Albert Fish - American Cannibalistic Serial Killer

1. Hamilton Howard Fish, aka Albert Fish, is one of the most infamous American cannibalistic serial killers from the early 1900s. Fish was not only a serial killer but is also known for being a pedophile and a rapist. He was known by many names to portray the horrific crimes that were committed by him. These names included The Gray Man, The Boogeyman, The Brooklyn Vampire, Frank Howard, The Werewolf of Wysteria, The Moon Maniac and Ham and Eggs. He was known for being one of the most vile pedophiles and killers of all time and he had admitted to molesting over 400 children after he was captured. He also admitted to torturing and killing several others. He would lure children away from their homes, rape them, and torture them in various ways. Some of these way included using weapons such as a paddle laced with sharp nails. After a while, the sexual fantasies he would act out on children became extremely cruel and unpleasant and he ended up murdering them and cannibalizing them. The acts of this vicious madman were written about in great detail. Various news articles, documentaries and films were published in an attempt to depict the horrendous crimes that this man committed.
2. There are a few theories as to why Fish committed the crimes that he did. Some of which dated back to his childhood and family background. Fish was the youngest of four children. There was a great deal of mental illness in his family. His uncle suffered from mania and his brother was put in a state mental hospital. His sister was diagnosed with a “mental affliction” and three other relatives were diagnosed with mental illnesses along with his mother who had “aural and/or visual hallucinations.” When he was only five years old his father died. This put a great strain on his family financially. His mother couldn’t afford to take care of Albert so she dropped him at an orphanage. At the orphanage, whenever a boy was bad the teachers would make them strip naked and would whip and beat them in front of each other. Oddly enough, this became an enjoyable fetish for Hamilton. He would get erections from the beatings. The other boys would bully him and they would call him “Ham and Eggs.” He of course didn’t like this nickname so he wanted to be called “Albert.” A few years later, when Albert was nine, his mother brought him back home. At this age is when his friend introduced him to coprophagia and urolagnia, Coprophagia is the consumption of feces and urolagnia is the drinking of urine. On the weekends he would go to public baths and watch younger boys get undressed and he would write inappropriate letters to women that he would find in ads. Eventually his family had moved to New York in 1890. This is where Albert says he became a male prostitute and when he started to rape little boys. He was mostly interested in males however his interest soon changed to children. His mother arranged his marriage in 1898 and he had six children with his wife. Although he was married and had children, he continued to rape little boys along with committing his first murder in 1910. He brutally stabbed a little boy, Thomas Kedden, to death. He went to prison for this and while there had relationships with men. Albert definitely committed his crimes due to childhood trauma. He had been through so much at such a young age from his dad dying to quickly being put into an orphanage and abandoned by his mother to being bullied all of the time. He was exposed to regular beating and sadistic acts of brutality in the orphanage. It was after this that he developed his odd behavior and habits but this could have possibly been because he really didn’t have anyone to look up to or to tell him what was right and what was wrong since his father died at such a young age and he was also not living with his mother.
3. Throughout Albert Fish’s period of killings in the 90s, he displayed multiple patterns. Some patterns were general, such as the pattern of molesting the children that he intended to murder. However, other patterns of his were more distinct. One pattern that separates him from the common serial killer is the fact that Fish wrote letters. It began with Fish writing letters to women who posted personal advertisements in newspapers. These letters were cryptic and very detailed describing sexual acts that he fantasized about performing on the women. This turned into a pattern and after the murder of Grace Budd, he wrote a final detailed letter to Budd’s parents. This letter explained the way in which he murdered the young girl and then ate her remains. Some conclusions may be drawn from his pattern of letter writing. The fact that he voluntarily wrote a letter describing the murder of Grace Budd shows that he had pride in what he had done. He wanted people to know the vile and disturbing thoughts that were in his head, which is why he responded to the personal ads and wrote the letter to the Budds.This goes on to support the fact that Fish may have suffered from a serious mental illness.
4. In 1928, Fish had seen an advertisement that read,  "Young man, 18, wishes position in country. Edward Budd, 406 West 15th Street." He then went to visit Edward Budd pretending he was going to hire him. Later on, Fish had admitted to his original plan of tying Edward up, mutilating him and leaving him to bleed to death. He introduced himself under a different name, Frank Howard. He had told Edward he would hire him and his friend and that he would come back. When he came back he had met Grace Budd, Edward’s little sister.  Once he saw her he immediately changed his victim and decided that he wanted Grace. He gained the trust of the Budd family and made up a story about how he needed to go to his niece’s birthday party, convincing Grace’s parents to let him take her. She was never seen again. In 1934, an anonymous letter was sent to Grace’s parents. In the letter the writer tells Mrs. Budd details about how her daughter was stripped of her clothing, strangled and cut to pieces. This letter ultimately led them to Fish. Police traced the paper the letter was written on to where Fish was living. He was then arrested and didn’t deny murdering Grace. He began to confess how he murdered several hundred other children. In 1935, he pled insanity. He blamed all of his killings on voices in his head that told him to do it. Although there were many psychiatrists that said he was insane, the jury found him sane and guilty and he was sentenced to die by electrocution. He was electrocuted in 1936.

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