The Legend of Albert Fish: The Brooklyn Vampire

Some have also called him The Real Life Boogeyman or The Gray Man of N.Y.C. This is the story of Albert Fish and his horrifying crimes.

Albert Fish was a serial killer, and he had at least 100 victims, and reportedly at least one child victim in every U.S. state. Albert had a disturbing childhood and was possibly deranged. However, he was only charged with the murder of one child, Grace Budd.

Albert was born Hamilton Howard ¨Albert¨ Fish on May 19, 1870, in Washington, D.C. His parents were Randall Fish and Ellen Francis Howard. His father was 75 years old when Albert was born. Albert was the youngest child and had three older living siblings.

Unfortunately, Alberts family had a history of mental illness, including an uncle who had mania. One of his brothers was in a state mental hospital, and he had a half-brother who had schizophrenia; as well as his sister was diagnosed with a mental affliction, and his mother suffered from visual hallucinations.

When Albert was five years old, his father died from a heart attack. After his father died, the family did not have enough money to feed all the children, so she placed Albert in an orphanage.

Some question if his years at the Orphanage turned him into one of the worst serial killers of all time or if it was already in his D.N.A. due to the history of mental illness in the family.

While Albert was at Saint John's Orphanage, he was physically and mentally abused. However, eventually, he enjoyed the physical pain from the beatings as well as watching the other boys being beaten. Albert stated:

"I was there 'til I was nearly nine, and that's where I got started wrong," Fish recalled. "We were unmercifully whipped. I saw boys doing many things they should not have done."

Albert was in the Orphanage until 1880, when his mother found employment and could provide for all her children again. However, at this point, the damage was done.

When Albert was 12, he had his first relationship with a boy. This boy introduced Albert to eating his excrement. At this time, Albert also began visiting public baths to watch other boys undress.

Crimes Against Children Began

When Albert was 20, he moved to New York City, where the real crimes against children began. Upon his move to N.Y.C., Albert became a prostitute and molested young boys, mainly under the age of 6.

In 1898, Albert's mother arranged a marriage to Anna Mary Hoffman, and they had six children together. However, shortly after they married in 1903, Albert was arrested for grand theft and served time at Sing Sing Prison. It is thought that he continued prostituting himself while inside prison.

Somewhere between his bathhouse days and serving time in prison, he became interested in sexual mutilation and eventually entered into a sadomasochistic relationship with a 19-year-old man, Thomas Bedden. There are questions about whether the relationship was consensual or not, but it was thought Bedden was intellectually impaired.

Shortly after the relationship started, Albert took Thomas to an abandoned farmhouse. Thomas was tortured for over two weeks, and eventually, Thomas was tied up, and Albert removed part of his genitals. Albert later stated:

"I shall never forget his scream or the look he gave me."

He intended to kill Thomas and eat him, but he changed his mind due to the hot weather at the time. Instead, he poured peroxide over his wounds, wrapped them in Vaseline, and left him $10. Thomas was never heard from again; many wonder if he died in the farmhouse or never came forward to report what happened. Albert stated:

"Took the first train I could get back home. Never heard what become of him, or tried to find out,"

In January 1917, Albert's wife left him for John Straube and left the children to raise alone with Albert. Albert told a local newspaper that she took nearly everything the family-owned. At this point, Albert began to have auditory hallucinations and would state that he was following the instructions of John the Apostle.

Albert´s Self-harm

Albert also began indulging in self-harm by inserting needles into his groin and abdomen. An X-ray was done after arrest to confirm this was true, it was. During this time of self-mutilation, he also would hit himself with a nail-studded paddle until blood ran down his legs.

He would also encourage his children to hit him in the buttocks with the paddle by playing games with him. It is believed he did not abuse his children. However, it was reported that he would feed them raw meat, a precursor to his cannibalism.

Eventually, his illness took over, and in 1919, he stabbed a disabled boy in Georgetown. Albert stated he looked for those less fortunate and in poor areas, knowing that no one would come looking for them and would not be missed. Albert even confessed to paying other children to help him find these types of children.

Albert carried around his equipment to kill and mutilate; inside his bag included a meat cleaver, a butcher knife, and a small handsaw.

July 11, 1924

Albert encountered Beatrice Kiel, eight years old, playing alone on her parents' farm on Staten Island. He paid her to help him look for rhubarb. She was about to leave with him when her mother saw him and chased him off.

Albert admitted that he felt God was commanding him to torture and mutilate children.

Grace Budd

Grace was not Albert's intended victim. It was her brother Edward. On May 25, 1928, Albert saw an ad in the Sunday paper that read:

"Young man, 18, wishes position in country. Edward Budd, 406 West 15th Street."

At this point, Albert was 58 years old and went to visit the Budd residence; he was planning on hiring Edward, mutilating him, and letting him bleed out. When Albert went to the Budds' farm, he brought potted cream and strawberries to the family to show that he was intent on hiring Edward. However, his intentions change when he meets Grace Budd; he quickly tells a story about attending his niece's birthday party and asks if Grace would like to join.

Her parents wanted Edward to get the job, so he said yes, he could take Grace to the party, and that was the last time they saw her.

Albert took Grace to an abandoned house, Wisteria Cottage, at 359 Mountain Road, Irvington, New York. It is unsure exactly what happened to Grace. Still, she was strangled to death, decapitated, and her body dismembered, and Albert reportedly ate most of her body over the next several days.

There was an arrest made in Grace's disappearance, but the man, Charles Edward Pope, was released after being found not guilty.

Letters to the family of Grace Budd

November 1934, Grace's mother began receiving anonymous letters that eventually led to the capture of Albert. The letter contained details of children who had been murdered and eaten. However, in the letter, he mentioned the pot of cheese and strawberries and how Grace sat on his lap.

He also stated that it was at that moment that he decided to eat her. The family took the letter to the police and noted a small hexagonal emblem with the letters N.Y.P.C.B.A. on the letter. These letters represented the New York Private CHauffeurs Benevolent Association; it was then that a janitor confessed to taking some of the letters home and leaving them in his room when he moved out.

Albert Fish moved in after the janitor moved out and used the paper to write his letters. The landlady was also holding a check for Albert and knew he would be back to collect it; however, when he went to collect his check, the police were waiting for him.

Albert was taken to the station for questioning and did not deny the murder of Grace Budd.

Other missing children

There was also another body found in 1924, Francis McDonnell, 9 years old. He was reported missing, and his body was found hanging by a tree, sexually assaulted, and strangled with his suspenders, as well as his left hamstring almost entirely stripped of flesh.

Albert Fish denied this murder but eventually confessed, as well as the neighbors reported seeing an elderly man with a grey mustache in the neighborhood, stating:

He came shuffling down the street, mumbling to himself and making queer motions with his hands ... I saw his thick grey hair and his drooping grey moustache. Everything about him seemed faded and grey.

This description also led to one of his nicknames ¨the Grey man¨, and Albert became known as

"the most vicious child-slayer in criminal history."

Guilty Verdict

However, Albert Fish was only tried for the murder of Grace Budd. His lawyer tried for the insanity plea, but it failed, and Albert was found guilty and sentenced to death. Albert Fish was executed by an electric chair on January 16, 1936, at Sing Sing Prison. His last words were reportedly, "I don't even know why I'm here¨.

Albert Fish gave a final statement letter to his lawyer, James Dempsey. It was several pages long, and according to Dempsey, I will never show it to anyone. It was the most filthy string of obscenities that I have ever read.