1936: Albert Fish

On this date in 1936, serial killer Albert Fish was electrocuted in New York’s Sing Sing Prison for a cannibalistic murder.

The deeply troubled Fish“deranged, but sane”, the doctors thought him — was condemned for murdering and eating a 10-year-old girl.

He was free and clear of the crime until, seven years later, he sent the child’s parents a grotesque taunting letter* that ultimately led police back to its author.

From posting that note to riding the lightning was a bare 14 months, but Fish found time to confess to additional murders (and deny others — the doubtful relationship of any Fish statement to reality makes it difficult to pin down his criminal career exactly).

The newspapers called him “The Werewolf of Wysteria” and “The Brooklyn Vampire”; if as a serial killer he was far from the most prolific, the thoroughgoing strangeness of his mind has made him, at least to some, enduringly fascinating** — as this documentary trailer suggests:

A 2007 feature film, The Grey Man, is also based on Fish’s exploits.

* The mother was illiterate, and her son had to read aloud to her Fish’s descriptions of cannibalism.

** Others find him less than interesting

Part of the Themed Set: The Spectacle of Private Execution in America.

On this day..

6 thoughts on “1936: Albert Fish

  1. Thank you for any other fantastic article. Where
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  2. Its easier to call person a sick f;..@ then to actually take look into there past , childhood and life to see where the individual went wrong , what happened to the mental an emotional state that sacred them so much that it turned them into a monster. serial killers are not born they are made whether they’re a product of there enviroment or though years of abuse at the hands of others or later on in life abuse by themselves the fact still remains the person life did not begin as a serial killer they were created

  3. I think its sad story , for both perpetrater and victims cause in a sence its case of socitey that creates criminals it deserts , here was a man that from the begining of his life was introduced to abuse ( by the orphange the he was placed into) which then became part of his mantality along with living his by the strick word of god taking his notions an beliefs to the next level . Which in turn became dangerous to others around him i truely think if his illness had been notice by the right people ie. The doctors that had assest him in hospitial along with police maybe the lives of the innocent could of been saved

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