Albert Fish: The Real Life Boogeyman

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TRIGGER WARNING: CHILD MURDER, SELF HARM, DISMEMBERMENT, CANNIBALISM (Just a lot of gross stuff)

Many of us know the popular serial killers: Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer and Ed Gein. These men have made history as being some of the most disturbing killers. However, arguably the most twisted killer has slipped beyond the cracks of our minds. Probably because Netflix hasn’t made a documentary yet. And for good reason, they never will.

  The story of Albert Fish is one that is difficult to hear. And now you will hear it.

A KILLER BORN

ALBERT FISH AS A CHILD.

Albert Fish was born on May 19, 1870. His mother sent him away to an orphanage temporarily after the death of his father. This is where the physical abuse began; at the hands of godly nuns. Beatings, assaults, molestation. However, he discovered he enjoyed the pain.

At 12 years old, he was introduced to drinking urine and eating feces. This was discovered through a relationship where they also enjoyed watching young boys undress. Another childhood relationship revealed to Fish his obsession with sexual mutilation.

By the time he was 20, he was assaulting young boys, even though he was married. His mother arranged a marriage with Anna Mary Hoffman who gave him six children. He still had secret relationships with young men. He was in a relationship with a 19 year old who he tied up and cut off half of his genitals. “I shall never forget his scream or the look he gave me.”

PROGRESSION OF INSANITY

29 NEEDLES FOUND IN FISH’S GROIN.

Eventually his wife ended up fleeing the home for reasons unknown, leaving him with the children. This is when he began to use brutal, unusual self harm. He would push needles into his groin and hit himself with studded wooden paddles. He would even insert lighter soaked towels into parts of his body and light them on fire. He even started asking his children and their friends to beat him.

This is around the time he started to experience hallucinations. He believed that God commanded him to kill and torture children. He even began to fantasize about cannibalism and would eat raw meat to help the cravings. He was evaluated by several doctors and deemed sane. He was released every time. 

Though he attempted many abductions from 1924 to 1928, none of them worked. He was always caught. But he kept himself busy. He would frequently stab mentally handicapped men and pay children to help him catch other children.

A FANTASY COME TRUE

10 YEAR OLD GRACE BUDD.

 In 1928, he was finally able to indulge in his sick fantasies when he responded to an ad for a job. Edward Budd was an 18 year old father who was struggling financially and was looking for help around the house. They thought of Fish as a sweet old man. He had planned to abuse Edward, tie him up, mutilate him and leave him for his family to discover. However, once he met their 10 year old daughter Grace, his plans changed.

He offered to take her to his niece’s birthday party, and since the family trusted Fish, they allowed it. She was never seen again. Another man was arrested for the crime, but it would be years before Fish would be caught. 

THE LETTER

In November 1934, a letter arrived at the Budd household. 

 “I made up my mind to eat her, on the pretense of taking her to a party. You said she could go,” the letter said. “I choked her to death then cut her into small pieces so I could take my meat to my rooms, cook and eat it. It took me 9 days to eat her entire body.” The letter is actually much more gruesome, but to spare your stomach, I left those parts out. 

ALBERT FISH- “THE VAMPIRE KILLER.”

This letter proved to be the end for Fish. He was soon caught and arrested. During his arrest, he confessed to the murder, but claimed he never assaulted her sexually. He also confessed to the murder of Francis Mcdonnell who was found hanging from a tree, and 4 year old Billy Gaffney who was whipped until he bled. This is when he was coined “The Boogeyman,” “The vampire killer,” and “The Gray man.”

He even went into extreme detail on how he cooked the bodies; adding carrots, celery, onions and even bacon to the buttocks. Fish claimed he had killed over hundreds of children, but this has never been proven. Fish was found guilty and executed by electric chair. His lawyer refused to ever read his last words. “It was the most filthy string of obscenities I have ever read.”

NATURE VS NURTURE

Was this man born evil or did his abuse at the orphanage cause his sick and twisted ways? One thing is for certain though; Fish is one of the most disturbed individuals to ever walk this earth. Though he was only found guilty for one murder, this act made him one of the worst child killers in history.

It's important for parents to be wary of any strangers. Who knows how many real life boogeymen still hide in the cracks of society, waiting to strike?

 

My name is Mykie Hartley and I am currently taking Professional Writing. I am a barista at Starbucks and am becoming a tattoo artist. If you can’t find me, I’m usually reading, watching gory horror movies, listening to gross metal music or getting a new tattoo. I’m a lover of the weird and disturbing, and I hope you are too!





A Tale Of Transportation Gone Wrong

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TRIGGER WARNING: descriptions of murder and decapitation.

Nobody enjoys taking the bus. The food is terrible, it’s impossible to sleep, and the motion sickness can feel like you’re riding a rollercoaster. However, taking the bus is a mundane mode of transportation. No one imagines a bus ride becoming a horror story. Unfortunately, for the passengers of a Greyhound bus in July 2008, taking the bus has become a traumatic reminder of the night a man was murdered in front of them.

THE VICTIM AND THE ATTACKER

TIM MCLEAN, 22 YEARS OLD.

Timothy Richard Mclean was born in Manitoba and was described as a free spirit who had dreams to travel the world and become famous. He was a smart, young man with ambition. After dropping out of high school, he pursued a career in the carnival industry as a carnival barker. His job was to get people interested in the attractions and games. Because of Tim’s love of socializing and traveling, this job was perfect for him. He never imagined settling down until he was 22 and fell in love with British Columbia. However. because he was close with his family, he decided to visit them back home before his move. His friend offered to buy him a plane ticket, but he was perfectly happy to take the Greyhound bus. Unfortunately, he would never make it there.

LEE VINCE AFTER HIS ARREST.

Lee Vince was born in China and faced many childhood sicknesses. Despite this, he had a relatively normal life. However when he turned 40, his wife noticed he was acting strange. He didn’t sleep, cried often, and never ate. He began to tell her he saw and spoke to God. In 2005, his mental health plummeted; he divorced his wife and was institutionalized. This is where he was diagnosed with schizophrenia.



BEFORE THE ATTACK

Though not much is known about schizophrenia, many people who are diagnosed are able to live fairly normal lives with therapy and medication. However, Li ignored his diagnosis for years. Before the incident, Li drifted from job to job where he continued to get fired for outbursts. He started to float from town to town by bus where he eventually bought a large hunting knife. Before he boarded the bus, he almost murdered another man who was innocently going about his life. His delusions told him in the voice of God that he was in danger. An evil alien would try to kill him. Li spent a few days sitting on a bench before he boarded the same bus as Mclean on July 30th 2008.

Mclean sat in the second to last row, put his headphones on and slowly drifted to sleep. A passenger by the name of Steven Allison watched as Li exhibited strange behaviors such as rocking back and forth, talking to himself, and wandering from seat to seat. Allison could tell Li was off, but he had no idea what was coming. Finally, Li decided to sit next to Mclean. He knew this was the man that God warned him about.

THE ATTACK

MOMENTS AFTER THE ARREST.

Moments later, Li finally snapped. He pulled his knife out and began to frantically stab Mclean. His screams drowned the sounds of The Return Of Zorro playing on the bus until his throat was cut. Then there was only silence while everyone turned to realize what was going on. Allison yelled for the bus driver to pull over. Passengers and children screamed and ran off the bus while Li continued to stab Mclean’s corpse. Allison saved over three passengers, and wanted to save Mclean, only realizing upon looking at his body that he was dead. It looked as if he was stabbed over 70 times in every part of his body. Blood stained the chairs and windows around the area. The driver and two other men attempted to get the knife away from Li, but were chased off the bus. The door was barricaded while Li continued his work. Li decapitated Mclean and displayed the severed head to the horrified passengers outside. He then started to severe his limbs and consume parts of his flesh, proudly displaying this act to his audience. During the attack, Li never displayed any emotion.

The Royal Canadian police arrived on the scene around 8:30pm. Li was still on the bus. Passengers were crying and vomiting on the roadside. The standoff began, and Li was only arrested after he attempted to escape the bus five hours later. Police were never able to recover Mclean’s heart and eyes. His ears, nose and tongue were found in Li’s pocket as a trophy. The crime scene was so gruesome that a RCMP officer committed suicide six years after the murder.

AFTER THE ATTACK

In March 2009, Li was found not criminally responsible on account of mental illness. He was admitted to the Selkirk mental health center until he was released in 2017. He now lives in Manitoba on absolute discharge. Li changed his name and no longer attends yearly reviews or receives supervision of any kind.

“He still did it, whether he was in his right frame of mind or not,” Carol DeDelly, mother of Mclean said after Li’s release. “There was nobody else on that bus holding a knife slicing up my child.”

WITNESS SHAKEN UP THE DAY AFTER THE ATTACK.

15 years after the attack, many wonder if the Canadian justice system should have harsher sentences for murder. Many argue for the death penalty, especially in such brutal cases like this. Yes, Li was mentally ill, but a young man was murdered and his family will never recover. The witnesses still deal with PTSD. A passenger by the name of Marlene Gregory cannot travel by bus anymore or use kitchen knives. “I used to be the type to walk around and feel safe,” Gregory describes life after the traumatizing event. “I trusted people. And that’s gone.”

If we can learn anything from this horrific story, we can remember to always stay vigilant. Anything can happen anywhere in this disturbed world. Even on an ordinary bus ride.

My name is Mykie Hartley and I am currently taking Professional Writing. I am a barista at Starbucks and love making cute coffees! If you can’t find me, I’m usually reading, watching gory horror movies, listening to gross metal music or getting a new tattoo. I’m a lover of the weird and disturbing, and I hope you are too!





Man Melted From The Inside

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Safety is always the number one priority at any job. However, sometimes companies do not have their workers' wellbeing as their main concern. This is the story about the worst-case scenario.  

Working with nuclear materials is already a dangerous job. Hisashi Ouchi, husband and father, took a job at a power plant in Tokaimura, Japan to support his family. His job was to purify uranium oxide to make fuel rods for a research reactor. Point is, he was a smart man. However, he was untrained for the job. And his company knew it. Two other untrained men were also hired to do the job. Despite his intelligence, mistakes were made. On the morning of September 30th, 1999, seven times the amount of uranium was hand poured into the wrong tank. What followed was the beginning of the end for Ouchi.  

Hisashi Ouhi


A blue flash. An explosion.

Ouchi was the closest to the blast, and he was immediately taken to the hospital. His symptoms were not alarming at first; a swollen, red face, bloodshot eyes. But after tests were run, it was found that he was exposed to over 17 sieverts of radiation. If you know nothing about radiation- like most of us- sieverts are a unit dose equal to a joule of energy per kilogram of recipient mass. In simpler terms, it’s not good. Over 7 is deadly to humans. Ouchi’s fate was already confirmed the next day when he had trouble breathing and a swollen abdomen.  

Doctors found that his body wasn’t able to generate new cells and his bone marrow was broken into pieces. This is when he was transferred to the University of Tokyo.  

Ouchi began to receive blood cell transfers and stem cell procedures. His sister, in an effort to save his life, donated stem cells and bone marrow. It seemed to work at first. Then it got even worse. Two weeks after the blast, Ouchi was unable to eat or breathe on his own. His skin started to fall off after removing the bandages. Blisters covered his entire body. This is because the radiation killed the chromosomes that enable his skin to generate. He also began to cry blood. His DNA was obliterated, and he had brain damage. Ouchi was frequently heard calling for his mother. He even begged to be killed; “I can’t take it anymore. I am not a guinea pig.”  

Many to this day still believe in a conspiracy that Ouchi was kept alive for research purposes. Doctors wanted to keep him alive to study what radiation does to the body. This is believed because of the length he was kept alive. Even after he suffered heart attacks, he was brought back to life.  

This theory is simply not true. 

While yes, Ouchi was kept alive for too long, this was not because of the doctors. In reality, his family wanted him to survive. Any doctor would not let his patient suffer under Ouchi’s conditions.

Towards the end of his life, Ouchi’s organs started to collapse. He was hooked up to machines. His heart attacks started to increase to three every hour. He was brought back to life each time. On December 11th at 11:21pm, Ouchi’s pain finally ended when he had his final cardiac arrest. The disturbing photos of Ouchi’s body continue to remind us of his continued agony.   

The only person to survive the blast was Ouchi’s supervisor. The other worker was exposed to 10 sieverts of radiation and died quickly after attempts to save his life. Ouchi was kept in agony for 83 days simply because his family did not want to say goodbye. Obviously, saying goodbye to a family member is an impossibly hard task. But it is heartbreaking that this man had to endure this pain for that long- even when he begged to be let go.  

After the blast, 310,00 villagers within six miles stayed indoors for 24 hours. 10,00 people were checked for radiation. Over 600 villagers had low levels of radiation. Of course, none of this compares to what Ouchi went through. Despite the dangerous malpractice that killed two people, the nuclear plant continued to operate after a different company for more than a decade.  

Ouchi’s tragic story is a disturbing reminder of what can happen when a company takes shortcuts to a job. If Ouchi had been given the proper training, he may not have had one of the most agonizing deaths in history. If there is anything to take away from this story, it is to always trust your gut. If something seems off, you have no obligation to do it. Obviously, not everyone works with nuclear matter, but any workplace injury can be easily avoided before it turns into a tragedy.  

TRIGGER WARNING: EXTREME PHOTO OF HISASHI’S BODY WHILE ALIVE IN THE HOSPITAL (GORE, BLOOD)

 

HISASHI OUCHI BEFORE DEATH



My name is Mykie Hartley and I am currently taking Professional Writing. I am a barista at Starbucks and am becoming a tattoo artist. If you can’t find me, I’m usually reading, watching gory horror movies, listening to gross metal music or getting a new tattoo. I’m a lover of the weird and disturbing, and I hope you are too!