Ed Gein Biographer Outraged by 'Made-Up' Details of Ryan Murphy’s 'Monster' Season 3
The story of Ed Gein has captivated audiences since Netflix's release of Ryan Murphy's Monster: The Ed Gein Story. While many outlets have reported on whether details in the series really happened, true crime historian Harold Schechter slams the season for its fabrication of events.
Schechter wrote the definitive book Deviant: The Shocking True Story of Ed Gein, the Original Psycho, which has been cited as one of the best accounts of the Wisconsin native’s real-life story. The biographer spoke with the New York Post about the Netflix series's "large percentage" of "made-up" details.
"After watching the show… I mean there is some unauthorized use of my book I feel, but the show veers so wildly from the reality of the case. So much of it is pure over-the-top fabrication. Now I’m mostly upset that all the people who watch the show are going to think they’re seeing the true story of Ed Gein," he said.
He goes on to add that there's no concrete evidence of Gein having participated in autoerotic asphyxiation that was depicted in one of the opening scenes of the season. When it comes to Gein's relationship with Adeline Watkins, played by Suzanna Son, Schechter says it never evolved into what the show portrays.
"They didn’t really have a relationship. You know, she was kind of a publicity hound when all the media descended on Plainfield after the discovery of the crimes. She suddenly came forward as Ed Gein’s girlfriend," he explained.
Above all, Schechter was dismayed by how Murphy depicted Gein as a serial killer, in comparison to other known murderers who took sexual gratification from torture before their victims' deaths.
"That was not what Gein was about. I mean, he did kill these two women, but he executed them very swiftly. He was basically just interested in bringing their corpses home so he could dissect them. He was not a serial killer," said the biographer.
Murphy's Monster: The Ed Gein Story has once again been under scrutiny for glamorizing infamous killers, with Gein having been the inspiration behind movies like Psycho, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and TheSilence of the Lambs. Since Dahmer, many have questioned Murphy's creative freedom to warp details of what really happened.