Netflix’s Monster: The Ed Gein Story has once again sparked public fascination with real-life crime. Released on October 3, 2025, the newest chapter of Ryan Murphy’s Monster anthology stars Charlie Hunnam as Ed Gein, the real-life murderer whose disturbing crimes became the basis for some of Hollywood’s most chilling horror characters. From Norman Bates in Psycho to Leatherface in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs, all were partly inspired by the horrors linked to Gein’s name.
But this season of Monster doesn’t just retell his well-known crimes. It raises an unsettling question — did Ed Gein also kill his own brother, Henry? While the series strongly suggests foul play, the truth behind Henry’s mysterious death is far less clear.
The show opens with a tense and shocking scene. Ed, played by Charlie Hunnam, is shown killing his older brother Henry (played by Hudson Oz) after an argument about leaving their abusive and controlling mother, Augusta (Laurie Metcalf). In the series, Ed strikes Henry with a log, drags his body away, and sets a fire to cover it up. It’s a chilling way to begin the story — but how close is it to reality?
According to official records, Henry Gein died in 1944, when he was 43. His death was reported as an accident caused by smoke inhalation during a fire on the family’s farm. However, investigators at the time found some odd details that didn’t match up. Henry’s body showed no major burns, even though it was discovered on scorched ground. Some reports claimed there were marks on his head that looked like he might have been hit with something heavy.
The strangest part was how Ed behaved after the fire. He initially told police he didn’t know where his brother was, but later led them straight to the exact spot where Henry’s body was found — as if he already knew. Despite these suspicious details, police didn’t investigate further. They accepted the death as accidental, didn’t perform an autopsy, and quickly closed the case.
It wasn’t until more than a decade later that the world learned who Ed Gein really was. In 1957, he was arrested for the murder of Bernice Worden, a hardware store owner in Plainfield, Wisconsin. When police searched his home, they uncovered horrifying evidence of grave robbing, human remains, and furniture made from body parts. He confessed to two murders and several acts of grave desecration, earning him the nickname “The Butcher of Plainfield.”
After these discoveries, people began looking back at Henry’s death with suspicion. True crime experts and writers have since debated whether Ed’s first victim might have been his own brother. There’s no proof — only strange coincidences and unanswered questions.
Monster: The Ed Gein Story uses these doubts to build tension, suggesting that Henry’s death may have been Ed’s first act of violence. Whether that’s true or not remains one of the darkest mysteries in the story of one of America’s most terrifying real-life killers.
