Born at the turn of the century into the small farming community of Plainfield, Wisconsin, Gein lived a repressive and solitary life on the family homestead with a weak, ineffectual older brother and domineering mother who taught him from an early age that sex, women, and anything impure was a sinful thing abominable to God. One time when Augusta, his mother, viciously beat him with a belt because he was caught masturbating. Despite tongue-lashings and the overt physical abuse, Gein adored his mother. He called her a devout Christian woman and a saint. He had little adoration for his father who was unattached, verbally abusive man to the entire family. Shortly after the death of his father, Gein killed his brother out of rage an

According to Erik Erikson’s psychosocial stages of life theory, individuals have to pass through eight developmental stages successively to function adequately as an adult. There are four stages that occur in childhood. Gein’s disruption may suggest that his conflicts began in the second stage, early childhood. This stage experienced by children within the ages of 1-3 years is also called the autonomy versus shame and doubt stage. In this particular phase the child learn to exercise will, make choices, and utilize self-control. If these techniques not learned children usually become uncertain and doubt that they can do things by themselves. Ed Gein’s indecisiveness and dependence followed him throughout his life and played a key role in the onset of his madness and deranged behavior.

Ed ran the family's 160-acre farm by himself. He was alone for the first time. Physically speaking, Gein was an average man with a regular build, brown hair and light eyes. He was simply seen as a shy, harmless and eccentric farmer. Some residents considered him “safe” enough to baby-sit their kids. However, he still missed his family and in his solitude, Gein began to withdraw from reality. Cognition was adequate and working in this man. He had the ability to acquire, store, and retrieve any knowledge and use it. He started reading medical dictionaries and female anatomical texts that lead to a first time interest in women since as a child Gein’s mother insisted he remain unmarried, and

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