The Collector

The Life and Crimes of Ed Gein

De: Mark Stokes

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

Ed Gein—known by many as the “Plainfield Ghoul,” “Butcher of Plainfield,” or simply “The Collector”—lived a life of quiet isolation on his Wisconsin farm. Outwardly unremarkable, he was a reclusive handyman and farmer who rarely left his property. But beneath that ordinary veneer lay a macabre obsession: Gein exhumed corpses from local graveyards and fashioned grotesque keepsakes from their skin and bones, even constructing a “woman suit” from human flesh.

The Collector reconstructs Gein’s descent into depravity, from early trauma and devotion to his domineering mother, to his chilling nocturnal rituals and the murders that finally drew law enforcement’s attention. Drawing upon a range of sources, the narrative takes readers into Gein’s farmhouse—into rooms sealed off during his life, the caches of human parts, and the nightmarish artefacts concealed within. The book traces how investigators pieced together clues, confronted horror, and struggled to understand a killer who blurred the line between human and horror.

Yet The Collector is more than a horror show—it’s a probing look at how isolation, mental illness, and dysfunctional family dynamics can incubate the darkest impulses. It gives voice to the victims torn from their graves, the communities haunted by Gein’s legacy, and the forensic minds who still study his case. Riveting, disturbing, and deeply researched, this book invites readers to peer into a case that inspired horror icons—and to confront what it means when evil masquerades as a quiet neighbor.