Ryan Murphy’s new Netflix horror series, Monster: The Ed Gein Story, premiered on October 3, diving into the horrifying true story of Wisconsin’s infamous grave robber and killer.
Gein’s disturbing obsessions were deeply rooted in his twisted relationship with his controlling mother, Augusta Wilhelmine Gein — a bond that later inspired Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. His crimes also influenced other legendary horror villains from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre to The Silence of the Lambs, according to the Wisconsin Historical Society. Despite his gruesome secrets, Gein appeared mild-mannered to his neighbors in Plainfield, Wisconsin, where he lived until his death in a state mental institution in 1984.
In the series’ first episode, viewers meet an unexpected character — a young woman named Adeline Watkins, portrayed as Gein’s girlfriend. This has sparked curiosity among fans: was she real? Could a killer like Ed Gein, known for exhuming bodies and wearing human skin, actually have had a girlfriend?
Surprisingly, Adeline Watkins was indeed a real person, and reports suggest she did have some sort of relationship with Gein — though its depth remains unclear. Watkins herself disputed claims about their closeness, and the Netflix portrayal appears to have heavily fictionalized her character.
The rumor of Gein’s “girlfriend” originated from a Minneapolis Tribune story published shortly after his 1957 arrest. The piece, later reprinted by the Wisconsin State Journal and archived on Newspapers.com, included both an interview and a photo of Watkins. However, in a follow-up interview days later, Watkins denied some of her earlier quotes, clarifying that she had only gone to the theater with Gein a couple of times.
Other articles from the same period note that Gein’s mother was vehemently against him dating women, driven by her strict religious beliefs.
A State Journal headline from November 21, 1957, read: “Plainfield Woman Nearly Wedded Gein.” The article described Watkins, then 50 years old — not the young woman depicted in the Netflix adaptation — as having claimed a 20-year romance with Gein, calling him “nice.”
“I loved him and I still do,” she reportedly told the Minneapolis Tribune.
She also said she turned down his marriage proposal, explaining that she didn’t believe she could “live up” to what he expected.
Watkins recalled going to the theater and local taverns with Gein but noted that he usually preferred something simple — like enjoying a milkshake at a drugstore.
In a later follow-up, however, she minimized the nature of their relationship, explaining that she had only known Gein for a few months. While she confirmed they went to the theater together, she said reports of a romance had been “exaggerated,” though she admitted he had visited her several times. Watkins added that she felt sorry for him. That follow-up story appeared on Dec. 3, 1957, in the Stevens Point Journal.
