Ed Gein’s Car
Ed Gein’s car was a hit attraction at the Outagamie County Fair in Northeast Wisconsin.
“LOOK AND SEE THE CAR THAT HAULED THE DEAD FROM THEIR GRAVES!”
Illinois-based carnival sideshow promoter Bunny Gibbons purchased Ed Gein’s car at the infamous Gein Farm Auction in early 1958. “I had the bright idea That people would really enjoy this kind of thing”, he told the press. Gibbons,like the rest of the nation,had been following the Gein case with great interest,and Ed’s humble1949 maroon sedan caught his eye. He was in Plainfield for the auction when Ed’s house was burned to the ground by angry locals and watched in wonder the next day as thousands of cars filled with family gawkers drove by to see the burned remains. Bunny bought the car and had it transported to Illinois where he staged the attraction. He fitted the car with bloody mannequins and severed mannequin parts. He splattered red paint here and there and created blood stains in the upholstery where there had been none before. A sideshow tent and signage was created. The attraction was billed as Ed Gein’s Ghoul Car. “Christ, I spent a lot of money on this thing,” complained Gibbons.The exhibit opened at the Outagamie County Fair in Seymour,Wisconsin in the summer of 1958. Over three days,2000 people paid a quarter each to see the attraction. Bunny marveled at the number of people who just wanted to touch the car.Gibbons was looking forward to bookings in Slinger,Green Bay,De Pere,Sturgeon Bay and Plymouth when he was hit by a wave of concerned citizen groups, angry editorials and threatened lawsuits. Indignation ruled the day. ”Have we stooped this low?” asked one concerned newspaper editor.In Slinger, Bunny was forced to close his exhibit on opening day. Local law enforcement backed up the Women’s League of Wisconsin in shutting him down. In the wake of this closure, bookings dried up and Bunny returned to Illinois.Today, the whereabouts of the Ed Gein car are unknown and Bunny Gibbons has disappeared from history. He will forever be known as the first of many who tried to cash in on Ed Gein. He was ahead of his time. Major commercialization of Gein was still two years away. In 1960, the release of the movie PSYCHO, a reimagining of the Ed Gein story written by Robert Bloch, opened the floodgates. Soon there would be books and more movies, including THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE and SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. No one in the summer of 1958 could have predicted the elevation of Ed Gein from Bachelor Transvestite Grave Robber to the very collectible action figure he is in 2021.