Argumentative Essay On Albert Fish

Richelle Long and Ashley McCrary
Mrs. Dorning 2:00 pm
Profiling Essay
20 October 2014
Albert Fish Out of all the people in the world, some happen to have fallen into this dark and deranged state of mind. One of these people was nick-named “the boogy man”. The saying, “looks can be deceiving” is a very true statement for this man. He betrayed himself to be this gentle, kind, and harmless old man, but there was a twist. He was a perverted, delusional, and a sadomasochistic man by the name of Albert Fish. Fish would primarily prey on young and helpless children. Once Albert was captured, psychiatrists' described him to have lived a life of unparalleled perversity. Albert Fish is one of the most demented serial killers because of his troubling childhood, raving murders, and electrifying death. Albert fish lived a troubling childhood; according to Charles Montaldo, Fish was born into a family with a long history of mental illness on May 19, 1870 (Charles Montaldo). His childhood was corrupt dealing
with the death of his father, and his mother placing him into an orphanage at a young age. There he was exposed to countless beatings and sadistic acts of brutality (Charles Montaldo). Since Fish was living around violence and mental activity at such a young age, and his brain was still developing, violence was all he knew. In a result this became evident that this is where his ideas came from to re-inflect on his victims. To deal with the emotional pain Fish had, he began inflicting pain on himself. “Ultimately, self-harm is a way of expressing and dealing with deep feelings of distress and emotional pain. As strange as it might seem to people who do not self-harm, it can actually make someone feel better” (making of a monster). Fish used a homemade spiked paddle, whips, stuck needles up his genitalia, and even inserted wool that was doused with lighter fluid into his anus and set it on fire to self-inflict harm; to Fish this was normal.

During Fishes' life he had committed and manipulated many children.” In 1910, Fish committed his first murder in which he mutilated and tortured his victims.
From that point on, he set his sights on children as he saw them as easy targets” (Maria). In 1928 Fish indulged in his first act of cannibalism. His first human meal was a little girl by the name of Grace Budd, she belonged to a family whom had trusted Fish. Stripping himself naked, Fish strangled, beheaded, and dismembered Grace with a meat cleaver. He then cooked her body parts into a stew seasoned with onions and carrots (Maria). Fishes favorite part of the body to consume would be the butt, because it was juicy and had the most flavor. According to Maria, “Prosecutors confidently linked him with “at least 100″ sexual attacks in 23 states, from New York to Wyoming, but Fish felt slighted by their estimate. “'I have had children in every state,'” he declared, placing his own tally of victims closer to 400”
(Maria). For all the crimes Fish has commitment, his life ended due to capital punishment by electrocution. “On March 25, 1935, the trial judge sentenced him to death. Fish was executed by electrocution on January 16, 1936” (fish, Albert Hamilton). It was said that it was one of Fishes’ extreme fantasies to have done to him. Rumor has it that since he had all those needles inside of him the electrocution process short circuited. In a result, Fish was shocked several times before he died guess his fantasy turned out to be more of a nightmare. Serial killers are in every part of the world, snatching anyone that gets in their way. It is impossible to recognized a killer if people do not understand and know the mind and the personality he/she may have. It is necessary to be careful with meeting new people, and to never judge based off of looks. No one would have ever guessed that a sweet, innocent looking old man could turn out to be such a monster. Serial killers are like human black holes. They are invisible to the public, but will snap whenever given the chance.