Location: New York City, USA (Active 1910s–1934) 🇺🇲
Story: Albert Fish was an elderly, unassuming man who worked as a handyman and lived in boarding houses. To his neighbors, he seemed harmless, a gentle, gray-haired grandfather. In reality, he was one of America's most depraved serial killers, pedophiles, and cannibals. His childhood was marked by severe abuse, which psychiatrists later linked to his sadomasochistic and cannibalistic urges. 🌋
Twist: Fish's most infamous crime was the 1928 murder of 10-year-old Grace Budd. He charmed her family by posing as a friendly old man, then took Grace "to a birthday party" from which she never returned. For six years, her disappearance remained a mystery. Then, in 1934, Fish sent Grace's parents a chilling, detailed letter describing how he strangled, butchered, and ate her over nine days. The letter was traced through a business logo on its stationery, leading to his arrest. At trial, he calmly confessed to molesting hundreds of children and murdering at least 15, claiming their flesh was "sweet." Found sane and guilty, the 65-year-old was executed in the electric chair in 1936. His case remains a dark landmark in criminal psychology, a stark study of how trauma can twist into pure evil, and how a monster can hide behind the mask of a kindly old man. ⚡️