Real Crime/Paranormal/Conspiracy Theories Book III

Albert Fish: The Gray Man

Hamilton Howard "Albert"Fish (May 19, 1870 – January 16, 1936) was anAmerican serial killer, child rapist, child murderer, and cannibal.He was also known as the Gray Man, the Werewolf of Wysteria, theBrooklyn Vampire, the Moon Maniac, and The Boogey Man. Fish onceboasted that he "had children in every state", andat one time stated his number of victims was about 100. However, itis not known whether he was referring to rapes or cannibalization,nor is it known if the statement was truthful.

Fish was a suspect in at least fivemurders during his lifetime. He confessed to three murders thatpolice were able to trace to a known homicide, and he confessed tostabbing at least two other people. Fish was apprehended on December13, 1934, and put on trial for the kidnapping and murder of GraceBudd. He was convicted and executed by electric chair on January 16,1936, at the age of 65. His crimes were dramatized in the 2007 filmThe Gray Man, starring Patrick Bauchau as Fish.

Early life

Childhood

Albert Fish was born in Washington,D.C., on May 19, 1870, to Randall (1795 – October 16, 1875) andEllen (née Howell; 1838–c. 1903) Fish. Fish's father was American,of English ancestry, and his mother was Scots-Irish American. Hisfather was 43 years older than his mother and 75 years old at thetime of his birth. Fish was the youngest child and had three livingsiblings: Walter, Annie, and Edwin. He wished to be known as "Albert"after a dead sibling and to escape the nickname "Ham &Eggs" that he was given at an orphanage in which he spentmuch of his childhood.

Fish's family had a history of mentalillness. His uncle suffered from mania, one of his brothers wasconfined in a state mental hospital, and his sister Annie wasdiagnosed with a "mental affliction". Three otherrelatives were diagnosed with mental illnesses, and his mother had"aural and/or visual hallucinations".

Fish's father Randall was a river boatcaptain and, by 1870, a fertilizer manufacturer. The elder Fish diedin 1875 at Washington's Sixth Street Station of a heart attack. TheCongressional Cemetery records show that he died on October 16, 1875,and was buried on October 19, 1875, in grave R96/89. Fish's motherthen put her son into Saint John's Orphanage in Washington, where hewas frequently abused. Fish began to enjoy the physical pain that thebeatings brought. Of his time at the orphanage, Fish remarked, "Iwas there 'til I was nearly nine, and that's where I got startedwrong. We were unmercifully whipped. I saw boys doing many thingsthey should not have done."

By 1880, Fish's mother had a governmentjob and was able to remove Fish from the orphanage. In 1882, at age12, he began a relationship with a telegraph boy. The youthintroduced Fish to such practices as urolagnia (drinking urine) andcoprophagia (eating feces). Fish began visiting public baths where hecould watch other boys undress and spent a great portion of hisweekends on these visits. Throughout his life, he would writeobscene letters to women whose names he acquired from classifiedadvertising and matrimonial agencies.

1890–1918: Early adulthood andcriminal history

By 1890, at age 20, Fish arrived in NewYork City, and he said at that point he became a prostitute and beganraping young boys. In 1898, his mother arranged a marriage for himwith Anna Mary Hoffman, who was nine years his junior. They had sixchildren: Albert, Anna, Gertrude, Eugene, John, and Henry Fish.