Real Buffalo Bill Serial Killer

Introduction of Buffalo Bill

Jame Gumb, infamously known as Buffalo Bill, is a fictional character and the main antagonist of the blockbuster novel, and movie, The Silence of the Lambs. Ted Levine played a stellar role in the movie, which was critically acclaimed and, to date, remains one of the most spine-chilling portrayals of a serial killer. Although Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster were the only two actors to receive Oscars for the movie, Levine’s portrayal of a serial killer who kidnaps women and skins them to make his suits was enough to give the viewers nightmares.

Overview of Buffalo Bill

As mentioned, Jame Gumb used to kidnap women and kill them only to skin them to make "suits" for himself. His modus operandi were quite macabre. He used to pretend he was injured, and when some women tried to help him, he knocked them out by hitting them with something heavy. Then he held those helpless women captive in his basement, starving them for a few days so their skin would get loose. Then he either hanged or shot them and dumped their bodies after skinning them.

Buffalo Bill was often portrayed as transgender and had an extremely disturbed and twisted mind. Although, as theorized by Hannibal Lecter, Gumb was not really a transgender but believed himself to be one since he hated his own identity. The twisted mindset of Buffalo Bill was evident from his practice of putting Death’s Head moths in the mouth of his victims. By doing so, he wanted to symbolize the sex change he desired in his mind.

Jame Gumbo later got the name “Buffalo Bill” during his murder spree in Kansas City. The investigating officers said, “This one likes to skin his humps" after discovering their first victim.

Background of Buffalo Bill

Although the movie never explored the background of Buffalo Bill, we can get a better insight into the character from the novel. We learn that Jame Gumb was born in a dysfunctional family, in California, USA, in 1948. However, his mother was a prostitute and an alcoholic and misspelled “James” as Jame on his birth certificate. Within a year, his mother abandoned him, and he was taken to foster care. He spent ten years in foster care before his grandparents adopted him. Ironically, Gumb murdered his grandparents on impulse when he was only twelve.

Post his first crime, he was transferred to a juvenile facility, where he got trained as a tailor. He was released from the juvie after his eighteenth birthday, and he went on to join the Navy. But his crimes followed him, as he was accused of killing a few of his crewmates and for “doing things” with their skin. That is when Benjamin Raspail, a romantic interest of Gumb, referred Hannibal Lecter to treat him. Post his session with Doctor Lecter, his obsession with becoming a woman became strong. However, he failed to clear the psychological exam before the sexual reassignment surgery because of his disturbed chain of thought.

Becoming Buffalo Bill

However, the journey from Jame Gumb to Buffalo Bill began after he went into a relationship with a young lass, Fredrica Bimmel. After a bitter breakup, Gumb killed her on an impulse, removed her skin, and drowned her in a riverbed. This became his signature style of creating “woman suits” so he could become a woman, which he failed to become through surgery.

Gradually, he became a serial killer and kept killing women to satiate his twisted idea of transforming into a woman. His idea of transformation connects with his killing style later in the movie. He was fascinated by the metamorphosis in the Death’s Head moths and hence used to stuff a moth inside the dead bodies' throats before dumping them. His fascination with the transformation was vividly portrayed in an infamous scene where Buffalo Bill was seen dancing naked, wearing nothing but a silk cape. He thought of the cape as the wings of a butterfly, signifying his desire to transform into something he wasn't. He also felt no remorse for the women he killed and didn't even consider them to be humans. Throughout the story and the movie, Gumb refers to his victims as “it” instead of a proper pronoun. For example, “It rubs the lotion on its skin, or else it gets the hose again.”

While the character of Buffalo Bill was discussed, the writers said that this character was created by taking inspiration from three real-life serial killers. His personality, psych, and way of killing all were heavily inspired by three killers, namely, Ed Gein, Ted Bundy, and Gary Heidnick. For example, Buffalo Bill’s signature style of skinning the victims was inspired by the Butcher of Plainfield, Ed Gein. He used to trick his victims much like Ted Bundy, who used to lure his victims with a cast on his hand. Gary Heidnick used to keep his victims captive in a pit which is also a modus operandi of Buffalo Bill. However, Jame Gumb was thought to have the most resemblance to Ed Gein, and we will take a detailed look into the life of the real-life Buffalo Bill Serial Killer. View Examples

Who was Ed Gein?

Ed Gein was a psychotic person who became a nightmare in the mid-1900s America. He was a grave robber and a murderer whose horrific deeds stunned the country in the 1950s. He was infamous for many reasons, so much so that he influenced pop culture in more than one way. Apart from The Silence of the Lambs, his crimes have influenced other movies like “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," and "Psycho."

He was born in Wisconsin in 1906. He spent his early days in Plainfield, where his family had a farm. He later said he felt "aroused" when he first saw his mother slaughter a pig on their farm. This speaks volumes about his mental illness, that later led him to become the monster.

The Early Life

Ed never had a peaceful childhood. He constantly found himself in the middle of the violent alterations between his parents. The fights get so violent that little Ed used to see his mum praying for his father's death in front of him and his brother, Henry. His mother was obsessed with religion and thought keeping them on the farm will keep them away from the evil world. She considered other women "evil" and resorted to extreme measures to punish Ed for his misdeeds. Once she caught him “playing with himself” and poured hot water on him. She also used to punish him in violent ways if he tried to make friends outside the farm. This life of abuse forced his brother to flee away, but he remained devoted to his mother until he got obsessed with her methods.

Disturbing Deeds of Ed Gein

After his family members died for different reasons within a span of two years, he shut himself in the rooms for a long time. People considered him a loner and a weird person, but he still used to babysit in his neighborhood. During this time, he started reading about Nazis and books on murder, crime, and anatomy. He became particularly obsessed with the stories that were sadist and grisly in nature.

It was only after his mother’s death that he started robbing graves. He claims that he robbed over forty graves between 1947 and 1950. However, he didn't always dig up bodies for his perverted reasons. According to him, he sometimes dug up many bodies because he used to know them when they were alive. However, he confessed to having dug up 10 bodies of women that he later mutilated. Sometimes, he would carry the entire body, while sometimes, he would just severe the genitalia and carry it with him. He also confessed to removing the heads and chests of various women to make different clothing and even household items.

The Victims of Ed Gein

Ed Gein restricted himself to grave robbing until 1954 when he killed his first victim. The unfortunate lady was named Mary Hogan, who was a divorced bartender. Her fault was that she resembled his mother. The crime was not obvious right away, as Mary was found dead one day suddenly at her workplace. She was found lying in a puddle of blood along with a .32 cartridge.

Gein, though weird, seemed harmless to the local people, and they didn't suspect anything until the second murder happened. Bernice Worden was killed in a similar fashion to the first in 1957, only this time; it was a .22 rifle. His son first raised suspicion on Ed Gain, as he remembered him visiting their shop the night before. As the investigation started, the police came to know about the morbid shrunken head collection of Ed Gain.

The Catching of Ed Gain

After a joint investigation by the local sheriff and the police, Gein was finally arrested on November 16, 1957. After the law enforcement officers invaded his home, they were taken aback by the horrors that were waiting for them. There was a shrunken head collection and also a separate collection of body parts and corpses. Ed Gain skinned the copses and stitched them into lampshades and upholstery. He used the skulls of the corpses as soup bowls, made an entire skin suit of the skins he salvaged, and kept vulvae in big jars. The entire sight was atrocious and was enough to make the skins crawl of everyone present there.

Later during the interrogation, he confessed to his crimes. Although he denied that he had ever killed anyone, later, the police identified Mary Hogan and Bernice Worden as his two victims with substantial proof.

Cannibalism on the Cards?

Gein was usually rather cooperative during the interrogation process, barring a few times. However, although many media and locals tagged him as a cannibal, he denied that he ever ate any body parts. That eventually was the reason behind his nickname, the Butcher of Plainfield.

Trial and Sentencing

Ed Gein was charged with multiple murders but pleaded "not guilty" on insanity grounds. However, the jury did not unanimously agree to his pleading. However, the judge ruled him to be insane, and he was sentenced to a mental hospital in Wisconsin for an indeterminate time. At the hospital, he was diagnosed with necrophilia and schizophrenia. He remained at the mental hospital till 1984 when he died of cancer.