Hamilton Howard " Albert " Fish [ 1 ] May 19, — January 16, was an American serial killer , rapist , child molester and cannibal who committed at least three child murders between July and June He also confessed to stabbing at least two other people. Fish once boasted that he "had children in every state", [ 2 ] and at one time stated his number of victims was about However, it is not known whether he was referring to rapes or cannibalization, nor is it known if the statement was truthful.
He was convicted and executed by electric chair on January 16, , at the age of 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 an orphanage in which he spent much of his childhood.
Fish's family had a history of mental illness. His uncle had mania , one of his brothers was confined in a state mental hospital , a paternal half-brother suffered from schizophrenia and his sister Annie was diagnosed with a "mental affliction".
On October 16, , Fish's father, a fertilizer manufacturer and former riverboat captain, suffered a fatal heart attack at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station. However, Fish began to enjoy the physical pain brought by the beatings. In , at age 12, Fish began a relationship with a telegraph boy. The youth introduced Fish to such practices as drinking urine and eating feces. Fish began visiting public baths where he could watch other boys undress, spending a great portion of his weekends on these visits.
By , at age 20, Fish moved to New York City. There he engaged in male prostitution and began molesting and raping boys, mostly less than six years old. In , Fish's mother arranged a marriage for him with Anna Mary Hoffman, who was nine years his junior. Fish later recounted an incident in which a male lover took him to a wax museum , where he was fascinated by a bisection of a human penis and subsequently became obsessed with sexual mutilation. He took Bedden to where he was staying and the two began a sadomasochistic relationship; it is unclear whether or not the sadomasochism was consensual on Bedden's part, but Fish's later confession implied that Bedden was intellectually disabled.
