Albert Fish - Encyclopedia

Albert H. Fish (May 19, 1870 – January 16, 1936) was an American serial killer and cannibal. He was also known as the Moon Maniac, the Gray Man, and the Brooklyn Vampire.

Over the course of his criminal career, he murdered several children (some of whom he claimed to have eaten) and tortured others across the United States.

Born Hamilton Fish in Washington, D.C., to a family with an extensive history of mental illness, Fish grew up in an orphanage where he was ruthlessly whipped and beaten. He said that he was the only child who looked forward to the beatings. In 1898, he was married to a woman nine years his junior, with whom he had six children. His children said Fish never beat them and they had a pretty normal childhood, but Fish would occasionally make an odd request to his children and their friends. He would ask them to spank him with a paddle with nails in it. His wife subsequently ran off with another man. He would often read the personals in the newspaper and send obscene letters to widows.

Fish, a painter, drifted across the United States, he later claimed to have had a murder victim in each of the twenty three states he had visited, as well as other victims. Most of his victims came from poor black families who were not likely to be able to do much about his actions, owing to the racism prevalent in the country during that time. Reputed to be a sadomasochist, Fish reportedly indulged in self-mutilation, driving needles into his body, mostly around his genitals. He said he tried sticking a needle in his scrotum but it was too painful, and there were needles in his pelvis that were permanently stuck in. He would stuff cotton balls soaked with lighter fluid into his rectum and set fire to them. He is said to have consumed not only the flesh of his victims but also their urine, blood, and excrement. He attributed these tendencies to the abuse he suffered in childhood. He also claimed God sent him on "missions" to kill. His murders often involved slow torture. He would tie children up and whip them with a belt cut in half with nails sticking through to tenderise the flesh for cooking. Fish called his weapons "instruments of hell."

On May 28, 1928, then aged fifty-eight, Fish visited the Budd family in Manhattan, New York City. He was responding to a work wanted ad placed by eighteen year old Edward Budd.

At the Budd's apartment, Fish found Edward perfect, but then met his younger sister, ten-year-old Grace. Fish promised to hire Edward and that he would send for him in a few days, and in the meantime he convinced Mr. and Mrs. Budd to let Grace accompany him to a party that evening at his home.

Fish left with Grace Budd that day, but never came back.

At his trial, which opened on March 11, 1935, Fish pleaded insanity. He claimed to have heard voices from God telling him to kill children. Several psychiatrists took the stand to talk of Fish's many sexual fetishes, including coprophilia, urophilia, pedophilia and masochism, but there was disagreement as to whether these activities necessarily meant someone was insane. The defense's chief expert witness was Frederic Wertham, a psychiatrist with a focus on child development who conducted psychiatric examinations for the New York criminal courts; Wertham stated flatly that Fish was insane.

The trial lasted for ten days. The jury found Fish to be sane and guilty, and the judge pronounced the death sentence.

Fish was executed on January 16, 1936, in the electric chair at Sing Sing. It is believed by some that he spoke of the prospect of electrocution as the "supreme thrill" and even helped the executioners fasten the straps that held his body in place. A Daily News reporter who covered the trial wrote that Fish's "watery eyes gleamed at the thought of being burned by a heat more intense than the flames with which he often seared his flesh to gratify his lust," though others thought that Fish did not want to die. It was reported that the first jolt of electricity did not kill him, and that a second jolt was needed. A few wrote, facetiously, that the 27 needles Fish had inserted into his body over the years had caused a short circuit. However, this is generally considered to be an urban legend, as guards insist that the first jolt did indeed kill him.

Fish's crimes are recounted in Harold Schecter's Deranged. He is mentioned in Stephen King's novel Black House, and some of his letters are quoted. In Caleb Carr's novel The Alienist, a letter similar to that he sent to Grace Budd's parents appears, written by the killer, although about a young boy. In Rob Zombie's horror movie House of 1000 Corpses, he has a vocal appearance and one as a puppet. Marilyn Manson's drummer, Ginger Fish, is named after him.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Albert Fish", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page