Who was Albert Fish? Everything You Need to Know

Quick Facts

Nick Name: The Bogeyman, The Brooklyn Vampire, Moon Maniac, Werewolf of Wysteria, Gray Man

Also Known As: Hamilton Howard Fish, Gray Man, Werewolf of Wysteria

Died At Age: 65

Family:

Spouse/Ex-: Estella Wilcox

father: Randall (1795 – October 16, 1875)

mother: Ellen (née Howell; 1838–c. 1903)

siblings: Annie Fish, Edwin Fish, Walter Winchell Fish

children: Albert Fish Jr., Anna Fish, Eugene Fish, Gertrude Fish, Henry Fish, John Fish

Born Country: United States

Serial Killers American Men

Height: 1.65 m

Died on: January 16, 1936

place of death: Ossining, New York, United States

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1

What were Albert Fish's crimes?

Albert Fish was a notorious serial killer and cannibal who committed various heinous crimes, including kidnapping, murder, and cannibalism. He is known to have sexually assaulted and murdered several children.
2

How was Albert Fish caught?

Albert Fish was eventually caught after he sent a letter to the family of one of his victims, detailing the horrific murder and consumption of their daughter. The letter was traced back to him, leading to his arrest and eventual conviction.
3

What was Albert Fish's childhood like?

Albert Fish had a troubled childhood, marked by abuse and trauma. He experienced physical and emotional abuse from a young age, which is believed to have contributed to his later criminal behavior.
4

How did Albert Fish choose his victims?

Albert Fish targeted young children as his victims, often selecting those who were vulnerable and easily manipulated. He would lure them away with promises of treats or money before carrying out his heinous crimes.
5

What was Albert Fish's mental state?

Albert Fish was believed to have suffered from severe mental illness, including psychosis and sadism. His disturbing fantasies and actions reflected a deeply disturbed mind, leading to his classification as a psychopath.

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Childhood & Early Life

Albert Fish was born on May 19, 1870, in Washington, D.C., to Randall and Ellen Fish. His father had English roots, while his mother was of Scottish and Irish descent. His father, who was 43 years older than his mother, was 75 when Fish was born. His father passed away when Fish was only five years old.

He was the youngest of his surviving siblings. He had two brothers, named Walter Fish and Edwin Fish; and a sister called Annie Fish. He started calling himself “Albert” after one of his dead siblings.

Many of his family members suffered from mental health issues; including his mother who had visual hallucinations. His uncle suffered from ‘mania’, his brother was sent to a mental asylum and his sister also suffered from ‘mental afflictions’. There were other relatives too who were dealing with several mental illnesses.

His father Randall Fish initially worked as a river boat captain, and he later became a fertilizer manufacturer. He died of a heart attack at Washington’s Sixth Street Station in 1875. Owing to his mother’s mental health issues, Fish was sent to Saint John’s Orphanage in Washington where he was often brutally beaten and tortured.

Since he was frequently exposed to brutality, harsh beatings and torture during his growing up years, he began to associate these with pleasure. He was aroused by unmerciful whipping and flogging and began looking forward to it.

Around 1880, his mother managed to get a stable government job and brought him home from the orphanage. Fish never received any formal education. At the age of 12, he got involved in a relationship with a telegraph boy, who introduced him to paraphilic practices, such as urolagnia and coprophagia.

As a young boy, he started visiting public baths to watch boys undress. He also started writing salacious and vulgar letters to women from classified advertisements and matrimonial agencies.

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Early Crimes

Albert Fish moved to New York City in his early 20s and started working as a male prostitute. Around this time, he began to rape young boys.

He first lured them and then tortured them by smacking with paddles embedded with nails, eventually raping them. It was the beginning of his perverted obsession with children, which ultimately led to him becoming one of the most feared serial killers of all time.

In 1898, his mother arranged for him to marry Anna Mary Hoffman, with whom he went on to father six children; namely Albert, Anna, Gertrude, Eugene, John and Henry Fish.

He worked as a house painter in the year 1898. In 1903, he was arrested for grand larceny and incarcerated in Sing Sing prison. He regularly had sex with the prison inmates there.

Fish continued molesting children even after he was married and became a father. He admitted to being obsessed with mutilation after his male lover took him to a wax museum where he saw the bisection of a penis. He then became involved in self-mutilation, often putting needles in his groin and flogging himself with a nail paddle.

In 1910, when he was working in Wilmington, Delaware, he met a young man named Thomas Kedden. Fish and Kedden started engaging in a sadomasochistic relationship. While it is still unknown whether their relationship was consensual or not, he confessed to the fact that Kedden was intellectually disabled.

Fish lured Kedden to an old farmhouse to torture him under the pretence of a rendezvous. He kept him tied up for two weeks and cut half of his penis. “I shall never forget his scream and the look he gave me,” Fish recalled in his confession.

Initially, he intended to kill Kedden, but decided against it when he thought that it would bring unwanted attention towards him. He instead lathered peroxide on his wound, covered it with a handkerchief and left a $10 bill for his troubles. He never saw Kedden again.

By 1917, Fish had become severely mentally ill, and his wife left him for a man named John Straube. She left behind their six children under his care. Following her departure, he started to have auditory hallucinations. In his confession, he recalled wrapping himself in a carpet and saying that he was instructed by John the Apostle.

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Escalation

Albert Fish committed his first attack on a boy named Thomas Kedden in Delaware in 1910. Later, around 1919, he stabbed an intellectually disabled boy in Georgetown, Washington.

He specifically targeted victims who were either mentally challenged or of African-American descent because he assumed that these people would not be missed as much.

On July 11, 1924, he saw Beatrice Kiel, an eight years old girl, playing on her parents’ farm in Staten Island. To lure her, he offered money to help him look for rhubarb in the fields. Fortunately, her mother saw him and chased him away. He came back to the farm and was found trying to sleep in the barn. The girl’s parents forced him to leave.

Disappearance of Grace Budd

On May 25, 1928, Albert Fish saw a classified advertisement in the ‘New York World’ placed by an Edward Budd, who wanted a working position in the country. Two days later, 58-year-old Fish met with the Budd family under the guise of hiring Edward and his friend Willie.

He introduced himself as Frank Howard, a farmer from Farmingdale, New York. His intended victim was Edward Budd but when he arrived at his house in Manhattan for the second time, his gaze shifted to Grace Budd.

Fish persuaded her parents Albert and Delia Budd to let her accompany him to his niece’s birthday party that evening at his sister’s home. He left with Grace, only never to be found again.

The police arrested Charles Edward Pope on September 5, 1930, on suspicion of kidnapping Grace Budd. The 66-year old apartment superintendent was arrested after his estranged wife tipped the police off. After remaining in jail for 108 days, he was found not guilty.

The investigation continued for six long years because no concrete evidence was found against Charles or any other suspect. Fish was apprehended only in November 1934 when Mrs. Budd received a letter with barbaric details of Grace’s disappearance and murder.

In his letter, Fish revealed that he took Grace to his house upstate where he orchestrated her murder while she was picking wildflowers in the yard. He reportedly choked her to death before eating her flesh.

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The police caught him using the details found on the envelope that he used to send the chilling letter. The chief investigator, William F. King, was waiting for him at his home’s door when Fish charged at him with a razor blade. During his questioning, Fish never denied Grace’s murder.

Other Victims

After Albert Fish was arrested in Grace Budd’s disappearance case, he was linked to several other cases of murders, molestation and kidnapping. Among other suspected victims, he confessed to killing Francis McDonnell and Billy Gaffney.

It was only after his trial for Grace Budd and Billy Gaffney had ended that Fish admitted to raping and murdering Francis McDonnell.

Francis McDonnell was reported missing on 14th July, 1924. His body was found hanging by a tree in the woods near his house. The autopsy revealed that he was severely beaten, sexually assaulted and ultimately choked with his own suspenders.

Billy Gaffney was playing in his apartment’s hallway with Billy Beaton and his brother. Beaton’s brother briefly left to check on his sister, and when he returned, the two young boys had disappeared. Billy Beaton was later found on the roof of the apartment, but Billy Gaffney was never found.

When asked about Billy Gaffney, Beaton said “the bogeyman took him”. Not much was assumed of his statement until an eyewitness came forward and identified Fish. The descriptions given by both Beaton and the eyewitness pointed toward Fish.

Police discovered that Fish was working a few miles away from Gaffney’s disappearance spot. Later, Fish provided a gruesome and detailed account of Billy Gaffney’s murder to his attorney.

Trial & Execution

On March 11, 1935, Albert Fish’s trial for Grace’s murder began in White Plains, New York. His trial lasted for 10 days with Frederick P. Close presiding as judge, Elbert F. Gallagher as District Attorney and James Dempsey the defence attorney.

In his insanity plea, Fish claimed that he heard voices from God who instructed him to kill children.

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Many psychiatrists were consulted by the court to lend their expert opinions on Fish’s condition. Dempsey, through these testimonies, wanted to establish Fish as ‘insane’ and a ‘psychiatric phenomenon’.

There were several rebuttal witnesses who testified Fish to be abnormal but sane. Many experts said that Fish’s perversions were “socially perfectly alright” and he was “punishing himself to get sexual gratification”. They agreed that he was not mentally sick and didn’t suffer from psychosis.

His step-daughter Mary Nicholas was also one of the witnesses who testified that he often made her brothers and sisters play games that were sadomasochistic in nature.

The jury declared him to be sane and guilty, and the judge announced his death sentence. He was executed on January 16, 1936, in the electric chair at the Sing Sing prison. His final words were,”I don’t even know why I’m here”.

Facts About Albert Fish

Albert Fish was known for his unusual dietary preferences, which included raw meat and rotten food.

Fish was a talented painter and created intricate works of art during his time in prison.

Despite his violent crimes, Fish was described as highly intelligent and well-read by those who knew him.

Fish had a fascination with the concept of pain and often inflicted harm on himself as well as his victims.

One of Fish's lesser-known quirks was his love for writing letters filled with graphic and disturbing content to his victims' families.

Albert Fish Biography

You wanted to know

What were Albert Fish's crimes?

How was Albert Fish caught?

What was Albert Fish's childhood like?

How did Albert Fish choose his victims?

What was Albert Fish's mental state?