In this paper I will be applying the psychological theories to serial killer Ed Gein. Ed Gein was a prolific serial killer in the 1950’s. He murdered and robbed graves for body parts to make furniture and clothing. He was apprehended in 1957, where he stood trial and was institutionalized. Edward Theodore “Ed” Gein was born August 27th, 1906 to George and Augusta Gein. He was the youngest of two children. A growth on his left eye caused him to have a lazy eye, which subjected him to teasing. His father was a abusive, raging alcoholic and his mother was fanatically religious. Him, his mother and his brother were regularly abused by his father, George. I believe this was a building block to his psychosis. His first instance of the …show more content…
After his mother’s death Ed’s mental started began to degrade. He stopped bathing and boarded up all the rooms in the family home but 2. He also experienced frightening hallucinations. 18 months after he death, Ed dug up his mother’s body, removed her head and shrunk it. This was his first experience in grave robbing. Between 1947-1951 he began robbing graves of middle aged women who reminded him of his mother. Taking their body parts. Though he never sexually abused the corpses, his compulsions for dead human flesh classifies him as a necrophiliac. Ed’s upbringing and the seclusion from others by his mother’s deceit and fanatic religious practices influenced his behavior greatly. He never had a girlfriend or a wife, so he was not good with women. He was quiet and shy. His familial situation was a big contributor to his psychosis. In 1946 he began stalking and abducting victims in Plainfield. The first believed to be Victor Travis, the only man known to be killed by Ed Gein. Next was Evelyn Hartley, 15, her body was never found. These were his “practice kills” before killing the middle aged women who reminded him of his mother, strong and …show more content…
The verbal abuse from this mother and physical abuse from his father shaped Ed into the man he became. His education level could have played a factor as well, but the fact he could read made him educated criminal. Ed’s subservience to this mother also played apart in making him introverted. He was taught that women were dirty and evil, which made his mother a saint in his eyes. His mental state was damaged as a child and later released as an adult. The events in his life, made it highly likely that would commit a crime or crimes as an adolescent or adult. Schizophrenia was the roots cause of his compulsions and delusions. Schizophrenic individuals often exhibit illogical and incoherent thought processes, and they often lack insight into their behavior and do not understand reality. A person with paranoid schizophrenia also experiences complex behavior delusions that involve wrongdoing or persecution. He was not delinquent as a child, it wasn’t until late adulthood did he began to show signs of deviant behavior. Robbing grave, stealing body parts and murdering women. His ten year crime spree and heinous acts earned him the title of prolific. So much so that many horror movie villains were based on
His killings began in 1978 and lasted for thirteen years until he was caught in 1991. His victims were mainly men of colors, the majority of them being african-american. He would lurk around gay bars until he found someone, and lured them home with some type of promise; whether it be money or sex. He would then offer them alcohol that he laced with drugs, and would proceed to strangle them. He often engaged in necrophilia with the corpses before he would dismember and dispose of them.
A famous serial killer that went by The Plainfield Ghoul. Why exactly? The reason he’s called “the Plainfield ghoul” is due to the ghoulish acts he committed, He dug up nearly 45 bodies and dismembered them, and used their body parts for personal use around his house. Why Did He Do It?
He wasn't thinking when he was doing the things that would get him in trouble. He would just fight people just to fight them or with his parents. It started to get worse because one day he came home and was going into his parents things and saw 3 tickets. He was confused because there is 4 people in his family. Then right after that he found the unwound papers so he ran away from his home.
John Wayne Gacy, Aileen Wuornos, Richard Ramirez and are all widely known notorious serial killers who in common, share the feeling of abandonment, neglect, and abuse during their adolescence years. Studies often show a traumatic experience can lead to mishap in one’s psychological and physical behavior which can cause anxiety, alcohol and drug use, low self-esteem, withdrawn, dissociation, difficulty with making and maintaining relationships, experiences flashbacks, hypervigilant, self-harm, and criminal activity. Since these killers had to endure a troublesome childhood, they were destined to become criminal masterminds. John Wayne Gacy was a U.S. serial killer who was found guilty of killing thirty-three boys and young men. He had an abusive childhood and struggled with his sexuality.
Growing up, he had to learn how to take care of himself due to the fact that his mother had died young and his father did not show much attention to him. Although he grew up in a home with a devilish brother and a manipulative father, he somehow developed into a character with good instincts. The fact that he had to take care of himself and not have anyone to depend on was a huge factor to that. Steinbeck writes, “When a child first catches adults out—when it first walks into his grave little
Edmund Kemper is indeed a serial killer. In this case study, I will examine the various factors that contributed to his drive to kill. Besides examining his motives and studying the symptoms that allude to mental illness. From a research standpoint, it could have been an abusive childhood, acute paranoid schizophrenia, and antisocial personality disorder that led Kemper to become the so-called “Co-Ed killer”. Edmund Kemper was born
His mental health started to decline as his family life became less than ideal. He developed alcoholism and a drug problem.
His dad was an alcoholic while his mother was very religious whom he was super devoted to. His parents only stayed together due to their religious beliefs about divorce. Gein and his family lived on a farm in hopes of avoiding people from influencing Ed and his brother. Ed spent a large portion of his time going to school and doing chores. Gein never left home or had interest in dating.
Convicted murderer and cult leader Charles Manson were once quoted as saying “You expected to break me? Impossible! You broke me years ago. You killed me years ago”. On the surface, this statement may sound like brass bravado.
There are several Psychological theories that could contribute a path to delinquency. They include psychodynamic theory, the attachment theory, the moral development theory and the behavioral theory just to name a few. In researching information on Eric Smith, I believe he had several underlying issues that contributed to his violent senseless crime against a helpless little boy. I feel the lack of moral development was a huge factor that caused this youth to explode. Eric Smith was 13 years old, in 1993, when he murdered Derrick Robie, a 4-year-old little boy.
He was just a boy, an innocent victim with no one to console him or counsel him. His sense of shame dragged him down into a lower state of mind. The abuser, who one might think would have been his salvation, instead became a monster and betrayed his
6.) Changes in school: He dropped out of school in third grade and began raising himself. 7.) Traumatic experiences in childhood: After killing his brother and his family abandoning him he was taken advantage of. 8.)
His fatal depression was caused by the destructive personality traits such as his insecurity and selflessness.
Ted Bundy was a notorious serial murderer who’s reign of terror lasted from 1974 to 1978. Bundy was convicted of three homicides and was sentenced to death for all three charges. However, at the time of his execution, Bundy confessed to 30 murders however the exact number of victims is still unknown. Bundy’s crimes evolved over time but he was both a sexual sadist and a necrophiliac serial killer. At the beginning of his rampage, Bundy would sneak into the victims house in the middle of the night, violently attack them while they were sleeping with a blunt object and then Bundy would usually sexually assault them.
On his expedition of digging up buried bodies, he seeked out help from Gus, a silly farmer, but once Gus had been admitted to a home due to his old age, “Gein became desperate for fresh trophies”, which is what led him to murder the two women. It was after the death of his mother, that Gein began creating a “woman suit”, which he would wear, because he longed to become a woman. Authorities also found out that Ed engaged in necrophilia with bodies he dug up, though he denied it, claiming the corpses “smelled too bad”. One of the police who had questioned Gein, Art Schley, was found guilty of having physically assaulted Ed, by “banging Gein’s head and face into a brick wall.” At the time Gein did not have to attend his trial because of the state of his mental stability, in total he was sent to two mental institutions, one of which eventually became a prison.