Albert Fish

WARNING!!...details in this post are extremely disturbing intended for mature readers only.

May 25^th 1928, a young aspiring teen named Edward Budd posted an AD in the newspaper. In this AD Budd stated he was an eighteen year old male looking for work as a painter. He also supplied his address. On May 28^th an elderly man who introduced himself as Frank Howard, a farmer from Long Island, approached the door and offered Edward a job. With the offer of a gracious pay, Edward willingly accepted the job. This so called Frank Howard promised to return a few days later to pick young Edward up for work. However this old man known as Howard was really a man named Albert Fish, an older gentleman in and out of jail, black sheep of his family, and in many regards appeared to be an obscure but harmless old man. In reality Fish was an elderly man with a disturbing dream of castrating young men and leaving them to die.  

Picture of Grace that appeared in the newspapers.

When Fish returned to pick up Edward, his intended target, he learned Edward was out on errands. Delia Flanagan, Edward’s mother, was the one to answer the door. Pleased to meet her son’s new employer she invited him in for lunch as they waited on Edward to return. Soon after sitting down for lunch, Edward’s younger sister Grace entered the room. Once Fish saw the stunning young girl, he immediately changed his plan. His lust for blood boiled over. With the little girl sitting on his lap, he explained to Delia and her husband Albert Budd that he had a birthday party to go to for his grand-daughter. He proposed he could take Grace with him and on his way to drop her off he would pick Edward up for work. Grace’s parents were hesitant but Fish, an older gentleman with gray hair, a bushy gray beard, frail appearance, and gentle eyes who had also just offered their son a decent job, seemed so utterly harmless their qualms seemed foolish.

After convincing Grace Budd’s parents to let her go with him he stopped and picked up a bag he had hidden somewhere on the street before entering the house. Inside the bag were butcher knives, cleavers, and a saw. Then he and Grace boarded a train. Fish took Grace to abandoned house known as Wisteria Cottage in West Chester NY. He left Grace in the front yard picking wildflowers while he entered the house and went upstairs. Once upstairs he stripped down to the nude and hid behind the door. He called out for Grace and once she entered the room she saw him and screamed. He strangled her while kneeling on her chest. Fish later admitted to unwillingly climaxing twice as the little girl died. Once she was dead Fish chopped the little girl up into little pieces disposing of her in different locations all around the property except for the sever pounds of flesh he carried away with him.

New York City detective William King headed the investigation. King was relentless, with a constant up and down case, he never gave up. In fact on September 5^th 1930, King arrested a man named Charles Edward Pope; age sixty-six, when his estranged wife pointed the finger at him for the crime. After 108 days in jail, Pope was sent to trial on December 22^nd 1930 and was found not guilty. Even after this major upset King never gave up, although after years since Grace’s death things seemed glum. However like many serial killers before and after him, Fish’s need to be known and to cause pain became his downfall.



Letter to Mrs. Budd



In November 1934, six years after Grace Budd went missing; Mrs. Delia Budd received a letter on the stationary belonging to an organization called New York’s Private Chauffeurs Benevolent Association. The letter was meant to cause great disturbance to Mrs. Budd however, Mrs. Budd was illiterate. Eldest son Edward Budd read the note, once done he rushed the note to lead detective King. The letter read as follows:

“My dear Mrs. Budd, In 1894 a friend of mine shipped as a deck hand on the steamer Tacoma, Capt. John Davis. They sailed from San Francisco for Hong Kong China. On arriving there he and two others went ashore and got drunk. When they returned the boat was gone. At that time there was a famine in China. Meat of any kind was from $1-3 dollars a pound. So great was the suffering among the poor that all children under twelve were sold to the butchers to be cut up and sold for food in order to keep other from starving. A boy or girl under fourteen was not safe in the street. You could go to any shop and ask for steak, chops, or stew meat. Part of the naked body of a boy or a girl’s behind which is the sweetest part of the body and sold as veal cutlet brought the highest price. John staid there so long he acquired a taste for human flesh. On his return to New York he stole two boys one 7 and one 11. Took them to his home stripped them naked and tied them in a closet. Then burned everything they had on. Several times every day and night he spanked them, tortured them to make their meat good and tender. First he killed the 11 year old boy, because he had the fattest ass and of course most meat on it. Every part of his body was cooked and eaten except head—bones and guts. He was roasted in the oven (all of his ass), boiled, broiled, fried, stewed. The little boy was next, went the same way. At that time, I was living at 409 E. 100 St. near – right side. He told me so often how good human flesh was I made up my mind to taste it. On Sunday June the 3—1928 I called on you at 406 W. 15 St. Brought you pot cheese – strawberries. We had lunch. Grace sat in my lap and kissed me. I made up my mind to eat her. On the pretense of taking her to a party. You said yes she could go. I took her to an empty house in Westchester I had already picked out. When we got there, I told her to remain outside. She picked wildflowers. I went upstairs and stripped all my clothes off. I knew if I did not I would get her blood on them. When all was ready I went to the window and called her. Then I hid in the closet until she was in the room. When she saw me all naked she began to cry and tired to run downstairs. I grabbed her and she said she would tell her mamma. First I stripped her naked. How she did kick—bite and scratch. I choked her to death, then cut her in small pieces so I could take my meat to my rooms, cook and eat it. How sweet and tender her little ass was roasted in the oven. It took me 9 days to eat her entire body. I did not fuck her tho I could have had I wished. She died a virgin.”

These stationeries were tracked back to a janitor who told police he had left them at his house at 200 East 52^nd street before moving out. Landlady identified Albert Fish as being the last person to stay in the room. Detective King located Fish who agreed to go in for questioning. When King challenged Fish for the murder of Grace Budd, Fish attacked him with a razor blade. King over powered Fish, and after six years Fish was finally arrested at the age of sixty-four.

Fish in 1930's

Born on May 19^th 1870 as Hamilton Fish. Fish was born into a respectable family, but many discovered several of his family members were hospitalized for mental illnesses. Fish’s father Randall died in 1875, when Fish was only five years old, his mother was no longer able to care for him and placed him in St. Johns Orphanage in Washington. He was viciously teased by the other boys and girls and repeatedly called “Ham and Eggs” which enticed him to change his name to Alfred. After being forced to watch and receive regular whippings he acquired a taste for sadomasochism(receiving pleasure from causing pain and humiliation on others as well as pleasure from receiving pain).  He became a frequent bed wetter who regularly ran away. Once his mom was able to take care of him she removed him from the orphanage. During his youth Fish would take part in Coprophilia(the consumption of feces) and Urophilia(the consumption of urine). He attended brothels where he could be whipped and beaten. He also frequently visited public baths and watched the boys undress. Fish dropped out of high school at age fifteen when he became a painter frequently traveling. In 1898 he married a women nine years his minor. They settled in New York and had six children. In 1917 his wife left him for another man named John Straube. A few years later she returned to him, he agreed to take her back if she would send away Straube. Instead she hid him in the attic. When Fish found out they fought, and she left with Straube never to return again.

X-Ray of Fish's Pelvic region.

This is when his children said his behavior changed. He began hallucinating claiming to see Jesus and his angels. Also receiving messages and hearing God’s voice. He became obsessed with pain asking his children to beat his buttocks with a homemade paddle with inch long nails. He shoved needles into his groin area, in fact after his arrest during an X-Ray in Sing Sing, 29 needles were found to be located in his groin, many of which appeared to be eroded after the years. He also was known to have shoved fabric and cotton balls into his anus and set them on fire. Fish was arrested many times for petty crimes but always released as being peculiar but harmless. Fish admired Fritz Haarmann a German serial killer. He clipped every newspaper article he could find on him and saved them.

While in custody Fish confessed not only to the murder of Grace Budd but also confessed to killed four year old Billy Gaffney in 1927 and Francis McDonnell in 1934. He claimed to have sexually attacked nearly 400 people, one in every state. He said it began in 1910 when he became a male prostitute and started attacking young African American and mentally retarded boys because  people were less likely to care. Also claimed to have committed his first murder in 1898 and his second in 1910. Fish told a story of a relationship between him and a mentally retarded man. On one occasion he attempted to castrate him, however when the man began to scream, Fish ran off leaving behind only a ten dollar bill. With many wondering why, Fish once explained “it seemed to me that I had to offer a child for sacrifice to purge myself of sins, iniquities and abominations in the sight of god”. In response to the question why he killed them in such a manor he explained “I always had a desire to inflict pain on others and to have them inflict pain on me. I always seemed to enjoy everything that hurt”.

After these chilling claims police and prosecutor began to search into the past to see if any of them could be validated. They were able to connect him with nearly 100 sexual attacks in over twenty-three states. They could prove four deaths, and believed he committed at least fifteen. Police also made a discovery in the death of four year old Billy Gaffney who was abducted on February 11^th 1927 while in the hall way of his building playing with another young boy. When the other boy was asked who Billy had gone with, the boy responded by calling him “the boogeyman”. Fish was identified by Joseph Meehan as the man trying to quiet a little boy on the Trolley. The boy was seen without a jacket crying out for his mother. When Billy’s mother went to Sing Sing and asked Fish about what happened to her Billy. Fish gave this shocking confession:

I brought him to the Riker Ave. dumps. There is a house that stands alone, not far from where I took him. I took the boy there. Stripped him naked and tied his hands and feet and gagged him with a piece of dirty rag I picked out of the dump. Then I burned his clothes. Threw his shoes in the dump. Then I walked back and took the trolley to 59 St. at 2 A.M. and walked from there home. Next day about 2 P.M., I took tools, a good heavy cat-of-nine tails. Home made. Short handle. Cut one of my belts in half, slit these halves in six strips about 8 inches long. I whipped his bare behind till the blood ran from his legs. I cut off his ears – nose – slit his mouth from ear to ear. Gouged out his eyes. He was dead then. I stuck the knife in his belly and held my mouth to his body and drank his blood. I picked up four old potato sacks and gathered a pile of stones. Then I cut him up. I had a grip with me. I put his nose, ears and a few slices of his belly in the grip. Then I cut him through the middle of his body. Just below the belly button. Then through his legs about 2 inches below his behind. I put this in my grip with a lot of paper. I cut off the head – feet – arms – hands and the legs below the knee. This I put in sacks weighed with stones, tied the ends and threw them into the pools of slimy water you will see all along the road going to North Beach. I came home with my meat. I had the front of his body I liked best. His monkey and pee wees and a nice little fat behind to roast in the oven and eat. I made a stew out of his ears – nose – pieces of his face and belly. I put onions, carrots, turnips, celery, salt and pepper. It was good. Then I split the cheeks of his behind open, cut off his monkey and pee wees and washed them first. I put strips of bacon on each cheek of his behind and put them in the oven. Then I picked 4 onions and when the meat had roasted about 1/4 hour, I poured about a pint of water over it for gravy and put in the onions. At frequent intervals I basted his behind with a wooden spoon. So the meat would be nice and juicy. In about 2 hours, it was nice and brown, cooked through. I never ate any roast turkey that tasted half as good as his sweet fat little behind did. I ate every bit of the meat in about four days. His little monkey was as sweet as a nut, but his pee-wees I could not chew. Threw them in the toilet.

Electric chair at Sing Sing Prison

Fish was put on trial for the murder of Grace Budd. A trail that lasted ten days Judged by honorable Frederick P Close. Fish’s defense attorney, James Dempsey, put in a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. Between Dempsey and prosecutor Elbert E Gallagher several Psychiatrist testified in the trial. Many describing Fish’s several sexual fetishes including Coprophilia, Urophilia, Pedophilia, Masochism, Sadism, and Cannibalism. Although jurors acknowledged his mental derangement, they found him guilty because his crimes were so appalling they couldn’t manage to acquit. Fish was sentenced to death. When this was announced Fish exclaimed “What a thrill it will be to die in the electric chair! It will be the supreme thrill – the only one I haven’t tried!”. Albert Fish was electrocuted on January 16^th 1936 at age seventy-five, becoming the oldest man to be put to death in Sing Sing. After two attempts, many contribute to the 29 needles in his groin short circuiting the chair, Fish was pronounced dead after three minutes.

Before his death Fish had given his attorney a letter pages long. When asked about the letter Dempsey simply explained no one else would ever be allowed to read it, claiming it held some of the most disturbing information he had ever read. Albert Fish became somewhat of a legend, although he is not considered one of the more prolific serial killers, he is considered one of the worst. He even became one of the main models for Thomas Harris’s fictional character Hannibal Lector.

Sources:

1.      Harold Schechter. The Serial Killer Files The Random House Publishing Group, New York(2003)

2.      Charlotte Greig. Evil Serial Killer: In the mind of monsters.  Metro Books, New York(2005)

3.      A&E Biography: Albert Fish

4.      www.caroenoctem.tv/killers/fish.htm