Jason Bennett
Sociology
Pd 5
Albert Fish
9 facts about his life
 Hamilton Howard Fish is his real name but he rather be called albert after one of his dead
siblings and was sent to an orphanage for his early child life.
 He claimed to have killed 100 children that he would kidnap, rape, torture with what he
called his “implements of hell” which was a meat cleaver, a butcher knife, and a small
handsaw. Then he would perform cannibalism on his victims sometimes raw many times
cooking them in many different forms.
 At this orphanage other kids would beat him and torment him but he grew to enjoy these
pains and was one of the first signs he is quite different from other people.
 At age twelve met a boy and became friends with him introducing him to urolagnia
which is drinking urine and coprophagia which is eating feces which is just disgusting but
 Albert enjoyed these things as well as hurting himself by driving pins into his pelvis and
groin.
 By 1890 he became a prostitute in New York and this is when he started raping young
boys.
 Mother arranged a marriage with women for him in 1898 and had six children and by
1917 she left him leaving him to raise the rest of the kids on his own. At this point he
became more interested in cannibalism also preparing the family a meal of raw meat, not
human though.
 Family had a history of many mental health problems explaining some of his problems
that he faced and psychiatrists testified saying the weird things he enjoyed were sexual
fetishes they noted they have never seen a man with this many sexual abnormalities.
 Would always write letters to women he never knew but got their info from
advertisements and such.
His crimes he was convicted of.
1First time he was sent to jail for grand larceny in 1903 not sure what he stole though
grand larceny- is illegally taking personal property off another person
2 Also arrested in 1930 after writing a weird letter to a random lady who wanted a maid,
not sure what this is called but he was sent to Bellevue psychiatric hospital for
observation.
3 Final
Murder of Grace Budd
Evidence used was a letter about her that was traced back to fish. They knew he did it and
pleaded insanity which he was but they felt he deserved to be executed either way as one
juror later stated. He was sentenced to death by the electric chair.
Nicknames
The Gray Man, Werewolf of Wysteria, the Brooklyn Vampire, the Moon Maniac, and the
Boogey Man
Culture references
Albert Fish was the title of one movie about him. The Gray Man in 2007 was another
one. Albert Fish the Lying Cannibal was abook about him. Deranged was another book
that had him in it.
Theory
I feel social control theory best represents what Albert fish represents. He would not have
done all these crazy things and had these fetishes if his upbringing was better and
wouldn’t have broken these lines. At the orphanage he was abused and witnessed people
being mistreated which had a major impact on him at young age. Secondly becoming
friends with some kid who drink pee and feces and seems to make it ok also broke these
lines making it seem normal. Third because of his childhood pain he enjoys masochism
and feeling pain is pleasurable to him. Having these mental disorders and feeling in his
mind he is doing god’s work by killing these children to forgive his sins is ridiculous and
if he didn’t have these he wouldn’t feel this way.
Social control theory is all about how people will not break these laws until something
happens to them that changes their minds about conforming to them. In Albert’s case he
has had problem after problem in his life only burying himself deeper and going further
down a road of terror. He started off enjoying watching boys change then ended up
mutilating them and eating them. Many things have gone wrong to make him feel these
things are ok to do. He simply wasn’t taught in a gang or the mob to do these. He also
didn’t try to further himself in society by doing this in anyway as the anomie theory
would suggest. This became his life and is all he wanted to do basically revolve around
his obsessions.
Quotes
“I like children they are tasty.”
“None of us are saints.”