The man behind the monsters

From Norman Bates to Leatherface, from Buffalo Bill to countless copycats, Ed Gein’s crimes birthed an entire archetype—the rural outsider whose madness reshapes modern horror. His story has been retold for over sixty years, not to glorify him but to probe the line between fascination and fear. As Psycho’s Alfred Hitchcock (pictured) once said, “The scariest monsters are the ones who look human.”