Highlighted Crime
Story of the Week -
On January 16, 1936, Albert Fish was executed at Sing
Sing prison in New York. Dubbed the “Moon Maniac,” Fish was one of America’s
most notorious serial killers. Authorities believe that Fish killed as many as
10 children and then ate their remains. Fish went to the electric chair with
great anticipation, telling guards, “It will be the supreme thrill, the only
one I haven’t tried.”
Fish was convicted of the 1928 murder of 10-year-old
Grace Budd in Westchester County, New York. He strangled the girl and then
carved up her body with a saw. Six years later, Fish wrote Budd’s mother a
letter in which he described in detail killing the girl and then preparing a
stew with her flesh that he ate over the next nine days. The letter was traced
back to Fish.
A psychiatrist who examined Fish stated, “There was no
known perversion that he did not practice and practice frequently.” Most
disturbingly, Fish was obsessed with cannibalism. He carried writings about the
practice in his pockets. After his arrest, Fish confessed to the murders of
other young children whom he claimed to have eaten. Although nearly everyone
agreed that he was insane, including the jury deciding his fate, he was
nevertheless sentenced to death in the electric chair. Reportedly, his last
statement was a handwritten note filled with filthy obscenities.
Check back every
Monday for a new installment of “This Week in Crime History.”
Michael Thomas Barry is a columnist for www.crimemagazine.com and is the award
winning author of seven nonfiction books that includes the soon to be released In the Company of Evil Thirty Years of
California Crime, 1950-1980 and the award winning Murder and Mayhem 52 Crimes that Shocked Early California, 1849-1949.
Visit Michael’s website www.michaelthomasbarry.com
for more information. His books can be purchased from Amazon through the following
links:
