Hamilton Howard “Albert Fish “was an American serial killer, rapist, child molester, and cannibal who killed at least three children between July 1924 and June 1928. He was born on May 19, 1870, and died on January 16, 1936. He was also referred to as The Boogey Man, The Brooklyn Vampire, The Moon Maniac, The Gray Man, and The Werewolf of Wysteria. Fish once bragged that he “had children in every state,” and he once claimed to have taken the lives of roughly 100 people. However, it is unknown if he was making a reference to rapes or cannibalization, and whether the assertion was accurate.
Throughout his life, Fish was a suspect in at least five homicides. He admitted to stabbing at least two additional persons in addition to confessing to three murders that the police were able to link to a previous homicide. On December 13, 1934, Fish was discovered and put on trial for the kidnapping and murder of Grace Budd. At the age of 65, he was found guilty and put to death by an electric chair on January 16, 1936. The Gray Man, a 2007 dramatization of his exploits, with Patrick Bauchau as Fish.
Little Albert Fish
Albert Fish was born in Washington, D.C., on May 19, 1870, to Ellen Fish and Randall (1795–October 16, 1875) Fish. Fish’s mother was a Scots-Irish American, and his father was an American with English blood. When he was born, his father was 75 years old, 43 years older than his mother. Fish had three siblings who were still alive: Walter, Annie, and Edwin. Fish was the youngest. He wanted to change his moniker of “Ham & Eggs” from the orphanage where he spent a large portion of his youth to “Albert” in honour of a deceased sibling.
Fish came from a line of mentally disturbed people. His sister Annie was labelled as having a “mental ailment,” his uncle had madness, and one of his brothers had been committed to a state mental institution. His mother experienced “aural and/or visual hallucinations,” and three other relatives suffered mental problems.
Randall Fish, Fish’s father, was a riverboat captain and a fertilizer maker by 1870. The elder Fish passed away from a heart attack in 1875 at Washington’s Sixth Street Station. According to Congressional Cemetery records, he passed away on October 16, 1875, and was buried in grave R96/89 on October 19, 1875. In Washington’s Saint John’s Orphanage, where he was frequently mistreated, Fish’s mother then placed her son. Fish started to take pleasure in the physical suffering the beatings caused. Fish said of his time at the orphanage, “I stayed there until I was around nine years old, and that is where I made a mistake. We received a cruel beating. I observed numerous boys engaging in behaviour that was inappropriate.”
Fish’s mother was able to take him out of the orphanage by 1880 since she was working for the government. At the age of 12, he started dating a telegraph boy in 1882. The young person exposed Fish to urolagnia (drinking urine) and coprophagia, among other customs (eating faeces). Fish started going to public baths where he could see other boys undress, and he spent a significant amount of his weekends going there. He would send vulgar letters to ladies whose names he had obtained from marriage bureaus and classified ads throughout his life.
Why was Albert fish called the Gray Man?
Fish was given the nickname “The Gray Man” for this crime as McDonnell’s pals saw a man with a large grey beard and shaggy grey hair. According to reports, he appeared “faded and grey.” After being detained for the murder of Grace Budd, Fish eventually confessed to the murder of Francis McDonnell.
A Serial Killer Sharpens His Knives!
Fish moved to New York City at the age of 20, where he worked as a prostitute. He started raping young boys at this point in his life. Albert’s mother set up his marriage, as mothers frequently did during this period of time. It was a successful union. Fish had six children with Anna Mary Hoffman, despite being 9 years his junior.
Fish obtained work as a house painter in an effort to lead a regular, honourable life. His employment did not, however, curtail his offensive behaviour. He kept on raping young boys.
He once recalled how a man he was dating took him to a wax museum. Fish developed a fascination with penis bisection there. Fish’s preoccupation with sexual mutilation led him to make frantic attempts to indulge his filthy desires.
Fish’s initial mutilation was carried out in Wilmington, Delaware in 1910. A young man named Thomas Kedden and Albert got to know one another and started a sadomasochistic relationship.
Kedden was an impressionable 19-year-old. It has been asserted that Fish coerced the young man into the relationship by taking advantage of him. The youngster was finally taken to an old farmhouse by Fish, who held him there for two weeks while torturing him.
At the conclusion of the two weeks of hell, Kedden discovered by the end of the two hellish weeks, Kedden was being restrained while Albert Fish amputated the lower half of his penis.
“I shall never forget his scream or the expression he gave me,” Fish later remarked about the young man. The heat derailed Fish’s plan to kill the youngster, dismember him, and carry his body back to his house.
Fish was concerned that the meat might go bad. Instead, he gave Kedden a $10 bill, gave him a final kiss, and exited the scene after applying peroxide, vaseline, and a towel to the horrifying wound. Fish stated he was never aware of what happened to the youngster after leaving the horrific scene.
The Albert Fish Letter
The Budd home received a letter in November 1934. Edward read the letter’s ominous contents to Mrs Budd because she was unable to read it herself. Here are a few passages from the letter that Fish himself wrote and which ultimately resulted in Fish’s detention.
“I called on you at 406 W 15 St. on Sunday, June 3, 1928. brought you strawberries and pot cheese. We had a meal. Grace gave me a kiss as she sat on my lap. Under the guise of taking her to a party, I decided to eat her. She might leave, you said.
“I walked upstairs and undressed completely. If I didn’t, I would definitely get her. on them was blood. I went to the window and summoned her once everything was ready. After that, I hid in a closet until she entered the space. She started crying and tried to rush down the stairs when she saw me completely naked.
She stated she would inform her mama when I grabbed her. I started by stripping her naked. She bit scratched and kicked. I killed her by strangling her and then dismembered her so I could cook and consume the meat in my quarters.
How deliciously and tenderly the roasting of her tiny ass in the oven was. I needed nine days to consume her entire body. Despite having the option, I chose not to fuck her.
Family members of Grace Budd were made to hear these remarks directly from the man who tortured and killed their daughter. Police confirmed certain details in the Albert Fish letter. Some of the letter’s components weren’t. The details of Grace’s murder were true, but there was never proof that Fish had eaten any of Grace.
