Gein's missing tombstone finally recovered in Seattle

Marker may be put in museum

Associated Press

Last Updated: June 20, 2001

Plainfield - The stolen headstone of Ed Gein, the Wisconsin grave robber and murderer whose story inspired the Alfred Hitchcock movie "Psycho," has been recovered in Seattle.

Police in Plainfield, the central Wisconsin town where Gein lived and is buried, say they aren't sure what they will do with the headstone once it is returned.

"We could bring it back and put it back in the cemetery, but it would only get stolen again," said Waushara County Sheriff Patrick Fox, referring to the continuing interest in Gein and his story.

The grave marker was taken, along with some dirt from the grave, a year ago from Plainfield Cemetery.

At the time, Fox and others said they expected to find it for sale on the auction site eBay, where vials of the dirt were offered, but that never happened.

Instead, Fox said he got a phone call about a month ago from a woman who suggested a connection with a rock band promoter in Seattle. When the promoter was questioned, police found the marker.

He had been selling rubbings of the stone for $50 each on his Internet site. He claimed he got the rubbings when he visited the Plainfield Cemetery, and that the marker he had was a reproduction of the original stone.

Fox said police did not believe that story.

"It was the same granite stone, the graffiti was the same, and it was chipped in the same way," Fox said.

No one has been charged in the theft and the case remains open, Fox said. He also said details of how the rock band promoter obtained the gravestone are unclear.

For now, the marker is at the Seattle police station until local authorities decide what to do with it.

Members of Waushara County Historical Society are considering placing it in the old jail museum in downtown Wautoma.

Gein was in that jail briefly after his crimes came to light in 1957.

He was arrested for murder when the headless body of a hardware store owner was found hanging at his farm home. The woman's body was dressed out like a deer carcass. Investigators also found parts of other bodies. They concluded Gein had robbed graves and may have murdered other people.

A fictionalized account of Gein by writer Robert Bloch led to the Norman Bates character in Hitchcock's 1960 film classic "Psycho."

Gein, eventually ruled guilty but criminal insane, died in a mental hospital in 1984 at the age of 77.

Fox said Tuesday he is reluctant to discuss the headstone because there has been too much "ghoulish" interest in the stone, which vandals have covered with Satanic symbols and obscenities.

Because of the continuing interest in Gein, Ardis Spuhler, president of the historical society, said it would make sense to place his grave marker in the local museum for safekeeping.