Edward Theodore Gein, also known as the Butcher of Plainfield or the Plainfield Ghoul, was an American murderer, suspected serial killer and body snatcher. Gein's crimes, committed around his hometown of Plainfield, Wisconsin, gathered widespread notoriety in 1957 after authorities discovered that he had exhumed corpses from local graveyards and fashioned keepsakes from their bones and skin. He also confessed to killing two women: tavern owner Mary Hogan in 1954, and hardware store owner Bernice Worden in 1957.
1930 US Census with Gein (13th name from the top) in Plainfield, Wisconsin.
Gein's vandalized grave marker as it appeared in 1999 before thieves stole it.
A serial killer is a person who murders three or more people, with the killings taking place over a significant period of time between them. The serial killers' psychological gratification is the motivation for the killings, and many serial murders involve sexual contact with the victims at different points during the murder process. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) states that the motives of serial killers can include anger, thrill-seeking, financial gain, and attention seeking, and killings may be executed as such. The victims tend to have things in common such as, demographic profile, appearance, gender or race. The FBI will focus on particular patterns that the serial killers follow throughout their murders. They will then use on the patterns they find for key clues into finding the killer along with their motives. Although a serial killer is a distinct classification that differs from that of a mass murderer, spree killer, or contract killer, there are overlaps between them.
An 1829 illustration of Irish serial killer William Burke murdering Margery Campbell
Juhani Aataminpoika, a Finnish serial killer also known as "Kerpeikkari" (which means 'executioner'), was one of the most active serial killers of the 19th century, killing as many as 12 people in 1849 within five weeks before being caught.
The 'Nemesis of Neglect': Jack the Ripper depicted as a phantom stalking Whitechapel, and as an embodiment of social neglect, in a Punch cartoon of 1888
Mug shot of serial killer, cannibal and necrophile Ottis Toole