Did Ed Gein really kill his brother, as portrayed in Netflix's Monster?

From Ilse Koch's influence over Ed (Charlie Hunnam) to whether he was involved in the disappearance of Evelyn Hartley, many viewers have been left with a raft of questions about the reality of some of the plot points – including whether Ed killed his own brother.

In the first episode of the series, Ed's brother Henry (Hudson Oz) has disappeared from the family home for a period of time, much to their mother Augusta's (Laurie Metcalf) annoyance. But when he returns, the series suggests that Henry was Ed's first victim, with Ed fatally hitting his brother over the head.

In reality, the story is different. But the burning question is: did Ed really kill Henry? Read on to find out what we know.

Did Ed Gein really kill his brother, as portrayed in Netflix's Monster?

Simply put, we will never know conclusively if Ed Gein murdered his brother Henry.

In Monster: The Ed Gein Story, the first episode makes out as though Henry was Ed's first murder victim. In the episode (titled Mother!), Henry returns from some days away from the farm. He's been off with Ginny, a woman that their mother doesn't approve of and when he returns in secret to chat to Ed, he expresses his fatigue at living with their mother and being under her religious teachings.

Henry is excited, telling Ed that he wants to marry Ginny but Ed says that Henry can't do that because their mother has told them that Ginny has been divorced twice. Henry says he has no desire to be religious anymore, urging Ed to also think about doing similar so that he can escape the trap that Augusta has herself in.

Henry then drops a bombshell – that he is leaving the family home. He tells Ed that he thinks Augusta is making Ed "peculiar" and "strange", telling Ed that he also needs to leave their Plainfield home. Ed doesn't like what Henry is saying, picking up one of the logs he's just chopped, and hitting Henry over the head with it. Blood quickly starts to pool and Henry remains unresponsive – that is until Ed starts to leave the barn.

Ed is in disbelief when Henry doesn't answer him and leaves quickly but turns back and sees Henry get up. Henry walks to the barn entrance, laughs it all off and tells Ed that they should clear the brush and set some fires the next day before the weather gets worse. Henry then says that Ed is right about their mother and that he'll make it right with her, which makes Ed smile. Henry closes the barn doors and a joyous Ed runs back home with his wheelbarrow full of wood.

That is of course all a figment of Ed's imagination and the following day, he returns to the barn to find Henry's dead body. We then see him drag Henry's body outside where he starts assembling branches and dousing them with petrol. Setting everything alight, he then runs back to the house to call for Augusta, telling her that the fire has got out of control and he's lost Henry.

Ed says he'll drive into town for help but Augusta is immediately worried and says she'll call the police instead. When they arrive with some other local men, Ed appears to walk in the direction of Henry's body and they are all shocked to find him dead. Augusta is devastated and when it comes to officially identifying the body in the morgue, the police officer has some questions for Ed.

Along with the coroner, they question how long Henry was outside for, seeing as his body is stiff. Ed tells them that's likely because of the cold weather. When the coroner says that there's some peculiar bruising on Henry, it seems as though questioning could be taken further but he quickly resolves that – by his lighting – it's clear asphyxiation from the brush fire smoke was the major cause of death.

Henry's death rocks Augusta, so much so that she suffers a stroke that same evening which leaves her in the care of Ed.

In reality, none of the above has ever been substantiated but many believe that he did kill his elder brother. In 1940, the boys' father George died from heart failure and in 1944, Henry also died under mysterious circumstances. As mapped out in the series, a routine brush burning went wrong and the fire became uncontrollable. But in reality, Ed was burning vegetation which caught the attention of the local fire department when everything grew out of control.

Firefighters arrived on the scene, extinguished the fire and afterwards, Ed reported his brother missing. A search party was assembled and apparently, Ed led the police straight to Henry's body. Although bruises were found on Henry's head, his death was ruled an accident.

In light of Ed's subsequent crimes, Ed was believed by many to have killed Henry. Of course, further coronary and police investigation could have dug deeper into the case but they didn't at the time, and as a result we won't ever know.

As for Augusta, she did suffer a stroke in the wake of Henry's death, leading to her needing assistance and care from Ed. Although she recovered, a particularly infuriating exchange with a neighbour and his female guest (as depicted in Monster) led to Augusta suffering another stroke which led to a deterioration in her health.

Augusta died on 29th December 1945 at the age of 67, leading to Ed becoming a complete hermit and keeping her room as a shrine.

Monster: The Ed Gein Story is now streaming on Netflix – sign up for Netflix from £5.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

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