Ed Gein's was born and raised until the age of fourteen in Plainfield, Wisconsin.
Edward Theodore Gein ( [ ˈɡiːn ] August 27 , 1906 -- July 26 , 1984 ) , also known as The Butcher of Plainfield , was an American murderer and body snatcher . His crimes , committed around his hometown of Plainfield , Wisconsin , gathered widespread notoriety after authorities discovered that Gein had exhumed corpses from local graveyards and fashioned trophies and keepsakes from their bones and skin .