To give the greenhorns a better idea into the mind of this type of killer, examined in the following are the two somewhat similar cases of Mr. Narr, who killed his elderly roommate for having a “creepy” blind eye (Poe, 193), and Mr. Albert Fish, AKA the Vampire of Brooklyn or The Boogey Man (Bardsley, ch 7).
To begin, examine the case file of Mr. Narr. You’ll see that he was overly sure of himself – that’s to say: he seemed to need to convince himself that what he was doing wasn’t crazy – that he was right in taking action against his elderly roommate who was half blind (Poe 193-95).
In the taped deposition, you’ll hear how Mr. Narr again and again said, “You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded – with what caution – with what foresight – with what dissimulation I went to work! (Poe 193)”
Mr. Narr goes on to confess that he did indeed kill the older gentleman very early on in the interview, slipping when he said, “I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before I killed him. (Poe 193). Although it wouldn’t quite have mattered much, for Mr. Narr lost his wits about him in front of the police when they came to ask about his senior roommate (Poe 197).
In Mr. Narr’s mind, the older man was giving him the “Evil Eye”, calling the blind, foggy eye a “vulture eye” (Poe 193). In his mind, his actions were completely justified, because the eye was doing him harm – granted it wasn’t physical harm (make this clear to your rookie), but to Mr. Narr, it was harm nonetheless (Poe 193-97).
To further try to prove to the lead detectives questioning him, Mr. Narr went through great lengths to show his sanity through planning, his gentle, gentle planning (Poe 193).
"It took me an hour to place my whole head within the opening so far that I could see him as he lay upon his bed. (Poe 193)” With this statement, it’s rather quite obvious that Mr. Narr is most decidedly not sane. He’s rather quite the opposite.
This further proves itself when the police come to inquire about the whereabouts of the elder gentleman. Mr. Narr begins to hear the beating of the heart of the old man that he buried under his floorboards – a persistent thump that slowly showed the officers his true depravity when Mr. Narr yowled, “Villains! Dissemble no more! I admit the deed! – tear up the planks! – here, here!- it is the beating of his hideous heart! (Poe 197)”
Mr. Narr is currently serving life in a maximum security mental institution.
Also related is the more gruesome case of Mr. Albert Fish, also known around the upper Northeast as The Boogie Man, a real-life nightmare to so many, especially to the families of children he killed (Bardsley ch 1-27). To briefly mention, Thomas Harris entered the facility recently to read over Fish’s case file, and had based a character – namely Hannibal Lector, a well known and famous doctor who happened to enjoy eating his victims. This was not the only killer Harris based Dr. Lector off of; however, Fish is the one who is most easily seen.
After the publication of Harris’ novels, Fish became known as the real life Hannibal Lector (Bardsley 28).
As anyone can see, Fish looks like a very unobtrusive grandfather, and that’s what many people thought of him as – certainly that’s what it looked like to Grace Budd’s family, one of his most infamous victims (Bardsley, 1).
Much like other killers, Fish thought what he was doing was ok in that the lengths he took to plan out his kidnappings, torturing, and ultimately murder and ingestion of the victims (Bardsley 1-6). With Grace, he asked to take her to a birthday party for his niece, to which her parents agreed – after all, Fish (under an alias of course) was going to hire their eldest son, Edward, so what harm could there have been (Bardsley, 1)?
In reality, Fish was a strange man. He was heavily into BDSM – Bondage, Dominance, Sadomasochism – and often asked his own children, of which there were six, to paddle his behind until blood ran down his legs, deriving great pleasure from this act; also, he would send letters out to women asking them to inflict pain on him and not their hand in marriage (Bardsley 1-27).
Following is the letter that Fish sent to Grace’s mother anonymously:
My dear Mrs. Budd,
In 1894 a friend of mine shipped as a deck hand on the Steamer Tacoma, Capt. John Davis. They sailed from San Francisco for Hong Kong China. On arriving there he and two others went ashore and got drunk. When they returned the boat was gone.
At that time there was famine in China. Meat of any kind was from $1 to 3 Dollars a pound. So great was the suffering among the very poor that all children under 12 were sold for food in order to keep others from starving. A boy or girl under 14 was not safe in the street. You could go in any shop and ask for steak -- chops -- or stew meat. Part of the naked body of a boy or girl would be brought out and just what you wanted cut from it. A boy or girls behind which is the sweetest part of the body and sold as veal cutlet brought the highest price.
John staid there so long he acquired a taste for human flesh. On his return to N.Y. he stole two boys one 7 one 11. Took them to his home stripped them naked tied them in a closet. Then burned everything they had on. Several times every day and night he spanked them -- tortured them -- to make their meat good and tender.
First he killed the 11 year old boy, because he had the fattest ass and of course the most meat on it. Every part of his body was Cooked and eaten except the head -- bones and guts. He was Roasted in the oven (all of his ass), boiled, broiled, fried and stewed. The little boy was next, went the same way. At that time, I was living at 409 E 100 st., near -- right side. He told me so often how good Human flesh was I made up my mind to taste it.
On Sunday June the 3 --1928 I called on you at 406 W 15 St. Brought you pot cheese -- strawberries. We had lunch. Grace sat in my lap and kissed me. I made up my mind to eat her.
On the pretense of taking her to a party. You said Yes she could go. I took her to an empty house in Westchester I had already picked out. When we got there, I told her to remain outside. She picked wildflowers. I went upstairs and stripped all my clothes off. I knew if I did not I would get her blood on them.
When all was ready I went to the window and called her. Then I hid in a closet until she was in the room. When she saw me all naked she began to cry and tried to run down the stairs. I grabbed her and she said she would tell her mamma.
First I stripped her naked. How she did kick -- bite and scratch. I choked her to death, then cut her in small pieces so I could take my meat to my rooms. Cook and eat it. How sweet and tender her little ass was roasted in the oven. It took me 9 days to eat her entire body. I did not fuck her tho I could of had I wished. She died a virgin." (Bardsley, 9).
Note how Fish could or could not have gotten this idea from another fellow; it’s difficult to tell truly because of his deep problems, for he and his family had a history of mental problems in the past (Bardsley 22). Fish believed that what he did was also ok because if he was doing something wrong, then an angel would have stopped him, much like God stopped Abraham from sacrificing his only son (Bardsley 22).
It’s very important to stress to new detectives not to be fooled by the calm demeanor of a suspect. Often the ones who appear to be the calmest are the ones who tend to commit the most gruesome crimes. There is no such thing as a sane killer – the perverse innocence they claim is only innocence in their heads.
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