Wilfred faked his death in 1950 by setting ablaze a hobo who was illegally living in the house; so he never had disfiguring burns. He then lived anonymously in the asylum for the next 20 years before escaping.
He evidently wanted revenge on the the Mayor, the Sheriff, Towman and Tess, who were all former mental inmates at the Butler mansion and directly responsible for the death of Marianne. They were eager to accept the burned corpse of the vagrant as Wilfred and put his specter to rest. Like a lot of people, Wilfred refused to take any (indirect) responsibility for the death of his daughter.
There are still some possible plot holes though. For instance, how was Towman able to wander the grounds after getting both hands cut off (before throwing himself in front of the vehicle)? Wouldn't he have bled to death long before that point?
Also, how were mentally ill people who were so nuts they had to be locked away in an asylum able to run the town of Arlington for almost twenty years? Wouldn't the taxpayers object to crazy people running their town? Or were they able to sufficiently fake being normal for periods of time? There are glaring hints that they are mentally off, like the woman's myriad birds.
Also, if Wilfred's motivation to escape the asylum was revenge for the death of Marianne, why did he (seem to) mistake the Mayor's daughter for his daughter? In other words, if he thought Marianne was alive & well there was no need to enact revenge. Yet this could be attributed to a momentary delusion since the film offers plain bits to suggest this.
Wilfred might have additionally escaped the asylum at that time because he caught word that Jeff was coming to town and was going to sell his estate cheap with the manor likely demolished by the City Council.
Also there's the fact that the man was nuts to a degree and so not every jot & tittle of what he does has to make logical sense.
For a great Q&A on these issues and more see Squonkamatic's detailed post on this thread: https://moviechat.org/tt0070694/Silent-Night-Bloody-Night/58c72ef75ec57f0478f5198b/Can-someone-explain-this
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