‘Monster: The Ed Gein Story’: Did Ed Gein Really Kill His Brother in Real Life?
Netflix’s new season of ‘Monster’ turns its lens on Ed Gein and leaves a haunting question hanging in the air. The story lingers on the 1944 fire on the Gein farm and the death of his older brother, Henry. Viewers come away wondering if the show’s suggestion matches the historical record or if the drama has taken creative license.
The real case sits in a foggy corner of Wisconsin history. Ed had long been known in Plainfield as a quiet odd jobber who kept mostly to himself. The series folds that image into a chilling portrait of a man whose later crimes inspired characters in ‘Psycho’ and ‘The Texas Chain Saw Massacre,’ which is part of why the first mystery from his life still fascinates people now.
Here is what the record shows. On May 16, 1944, a brush fire on the Gein property drew firefighters to the scene. After the flames were out, Ed reported Henry missing. Searchers soon found Henry’s body on the ground not far from the burn area. He was not burned. The local authorities initially treated the death as an accident. The coroner ultimately recorded the cause as asphyxiation. No one was charged.
Years later, questions grew. A biographer reported that Henry had bruises on his head, which fueled decades of speculation that Ed might have harmed him. Police did not pursue a homicide case and the ruling did not change, leaving the matter in a gray zone that true crime fans continue to debate. The Netflix series plays with that uncertainty, but the historical bottom line is that the death was ruled accidental and remains so today.
The questions about Henry sit next to facts about Ed that are not in dispute. Investigators arrested him in 1957 after the disappearance of Bernice Worden led them to his farm. There they uncovered a scene that stunned the country and later shaped American horror lore. As one Wisconsin sheriff who witnessed the aftermath put it, “You’ve read fantastic fiction of werewolves and such and laughed it off as a figment of your imagination. Well this was too gruesome to even talk about,” and “It doesn’t seem possible.”
Meet the monster who inspired it all.
— Netflix (@netflix) September 4, 2025
Charlie Hunnam stars in Monster: The Ed Gein Story. Coming October 3. pic.twitter.com/DqOeuvPCT2
Ed confessed to killing Worden and also admitted to killing tavern owner Mary Hogan. He spent the rest of his life in a state hospital after being found legally insane. Those confirmed crimes, not the unresolved questions about Henry, are what cemented his infamy and influenced fictional killers that followed.
So did Ed Gein kill his brother in real life. The best answer is that the official record says no. The cause of death was accidental asphyxiation. Suspicion has swirled for decades and storytellers continue to explore the possibility, but law enforcement never brought charges and no new evidence has changed the ruling. The show’s tense depiction keeps the debate alive, while history keeps the case where it has always been.