Albert Fish

WEBVTT
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Ready?
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There are some true crime cases that make you angry.
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Some that make you sad.
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And then there are some that leave you sitting there wondering to yourself, how the hell did someone like this exist?
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Tonight's case kind of fits into all three categories.
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The story is about an unassuming man who could disappear into a crowd without anyone giving him a second look.
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And that's probably one thing that makes this story so unsettling.
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So tonight we're going back to the beginning, before the investigation, before the confession, before the world learned exactly who he was, because sometimes the most dangerous person in the room is the one that nobody notices.
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This is the story of Albert Fish.
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For some people, this might be rough, but it's definitely going to be a wild ride for everyone.
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So I'm just going to give a blanket trigger warning for anything and everything you could think of, because like I said, this one's wild.
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We're going back to the 1800s with this one.
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Albert Fish was born Hamilton Howard Fish on May 19th, 1870, in Washington, DC, to his parents, Randall and Ellen Fish.
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There was a 43-year age gap between his mom and his dad.
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With Ellen being 32 and Randall being 75 when Albert was born.
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How are you still fertile at 75?
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I don't know.
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But that's quite a large age gap.
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Albert was not their first child.
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In fact, he was the youngest of four surviving children.
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His siblings were Walter, Annie, and Edwin.
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This family had a history of mental illness, including his mom, uncle, one of his brothers, his sister, and his paternal half-brother.
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Their illnesses ranged from hallucinations and schizophrenia to mania and other illnesses, resulting in his brother and uncle being put in a mental hospital.
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When Albert was five, his dad died of a heart attack, leaving his mom alone to care for him and his siblings.
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She struggled to provide and care for them due to her mental health and their financial issues, which led to her sending Albert to St.
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John's Home for Boys, an orphanage.
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According to Fish, when he was examined by a psychiatrist decades later, the nuns there would subject him to harsh discipline and physical punishment.
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He described being beaten and humiliated and subjected to corporal punishments that contributed to his psychological problems.
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While he was there, he was given the nickname Ham and Eggs by the other kids, which he hated and often endured physical and verbal abuse from the other kids.
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This is why he later changed his name to Albert around the time he turned 15.
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How the fuck do you get ham and eggs?
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Because his name was Hamilton.
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Yeah.
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But where where's the eggs?
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I get the ham, but eggs?
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I guess just because maybe ham and eggs is something that they ate all the time.
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And his name was Hamilton.
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His name was Hamilton, but eggs make zero sense.
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Hamilton Howard Fish.
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Maybe fish eggs.
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Nah.
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Kids ain't that bright.
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And like I said, sadistic treatment from the nuns, like beatings and floggings.
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But during his time in what we would consider elementary school, Albert began wetting the bed and developed a stammer due to psychological distress.
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Although it was later found out that he enjoyed the physical pain.
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So much so that he would often get erections, which led to the other kids in the orphanage making more fun of him.
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Little masochist.
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Around 1880, Albert's mom had gotten a good job with the government, was in better mental health, and was doing better financially.
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So she went back to the orphanage and picked little Albert up and took him back home.
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He was about eight or nine.
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During his time away, he hadn't received much as far as education goes, and he had a hard time fitting in socially.
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Also, adding to the social awkwardness, he went to bed and had the stammer.
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Around 10, since he wasn't in that toxic environment of the orphanage anymore, he started getting his pain enjoyment by inflicting injuries on himself.
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He would cut himself and beat himself with a nail-studded paddle, and he started practicing piquerism, which is basically becoming sexually aroused by the sadistic piercing and stabbing of another person.
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By the time Albert was 12, he had started having a relationship with a telegraph boy.
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That boy introduced Albert to some wild practices, or kinks, if I guess is what you want to call it.
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Like eating shit and drinking pee.
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So he likes golden showers and scat play.
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That's pretty gross.
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By age like 12.
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That's really gross.
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He would also go to public baths most weekends and spend his days watching other boys undress.
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But on the flip side of that, he would write very sexual letters to women in the classified ads.
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So it seems he was a little confused on what he likes and wants at this point in his life.
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I mean, it's okay to swing both ways, but just the pee and poop thing needs to go away.
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That's a little far for a 12-year-old.
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Yeah.
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Fast forward to 20 years old, and Albert picks up and moves to the Big Apple, New York City.
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It's expensive to live in New York, and I'm sure it was expensive back in the 1800s, too.
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So in order to make money, Albert became a male prostitute.
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Being a prostitute opened up a new way for him to not only make money, but to find new victims.
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He would lure young boys from their homes and molest them.
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But his favorite thing to do was to use that nail-studded paddle to torture them before he would rape them.
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Together they had six kids: Albert Jr., Anna, Gertrude, Eugene, John, and Henry.
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Very, very much 1800s names.
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Yeah, that's a very gross name, Gertrude.
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Like who names their child Gertrude?
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Every time I hear the name Gertrude, it just reminds me of senior year in high school when we had anatomy and we had to dissect pigs, and my group named our pig Gertrude.
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We called her Gertie.
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I mean, that makes sense.
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Most Gertrudes I know are not predominantly skinny.
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You actually know a Gertrude?
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I know of a few.
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I don't think I know anybody named Gertrude.
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Moving forward to 1910, Fish met Thomas Kedden.
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Kedan?
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Keaton.
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We're gonna go with Keaton.
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K-E-D-D-E-N.
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And began a sadomasochistic relationship with him.
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Sadism deriving pleasure from inflicting pain.
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Masochism deriving pleasure in receiving pain.
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So he had a give and take relationship of pain.
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Yes, he enjoyed both inflicting pain and receiving pain.
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Okay, so now the sadomasochistic relationship makes a little bit more sense.
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But it's unknown if Keaton participated willingly.
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I say that because 10 days after meeting, Fish got Keaton to meet him at an abandoned farmhouse.
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And once inside, Keaton realized he was locked in with no way out.
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For two whole weeks, Fish mutilated Keaton and cut half of his penis off.
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Then Fish just dipped out and left Keaton$10 for his troubles, which amounts to$350.55 today.
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Still not enough to get half your penis cut off.
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Here's$350.
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Yeah, that's I was already.
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Good luck.
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But a penis is worth more than$350, especially on the black market.
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Like, hell no.
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You better pay for that.
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But never nothing ever said what he did with with the penis, though.
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Did he just leave it laying there next to him and he had to just look at it?
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I don't know.
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I mean, we probably shoved it up the other dude's butt.
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Wouldn't be surprised if it's a sytomasochistic relationship, you know, giving pain and receiving pain.
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He probably chopped it off and then gave it right back to him.
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Yeah.
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Sorry I asked.
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Seven years later, in 1917, Fish was struggling to hide his growing mental illness.
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And eventually his wife left him, which made him self-harm even more.
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He would start small by shoving needles into his groin area to things that are a little more out there, like stuffing wool covered in lighter fluid into his anus and lighting it on fire.
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How do you survive that?
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Like what?
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Let me just let me just hear.
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I'm gonna turn myself into a human Molotov.
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I don't really know.
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Maybe he can fart on command and just blows all the blowing out his birthday candles.
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At one point, he started having auditory hallucinations to the point that he once wrapped himself in a carpet because John the Apostle told him to.
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Okay then That kind of becomes a little bit of a theme.
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Yeah, that's like that that's a good thing of uh schizophrenia.
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Yeah.
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It's very obvious that he's becoming schizo when John Apostle wants to show up.
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But that the auditory hallucinations becomes a little bit of a theme throughout the story.
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Eventually, Fish started teaching his children some weird sadomasochistic games and developed an obsession with cannibalism.
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Now we're getting to the Hills Heavy's territory.
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Before consuming human meat, though, he started out by eating raw hamburger meat.
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My grandmother does that.
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I I just pictured Santa Clarita diet.
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Yeah.
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Like where she's eating the hamburger meat instead of people.
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Yeah, but no joke.
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Like the my my grandma, like my grandmother, she does eat raw hamburger meat.
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It's always disgusted the fuck out of me.
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He would also try to get his children to join him in the eating of the raw hamburger meat.
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Not the cannibalism, though.
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Uh not not yet.
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By 1919, his intrigue brought him to murder.
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He started looking out for children that appeared to be intellectually disabled orphans or homeless black children.
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Basically, people who probably wouldn't be missed.
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Later in his trial, he claimed that it was God telling him to torture and eat young children.
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I mean, auditory hallucinations again.
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Yeah, but that's not what I was gonna say.
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I was gonna say, depending on which God he worshipped, I I could see that, maybe.
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Well, I believe he was Christian, though, so ain't no Christian going around cannibalizing people.
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No.
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That ain't Christian.
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Now we're moving to July of 1924 in Staten Island, the house of Francis McDonald.
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Francis was playing on the porch with his younger siblings while his mother was in the kitchen at the rear of the house.
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She noticed a stranger, an older man with gray hair, later found to be 65-year-old Fish, had passed the porch a couple of times within the span of a of 30 minutes.
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Next thing she knew, Francis was missing.
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Everyone joined in the search for him, including the Boy Scouts.
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And I only mentioned the Boy Scouts because unfortunately, a group of them would be the ones to find his body covered in vegetation and branches.
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His body showed that he had been viciously attacked and strangled.
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However, police had a body, but no name, nor did they know who could have done this to him.
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But they did have a description.
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This description eventually became associated with the moniker The Gray Man.
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There's actually a movie called The Gray Man.
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Completely off topic.
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It is not even remotely close to this person.
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It is an action movie.
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Do not watch that movie if you are thinking you're gonna watch something about Albert Fish.
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You're not.
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But it is a great movie.
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So maybe do go watch it.
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But in 1924, investigators didn't know they were looking for Fish, and he wouldn't be connected to the murder for years.
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But this case does become his first known murder.
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Three years later, another child disappeared from an apartment complex in Brooklyn.
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Four-year-old Billy Gaffney was outside playing near his apartment building when he went missing.
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The kid Billy had been playing with described seeing a man who looked like a boogeyman.
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Police searched, they questioned neighbors, but unfortunately, Billy was never found.
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This case became one of Brooklyn's biggest mysteries until, again, years later, after the disappearance, investigators discovered that Fish had written a confession about Billy.
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Then came 1928.
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Albert had started to search the papers for families that were looking for someone to help with housework, or young men who were looking for work themselves.
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And this is how we found 10-year-old Grace Bud.
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Originally, she wasn't his target.
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Her older brother was.
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But once he noticed Grace, he changed course.
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Her brother, Edward, had made an ad that he was looking for farm work, and Fish replied to the ad under the name Frank Howard.
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He went to the family home and claimed to be a farmer and to have work.
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Offered to pay him$15 an hour, which would be$292.91 per hour in today's money.
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Damn.
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Ain't nobody like ain't nobody worth that much.
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I mean, I guess if you really want to get somebody out to your property.
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Oh yeah, that'd definitely get people out there.
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I'm gonna give you$15 an hour for doing some farm work.
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I'm gonna give you$300 an hour.
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Hey, come do this farm work.
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Maybe the kid should have known it was too good to be true.
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Well, he asked if Edward would be interested in helping.
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However, while he was talking with their parents, he noticed Grace.
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He told the family that he was actually in town to see his niece and go to her birthday party and asked if Grace wanted to join him.
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Grace's parents had no problem with letting their daughter go to the party with this unassuming looking stranger.
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I I can't say that I would let my child go to the ball.
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No, no, I'm sorry.
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I just made you one fuck will my kid go with you to a birthday party.
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Oh.
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Like I don't even know you.
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I know nothing about you.
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Other than your name.
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Which is quote unquote name.
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No, they know him as Frank Coward.
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Oh yeah.
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They don't even know his actual name.
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They don't even know his name is Fish.
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Wait.
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His name's not Fish, it is it?
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No, yeah, it is.
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I forget that uh that's his like maiden name.
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He didn't change that.
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No, that's his actual name.
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Yeah, Fish is his actual name.
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Yes.
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Yeah, yeah.
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Which is stupid.
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But I don't think I know anybody who whose last name is Fish.
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Yeah, exactly.
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Like I said, stupid.
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Anyways, I digress and continue with the story.
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So Frank Howard, aka Fish, left with their daughter, and she was never seen again.
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Albert took Grace, who was dressed in her Sunday best to attend this birthday party, back to his house upstate.
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While Grace was outside picking wildflowers, Fish went into the bedroom, got naked, and then called 10-year-old Grace inside to the room that he was in.
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She screamed when she saw him, but before she could run away, he grabbed her.
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I would probably scream if I saw a 65-year-old man buttass naked too.
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I mean.
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As a 10-year-old, absolutely.
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But unfortunately, I've seen lots of 60-year-old men naked.
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You might want to elaborate on that.
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Oh, being a nurse before.
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You work in a nursing home.
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Some patients have mental disorders and forget where they're at and forget how to put clothes on.
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It kind of sucks.
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You definitely needed explanation for that.
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Otherwise, it just sounds really weird.
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Once she was in the room, and she screamed, tried to run away, he grabbed her.
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He stripped her naked, strangled her until she died, and then proceeded to cut her up into small chunks that he could put in the oven to bake.
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How small are we talking?
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I don't know.
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Diced?
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I don't want to know.
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Cubed.
00:20:31.339 --> 00:20:35.659
It's bad enough that I know that he ate a 10-year-old after fucking her.
00:20:42.539 --> 00:20:49.419
Two, that he strangled her until she died.
00:20:49.659 --> 00:20:51.980
And three, that he cut her up into small chunks.
00:20:52.139 --> 00:20:53.659
I don't need to know any more details than that.
00:20:53.980 --> 00:20:55.180
He he raped her, right?
00:20:55.419 --> 00:20:55.740
No.
00:20:56.139 --> 00:20:56.460
Oh.
00:20:57.579 --> 00:20:59.339
But I I don't need to know any more details than that.
00:20:59.819 --> 00:20:59.980
I do.
00:21:00.139 --> 00:21:00.619
That's enough.
00:21:00.940 --> 00:21:02.059
I need to know.
00:21:02.460 --> 00:21:05.099
Well you know how it works.
00:21:05.180 --> 00:21:06.619
It's gonna be a question.
00:21:07.019 --> 00:21:07.659
I know.
00:21:07.980 --> 00:21:09.819
But I don't want to know.
00:21:10.460 --> 00:21:16.139
Her family would have to wait six years to find out where their little girl had gone and what happened to her.
00:21:16.379 --> 00:21:22.059
After a feces detective like investigated, you know, digg through some poop and found her?
00:21:22.220 --> 00:21:24.059
Or did they just find some bones?
00:21:24.460 --> 00:21:28.460
Well, we're we're getting there.
00:21:29.819 --> 00:21:33.259
Like, well, I mean, we can get there, that's fine.
00:21:33.579 --> 00:21:44.299
But if you're gonna chop somebody up and eat 'em the only thing that I me personally, I think would be left is bones.
00:21:45.419 --> 00:21:48.220
Because I'm not gonna let any meat go to waste.
00:21:48.940 --> 00:21:54.859
But it it doesn't say what he did with the rest of her.
00:21:56.460 --> 00:22:01.259
So how in the world do you discover the the dead body?
00:22:01.740 --> 00:22:05.180
Like, how do you discover that after six years if she was eaten?
00:22:05.819 --> 00:22:07.500
Okay, we're getting there.
00:22:08.379 --> 00:22:13.259
Skipping ahead those six years, imagine knowing that your child is gone.
00:22:13.659 --> 00:22:19.980
You don't know if she's dead or alive, you have no body, no news, nothing.
00:22:20.700 --> 00:22:27.419
But then one day, in November of 1934, an unsigned letter arrives at your home.
00:22:27.659 --> 00:22:30.220
That's exactly what happened to the Bud family.
00:22:31.019 --> 00:22:34.220
The letter reads Dear Mrs.
00:22:34.460 --> 00:22:38.539
Bud, notice it's only directed towards the mom.
00:22:40.139 --> 00:22:40.859
Dear Mrs.
00:22:41.019 --> 00:22:41.500
Bud.
00:22:42.299 --> 00:22:50.539
In eighteen ninety four, a friend of mine shipped as a deck hand on the steamer Tacoma, Captain John Davis.
00:22:50.779 --> 00:22:53.819
They sailed from San Francisco to Hong Kong, China.
00:22:54.059 --> 00:22:58.220
On arriving there, he and two others went ashore and got drunk.
00:22:58.460 --> 00:23:00.859
When they returned, the boat was gone.
00:23:01.180 --> 00:23:03.659
At the time, there was a famine in China.
00:23:03.899 --> 00:23:08.139
Meat of any kind was from a dollar to three dollars a pound.
00:23:08.460 --> 00:23:20.139
So great was the suffering among the very poor that all children under 12 were sold to the butchers to be cut up and sold for food in order to keep others from starving.
00:23:20.619 --> 00:23:24.619
A boy or girl under 14 was not safe in the street.
00:23:24.859 --> 00:23:30.299
You could go in any ship and ask for steak, chops, or stew meat.
00:23:30.859 --> 00:23:37.419
Part of the naked body of a boy or girl would be brought out and just what you wanted cut from it.
00:23:37.740 --> 00:23:46.220
A boy or girl's behind, which is the sweetest part of the body, and sold as veal cutlets, brought the highest price.
00:23:46.940 --> 00:23:51.259
John stayed there so long he acquired a taste for human flesh.
00:23:51.500 --> 00:24:02.619
On his return to New York, he stole two boys, one seven, one eleven, took them to his home, stripped them naked, tied them in a closet, and burned everything they had on.
00:24:02.859 --> 00:24:09.180
Several times every day and night he spanked them, tortured them, to make their meat good and tender.
00:24:10.220 --> 00:24:12.859
First, he killed the eleven-year-old boy.
00:24:13.180 --> 00:24:17.339
Because he had the fattest ass and of course the most meat on it.
00:24:17.579 --> 00:24:23.099
Every part of his body was cooked and eaten except head, bones, and guts.
00:24:23.419 --> 00:24:26.779
He was roasted in the oven, all of his ass.
00:24:27.579 --> 00:24:30.859
Boiled, broiled, fried, and stewed.
00:24:31.099 --> 00:24:32.700
The little boy was next.
00:24:33.019 --> 00:24:34.379
Went the same way.
00:24:36.139 --> 00:24:38.379
Sorry for pausing you there.
00:24:39.899 --> 00:24:48.779
Earlier you said that in the letter reads First he killed the eleven-year-old boy.
00:24:50.460 --> 00:24:56.379
But even earlier in that We mentioned a girl.
00:24:57.980 --> 00:25:00.859
So Yeah, he took two boys.
00:25:01.659 --> 00:25:05.899
This is he's talking about a friend of his.
00:25:10.940 --> 00:25:13.899
A friend of his was a a deck canned on the steamer.
00:25:14.379 --> 00:25:15.019
Right, right, right, right.
00:25:15.180 --> 00:25:16.940
I I'm just trying to keep up, that's all.
00:25:17.259 --> 00:25:19.339
A friend of his took two boys.
00:25:21.180 --> 00:25:26.619
Okay, so the 11-year-old boy was killed first because he's had he had a fat ass.
00:25:26.779 --> 00:25:27.259
Mm-hmm.
00:25:28.940 --> 00:25:31.500
And then the little boy went the same way.
00:25:34.379 --> 00:25:41.259
At that time, I was living at 409 East 100th Street, rear right side.
00:25:42.059 --> 00:25:48.379
He told me so often how good human flesh, I made up my mind to taste it.
00:25:49.659 --> 00:26:03.180
On Sunday, June the 3rd, 1928, I called you at 406 West 15th Street, brought you pot cheese, strawberries.
00:26:03.659 --> 00:26:04.940
We had lunch.
00:26:05.180 --> 00:26:07.659
I made up my mind to eat her.
00:26:08.940 --> 00:26:13.740
On the pretense of taking her to a party, you said yes, she could go.
00:26:14.139 --> 00:26:17.819
I took her to an empty house in Westchester.
00:26:18.539 --> 00:26:20.059
I had already picked out.
00:26:20.299 --> 00:26:23.740
When we got there, I told her to remain outside.
00:26:23.980 --> 00:26:25.500
She picked wildflowers.
00:26:25.659 --> 00:26:28.139
I went upstairs and stripped all my clothes off.
00:26:28.299 --> 00:26:31.339
I know if I did not, I would get her blood on them.
00:26:31.819 --> 00:26:34.940
When all was ready, I went to the window and called her.
00:26:35.180 --> 00:26:38.139
Then I hid in a closet until she was in the room.
00:26:38.379 --> 00:26:42.859
When she saw me all naked, she began to cry and tried to run down the stairs.
00:26:43.019 --> 00:26:46.220
I grabbed her, and she said she would tell her mama.
00:26:47.659 --> 00:26:49.740
First, I stripped her naked.
00:26:50.460 --> 00:26:53.819
How she did kick, bite, and scratch.
00:26:54.059 --> 00:27:03.019
I choked her to death, then cut her into small pieces so I could take my meat to my rooms, cook and eat it.
00:27:03.659 --> 00:27:07.259
How sweet and tender her little ass was roasted in the oven.
00:27:07.500 --> 00:27:10.220
It took me nine days to eat her entire body.
00:27:10.379 --> 00:27:11.899
I did not fuck her.
00:27:12.139 --> 00:27:15.259
Though I could have, had I wished.
00:27:15.500 --> 00:27:16.940
She died a virgin.
00:27:17.819 --> 00:27:22.059
And that was the end of the letter that he wrote to her mom.
00:27:23.500 --> 00:27:24.539
Why just a mom?
00:27:24.619 --> 00:27:26.940
I think dad needs to know about it too.
00:27:27.339 --> 00:27:32.859
I think because it would like hit the mom harder, maybe.
00:27:33.740 --> 00:27:34.460
Probably.
00:27:34.779 --> 00:27:46.779
But also, I just want to say I struggled through that, I know, but he wrote that in so weirdly that my brain could not function properly.
00:27:47.099 --> 00:27:48.779
Yeah, that's to read it properly.
00:27:49.180 --> 00:27:50.220
That's the actual letter, right?
00:27:50.379 --> 00:27:50.619
Yes.
00:27:50.859 --> 00:27:51.099
Yeah.
00:27:51.339 --> 00:27:56.779
So he was just an idiot who don't know how to grammar properly.
00:27:57.180 --> 00:28:06.539
Like I'm pretty sure there at one point in time there was he told me so often how good human flesh I made up my mind to taste it.
00:28:06.700 --> 00:28:06.940
Yes.
00:28:07.180 --> 00:28:07.819
Like, what?
00:28:08.539 --> 00:28:09.659
He don't know how to grammar.
00:28:09.819 --> 00:28:11.659
He don't know how to finish the sentence.
00:28:12.539 --> 00:28:21.339
It it was so bad that word was having a hard time, like not correcting.
00:28:21.579 --> 00:28:25.339
Like I had to go back and uncorrect things that were corrected.
00:28:27.740 --> 00:28:32.139
The family took the letter to police, as any parent would do, hopefully.
00:28:32.539 --> 00:28:34.059
Detective William F.
00:28:34.299 --> 00:28:42.700
King of the NYPD, Missing Persons Bureau, who had been involved with the Bud case from the very beginning, examined the letter.
00:28:42.940 --> 00:28:54.539
He noticed that the envelope that the letter had been sent in had a small hexagon emblem on it that represented a local association for private chauffeurs.
00:28:55.019 --> 00:29:01.180
And they traced it back to a janitor who admitted to taking some stationery home.
00:29:02.299 --> 00:29:21.180
When they investigated the residence that the janitor had lived at during this during this time that he worked there, the landlady said the man that had been staying there up until just days before was named, you guessed it, Albert Fish.
00:29:25.500 --> 00:29:27.099
He changed his name already?
00:29:27.259 --> 00:29:28.299
Oh yeah, no.
00:29:28.539 --> 00:29:30.619
Yeah, he did a long time ago.
00:29:30.940 --> 00:29:34.379
Because now we're I know there's a lot of names.
00:29:34.700 --> 00:29:36.700
There's a lot of names in this one.
00:29:38.619 --> 00:29:45.419
So he used Frank Howard as the name To get the little girl.
00:29:45.659 --> 00:29:46.379
To get yes.
00:29:46.539 --> 00:29:48.299
Yeah, I I remember that.
00:29:48.859 --> 00:29:51.099
But he originally was named Howard.
00:29:51.339 --> 00:29:51.980
Yes.
00:29:52.299 --> 00:29:53.980
And then changed it to Albert.
00:29:54.220 --> 00:29:54.859
Yes.
00:29:55.419 --> 00:29:57.180
That's the part that's bothering me.
00:29:57.419 --> 00:29:58.059
Yeah.
00:29:58.460 --> 00:30:01.180
It's he was originally named Howard Fish.
00:30:01.500 --> 00:30:03.180
He was originally Hamilton Howard.
00:30:03.419 --> 00:30:03.980
Yeah.
00:30:04.619 --> 00:30:06.700
Yeah, Hamilton Howard Fish.
00:30:07.099 --> 00:30:08.940
And then changed it to Albert Fish.
00:30:09.339 --> 00:30:09.980
Yes.
00:30:10.940 --> 00:30:12.619
That's the part that's throwing me off.
00:30:12.940 --> 00:30:13.180
Okay.
00:30:13.339 --> 00:30:14.619
Are you caught up now?
00:30:15.099 --> 00:30:15.259
Yeah.
00:30:15.500 --> 00:30:18.940
He's still from I don't I don't know how he got the stationery still.
00:30:19.339 --> 00:30:25.500
But there was a person who worked as a janitor with these chauffeurs, I guess.
00:30:25.899 --> 00:30:26.619
Right, right, right.
00:30:26.779 --> 00:30:36.779
But the issue is that I'm seeing, right, days before this new person who worked as a janitor rented the house.
00:30:38.059 --> 00:30:39.419
Albert Fish was there.
00:30:40.379 --> 00:30:41.339
Renting the house.
00:30:41.659 --> 00:30:41.899
Yes.
00:30:42.059 --> 00:30:45.180
He was he was renting it just days before.
00:30:45.980 --> 00:30:46.779
Right, right, right.
00:30:48.220 --> 00:30:59.740
That still doesn't explain how the stationary got there unless that person, like the janitor, was helping.
00:31:00.779 --> 00:31:12.220
Unless maybe Albert didn't have any stationery or anything to like write a letter and he went to his neighbor and was like, hey.
00:31:13.099 --> 00:31:14.859
He wasn't a neighbor at the time.
00:31:15.259 --> 00:31:26.779
No, it says when they investigated the residence that the janitor had lived in during the time that he worked there, the landlady said the man that had been staying there up until just days before.
00:31:27.099 --> 00:31:35.099
So the resident or the janitor had lived there before Albert lived there.
00:31:35.339 --> 00:31:35.819
Oh, okay.
00:31:35.899 --> 00:31:36.619
That makes more sense.
00:31:36.859 --> 00:31:39.740
So maybe he left the stationary there.
00:31:40.139 --> 00:31:40.460
Okay.
00:31:40.700 --> 00:31:42.779
See, this is why you don't steal from work.
00:31:43.019 --> 00:31:43.579
Yeah.
00:31:43.819 --> 00:31:46.460
Because then you get implemented into murder.
00:31:48.299 --> 00:31:48.619
Okay.
00:31:48.940 --> 00:31:50.859
When all you did was take an envelope.
00:31:51.180 --> 00:31:54.379
So we're caught stationary in general.
00:31:55.019 --> 00:31:57.899
Yeah, we get stationary in general, but I'm just saying.
00:31:58.379 --> 00:31:59.980
Albert just stole the envelope.
00:32:00.299 --> 00:32:00.940
No, no, no.
00:32:01.419 --> 00:32:04.139
Janitor dude took an envelope.
00:32:04.539 --> 00:32:08.539
Albert happened to see said envelope and was like, yeah, let me use that.
00:32:08.859 --> 00:32:14.619
And now janitor dude's in trouble because he went and stole a piece of a piece of paper from work.
00:32:16.059 --> 00:32:17.659
That's why you don't steal.
00:32:18.700 --> 00:32:22.619
So the landlady agreed to be part of the investigation.
00:32:23.019 --> 00:32:38.859
Since Albert had moved away just days before the police got there, she agreed to contact him and tell him that she had his last check and needed it needed to be picked up.
00:32:39.019 --> 00:32:42.619
So maybe Albert was the janitor.
00:32:47.019 --> 00:32:48.619
Albert was a janitor.
00:32:50.460 --> 00:32:52.379
Was Albert the janitor?
00:32:52.859 --> 00:32:53.579
Well, let's look.
00:32:53.899 --> 00:32:57.180
Or was there a random person that was the janitor?
00:32:57.579 --> 00:33:01.259
Because the police tracked it back to a janitor.
00:33:03.180 --> 00:33:03.500
Right?
00:33:03.579 --> 00:33:06.859
That had taken some stationary from work.
00:33:07.500 --> 00:33:09.500
Did they question the janitor?
00:33:11.500 --> 00:33:12.059
Well yeah.
00:33:12.299 --> 00:33:15.579
They traced it back to the janitor who admitted to taking some stationary home.
00:33:15.819 --> 00:33:17.819
Right, so it can't be Albert.
00:33:18.859 --> 00:33:19.740
Can it?
00:33:21.659 --> 00:33:23.899
But yeah, now Albert's the janitor.
00:33:24.779 --> 00:33:34.139
So when Detective William King questioned the janitor, he had Albert.
00:33:34.299 --> 00:33:35.259
He was not Albert.
00:33:35.419 --> 00:33:35.740
Okay.
00:33:36.139 --> 00:33:42.139
He questioned the janitor, and the janitor confessed that he had taken a few sheets of the company stationary home.
00:33:42.460 --> 00:33:42.940
Right.
00:33:43.740 --> 00:33:48.940
The janitor left the stationary behind in his old rooming house when he moved out.
00:33:49.099 --> 00:33:49.419
Right.
00:33:49.579 --> 00:34:01.579
And Albert Fish happened to rent that same room shortly after and and used the left behind envelopes to mail his confession.
00:34:01.899 --> 00:34:02.059
Right.
00:34:02.139 --> 00:34:11.500
But why was the landlord contacting Albert saying that she had his last check?
00:34:13.340 --> 00:34:17.740
Did he work for the landlord as a janitor?
00:34:18.860 --> 00:34:28.619
So she contacted him because Fish had explicitly asked her to hold a check that was arriving for him.
00:34:30.220 --> 00:34:30.539
Oh.
00:34:32.860 --> 00:34:35.180
So she had his last check.
00:34:35.420 --> 00:34:37.340
So she had a check that he was expecting.
00:34:37.659 --> 00:34:39.579
He was expecting a check.
00:34:39.820 --> 00:34:40.460
Yes.
00:34:41.340 --> 00:34:43.740
And needed to be contacted.
00:34:43.980 --> 00:34:45.820
Okay, see, now we make sense.
00:34:46.139 --> 00:34:47.900
A$25 check.
00:34:48.619 --> 00:34:50.780
Okay, so now that we got that figured out.
00:34:52.539 --> 00:34:54.380
So it'd be more than$300.
00:34:54.860 --> 00:34:55.500
Yeah.
00:34:56.460 --> 00:34:56.780
Okay.
00:34:57.180 --> 00:35:06.220
So the landlady agreed to be part of the investigation, contacted him, told him that she had his check, and that he needed to come pick it up.
00:35:06.860 --> 00:35:07.660
We're good now.
00:35:07.740 --> 00:35:08.860
We got all that figured out, right?
00:35:09.100 --> 00:35:09.260
Right.
00:35:09.420 --> 00:35:10.620
We got it figured out now.
00:35:10.860 --> 00:35:12.620
Hopefully our audience does too.
00:35:13.500 --> 00:35:19.740
I know that that was a little side ride there, but it wasn't making much sense to me.
00:35:20.060 --> 00:35:21.420
We made it full circle.
00:35:21.500 --> 00:35:23.100
We made it back around.
00:35:24.060 --> 00:35:33.740
So when Albert arrived to get his check, instead of getting his check, he got handcuffs and was arrested on December 13th, 1934.
00:35:35.100 --> 00:35:41.900
Grace's skeletal remains were never found, even after authorities searched for more than half a decade.
00:35:43.500 --> 00:35:51.260
So he ate her and nobody knows what happened to the rest of her remains.
00:35:51.740 --> 00:35:52.860
I can tell you.
00:35:53.500 --> 00:35:54.700
Bone broth.
00:35:55.260 --> 00:35:56.060
You think so?
00:35:56.539 --> 00:35:57.180
Why not?
00:35:57.340 --> 00:36:05.100
Like I mean, honestly, if you're going to eat meat, I'm not talking about human flesh.
00:36:05.180 --> 00:36:05.820
I mean just meat.
00:36:06.220 --> 00:36:06.780
Meat in general.
00:36:07.019 --> 00:36:12.620
Let's say you go and you live on a farm and you're gonna kill a cow.
00:36:12.940 --> 00:36:14.539
You're gonna slaughter a cow.
00:36:14.860 --> 00:36:15.420
Alright.
00:36:15.660 --> 00:36:18.060
Why in the hell would I waste the bones?
00:36:20.140 --> 00:36:21.820
That's a lot of money.
00:36:22.140 --> 00:36:27.500
Yeah, but even if you make bone broth, the bones don't just like disintegrate into the broth.
00:36:27.820 --> 00:36:29.660
No, but they do soften enough.
00:36:29.900 --> 00:36:30.460
They do.
00:36:30.620 --> 00:36:32.700
They soften enough to be ground up.
00:36:32.940 --> 00:36:40.940
But also They soften enough to be, you know, disposaled in the garbage disposal.
00:36:41.500 --> 00:36:45.180
But they have garbage disposals in the 1900s, like early, early 1900s.
00:36:45.420 --> 00:36:46.460
I don't know.
00:36:46.780 --> 00:36:51.180
I'm just saying that there's different ways to get rid of soft bones.
00:36:51.500 --> 00:36:52.140
Yeah.
00:36:52.780 --> 00:36:58.140
I'm not sure how many farms there were in the early 1900s in New York.
00:36:59.340 --> 00:37:01.420
Probably a lot more than you imagine.
00:37:01.740 --> 00:37:02.300
Probably.
00:37:02.539 --> 00:37:06.460
Like I'm sure it wasn't like this muscle in the city like it is now.
00:37:06.780 --> 00:37:11.100
It's not just always been the big apple.
00:37:11.980 --> 00:37:15.260
I'm sure there was agriculture at one point in New York.
00:37:15.580 --> 00:37:20.940
And you know, maybe Albert had some friends who had pigs.
00:37:22.539 --> 00:37:24.539
Yeah, but they don't eat teeth.
00:37:25.100 --> 00:37:27.019
So what do you do with the teeth?
00:37:28.620 --> 00:37:30.060
Pigs will eat bones.
00:37:30.780 --> 00:37:32.140
Just for y'all's information.
00:37:32.460 --> 00:37:33.900
They draw the line at teeth.
00:37:34.539 --> 00:37:41.180
Pigs will eat everything from a person besides teeth and hair.
00:37:42.620 --> 00:37:44.460
Their body cannot dissolve the hair.
00:37:45.019 --> 00:37:47.180
But why why will it eat bones but not teeth?
00:37:48.140 --> 00:37:49.019
I don't know.
00:37:50.140 --> 00:37:52.140
But they don't they don't eat teeth.
00:37:53.900 --> 00:37:56.300
Nifty little tidbit of information there.
00:37:57.900 --> 00:38:06.220
At this point, it would have been pointless for Albert to try to profess his innocence.
00:38:07.019 --> 00:38:10.860
Being that he literally wrote a letter to the family explaining what he did.
00:38:11.980 --> 00:38:12.620
Mmm.
00:38:13.420 --> 00:38:19.580
She'd and he had admitted to investigators that he did, in fact, kill Grace Bud.
00:38:19.740 --> 00:38:23.580
And that he involuntarily ejaculated while doing so.
00:38:25.180 --> 00:38:26.140
Just gross.
00:38:26.380 --> 00:38:28.220
What did that have anything to do with it?
00:38:28.460 --> 00:38:28.940
I don't know.
00:38:29.100 --> 00:38:36.380
Like but he he just gonna throw that in there that he got excited from that.
00:38:37.260 --> 00:38:39.580
I was happy I did it.
00:38:44.060 --> 00:38:46.539
That's his mental illness showing.
00:38:50.460 --> 00:38:52.780
No, God told him to, remember.
00:38:54.860 --> 00:39:03.340
He also claimed that he had killed hundreds of children all over the country, but only actually admitted to killing three.
00:39:03.740 --> 00:39:08.380
He was suspected of nine more, bringing his total to twelve kids.
00:39:09.660 --> 00:39:13.900
However, he was only charged with Grace's murder.
00:39:15.340 --> 00:39:18.940
Well, I mean, without proof, it's just Yeah.
00:39:19.340 --> 00:39:31.500
They're like, sure, he can confess all day long, but if they have no body, they have no evidence, they have no nothing, then it's Yeah.
00:39:31.740 --> 00:39:33.420
It's just words of a crazy person.
00:39:33.660 --> 00:39:38.539
But like he could confess to 300 murders, but like he's schizophrenic.
00:39:38.860 --> 00:39:43.180
But he he did confess to Billy Gaffney.
00:39:43.580 --> 00:39:43.900
Right.
00:39:44.140 --> 00:39:45.019
The four-year-old.
00:39:45.340 --> 00:39:45.980
Right.
00:39:46.780 --> 00:39:49.100
And Francis McDonnell.
00:39:49.980 --> 00:39:55.340
So those were the other two that he admitted to, besides Grace, obviously.
00:39:56.380 --> 00:39:59.580
After he was arrested, he went in for questioning.
00:39:59.980 --> 00:40:03.660
They showed him the letter and asked if that was his handwriting.
00:40:03.980 --> 00:40:07.980
He admitted that it was, and just like that, the case had been solved.
00:40:08.300 --> 00:40:09.340
Case closed.
00:40:09.420 --> 00:40:10.539
That was too easy.
00:40:10.780 --> 00:40:14.940
But then Fish pulled out a straight razor and lunged at detectives.
00:40:15.340 --> 00:40:17.660
Like I said, too easy.
00:40:18.060 --> 00:40:23.420
He was unsuccessful at hitting anyone, and officers were quickly able to subdue him.
00:40:24.220 --> 00:40:27.980
Even still, like, come on.
00:40:28.460 --> 00:40:29.500
They should have known.
00:40:29.580 --> 00:40:32.620
Oh, he's gonna come he confessed he everything's fine.
00:40:32.860 --> 00:40:34.300
Something's gonna be bad.
00:40:34.460 --> 00:40:37.019
Like, of course he's gonna lunge at you with a razor blade.
00:40:37.340 --> 00:40:44.300
And I mean, come on, he's a 65-year-old, frail looking old man.
00:40:46.060 --> 00:40:47.900
What does that have to do with it?
00:40:49.660 --> 00:40:52.860
I mean, I he doesn't look like he would be very fast.
00:40:54.220 --> 00:40:59.740
No, but what does that have to do with the lunging at them?
00:41:00.220 --> 00:41:01.980
That's why he didn't hit nobody.
00:41:02.460 --> 00:41:06.860
Because he he wasn't he looks have you seen pictures of him?
00:41:07.100 --> 00:41:08.220
Yeah, I've seen pictures of him.
00:41:08.460 --> 00:41:12.140
He looks very He looks like he was on chemo at 65.
00:41:12.460 --> 00:41:15.580
He looks 90 at 65.
00:41:15.980 --> 00:41:16.700
Like I said.
00:41:18.300 --> 00:41:25.340
After his arrest, he underwent x-rays and they found 29 needles embedded in his pelvic area.
00:41:25.660 --> 00:41:27.260
That were just chilling out there?
00:41:27.420 --> 00:41:28.060
Yeah.
00:41:28.700 --> 00:41:29.980
Like he left them in there?
00:41:30.140 --> 00:41:30.780
Yeah.
00:41:31.180 --> 00:41:32.860
And walked around like that all day?
00:41:34.860 --> 00:41:36.940
Man, he really did like pain.
00:41:37.340 --> 00:41:38.860
These were not accidental.
00:41:39.019 --> 00:41:41.580
He had inserted them himself over time.
00:41:42.620 --> 00:41:48.940
Many of them had been there for years, which means he lived with constant internal pain.
00:41:49.740 --> 00:41:50.860
Oh wow.
00:41:51.660 --> 00:41:54.140
That man really, really liked pain.
00:41:54.700 --> 00:41:56.700
He lived with a lot of pain.
00:41:56.780 --> 00:42:04.860
And I'm curious as to how any of those needles didn't cause infections in his groin.
00:42:05.180 --> 00:42:07.740
Like you left them there.
00:42:07.980 --> 00:42:08.539
For years.
00:42:08.780 --> 00:42:09.260
For years.
00:42:09.420 --> 00:42:12.140
How in the world do you not have green pus?
00:42:13.180 --> 00:42:14.300
Maybe he did.
00:42:14.460 --> 00:42:17.500
And he was just like, eh, it adds to the fun.
00:42:18.380 --> 00:42:19.580
That's gross.
00:42:20.300 --> 00:42:26.940
I mean, I don't I would personally never embed needles into myself.
00:42:27.340 --> 00:42:27.980
Sure you would.
00:42:28.060 --> 00:42:28.780
You got a tattoo.
00:42:29.100 --> 00:42:30.460
So, okay, that's different.
00:42:30.620 --> 00:42:33.180
I was about to say, I don't like shots.
00:42:33.980 --> 00:42:36.380
But give me tattoos all day long.
00:42:36.860 --> 00:42:37.660
They're still embedding.
00:42:39.260 --> 00:42:42.860
But I'm not leaving the needles in my body.
00:42:45.340 --> 00:42:51.420
Today this behavior is called self-embedding, and it's a rare and extreme form of self-harm.
00:42:51.740 --> 00:42:58.780
It's often associated with compulsions, emotional regulation, or pleasure in extreme cases.
00:42:59.019 --> 00:43:03.019
And for Fish, it seemed to be a combination of all three.
00:43:03.340 --> 00:43:05.019
He was compelled to do it.
00:43:05.180 --> 00:43:07.980
It helped him regulate his emotions.
00:43:08.860 --> 00:43:11.340
And he got the pleasure from it.
00:43:13.260 --> 00:43:14.300
Delicious.
00:43:15.820 --> 00:43:23.660
Trial began March 11, 1935, in Westchester County, New York, and lasted 10 days.
00:43:24.140 --> 00:43:31.980
However, the question wasn't if he did the crimes, it was if he was legally sane when he committed them.
00:43:33.180 --> 00:43:37.260
Fish pled not guilty by reason of insanity, because of course he did.
00:43:37.500 --> 00:43:38.539
Yeah, go figure.
00:43:39.260 --> 00:43:45.980
His defense argued that he was suffering from severe mental illness, specifically religious delusions.
00:43:47.580 --> 00:43:48.220
Yeah.
00:43:49.500 --> 00:43:55.980
But when it came time for the prosecution to argue their side, they didn't disagree that he was a disturbed person.
00:43:56.620 --> 00:43:59.820
Instead, they argued that he was aware of it.
00:44:00.539 --> 00:44:09.340
They pointed out that he used fake names, planned his crimes, deliberately gained the trust of others, and somehow avoided detection for years.
00:44:10.220 --> 00:44:14.300
Those are not the actions of someone who doesn't understand reality.
00:44:14.700 --> 00:44:14.860
Right.
00:44:14.940 --> 00:44:16.860
It's not an insanity deal.
00:44:17.019 --> 00:44:19.420
It's planned.
00:44:19.500 --> 00:44:20.380
It's thought out.
00:44:21.019 --> 00:44:22.860
Like, yes, he's mentally ill.
00:44:23.260 --> 00:44:24.539
He's got schizophrenia.
00:44:24.620 --> 00:44:26.620
He's got God telling him, you know, to kill people.
00:44:26.940 --> 00:44:30.300
But that's not why he committed the crimes.
00:44:31.180 --> 00:44:34.140
That's not what caused him to commit the crimes, I should say.
00:44:34.620 --> 00:44:36.460
Yeah, it wasn't just like a spur of the moment.
00:44:36.620 --> 00:44:39.100
Hey, God told me to kill him, so I killed him.
00:44:39.340 --> 00:44:39.820
Yeah.
00:44:40.060 --> 00:44:46.060
It was I'm gonna use This fake name, and I'm gonna go to these people's house and I'm gonna take it.
00:44:46.220 --> 00:44:47.820
Because I saw a child that I like.
00:44:48.060 --> 00:44:48.700
Yeah.
00:44:50.300 --> 00:44:53.260
Which, if you think about it, he wasn't even going for Grace.
00:44:53.340 --> 00:44:56.140
He was going for her brother and was gonna take him.
00:44:56.860 --> 00:44:59.900
But he saw Grace and thought, easier target.
00:45:01.340 --> 00:45:02.380
Is that what he saw?
00:45:02.700 --> 00:45:03.100
Probably.
00:45:03.340 --> 00:45:05.820
Or did Grace just have a plumper ass?
00:45:07.580 --> 00:45:11.740
I'm just saying, like you're uh I don't really care.
00:45:12.220 --> 00:45:19.740
I wonder if it was more of a But I'm just saying, you know, if the whole thing was because he was gonna eat him.
00:45:19.980 --> 00:45:20.620
Yeah.
00:45:20.940 --> 00:45:26.539
If the kid, if the boy was skinny, didn't have much meat, but Grace was plumper.
00:45:27.100 --> 00:45:27.580
Yeah.
00:45:27.820 --> 00:45:33.420
I mean Or maybe he thought she's younger, she'll be more tender.
00:45:33.580 --> 00:45:35.660
Maybe the brother was more muscular.
00:45:37.100 --> 00:45:40.940
And he thought tough meat.
00:45:41.100 --> 00:45:41.740
Yeah.
00:45:42.060 --> 00:45:43.100
Yeah, maybe.
00:45:43.260 --> 00:45:44.140
I don't know.
00:45:44.539 --> 00:45:47.019
I don't want to get inside his mind too much.
00:45:47.340 --> 00:45:49.820
I would not want to put myself in that situation.
00:45:51.420 --> 00:45:54.860
But then they they pointed out all that.
00:45:55.820 --> 00:45:58.780
And then they pointed out his written confession.
00:45:59.019 --> 00:45:59.820
The letter.
00:46:00.220 --> 00:46:00.860
Right.
00:46:01.980 --> 00:46:04.539
And one that's not grammatically correct in any way.
00:46:04.940 --> 00:46:06.539
But not just the letter.
00:46:06.860 --> 00:46:15.900
His 11 pages that he wrote, reviewed, and signed after he was arrested.
00:46:17.019 --> 00:46:20.140
He wrote an 11-page confession.
00:46:21.420 --> 00:46:26.620
They explained how it wasn't chaotic, but was controlled and almost clinical.
00:46:27.420 --> 00:46:32.460
And that did not show a man who was insane.
00:46:32.860 --> 00:46:36.380
No, it was clinical cynicality.
00:46:36.620 --> 00:46:39.660
But it showed someone who demonstrated great clarity.
00:46:39.900 --> 00:46:40.780
Is that a word?
00:46:41.019 --> 00:46:42.220
Cynicality.
00:46:43.420 --> 00:46:44.620
It is now.
00:46:46.220 --> 00:46:52.940
It was a cynical, clinical, deliberate justification for murder.
00:46:53.180 --> 00:46:54.300
Like he just.
00:46:55.500 --> 00:46:57.019
That was a lot of words, babe.
00:46:57.260 --> 00:47:02.700
On March 22nd, after about three hours of deliberation, the jury returned a verdict.
00:47:02.940 --> 00:47:03.820
Guilty.
00:47:04.140 --> 00:47:09.740
They had rejected Fish's insanity defense, and he was sentenced to death.
00:47:10.380 --> 00:47:17.340
After he was convicted, he went to or he was sent to Sing Sing prison.
00:47:18.060 --> 00:47:20.539
Specifically known as the death house.
00:47:20.860 --> 00:47:22.060
Sing Sing prison?
00:47:22.220 --> 00:47:23.100
Sing Sing Prison.
00:47:23.820 --> 00:47:24.780
Are they in China?
00:47:25.260 --> 00:47:25.580
No.
00:47:26.300 --> 00:47:27.500
It's in New York.
00:47:28.300 --> 00:47:29.900
Let me see how this thing's spilled.
00:47:30.300 --> 00:47:30.940
Like Sing.
00:47:31.019 --> 00:47:31.740
Like you sing on the.
00:47:32.140 --> 00:47:35.180
Oh, it's literally Sing Sing Prison.
00:47:35.500 --> 00:47:36.140
Yes.
00:47:37.180 --> 00:47:39.820
Why in the hell would they name it Sing Sing Prison?
00:47:40.300 --> 00:47:41.180
I don't know.
00:47:41.420 --> 00:47:42.860
Well, I'm gonna find out later.
00:47:43.100 --> 00:47:43.900
Keep going.
00:47:44.220 --> 00:47:46.940
So he was specifically sent to the death house.
00:47:47.100 --> 00:47:49.420
This wasn't your typical prison block.
00:47:49.660 --> 00:47:55.180
It was a separate section for inmates who were waiting to be executed.
00:47:55.580 --> 00:48:03.100
He had some very short emotional visits with his adult children and wrote a short will before his impending death.
00:48:04.780 --> 00:48:07.500
According to staff, he was very calm.
00:48:07.740 --> 00:48:16.700
He read the Bible, wrote letters, met with the prison chaplain, and even talked with a psychiatrist who evaluated him during his trial.
00:48:17.180 --> 00:48:26.700
His actions, or better yet, his reaction to being put to electrocution, raised questions again.
00:48:27.100 --> 00:48:34.220
Did this man truly not understand what was going on, or did he understand completely?
00:48:35.500 --> 00:48:48.539
Looking at it from a psychological standpoint, his behavior at the time was fascinating, and some interpreted it as acceptance of what was to come, while others saw it as emotional detachment.
00:48:49.660 --> 00:48:50.539
Sounds about right.
00:48:50.700 --> 00:48:58.220
Just so you are aware, while she was telling me all that, the name Sing Singh comes from Sink.
00:48:58.940 --> 00:49:08.539
Sink, which is Native American tribe, which inhabited the area and whose name translates to stone upon stone.
00:49:08.780 --> 00:49:15.500
The prison was originally built in the village of Sing Sing, which was named after this tribe.
00:49:15.740 --> 00:49:17.900
That's why it was called Sing Sing Prison.
00:49:18.460 --> 00:49:22.620
Because it was named after Native American tribe that lived there.
00:49:23.740 --> 00:49:27.180
Sorry, that would have bothered the fuck out of me until I figured out the answer.
00:49:28.940 --> 00:49:29.900
Interesting.
00:49:30.940 --> 00:49:33.420
January 16th, 1936.
00:49:34.780 --> 00:49:40.060
65-year-old Albert Fish was executed by electrocution.
00:49:40.460 --> 00:49:44.380
So he was not 65 when he moited.
00:49:44.780 --> 00:49:45.740
Killed Grace.
00:49:46.060 --> 00:49:47.019
Yeah, moided.
00:49:47.340 --> 00:49:52.539
But he was still old enough that I don't think a 10-year-old needed to see him but as naked.
00:49:53.660 --> 00:49:59.500
It was roughly it was roughly in his late 40s, early 50s.
00:50:00.060 --> 00:50:01.660
Whenever he abducted Grace.
00:50:01.980 --> 00:50:04.140
Well, when he was Well, when he was arrested.
00:50:04.300 --> 00:50:05.500
No, when he abducted him.
00:50:05.740 --> 00:50:06.060
Yeah.
00:50:06.300 --> 00:50:07.580
When he abducted her late.
00:50:08.060 --> 00:50:09.580
When he abducted Grace.
00:50:09.900 --> 00:50:12.780
He was around his late 40s, early 50s.
00:50:13.100 --> 00:50:16.539
Well, when he was electrocuted, he was 65.
00:50:17.660 --> 00:50:19.420
Good riddance to him.
00:50:19.740 --> 00:50:20.780
Good riddance.
00:50:21.660 --> 00:50:22.860
Bood boy.
00:50:23.260 --> 00:50:26.460
He was taken from his cell a little after 11 p.m.
00:50:27.260 --> 00:50:31.580
Walked to the execution chamber without any resistance.
00:50:31.740 --> 00:50:33.100
He didn't fight.
00:50:33.500 --> 00:50:36.940
He was strapped in, electrodes were placed on his body.
00:50:37.180 --> 00:50:40.380
And at around 11.06 p.m., the switch was flipped.
00:50:40.539 --> 00:50:49.260
So six minutes from being taken from his cell to when they electrocuted him.
00:50:49.580 --> 00:50:54.140
But at this time it was standard procedure to run the cycle twice.
00:50:54.940 --> 00:50:57.180
So they fried the fish a couple times.
00:50:58.060 --> 00:50:59.580
You're meaning to fish fry.
00:50:59.820 --> 00:51:00.460
Exactly.
00:51:01.180 --> 00:51:02.460
You understand me.
00:51:03.100 --> 00:51:04.380
Deep fried fish.
00:51:04.539 --> 00:51:05.019
Ooh.
00:51:05.500 --> 00:51:12.700
Because they ran it twice, he was pronounced dead 11.09 p.m.
00:51:13.420 --> 00:51:20.460
So nine minutes total from when they took him out of his cell to when he was pronounced dead.
00:51:20.780 --> 00:51:21.660
Nine minutes.
00:51:31.019 --> 00:51:36.300
Yeah, that's definitely a rumor because And that's why they had to do it twice, is what is what people say.
00:51:36.700 --> 00:51:39.180
No, they definitely removed the needles.
00:51:39.900 --> 00:51:40.860
I would hope so.
00:51:41.180 --> 00:51:41.900
They did.
00:51:42.300 --> 00:51:44.860
This man enjoys pleasure from pain.
00:51:45.019 --> 00:51:48.860
You think they're gonna allow him to take needles into the prison?
00:51:50.140 --> 00:51:50.460
No.
00:51:51.340 --> 00:51:53.260
They removed the needles.
00:51:54.300 --> 00:52:01.980
But that's why I mentioned that at the time they usually ran two cycles.
00:52:02.220 --> 00:52:02.700
Mm-hmm.
00:52:03.580 --> 00:52:05.340
Because there is that rumor.
00:52:05.820 --> 00:52:09.019
Some idiots out there think, oh, he kept the needles while he was in prison.
00:52:09.180 --> 00:52:10.060
Yeah, no.
00:52:10.700 --> 00:52:12.220
That's a dumb rumor, babe.
00:52:12.539 --> 00:52:15.660
Obviously, there's no records to support this as a fact.
00:52:15.900 --> 00:52:17.260
I wonder why.
00:52:17.820 --> 00:52:21.019
I'm not gonna let a man just take a needle into prison with him.
00:52:21.500 --> 00:52:26.220
Back to what I said about the questions that were raised because of how he was acting.
00:52:26.940 --> 00:52:33.420
It's still highly debated on his mental abilities because of what he said at the end.
00:52:34.220 --> 00:52:40.700
The most widely supported version is that his last words were, I don't even know why I'm here.
00:52:41.660 --> 00:52:44.460
But others say he didn't say anything at all.
00:52:45.019 --> 00:52:48.300
So some people Some people heard him say something.
00:52:48.539 --> 00:52:50.220
And some people didn't.
00:52:50.700 --> 00:52:53.660
So his schizophrenia rubbed off on others, got it.
00:52:54.620 --> 00:53:05.580
But that's why it says that they were still questioning his mental abilities because the ones who said that they did hear him say something, he said, I don't even know why I'm here.
00:53:06.300 --> 00:53:10.140
So was he actually No, he knew about it.
00:53:10.780 --> 00:53:11.260
Mental?
00:53:11.500 --> 00:53:11.740
No.
00:53:11.980 --> 00:53:16.380
I mean, yes, but No, I mean like it wasn't to the point where he could have gotten off.
00:53:16.620 --> 00:53:17.900
Like he could have gotten away.
00:53:18.380 --> 00:53:19.340
Not like that.
00:53:19.580 --> 00:53:20.700
He definitely got off.
00:53:20.940 --> 00:53:22.060
He definitely got off.
00:53:22.380 --> 00:53:24.940
But he couldn't got out of the murder.
00:53:25.100 --> 00:53:25.340
Yeah.
00:53:25.580 --> 00:53:27.340
Like the execution.
00:53:28.460 --> 00:53:36.300
But what everyone can agree on is that he was calm the entire time.
00:53:36.860 --> 00:53:41.019
From after lunging at police.
00:53:41.420 --> 00:53:56.380
But the whole time that he was in Sing Singh, the whole time leading up to his execution, he was completely calm, level-headed old man.
00:53:57.180 --> 00:54:13.100
Fish's lawyer, James Dempsey, stated after his death that while the letter to Grace's parents was vile, it paled in comparison to Fish's final statement to him, and is quoted as saying, I will never show it to anyone.
00:54:13.260 --> 00:54:18.460
It is the most most filthy string of obscenities that I have ever seen.
00:54:18.940 --> 00:54:22.780
And I guess he held true to his word because I couldn't find it anywhere.
00:54:25.820 --> 00:54:26.460
Maybe.
00:54:26.700 --> 00:54:29.820
But it there's no record of it.
00:54:30.140 --> 00:54:34.380
Yeah, like I'm sorry, but if you're it's his defense lawyer, right?
00:54:35.820 --> 00:54:41.260
You gonna give me something that irritates the fuck out of me that I will not show anybody?
00:54:41.580 --> 00:54:42.220
Oh yeah.
00:54:42.380 --> 00:54:43.820
I'm burning that.
00:54:44.220 --> 00:54:46.860
I don't care whether or not you're sorry.
00:54:47.900 --> 00:54:48.539
Fire.
00:54:50.300 --> 00:54:55.580
Albert Fish lived what on the surface could appear to be an ordinary life.
00:54:57.019 --> 00:55:01.500
Like I said, that's probably one of the most unsettling things about this case.
00:55:02.460 --> 00:55:07.980
Albert Fish did not look like the monster that the newspapers would eventually create.
00:55:08.460 --> 00:55:17.820
There was no obvious signs announcing what he was capable of, no uniform, no distinctive scars, no supernatural appearance.
00:55:18.060 --> 00:55:19.980
He just looked like an old man.
00:55:20.460 --> 00:55:23.340
And that would be one of his greatest advantages.
00:55:23.660 --> 00:55:25.820
He could disappear into a crowd.
00:55:26.140 --> 00:55:30.860
He could speak politely to parents, he could make himself seem trustworthy.
00:55:31.340 --> 00:55:39.420
He presented himself as someone who needed work, needed directions, needed help, or simply just wanted to talk.
00:55:39.660 --> 00:55:42.940
Truly an example of nothing is ever as it seems.
00:55:43.420 --> 00:55:48.940
So I know it was a little while back, but what's a supernatural appearance?
00:55:51.100 --> 00:55:53.180
Well, let's like what do you mean?
00:55:53.260 --> 00:55:55.900
Like he didn't look godly.
00:55:57.500 --> 00:56:05.980
A supernatural appearance refers to the sudden visibility or manifestation of something that defies the known laws of nature, physics, or science.
00:56:06.539 --> 00:56:08.620
Yeah, so we didn't look like a god.
00:56:09.260 --> 00:56:17.260
When talking about a person, it could mean two different things, depending on whether you're talking about the physical looks or a ghostly event.
00:56:18.060 --> 00:56:21.019
Possessing otherworldly physical beauty.
00:56:21.500 --> 00:56:23.820
So like he wasn't good looking.
00:56:24.780 --> 00:56:31.340
He wasn't striking, symmetrical features, piercing or unusual eyes.
00:56:31.820 --> 00:56:36.620
In other words, he was just plain a plain individual.
00:56:36.940 --> 00:56:37.580
Yep.
00:56:38.140 --> 00:56:40.220
Nothing special about him.
00:56:40.620 --> 00:56:44.539
Well, that's it's an interesting story of Albert Fish.
00:56:45.580 --> 00:56:51.900
And I think that's where we're gonna leave Albert Fish because honestly, I think we've all had enough of him for tonight.
00:56:52.700 --> 00:56:53.980
It was a lot.
00:56:54.220 --> 00:56:54.860
Yeah.
00:56:55.980 --> 00:56:59.019
You still want to do another episode after that?
00:56:59.740 --> 00:57:01.900
I think I'm ready for a side quest now.
00:57:02.220 --> 00:57:02.700
Yeah.
00:57:03.019 --> 00:57:07.019
Unfortunately, there's no shortage of terrible people to talk about.
00:57:07.340 --> 00:57:08.620
But honestly, same.
00:57:08.700 --> 00:57:10.940
I think we could all use a palate cleanser.
00:57:12.220 --> 00:57:13.820
I got a topic ready.
00:57:14.460 --> 00:57:15.740
Is it weird?
00:57:16.620 --> 00:57:19.740
It's something.
00:57:21.260 --> 00:57:22.300
It'll be interesting.
00:57:22.460 --> 00:57:23.580
Let's just say that.
00:57:24.220 --> 00:57:25.180
Perfect.
00:57:25.580 --> 00:57:29.180
Well, if you made it through this episode with us, thank you for listening.
00:57:29.260 --> 00:57:30.380
We appreciate it.
00:57:31.180 --> 00:57:34.539
Next week come hang out with me for a side quest.
00:57:35.340 --> 00:57:36.300
I promise.
00:57:37.100 --> 00:57:38.860
It won't be as traumatic as this.
00:57:39.500 --> 00:57:40.620
Fair enough.
00:57:40.940 --> 00:57:42.700
Until next time, stay safe.
00:57:43.019 --> 00:57:43.980
Stay weird.
00:57:44.220 --> 00:57:47.980
And maybe don't trust a random person offering to take you to a birthday party.
00:57:48.620 --> 00:57:51.180
Yeah, no, definitely hard pass on that.
00:57:51.500 --> 00:57:54.220
This has been Serial Killers and Side Quests.