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  • Essay / Albert Fish: The Characteristics of a Human Monster

    Billy Gaffney, was a 4 year old boy. Billy and his friend Billy Beaton, 3, and his 12-year-old brother were playing in the hallway of a Brooklyn apartment. Fish took Gaffney and Beaton, but Beaton was found later that night on the roof of the apartments. Gaffney was not found anywhere around the apartments. When they asked Beaton who took Gaffney, he told them "the bogeyman took him" (Infohio page 2). They believed serial killer Peter Kudzinowski had taken Gaffney and Beaton. They showed him a photo of Fish, he identified him as Fish. Gaffney was never found, but Fish sent his mother, Elizabeth Gaffney, a letter explaining what he had done with him. He told her he ate it and tried to eat his ears, his pees but he couldn't eat them, he threw them down the toilet because he couldn't chew them. He tried to make a stew with it. According to Fish, “his monkey and his pees and a nice little fat behind to roast in the oven and eat” (Albert Fish Documentary). Fish explains what he did with his monkey and his pees. Elizabeth Gaffney went to visit Fish while he was in Sing Sing, the prison. She asks him why he killed her son. He didn't answer her, he just turned around and started crying. She waited for a response but he never answered her. Elizabeth left prison still thinking that he didn't kill her son, but he did. Fish is crazy, he cried to make fun of her. That she would think