If you’ve spent any time watching true crime documentaries or scrolling through the darker corners of the internet, you’ve probably heard the name Ed Gein. He’s the guy who inspired Psycho, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and The Silence of the Lambs. But beyond the grisly house of horrors found at his farmhouse in 1957, there’s a weirdly domestic question that pops up a lot: did Ed Gein babysit children?
Honestly, the answer is a disturbing "yes."
It sounds like something straight out of a campfire urban legend. You’d think a man who spent his nights digging up graves and fashioning furniture out of human remains wouldn’t be the first choice for a Saturday night sitter. But back in the 1940s and 50s, the residents of Plainfield, Wisconsin, saw a completely different side of him. To them, "Eddie" was just a bit eccentric. He was the quiet bachelor down the road who was always willing to help out.
The Trusted Handyman of Plainfield
Plainfield was a tiny, tight-knit community. People looked out for each other. In a town like that, everyone had a role, and Ed Gein’s role was basically "the local odd-job guy." After his mother, Augusta, passed away in 1945, Ed was left alone on a decaying 160-acre farm. He didn't have a steady job, so he survived by doing manual labor for his neighbors.
He was actually known for being quite reliable. He hauled trash, fixed fences, and helped with harvests. Because he was seen as harmless—a "mild-mannered little man," as some described him—neighborhood families didn't think twice about inviting him into their homes.
Why Ed Gein babysat local kids
While many adults found him a bit socially awkward, Ed seemed to have a genuine rapport with children. He related to them. He was simple, quiet, and didn't have the "sinful" complexities that his mother had warned him about in adult women.
- He often sat at neighbors' dinner tables.
- He played games with the kids.
- He brought them small gifts or trinkets.
Parents in the area actually considered him a great babysitter. He was patient and didn't mind the chaos of a house full of youngsters. In fact, multiple accounts from the time suggest that Ed preferred the company of children because they didn't judge him. They didn't see the "creepy" factor that some of the local men noticed when they shared a beer with him at the tavern.
Did Ed Gein babysit children safely?
This is where the story gets really bizarre. Despite the unspeakable things happening in his house—the items made of skin, the "woman suit," and the remains of his victims—there is no recorded evidence that he ever harmed a child he was hired to watch.
One of the most famous stories comes from the family of Bob Hill. Ed frequently watched the Hill children. According to local lore and interviews conducted after his arrest, the kids actually liked him. They thought he was funny. He’d tell them stories and play with them on the floor. It’s a jarring mental image: the "Butcher of Plainfield" reading a bedtime story while, just a few miles away, his farmhouse was filled with the trophies of his grave-robbing expeditions.
The dark side of the sit-down
There’s a legendary, albeit chilling, anecdote about Ed and the children he watched. Supposedly, when kids would ask him about the "shrunken heads" he mentioned or the weird things he saw in the woods, he’d just laugh it off. He had a high-pitched, giggly laugh that people found a bit weird but mostly harmless.
One neighbor once asked Ed what he had been up to, and he jokingly replied that he had a collection of heads at home. Everyone laughed. They thought it was his weird sense of humor. They thought he was just being "Old Ed."
The search for missing children
While Ed Gein was never convicted of harming the children he babysat, his arrest in 1957 opened a massive can of worms. Suddenly, every unsolved disappearance in the Midwest was pinned on him.
Specifically, investigators looked into the 1947 disappearance of 8-year-old Georgia Jean Weckler and the 1953 disappearance of 14-year-old Evelyn Hartley. Hartley was actually babysitting when she vanished, which adds a meta layer of terror to the whole "Gein as a babysitter" narrative.
- Georgia Jean Weckler: She disappeared while walking home from school. Gein’s car matched descriptions of a vehicle seen in the area, but no evidence was ever found linking him to her.
- Evelyn Hartley: This case was even more high-profile. She disappeared from a home in La Crosse, Wisconsin. There were signs of a struggle, but again, Ed denied involvement.
Gein actually passed lie detector tests regarding these girls. Experts like Harold Schechter, who wrote the definitive book on Gein titled Deviant, suggest that Ed’s psychopathology was very specific. He wasn't a traditional serial killer who hunted for the "thrill" of the kill. His crimes were largely centered around his obsession with his deceased mother and his desire to literally step into her skin. Children didn't fit that specific, warped obsession.
What this tells us about "The Plainfield Ghoul"
The fact that Ed Gein was a trusted babysitter highlights the most terrifying part of his story: the mask of sanity. He wasn't a monster lurking in the bushes; he was the guy in the living room. He was the person you trusted with your most precious "possessions"—your kids.
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He was the "Invisible Man" of Plainfield. He was so unassuming that he was able to operate for years without anyone suspecting that he was spending his nights in local cemeteries.
When the news finally broke on November 16, 1957, after the body of Bernice Worden was found in his shed, the town went into a state of collective shock. Parents who had left their children with Ed were reportedly physically ill. The realization that they had let a necrophilic killer into their nurseries was a trauma that lasted for generations in that part of Wisconsin.
Key takeaways and safety insights
Looking back at the Ed Gein case, there are some pretty heavy lessons about community trust and the nature of human behavior.
- Nuance is everything. People aren't just "good" or "evil" in a way that’s always visible. Ed Gein was a helpful neighbor and a nightmare at the same time.
- The "harmless" label can be dangerous. Plainfield residents ignored a lot of red flags—his squalid home, his weird comments, his obsession with anatomy—because they liked his work ethic and his quiet demeanor.
- Historical context matters. In the 1950s, people didn't have the "stranger danger" or "true crime" awareness we have now. They trusted their neighbors by default.
If you're interested in the psychology of this, I'd highly recommend looking into the original police transcripts or Harold Schechter's research. It provides a much more grounded, and frankly more terrifying, look at the man than any slasher movie ever could.
To dig deeper into the actual forensic evidence found at the Gein farm, you can research the official inventory lists compiled by the Wisconsin State Crime Lab. These documents detail exactly what was found in the "house of horrors" versus what was mere town gossip. Understanding the gap between the local legend of the "babysitting ghoul" and the forensic reality is the best way to separate fact from Hollywood fiction.