Charlie Hunnam

Here’s a look at the elusive Birdman mentioned in Monster: The Ed Gein Story

WARNING: This article contains spoilers from Monster: The Ed Gein Story

Netflix‘s latest sensation, Monster: The Ed Gein Story, has been gripping viewers worldwide since its release on 3 October, reports the Manchester Evening News.

The series boasts a cast of real-life characters, including Ilse Koch (portrayed by Vicky Krieps), Psycho star Anthony Perkins (played by Joey Pollari), and Adeline Watkins (Suzanna Son), among others.

This third instalment of Ryan Murphy’s true crime anthology series also features notorious serial killers like Ted Bundy (John T. O’Brien) and Richard Speck (Tobias Jelinek).

However, many are curious about the enigmatic Birdman.

Who is the Birdman in Monster: The Ed Gein Story?

The series shows Speck writing letters to Ed Gein (Charlie Hunnam), discussing his prison experiences and citing the Plainville Ghoul as his muse.

Speck also refers to the Birdman, another real-life serial killer, better known as the infamous American criminal Robert Stroud.

READ MORE: Did Ed Gein really kill the nurse in hospital?READ MORE: Did Ed Gein kill Adeline Watkins?

Convicted murderer Stroud killed a bartender and assaulted fellow inmates and guards while in prison. In 1916, he murdered a prison guard and was sentenced to death, but this was commuted to life imprisonment in solitary confinement.

He earned the monikers ‘Birdman’ and ‘Birdman of Alcatraz’ after caring for a nest of three injured sparrows he found in the prison yard during his time at Leavenworth.

After a couple of years, he’d accumulated 300 canaries and would go on to study and pen the book Diseases of Canaries, published in 1933.

He was permitted to continue his pastime because it was deemed a constructive way to spend his time, according to Alcatraz History.

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Stroud carried on studying avian ailments and documenting their behaviour and anatomy, even selling remedies for them.

However, his apparatus and bird studies came to an abrupt halt when it was discovered he’d been using his kit to brew alcohol on the side.

In 1942, Stroud was relocated to Alcatraz, where he would remain for the following 17 years of his existence.

In 1959 Stroud was transferred to the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri and passed away four years later in 1963 of natural causes.

He was brought to life on the big screen by Burt Lancaster in the film Birdman of Alcatraz, which secured the actor an Oscar nomination for Best Actor.

Fascinatingly, the reason Speck may have also referenced Birdman was due to his own encounters with a sparrow whilst incarcerated.

According to Mindhunter FBI Agent Robert Ressler’s book Whoever Fights Monsters, Speck caught a sparrow and kept it as a companion.

When he was cautioned by a prison officer that he’d be placed in solitary confinement if he didn’t free the creature, Speck murdered the bird by hurling it into an overhead fan.

The shocked guard enquired why Speck had carried out the brutal act, to which the serial killer was reported to have said: “[B]ut if it ain’t mine, it ain’t nobody’s.”

Monster: The Ed Gein Story is streaming on Netflix now

Many viewers are curious about the Netflix series

WARNING: This article contains spoilers from Netflix’s Monster: The Ed Gein Story

Monster: The Ed Gein Story is streaming on Netflix now and tells the disturbing tale of real-life serial killer Ed Gein (played by Charlie Hunnam) and the impact his crimes had on modern Hollywood horror.

The Netflix series features some back and forth between Gein’s life and the movies inspired by his twisted crimes, which were said to have been triggered by his dark interest in Nazi atrocities during World War II and the infamous Ilse Koch (Vicky Krieps).

The show also sees Gein have a warped relationship with fellow Plainfield local Adeline Watkins (Suzanna Son), given their shared fascination with murder.

Over time, their relationship becomes more complicated as they plan to marry and Gein shows Adeline his crimes.

But what about the real-life Adeline, did she exist and was she involved with Gein?

READ MORE: How many people did Ed Gein kill? Netflix Monster series recreates shocking crimesREAD MORE: Were Psycho and Norman Bates really based on Ed Gein?

Did Ed Gein have a girlfriend?

Gein himself never publicly shared any details about being involved with Adeline Watkins, which means the truth may never be known.

However, Watkins was indeed a real person and she claimed she had a long-term relationship with Gein spanning 20 years.

In an interview with the Minneapolis Tribune from 1957, syndicated by the Wisconsin State Journal, Watkins said she almost married Gein, who was also known as the ‘Butcher of Plainfield’ and the ‘Plainfield Ghoul’.

She went on to describe him as “kind and sweet”, sentiments echoed by Watkins’ mother, who said he was “polite” and always made sure her daughter was back from dates by 10pm.

Get Netflix free with Sky

This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more

from £15

Sky

Get the deal here

Sky is giving away a free Netflix subscription with its new Sky Stream TV bundles, including the £15 Essential TV plan.

This lets members watch live and on-demand TV content without a satellite dish or aerial and includes hit shows like Stranger Things and The Last of Us.

Watkins also revealed that Gein even proposed to her, but she turned him down after saying she was “afraid” she wouldn’t be “able to live up to what he expected of me”.

Although the pair liked different books, she revealed how they “discussed every murder” they’d heard about.

During their romance, they also went to the cinema and go to taverns to drink beer, but admitted Gein would have “much rather” had a milkshake.

However, only a couple of weeks after the newspaper article was published in the Stevens Points Journal, Watkins refuted the story and claimed the original story was “blown up out of proportion” and contained “untrue statements” and refuted that they had called him “sweet”.

She went on to say that while she had known Gein for two decades, any regular interactions only occurred after 1954.

Watkins said she only saw Gein for seven months on and off, with the duo going to the cinema a couple of times and him stopping by at her home.

She also confirmed she’d never been inside Gein’s house, where he’d kept the evidence of his crimes and macabre mementoes from his victims.

Monster: The Ed Gein Story is streaming on Netflix now