If you’ve been binge-watching the latest installment of the Monster anthology on Netflix, your head is probably spinning. Ryan Murphy has a way of doing that. One minute you’re watching Charlie Hunnam’s haunting portrayal of the "Butcher of Plainfield," and the next, you’re seeing him swap letters with a tall, tattooed guy in a prison cell who looks like he walked out of a completely different era of crime.
Everyone is asking the same thing: whos birdman in ed gein, and did these two actually have a weird pen-pal relationship?
Let’s get the record straight right now. The "Birdman" figure you see in the show—the one acting like a dark mentor to Ed—isn't actually a birdman at all. He is Richard Speck.
If you were looking for Robert Stroud, the famous "Birdman of Alcatraz," you’ve got the wrong guy. The show uses Speck as a foil for Gein, but the reality of their "friendship" is a lot more complicated (and mostly fictional).
The Man Behind the Tattoo: Why Speck is the "Birdman" of the Series
In the universe of the show, Richard Speck is presented as a contemporary "monster" who looks up to Gein. He’s the guy with the "Born to Raise Hell" tattoo on his arm. While history knows him as the man who systematically murdered eight student nurses in Chicago in 1966, the show frames him as a sort of successor to Gein’s madness.
So, why are people calling him Birdman?
Honestly, it’s a bit of a mix-up in search trends and show themes. Speck didn't raise birds. He didn't have a soft spot for sparrows. He was a brutal, chaotic force of nature. In the Netflix series, Speck (played by Tobias Jelinek) is shown corresponding with Gein, treating him like a celebrity. It’s a classic Ryan Murphy move—linking historical villains to show the "legacy" of evil.
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But here is the kicker: there is zero evidence they ever spoke.
Ed Gein was tucked away in Central State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, and later Mendota State Hospital. He was a quiet, schizophrenic man who mostly kept to himself and did crafts. Richard Speck was a loud, aggressive, and highly volatile inmate in the Illinois prison system. They operated in completely different worlds.
Separating Fact from Netflix Fiction
When you search for whos birdman in ed gein, you're often hitting on the cross-section of true crime myths. Let's break down what actually happened versus what the screenwriters wanted you to feel.
The Letter Exchange
In the show, Speck writes letters to Gein, calling him a "role model." It’s a chilling thought. It suggests a "League of Evil" where killers trade tips. In reality, Gein was largely forgotten by the criminal underworld while he was institutionalized. He wasn't a kingpin; he was a patient. Speck, on the other hand, was busy becoming one of the most hated men in Illinois.
The "Inspiration" Factor
The series suggests that Gein's crimes—the grave robbing, the skin-suits, the absolute macabre nature of his farmhouse—paved the way for Speck. While Gein's arrest in 1957 certainly shocked the world, Speck’s 1966 spree was a different kind of horror. Speck was a mass murderer; Gein was a serial killer and body snatcher. Their motivations were worlds apart. Speck was fueled by rage and impulse; Gein was fueled by a deep-seated, delusional obsession with his dead mother.
Who Was the Real Richard Speck?
If we’re going to talk about the man people are confusing for a "birdman" in the Gein story, we have to talk about what he actually did.
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On the night of July 13, 1966, Richard Speck broke into a townhouse in Chicago. He held nine student nurses captive. One by one, he took them into other rooms to kill them. One woman, Corazon Amurao, survived by crawling under a bed. She became the star witness that put him away.
Speck’s life in prison was… bizarre. Years after his conviction, a video surfaced of Speck in prison. He had grown breasts (likely from smuggled hormones or a medical condition), was using drugs, and was recorded saying, "If they only knew how much fun I was having, they’d turn me loose."
He wasn't a "Birdman" in the sense of a tragic, misunderstood figure. He was a man who embraced his status as a monster until his death in 1991.
Why the Birdman Confusion Exists
The confusion often stems from the 1962 film Birdman of Alcatraz, which painted a sympathetic portrait of Robert Stroud. Because Monster leans into the psychological "why" of these killers, viewers sometimes conflate these historical prison figures.
Also, Speck’s later-life transformation in prison (the aforementioned "video") gave him an almost mythical, strange status that rivals the weirdness of the Birdman story. But let’s be clear:
- Ed Gein: The Butcher of Plainfield (Real)
- Richard Speck: The Chicago Nurse Killer (Real, appearing in the show)
- Robert Stroud: The Birdman of Alcatraz (Real, but unrelated to Gein)
The E-E-A-T Perspective: Is the Show Accurate?
From a historical standpoint? Not really.
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As an expert on true crime lore, I can tell you that Ryan Murphy prioritizes thematic truth over chronological truth. He wants to show that Ed Gein didn't just exist in a vacuum. He wants to show how the "Plainfield Ghoul" became the DNA for every horror movie and real-life nightmare that followed.
By putting Richard Speck in the same room (or the same mailbox) as Gein, the show is telling us that Gein was the "Father of Modern Horror." It’s a narrative device.
If you're looking for the "Birdman" because you saw a guy in a cell talking to Ed, just remember you’re looking at Richard Speck. And if you’re looking for a connection between them in the history books, you can stop looking—it doesn't exist.
What You Should Do Next
If you’re fascinated by the real story behind the "Birdman" or Richard Speck’s role in the series, here is how you can dig deeper into the actual history without the Hollywood filter:
- Read "The Only Living Witness" or "The Crime of the Century": These books provide the gritty, non-fictionalized accounts of Speck’s crimes.
- Research the "Starkweather" Connection: If you want to see who actually might have been influenced by the era of Gein, look into Charles Starkweather. He’s a much closer "peer" to the Gein timeline than Speck was.
- Check the Trial Transcripts: If you want to know what Ed Gein was really like in the 60s, look at the psychiatric reports from his 1968 trial. He wasn't mentoring anyone; he was trying to understand why the world thought he was "odd."
Basically, enjoy the show for the gothic horror it is, but keep your history books separate from your Netflix queue. The "Birdman" in the Gein story is a ghost of fiction, even if the man playing him was a very real nightmare.