Beard Laws (00:00.53)
hey, Mac. hey, we did it. Welcome back. You're townie ends to another edition of the Your Town podcast. We hinted about potentially doing an episode last week, I think, didn't we make? was it? You want to tell them for any of the ones that yeah, that were like, I'm not going to go back and listen to last week's episode. I'm right here. You want me to say? Yeah. What you say? Why not? It's the real story of Albert Fish. Hey, that's good.

Yeah, we hinted last week, because last week we told you about the vacation we went to. to Lake Placid, stumbled upon a brewery, prison city brewery, heard a unique story. We're still not sure if it's true or not about the first electric execution, electric chair execution. And we did a quote and it was by Albert Fish. And as promised, we came back with it. And this is interesting. Albert Fish, not a good

Very disgusting. And I do want to let everyone know, viewer and listener discretion advised. It's pretty gruesome. It's pretty gross. There's a lot of adult stuff in this one. I, as always, really kept out the really, really, really bad stuff. But there is some stuff and some concepts that are going to find its way into this episode. yeah. mean, he, for anybody that doesn't know, just to do a recap, to be like, do I really want to listen to the rest of this episode? Well, yes. The answer is yes.

But Albert Fish was one of America's most notorious serial killers, and he was known for very violent, very gruesome crimes. went by the Grey Man, the Werewolf of Wisteria, the Moon Maniac, the Boogeyman, and the Brooklyn Vampire. So, I mean, that seems like something you might want to continually listen to this. mean, you haven't read through the notes. you before I guess before we get into it, do you know about Albert Fish?

I don't actually. you know nothing? Not much. This is going to be an interesting one for you. you got to sneeze. Just let it go. no, I don't. No, you don't. She doesn't have to. Prancho! Eventually. That's OK. Whoa. Things are stumbling, rumbling and bumbling in the studio. Either way, I feel like let's do the intro. Let's jump into this before whatever happens in the studio happens, whether it's I don't know what's going on, but should we do it

Beard Laws (02:23.228)
Yeah. Like right now? Yeah. Okay, if you're gonna sneeze, do it right in the next 12 seconds.

Beard Laws (02:43.578)
We're back. Hopefully you enjoyed that. think I intro grows on me each week. Yeah, OK. I like it. Again, this story is not for the faint of heart, but it's a tale that must be told. The real story of Albert Fish begins now. Let's start at the beginning with his early life and the events that may have shaped the monster he would become. Again, this is a graphic detailed episode.

So viewer and listener discretion is advised. Albert Fish. He was born Hamilton Howard Fish in Washington DC on May 19th, 1870. He was born, you know, his parents were Randall Fish and Ellen Frances Howell. Seems like an odd nickname for Hamilton. Albert? Yeah. Fish's father, he was American of English.

ancestry and his mother was a Scots -Irish -American. His father was 43 years older than his mother and aged 75 at the time of his birth. 75 year old had old Albert. Well, I guess Hamilton. And I mean, this was 1870. Things were different. Very much different.

Fish is, where are we at here? Fish was his family's youngest child and had three living siblings, Walter, Annie, and Edwin. He wished to be known as Albert after a dead sibling and to escape the nickname, Ham and Eggs, that he was given at orphanage in which he spent most of his childhood. Okay. There you go. There it is. There it is. You can tell Meg doesn't read ahead in the notes because she would have been like, she wouldn't have made, Albert. And that's a good thing.

because she's going to be surprised by this episode, like we always do. Fish's family had a significant history of mental illness. His uncle suffered from mania. One of his brothers was confined to a state mental hospital. A paternal half brother was schizophrenic, and his sister Annie was diagnosed with a mental affliction. And just keep in mind, this is in the 1800s when they're being diagnosed with this stuff as well. You know what mean?

Beard Laws (05:06.044)
Additionally, three other relatives had mental illnesses and his mother experienced, what's that? A euro? Euro? It was visual hallucinations. I'm not sure what that other word is. I'm not a doctor. I don't even try to play one on TV. Let's head on over to October 16th, 1875. Heard it was a heck of a day. But unfortunately, Fish's father, a fertilizer manufacturer and former riverboat captain suffered a fatal heart attack at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad

His mother then put her son into St. John's Orphanage in Washington, where he was frequently physically abused. However, began to enjoy the physical pain that was brought to him by the beatings. By 1880, Fish's mother secured a government job when actually were able to then remove him from the orphanage. 1882, he's now 12. Fish began a relationship with a telegraph boy. The youth introduced Fish to such practices as drinking.

urine in eating feces. Fish began visiting public bathrooms where he would then watch other boys undress and he spent a great portion of those weekends on these visits to these public bathrooms. Throughout his life he would write obscene letters to women whose names he acquired from classified advertising and you know just a couple of different agencies. He then decides to move to New York City

in 1880 at the age of 20, where he began his descent into criminality. He engaged in male prostitution and began doing terrible things to very young boys, mostly six years and under. In 1898, Fish's mother arranged a marriage for him with Anna Mary Hoffman, who was nine years younger than him. They ended up having six kids. But then in 1903, Fish was arrested for grand

and sent to Sing Sing Prison. Why was he arrested? Not really sure. I scoured the Internet and there is pretty much no documentation of anything. A couple of different podcasts, a couple of different things throughout. was this or maybe it was this or maybe it was that. But there's nothing concrete evidence that said what he did for that grand larceny. It was in 1903. He gets out. So apparently grand larceny

Beard Laws (07:33.948)
Too bad of a crime back then. That's got to get you at least what? 15, 20 years now? let's jump to 1910. Things don't get much better. He then starts a relationship with an intellectually disabled man, Thomas Benin, and the sadomasochism starts. He takes… He took to the man.

to an old farm. He took the man to an old farmhouse and tortured him for over two weeks. He then cut off his male part and then actually later recalled while he was in prison and doing interviews and stuff like that. I shall never forget his scream or the look he gave me. Apparently he originally intended to kill Benin, cut up his body and take it home, but he feared the hot weather would draw attention. Instead, fish poured peroxide over the wound.

wrapped it in a Vaseline covered handkerchief, left a $10 bill and kissed him goodbye. Took the first train. I couldn't get back home. Never heard what become of him or tried to find out. Fish recalled. Right? That's just the beginning. Yikes. Yeah. So, you know, we're going to continually move things in sevens. We're going to head to January 1917. Fish's wife left

for John Straube Straub? Let's go Straub, a handyman who boarded and actually lived with the Fish family. Fish was subsequently forced to raise his children as a single parent. After his arrest, Fish told the newspaper that when his wife left him, she took nearly every possession the family owned. He then starts to have hallucinations. He wrapped himself in a carpet saying that he was following the instructions of John the

It was about this time that Fish began to indulge in self -harm by embedding needles into his groin and into his abdomen. After his arrest, X -rays revealed that Fish had at least 29 needles lodged into his pelvic region. He also hit himself repeatedly with a nail -studded paddle and inserted wool doused with lighter fluid into his anus to set it on

Beard Laws (09:56.412)
Right? I mean, I have nothing smart to say about that. Let's go to 1919. Again, doesn't get any better. stabs an intellectually disabled boy in Georgetown. The victims he killed he chose, thinking that these victims, they wouldn't be missed. That was something that he was actually quoted saying after his arrest and did a lot of talking. He said he would pay boys to steal other boys'

for him. Right? How twisted is that? He would torture them, mutilate them, and murder them. And he would murder them with items like a meat cleaver, a butcher knife, and even handsaws. Ugh. So let's go to the summer, July 11th, 1924. Fish found eight -year -old Beatrice Keel playing alone on her parents' farm on Staten Island, which is obviously New

He offered her money to come and help him look for rhubarb. She was about to leave the farm when her mother chased fish away. Fish left, but returned later to the barn where he tried to, or he just tried to sleep. But thankfully he was discovered by Beatrice's father and forced to leave. Another incident where kids thankfully escaped happened in this next coming thing when he actually saw two kids playing box ball and offered them lunch. He was just like,

You guys hungry? Let's go have some lunch. This is 1924, probably not a lot of crimes where you actually trusted adults. And again, these kids were playing. He gets them back to the house. The kids, guess, are just wrestling, playing, just being kids on Fish's bed. But these kids notice that there's something under the mattress. They find a meat cleaver, a butcher knife, and some hand saws. They get scared, run away, and thankfully never see Fish.

again. All right. Despite already being married, Fish married Estella Wilcox, which that happened on February 6, 1930 in Waterloo, New York. They have a discounted mall there, I think. Maybe they do. After a week, they divorce. Fish was arrested in May 1930 for sending an obscene letter to a woman who answered an advertisement for a maid. Following that arrest, in another 1931, he was sent to

Beard Laws (12:24.496)
Bellevue Hospital for observation. I mean, we have several arrests, you know, a history of mental health. And this guy was just out roaming the streets. one of the most well -known, well -documented, I guess, murder that Fish did do was of a, was somebody called Grace Budd. So I want to talk about that incident and kind of what comes from there.

No. So it's May 25th, 1928. saw a classified advertisement in the Sunday edition of the New York World that read, Young man, 18, wishes position in country. Edward Budd, 406, West 15th Street. So on May 28th, Fish, then 58 years old, visited the Budd family in Manhattan, the pretense of hiring Edward. He later confessed that he planned to tie Edward up, mutilate him, and leave him to bleed to death. Fish introduced himself as Frank Howard, a farmer from Farmingdale.

He promised to hire Bud and his friend and said he would send for them in a few days. failed to show up. But he sent a telegram to the Bud family apologizing and set a later date. When Fish returned, he met Edwards younger sister, 10 -year -old Grace, Gracie Bud. He apparently shifted his intentions toward Grace and quickly made up a story about having to attend his niece's birthday party. He persuaded the parents.

Deliah Bridget Flanagan and Albert Francis Budd Sr. to let Grace accompany him to the party that evening. Fish subsequently took Grace to an abandoned house he had previously picked out to use for the murder of his next victim, Wisteria Cottage at 359 Mountain Road located in the East Irvington neighborhood of Irvington, New York. This next part is very disturbing. So what I did is I wanted to kind of keep it as best as I can without giving all of the

disgusting, unneeded, terrible details. So he kills her and then eats her over the next several days. That's leaving out a lot of things. Yeah, yes. So obviously he is a cannibalistic serial killer at this point. They then arrest the

Beard Laws (14:47.132)
Person when obviously grace becomes missing that can't find her they're trying to figure out what's going on They arrest Charles Edward Pope on September 5th 1934 her disappearance After he was accused by his own wife He ended up spending 108 days in jail before him being found not guilty Grace Bud's mother receives a letter in 1934 that actually led to fish's capture the letters disgusting he talked several events about what he had done not

to her daughter, but what he had done in his life in detail, like murders and everything else, like spilled it all up, sent it to her mom. The letter was delivered in an envelope that had a small hexagonal emblem with the letters NYC, or NYPCBA representing the New York Private Chauffeurs Benevolent Association.

A janitor at the company told the police that he had taken some of the stationery home, but left it at his rooming house at 200 East 52nd Street when he moved out. The landlady of the rooming house said that Fish checked out of the room a few days earlier. She said that Fish's son sent him money and he asked her to hold his check. Next check, sorry. Next check for him. Detective William King, the chief investigator for the case, waited outside the room until Fish returned. He agreed to go to the headquarters for questioning.

then brandished a razor blade. King disarmed Fish and took him to the police headquarters. made no attempt to deny the murder of Grace Budd, saying that he meant to go to the house to kill her brother Edward instead. Between 1924 and 1928, Fish is believed to have killed at least three children. Francis MacDonald, who was eight from Long Island, Bill Gaffney, four years old.

1927 New York City. And obviously Grace Budd, who was only 10, that was June, also in New York City. He denied, yeah, obviously, but as a suspect in at least a dozen other murders, he was said to have done terrible things to at least 100 boys. Yeah. I mean, just, you know, 1920s. Times are different. Technology's not there. Trying to get them.

Beard Laws (17:15.484)
I mean, there was like checking DNA and all that stuff. It's just unbelievable. So let's just talk about the trial real quick so we can kind of figure out what ended up having to this sick, sick individual. Trial for the murder of Grace Budd began on March 11th, 1935 in White Plains, New York. Frederick P. Close presided as judge in Westchester County Chief Assistant

That's a mouthful. F. Gallagher was prosecuting, was the prosecuting attorney. Fish's defense counsel was James Dempsey, former prosecutor and the one -time mayor of Peekskill, New York. Trial lasted for 10 days. Fish pleaded insanity and claimed to have heard voices from God telling him to kill children. None of the jurors doubted that Fish was insane, but ultimately, as one later explained, they felt he should be executed anyway.

They found him to be sane and guilty in the judge's sentence, the defendant to death by electrocution. arrived at prison on March 5th, 1935 and was executed on January 16th, 1936 in the electric chair at Sing Sing Prison. He entered the chamber at 1106 PM and was pronounced dead three minutes later. Three minutes later. At least it wasn't potentially like the one that we had where 17 seconds.

than two more minutes. Go watch last week's episode. He was actually buried in the Sing Sing Prison Cemetery. Fish is said to have helped the executioner position the electrodes on his body. His last words were reportedly, I don't even know why I'm here. At a meeting with reporters after the execution, Fish's lawyer, Dempsey, that he was in possession of his client's final statement. The amount of this final statement,

with several pages of handwritten notes that Fish apparently penned in the hours just prior to his death. When pressed by the assembled journalist to reveal the document's contents, he refused stating, I will never show it to anyone. It was the most filthy string of obscenities that I have ever read. so many people pressed and pressed and pressed and apparently he got rid of it. I guess it was.

Beard Laws (19:41.788)
And if it was anything like the apparently was way worse than the letter that he sent to grace his mom And I guess that one was pretty nasty, too Yeah, so you haven't said much Meg It's kind of a Speechless type of episode. It is except for I had a lot of speech issues in that episode. I was struggling Sorry, bro

Beard Laws (20:09.42)
It's just one of those things like you saw and everybody just heard what I said, but there was a lot of stuff that were like coming back into my brain. It was there that I had to read, but I left out of the article. That's just disgusting. And I'm I know. the jury do the right or wrong thing? That's not for me to judge, but I feel like a man like that probably got what he was deserved. Disgusting,

Shout out to our sources. I got all that information from Wicca Wicca Wikipedia. Did a lot of, you know, other digging and not a lot of concrete stuff. Obviously, documentation was a lot different back then, we do have a quote. Do want to read the quote? Sure. I have no particular desire to live. I have no particular desire to be killed. It is a matter of indifference to me. I do not think I am altogether right. Albert Fish. That was something that was said by him and I thought it was fitting to put it in there.

Hopefully I never have to say Albert Fish again. Gross. Wasn't a new state. We've done a lot in New York, but we had to, in my brain, go from the first electrocution chair with our quote to knowing about Albert Fish. So wild, huh? It was. Wild. So again, Zach, if you're listening to this, this was something you wanted to do, but I had to do it. Would you have done it better?

Probably would you put in a lot of words that I couldn't say without a doubt, but either way that is Albert Fish dangerous man Gross man cannibal serial killer, but He's gone. We're gonna be out of here, but we'll come back and we'll do this all again next week. Huh? What's up what we're gonna talk about? No, cool cuz I have no idea yet at this point, but if you have any recommendations any states any stories,

Shoot it over to me on the beard laws Instagram or send it over to Matt at beardlaws .com. Check out the Yorktown map. We have an interactive map that has every little location of more like almost 70 episodes into this. We went on like a haunting in a while. We should go creepy. Something like that. Okay. Maybe we'll go a little bit creepy. Spend a minute. Okay. You want to pick something for us? Not right now, but in the next week? Yeah. Boom. Next episode is going to be a mega episode. Maybe.

Beard Laws (22:30.523)
Spoiler alert, you gotta do the dun dun dun. just gotta throw. yeah, I didn't. There wasn't really a good moment. That's too like gross into the… Let's come back and do a haunting episode next week. Dun dun dun. Snuck it in. Did it take almost 23 minutes? Yup. But we got it. All right, we're out, you artonians. We're probably gonna go play some pickleball and do some cannonballs. Yo.

All right. Hope you guys have a good rest of your day, your week, your month, your year. I'm going to win. She's not. We'll be back next week, hopefully with no pickleball injuries. That's all I got. anything else? Nope. Okay, bye. Okay, bye.