Plainfield property where killer Ed Gein lived is up for auction on eBay
Hoodoo
Plainfield property where killer Ed Gein lived is up for auction on
eBay
April 7, 2006
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=413921
Plainfield - Forty acres of woods dotted with long rows of red pine
trees are for sale near this Waushara County community. Asking price -
$250,000.
That's a bit steep for wooded land in central Wisconsin far from
water, even at a time when parcels are getting snapped up for hunting
and recreational use. But it's not so much the land or the nice size
deer that traverse the acreage that has boosted the value.
It's what happened on the property almost a half century ago.
This is the land where Ed Gein lived. Wisconsin's most famous
murderer, until Jeffrey Dahmer, was arrested on this land in November
1957. Inside the ramshackle farmhouse - which burned down shortly
before the property was auctioned the following March - were the
remains of his last victim as well as other horrifying items such as
body parts and clothing made from human skin.
Now the grandson of the man who bought the property at the 1958
auction is selling the 40 acres where Gein's farmhouse and other
buildings once stood. The property was listed this week on eBay by
Mike Fisher, who inherited the property from his grandfather, Emden
Schey.
Under the heading "Ed Gein's Farm . . . The REAL deal!" in the real
estate section of eBay is a photo of the entrance to the property and
a description: "40 acres of wooded land and pine plantation, includes
site of Ed's home, outbuildings, well, private dump & other artifacts
of Gein's life & horrific crimes. This is the first time this property
has been offered for sale since the original purchase. . . . Property
has electric, newer sand-point well, hunting shack & acres of pine and
hardwood. This is not a joke. Serious purchase inquiries only."
Fisher said he grew up hunting and hiking on the land with his
grandfather, who planted 6,000 pine trees on the property, but wants
to sell it now because he's "reallocating funds."
Fisher said he wants to be respectful to the families of Gein's
victims but also wants to sell the land for a price higher than
comparable acreage that might not have the notoriety of this
particular parcel.
"The families of the victims still live here. In all of the time we've
owned it, we have never tried to capitalize on it," Fisher said in
response to an e-mail inquiry.
Fisher, a real estate appraiser, said a similar piece of property
would be valued at $80,000 to $120,000.
"As you can see from the ad I'm asking $250,000 because I'm guessing
there's some kook out there willing to spend the money for his 15
minutes of fame," he said.
Shortly after the eBay ad was posted, the sale of Gein's old farm was
being discussed in forums on skcentral.com (Serial Killer Central) and
Murderauction.com, said Andy Kahan, who is leading a national campaign
against sales of serial killer memorabilia. Fisher didn't know about
that until a reporter told him.
Kahan said Gein memorabilia is very valuable in the small world of
collectors of gruesome gimcracks.
"Ed Gein is like a Da Vinci," said Kahan, victim rights director in
the Houston mayor's office. "If you own something of Gein, it's one of
the top five of that industry."
Whether Fisher gets his asking price is anybody's guess. This week,
the only response to the ad was from a Journal Sentinel reporter.
Kahan, whose efforts to shut down sales of murder memorabilia prompted
eBay to stop listing things such as artwork by John Wayne Gacy and
letters from Ted Bundy, said Fisher is capitalizing on Gein's infamy.
"You're not selling the property for the property sake itself. You're
using the ill-gotten notoriety of one of the country's most famous
serial killers to jack up the price," Kahan said.
But Fisher said he tried not to capitalize too much on the name of the
man who inspired the Norman Bates character in Alfred Hitchcock's
"Psycho."
"The wording (on eBay), I tried to keep it kind of minimal. I didn't
want to add any fuel to the fire that mentioning his name brings in
that area," Fisher said.
Mentioning Gein in Plainfield, though, continues to dredge up bad
memories. On Wednesday, several people didn't want to talk about Gein,
didn't want their names used or angrily asked why another story was
being written about the bachelor accused of robbing local graves.
"It's tough that that's the only thing you're known for," said Delores
Zdroik, as she scraped weeds next to her sidewalk.
Zdroik was living in Milwaukee when Gein was arrested but moved to
Plainfield a decade ago. One time she was wearing a sweat shirt
emblazoned with the name of her community while visiting family in
Milwaukee and noticed a man following her. "He stopped me and said
'Oh, that's Ed Gein's hometown.' "
If the land is sold for $250,000, the sale will help Plainfield's tax
base, said Verne, who did not want his last name used. "I'm sure
nobody around town will buy it."
The property is much like any other in this part of Wisconsin. It's
surrounded by cornfields waiting to be planted. Numerous "No
Trespassing" signs are nailed to trees. Pine boughs litter the ground
next to stumps in an area recently logged.
On Wednesday afternoon, it was quiet. Almost 50 years ago, in the days
after Gein was arrested in the slaying of hardware store owner Bernice
Worden, hundreds of cars clogged the rural roads as tourists drove by
to glimpse the farmhouse. Then thousands more showed up in March 1958
for an open house held before the auction. By then the house had
burned down. Eight sheriff's deputies controlled traffic at nearby
intersections.
At the auction on March 30, 1958, Schey bid $3,883 for Gein's farm
plus another $775 for the homestead site, outbuildings and 40 acres.
At the same auction, Gein's 1949 Maroon Ford was bought for the
then-princely sum of $760 by a man who later drove it around the
state, charging people a quarter to see it.
Schey later sold off some of the land to relatives and friends, and
the 40-acre homestead site was passed down to Fisher and his brother.
Now, it too, is on the auction block.
Fisher prefers prospective buyers to contact him only through the eBay
site.
"I really don't want to turn this into a circus," he said.
------------------------
Former Gein Property Up For Sale
Ed Gein
http://graphics.jsonline.com/graphics/news/img/apr06/gein040706.jpg
Photo/Courtesy of Mike Fisher
Ed Gein was arrested in 1957 near Plainfield, where police found his
last victim. His farmhouse burned down. This recent photo shows the
property.
http://graphics.jsonline.com/graphics/news/img/apr06/gein2040706.jpg
Infamous Site
Map
http://graphics.jsonline.com/graphics/news/img/apr06/geing47.gif
Quotable
Im asking $250,000 because Im guessing there's some kook out there
willing to spend the money for his 15 minutes of fame.
- Mike Fisher,
property owner
Quotable
If you own something of Gein, its one of the top five of that
industry.
- Andy Kahan,
victims rights director in Houston
--
.... --- --- -.. --- ---
deb...@comcast.net
Hoodoo
April 07, 2006
Associated Press
The Janesville Gazette
http://www.gazetteextra.com/gein_propertysale040706.asp
WAUSAU, Wis. - Mike Fisher owns the land where one of Wisconsin's most
notorious killers was arrested - and where body parts and clothing
made from human skin were found - and now it's for sale.
Asking price? $250,000 - probably double what it's worth without its
ghoulish past.
"I am just a guy who got stuck with this white elephant," Fisher said
Friday about the 40 acres west of Plainfield in central Wisconsin that
once contained the ramshackle home of Ed Gein and part of his farm. "I
am tired of the frustrations and the headaches. I have a right to ask
whatever I want for it."
Gein is the grave robber and murderer whose story inspired the movie
"Psycho." He was arrested in 1957.
Fisher, who inherited the land from his grandfather, listed the
property on eBay earlier this week under the heading, "Ed Gein's Farm
... The REAL deal!"
The site received more than 1,200 hits by Friday.
Fisher's sales pitch quickly drew the attention of the man leading a
national campaign against sales of serial killer memorabilia.
"This is probably the highest ticket item in the murder memorabilia
racket that I have seen since I have started watchdogging the industry
in 1999," said Andy Kahan of Houston.
Fisher is linking a horrible crime and the notoriety of it to "hook a
higher price" and that's wrong, Kahan said.
There's a market for anything linked to Gein but it's unclear whether
those kinds of buyers exist when the price is as high as Fisher's
land, said Kahan, victim rights director in the Houston mayor's
office.
"I have not seen land for sale using a serial killer moniker as the
hook," Kahan said. "Without Gein's name on it, it's just another piece
of land. And at that price, no one pays attention."
Gein 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 Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 film classic
"Psycho."
Gein, eventually ruled guilty but criminally insane, died in a mental
hospital in 1984 at the age of 77.
Fisher's grandfather, Emden Schey, bid $3,883 for Gein's farm plus
another $775 for the homestead site, outbuildings and 40 acres in
1958. The farmhouse on the property burned down before the auction.
Schey later sold off some of the land, and the 40-acre homestead site
was passed down to Fisher and his brother.
Fisher, 40, who lives in southern Wisconsin, said he bought out his
brother's interest.
The 40 acres is covered with trees, planted by his grandfather to try
in some way to redeem it from its ugly past, the grandson said. Fisher
and friends have deer hunted on it for more than two decades.
"It is really good for wood ticks and mosquitoes," he said.
But the land is famous because of Gein and that's meant problems with
trespassers and sightseers, Fisher said.
One time, a mortician touring famous crime sites in the U.S. stopped
by, Fisher recalled. "He said his wife wouldn't go on the tour with
him so his sister went because his wife thought it was too freaky."
The man even asked if there were any artifacts for him to take, Fisher
said.
"We have really tried over the years to minimize the impact that this
property has on the community," he said. "No matter, those efforts are
insufficient because of this twisted interest some folks have. I want
to get rid of it and hurt as few people in the process as I can and
just be done with it."
Valerie Wilkins, 50, the clerk in Plainfield, a village of 900 people
about 70 miles south of Wausau, hadn't heard about the Gein land being
for sale Friday.
"Oh, geez. Good grief. OK," she said when told the details. "People
don't feel like talking about that anymore. I am sure for many older
people here it is a bad memory."
Village President John Zouski wished Fisher good luck in getting
$6,000 an acre for the land.
"Land ain't that expensive around here," Zouski said. "It is not going
for that price."
The Gein saga is just such a sore subject in town, he said. "We don't
talk about it. It is one of those things in the past that you just
leave lay."
Hoodoo
Land Is For Sale On EBay
April 7, 2006
TheMilwaukeeChannel.com
http://www.themilwaukeechannel.com/news/8533054/detail.html
PLAINFIELD, Wis. -- The Plainfield property where one of Wisconsin's
most notorious killers made clothing from human skin is up for sale.
Ed Gein was a grave robber and murderer whose story inspired the movie
"Psycho." He lived on the central-Wisconsin property where he was
arrested almost 50 years ago.
Emden Schey bought Gein's farm and 40-acre property in 1958 for almost
$47,000.
Now his grandson, Mike Fisher, is selling the land on eBay for
$250,000.
Click here to find out more!
Fisher said that similar pieces of property are worth in the range of
$100,000, but he said that he thinks someone will be willing to pay
the extra premium to get his 15 minutes of fame.
Gein was arrested in 1957 on charges of 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.
Gein was eventually ruled guilty but criminally insane. He died in a
mental hospital in 1984 at the age of 77.
King Daevid MacKenzie
and was once assigned to the facility where Gein was held before his
trial. Dad told me he expected to have a sense of extreme fear if he
ever had eye contact with Gein, but on the one occasion when there was
eye contact between them, he strangely didn't sense any fear at all. My
mother's second husband, on the other hand, used to read all manner of
gory pulp horror stories, several undoubtedly inspired at least in part
by Gein, but couldn't handle watching the CBS TV-movie of HELTER SKELTER
because the events depicted in it actually happened...
--
King Daevid MacKenzie, WLSU-FM 88.9 La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA
heard occasionally at http://www.radio4all.net
http://www.myspace.com/kingdaevid
"You can live in your dreams, but only if you are worthy of them."
HARLAN ELLISON
