The "Monster: The Ed Gein Story" series blends truth and fiction, dramatizing Ed Gein's life with significant creative liberties. Key facts true to life include Gein's domineering mother, Augusta, his exhumation of corpses, and the confirmed murders of two women, Mary Hogan and Bernice Worden, who resembled his mother. However, the series invents events like Ed killing his brother Henry, many additional murders, and a romantic relationship with Bernice Worden, which did not exist. The show also dramatizes scenes inspired by the horror films Gein influenced, such as using a chainsaw or adopting personas from movies, which did not happen in reality. Some characters and incidents are fictionalized or exaggerated for narrative effect. For example, the kidnapping of a young girl, Evelyn Hartley, was unrelated to Gein. Gein was not a cannibal or necrophiliac; he preserved bodies only for observation. There is also no evidence of Gein assisting the FBI in the Ted Bundy case, which the series imagines. Overall, while the series captures elements of Ed Gein's disturbing history and his cultural impact on horror films, it heavily fictionalizes many details and events for dramatic storytelling purposes.
