| Albert Fish graced, or rather disgraced, the World | | | | 1928, when he went to see a family by the name of |
| with his presence and eventual murderous psychosis, | | | | Budd. It would seem that his murderous psychosis |
| on the 19th. May 1870 in Washington D.C. | | | | was taking him over completely by that time. He |
| He was placed in an orphanage when he was five | | | | offered the younger boys jobs, and probably fondled |
| years of age, and was a witness to many | | | | them, but his real wish was for their daughter, Grace. |
| perversions. He's said to have reported that "That | | | | He invented a niece, and asked Grace's parents if he |
| place ruined my mind." | | | | could take her to the child's birthday party. They |
| When he was seven, he went to live with his | | | | agreed - and never saw their daughter again. |
| mother, but there are no reports as to whether or | | | | It's also recorded that between the years 1932 and |
| not she abused him. He had the misfortune of falling | | | | '34, he murdered four children in the Brooklyn area, |
| out of a tree and seriously injuring his head. This led | | | | earning himself the grisly nickname, the 'Brooklyn |
| to episodes of dizziness and severe headaches. | | | | Vampire.' Presumably, it was just after this killing |
| However, so far as anyone knows, it wasn't until | | | | spree, that he wrote to the Budd family and laid out |
| 1910, at age 40, that he committed his first murder. | | | | in lurid detail everything that he'd done to their |
| His victims were children, because he found them | | | | daughter. The records show that he sent the letter |
| easy targets. | | | | six years six after Grace's murder. The acts were so |
| His killing sprees began in earnest in the 1920's, when | | | | revolting that they certainly can't be laid out here. |
| he travelled from state to state, working at odd | | | | Suffice to say that because of the postmark on the |
| jobs, thereby having the freedom to enjoy his | | | | letter, the police were finally able to track Fish down. |
| murderous and disgusting hobby. He was arrested on | | | | He pleaded insanity, but fortunately the jury had the |
| numerous occasions for child molestation, sending | | | | good sense to ignore this and he was sentenced to |
| obscene mail and being mentally ill. Now, this latter | | | | death in the electric chair at Sing Sing. The execution |
| condition of arrest baffles me. Was he deemed | | | | took place on 16th. January 1936. He must have been |
| mentally ill because he molested children, or was he | | | | insane, of course. A murderous psychosis such as his |
| arrested for mental illness on a separate charge? | | | | could not, even by its very definition, allow any |
| There's enough stigma attached to mental illness | | | | balanced mind to even contemplate such vile acts, let |
| today, let alone back then. | | | | alone carry them out. Insane, yes, but like an |
| During his periods of incarceration, he would | | | | extremely dangerous animal, he had to be put out of |
| sometimes fly into fits of anger and developed the | | | | society's misery. |
| alarming habit of screaming out that he was Christ | | | | An argument may be made for the broader question |
| and that God told him to kill. After such admissions, | | | | as to whether all murderers are insane at the time of |
| why was there apparently no investigation? So many | | | | the act? This, apart from manslaughter, or where the |
| young lives could have been saved if he'd been put | | | | killing is genuinely accidental. I know this is hardly the |
| away for good. Nevertheless, it seems that no-one | | | | subject to discuss over afternoon tea, but it is |
| did look into these admissions; perhaps they thought | | | | extremely interesting. At what point does the rational |
| that they were merely the ravings of a lunatic. | | | | mind give way to the irrational? Then again, is every |
| One of his more notorious ventures took place in | | | | murder irrational? |