Gein's mom, Augusta,
is part of this haunting.

And we know that Ed's here.

Ed Gein is everywhere in Plainfield,

but many questions remain.

Was Augusta influencing Ed to murder
Bernice and Mary and rob the graves?

Are Ed's victims still here with us,

or have they peacefully
crossed on to the other side?

We have no idea
what's about to happen.

Right now,
we're at the Ed Gein farm.

This is the final night
of investigation.

We are here for answers.
We have two trigger objects,

the knife we believe
Ed Gein used on his victims,

and also we have a Bible
to see if Augusta's spirit

will respond to that specifically.

And what's more,
this is a special night.

This is the anniversary tonight

when the police
converged on the farm here...

..and found Bernice Worden's body

when Ed Gein
was discovered and caught.

63 years ago tonight.

We're gonna do whatever it takes
to find out what is going on.

I have the GeoPort set up,
the REM pod and the Ovulus.

So, Cindy, what I would really like
you to do tonight

is try to tap in as much as you can,

see if you can find out any answers
about the land,

Augusta possibly influencing Ed,

and tell me what you're seeing and
what you're sensing.

What are you seeing? I see him
just killing these women...

..and then having dinner,
like nothing happened.

Honestly, I'm sensing...

so much energy
coming towards my chest.

Really?!

That's...insane.

REM pod hit.

Just like at Tom Dyar's house.

Right now?

I feel his mother.

I feel her everywhere.

All I can hear are screams.

I'm hearing, "The witch is back.
The witch is back."

Turn this on.
So you think Augusta's here?

Yeah. Turn it on.

I can... Augusta!

Augusta. Augusta, is that you?

Are you here?

Here. It just...

Ed.

Can you tell us what this object is?

What is this? Tell us.

A knife. Did it say knife?
I heard it. It said "a knife".

I just felt like somebody running...

up towards my, like, spine.

And like slicing down...
like down my spine.

Like you would be gutting something.

That's what he did to Bernice Worden
and likely to Mary Hogan as well.

After Gein's arrest,
he told a psychiatrist

about a childhood incident in which
he watched his mother butcher a pig

and remembered feeling aroused.

In his mind,
the act of dismemberment

may have been associated
with pleasure ever since.

Did that childhood memory
contribute...

..to Ed Gein's gruesome hobby?

It's back on the knife again?
It's trying to touch...

How is this happening? This knife?

It's exactly what was happening
at Tom's house.

I've never experienced anything
like this ever.

That just said "demonic"
loud and clear. 100%.

What is demonic?

Tell us.

Be gone.

What is demonic?

That sounded like...I heard Satan.

This is really...bad.

Ed, we wanna hear from you.

Why did you hurt those women?

He said Augusta. Ed, did your mother

influence you
to do these horrific things?

Learn your lesson, boy!

Yes.
Are you feeling anything right now?

Is it right on my back?
Yes.

Ed, are you standing
next to Cindy right now?

I just saw him. I just saw an image
of him charge towards me

and go for my neck. Just go...
go for my neck, choking me!

That's exactly what it was doing
on the SLS camera. Choking me!

Are you trying to hurt Cindy
the way you hurt those women?

I feel really bad.

I...I feel really bad.

I seriously can...
All I can hear are screams.

That was a woman crying!

That's exactly what you described.

You think you were seeing
one of Ed's victims? Yes!

I just keep hearing, like,

"Their souls are crying. Their souls
are crying. Their souls are crying."

Like...
Like they're trapped here.

I hear them.

What is that?
Do you hear that woman?!

Are you
one of the victims of Ed Gein?

Mary. That was one of Ed's victims.
Oh, my God!

Mary Hogan.

Three years before killing Bernice,

Ed fatally shot Mary Hogan
at her tavern,

then beheaded and butchered her
just yards from where we are now.

Could her spirit
still be trapped here today?

Mary, are you present?

Something is on the Bible?

Augusta, is that you?

Going for the Bible?
That's not Augusta.

It's one of the women.

And it said Mary.

Mary, are you present?

This is crazy!

It's real.
It's real. It's real.

What's real? Could this be Mary?

Ed? Augusta? or all three?

The activity is off the charts!

I hate this place so much.

I feel like we're in hell. It's bad.
I didn't know it was cold.

I'm telling you,
if we stay on this land much longer,

it's really gonna start
to affect us.

Your mind will be twisted if you
stay on this land much longer.

This is not a place to spend
a lot of time. This is not safe. No.

We can't take that risk.

I know we're dealing with
something really dark.

You can be tricked and think

you're dealing with your loved ones
on this land,

but it's definitely not your loved
ones. You see what I'm saying? I do.

What you're describing is evil.
It's evil.

It's...it's not good. If you're
seeing that and this is happening,

I don't know if we should continue.
I wanna get the hell out of here.

All right, we're done,
for our safety. Yeah.

This is not good.
Let's go. Let get out of here.

Everybody else, wrap it up.

We caught anomalies
again reaching for the knife.

Words like demonic, Satan...
coming out of the GeoPort.

I'm hearing, "The witch is back".

We heard wailing and crying.

Cindy was seeing Gein's victims.

And, of course, this is the
anniversary of when Gein was caught.

It is not safe for us
to be here any more.

All of us
are getting out of here now.

The final investigation at the
farm was super intense.

We caught evidence that, honestly,

is probably
some of the best of my career.

I really feel more affected
by this case

than any case
I have ever worked on in my career.

Throughout our investigation, we
sought out answers

to the biggest questions
and received compelling evidence.

Ed Gein, are you present with us?

Dude!

Was this the work of a man
who wanted to become his mother,

wanting the power, hating women,

wanting to BE a woman?

Did Ed create a suit from women's
skin to become his mother?

Did Ed's mother dominate him
as much in death as in life?

Are Ed's victims
trapped on the Gein farm

where he committed
horrific atrocities?

Gein was a sick and disturbed man.

But what drove him
to commit such heinous acts?

Was it strictly mental illness?

I think all of these things together
make the haunting.

And especially if a lot of tragedy
has occurred on the land,

that can create a haunting
all by itself.

It created, essentially, an evil,
an evil that existed there.

And that evil started not with Ed,
but with his monster of a mother.

The Geins purchase the property,

Augusta actually becomes more angry,
more hateful.

And then we have somebody who is
severely abused and mentally ill.

There are so many different parts
of this case.

It's like a giant pot of soup.

Argh! The effect that Ed had
on the community sadly lingered on

way beyond his initial arrest.

There was no closure
for the longest time,

because he was found mentally insane
and not competent to stand trial.

And when he was finally declared
competent to stand trial,

he was convicted of first-degree
murder for one of his two victims.

People around the world have
actually become fascinated

with the crimes of Ed Gein

and glorified
what he did to his victims.

It literally changed the face
of the horror genre forever.

Mrs Bates. He inspired
Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho.

Characters like Leatherface
from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

He was Buffalo Bill
from The Silence Of The Lambs.

So many movies were made about him
because they're so extreme,

they're so heinous.

Look at this case. Look at Ed Gein
literally committing homicide,

Mutilating corpses, taking their
skin and body parts,

and putting it on his own body.
Wearing a dead skin mask.

Evil is very real. Like,
the movie Psycho got it right.

That's exactly it.

I'm hearing it too. I hear it too.
I was hearing it to.

Weird. I thought that was maybe
one of your chairs.

Shall we cut for a second? It's
strange, because the tapping to me

sounded like it was
coming from the table.

It was like... That's what I thought
too, but nobody was tapping.

I thought maybe one of you was...
No. No.

Strange. Really strange.
I don't see a source.

It's pretty clear that this case

is still trying to affect us
in some kind of way.

I was hearing it as well. Were you
hearing it? Yeah. Yeah.

In all honesty,
I'm really worried about

what's gonna happen after we leave.

Because...
it seems to be a recurring theme

that once you encounter this energy,
it doesn't really leave you. Right.

Evil exists. Evil is very real.

Plainfield is definitely haunted.

I believe Ed, Augusta,
and possibly Ed's victim, Mary,

are still present in this community.

Plainfield, Wisconsin,
will always be known

for the heinous crimes of Ed Gein.

Before we leave town, Cindy and I
wanna make one last stop

to the Plainfield Cemetery and
pay our respects to Ed's victims.

Bernice Worden is buried here,
while Ed's other victim, Mary Hogan,

is buried
at an undisclosed location.

Bernice, we're terribly sorry
about what took place 63 years ago.

We honour your memory...and we hope
to keep your memory alive.

Although the town itself
has tried to move on,

it's clear that the spirit of both
Augusta and Ed Gein still lurk here

haunting and preying on
the community.

Will their spirits ever be at rest,

or will they wander through
Plainfield

searching for each other
until they are reunited?

Will Plainfield, Wisconsin,
ever be at peace?

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