Ed Gein Was the Inspiration for Some Twisted Characters — Are Kids Part of His Legacy Too?

True crime buffs and those who may have watched the entirety of Monster: The Ed Gein Story in one sitting still have questions about the notorious serial killer who died in 1986. In the miniseries, viewers see Ed Gein's complicated relationship with his religious zealot of a mother and the unexpected murder of his brother early on. But did Ed Gein ever have kids and start a family of his own?

There is no question about Gein's actions as a killer and his interest in the macabre. However, there are also reports of Gein being someone that other members of his Wisconsin community turned to for odd jobs, including babysitting. He was never charged with hurting children, and, because of his seemingly harmless relationship with them, some want to know if Gein had kids of his own before his 1957 arrest.

Despite his relationship with kids and being a community babysitter at the time of his murders and grave robbing crimes, Gein did not have kids of his own. Per The Tab, the book Deviant by Harold Schechter confirms that Gein was trusted in his community as a babysitter. Maybe it was his docile manner or soft-spoken voice, but, before rumors circulated about him and he was questioned for murder the first time, he was trusted around his neighbors' children.

According to USA Today, Gein's childhood consisted of an inability to make friends. It seems that only after he grew into an adult was he able to form any kind of friendships or relationships, but even then, they likely did not go very far. He was never married or even engaged. It might have been the doing of his mother, who died after her second stroke, and with whom Gein had an extremely close bond.

However, even after his mother's death, at a time when Gein was alone in his family's home for the first time, he did not form connections to women that resulted in long-lasting relationships.

In Monster: The Ed Gein Story on Netflix, Gein meets with a woman by the name of Adeline Watkins, who even appears to appreciate the possibility of Gein peeping on her and a friend at her home. According to the Minneapolis Tribune, the real-life Watkins spoke once of having a 20-year-long romance with Gein. She told the outlet that Gein even proposed to her at one point, but she turned him down.

"I turned him down, but not because there was anything wrong with him," Watkins told the outlet, of the proposal from Gein that happened years before he was arrested. "It was something wrong with me. I guess I was afraid I wouldn't be able to live up to what he expected of me."

Still, there has never been confirmation of Gein fathering a child with Watkins or any other woman before or after his mother's death.