SECRETS OF WYSTERIA
- The Youth's Lens
- Jan 15, 2019
- 7 min read
Content Warning: This article consists of the analysis of a song, keeping in mind the story behind it. Gruesome themes are discussed and readers are advised to maintain consciousness.
Secrets of Wysteria, the life and crimes of Albert Fish.
Little Gracie found a strange house
A place to play just past all the trees
Grace Budd was Fish’s last known victim, the one that got him caught. She was a ten year old girl who was known to Albert through his relations with her parents. He had met them under the guise of Frank Howards and claimed to have some farm work upstate and that he was looking for some help around the house. Then, he noticed Grace, standing behind her parents. Instantly he changed his victim, focusing instead on her. A probable pedophile, he devised a plan which included asking her parents for permission so that he could take her to a ‘birthday party’. This was a ploy and instead, she was lead to an empty house and a horrific death.
Swift sharp needles do spot his face
Before he feeds on the sheep’s white fleece
Fish was a known masochist and sadist. He suffered with extreme mental illness and had a family history of the same. His father was 75 years elder than him and mother, financially unstable. Due to these reasons, he was put into an orphanage. There, he was physically abused constantly. The caretakers even encouraged the tenants to hurt one another. This added to his already tumultuous childhood and played a major role in making him who he was. After this, he moved into a relationship with a telegraph boy, who introduced him to urolagnia and coprophagia, or the consuming of human waste as a sexual task. Somewhere along the line, he got married to a woman and had six children. He went to jail for embezzlement where he continued to have relations with boys. Upon getting out, he got into a twisted relationship with a man named Thomas Kedden which was sadomasochistic in nature. Sources state that Thomas was mentally impaired and the nature of their relationship in terms of consent was unknown. Fish developed a fascination with castration due to a trip to a wax museum with Thomas, where he saw various models that made him wish to try out the same. He tied Kedden up and left his isolated in an abandoned warehouse. After torturing hm plenty, Fish cut off half his genitals and payed him ten dollars for the experience, after which, he let him go.
According to his children, his strange behaviour towards them began in January of 1917, after his wife left him for a handyman. He would constantly refer to himself as Christ and ask his own children to paddle him with paddles embedded with needles. Once he discovered the fantasy of self-mutilation, he turned to sticking pins and needles into his body. An x-ray of his pelvis shows a huge amount of needles lodged in there and even at the time of his death (execution by electric chair), a short circuit was caused by the pins. These sadastic pleasures of his (with an emphasis on self-mutilation), seem to be what the lines refer to.
A sheep is seen as innocent and pure, much like a child. Albert was given the name ‘Werewolf of Wysteria’ due to his crimes. This seems to be portrayed in the given metaphor.
Phantasmagorical
Willows of Wysteria
A memorial
A crescendo
Of hysteria
Phantasmagorical- Having a fantastic or deceptive appearance, as something in a dream or created by the imagination. Having the appearance of an optical illusion, especially one produced by a magic lantern. Changing or shifting, as a scene made up of many elements.
The line, ‘willows of Wysteria’ could have been a reference to how Fish made Grace wait outside the abandoned house while she stripped naked. It is thought that during this time Grace was picking flowers (Wisteria or Wysteria is the name of a flower).
The next three lines of the pre-chorus could be a reference to how the song is a memorial for Grace Budd and all of Albert Fish’s victims, making it a song full of hysteria.
A crescendo is a musical term that means ‘gradually getting louder’. This could be a simple nudge at how the chorus is the loudest part of the song.
Little children went astray
In the sunny soil beneath
Wriggling worms in disarray
Hear them laughing underneath
The chorus of the song is an obvious reference to the large number of children Albert would have raped and/or killed. He targeted, according to him, children no one would realise were missing. He killed more boys than girls and his known victims only go up to three; however, he stated that his victims include one child from every state (of USA) and more which already points to more than fifty children.
The next two lines could be a potential hint at buried dead bodies and the process of decomposition.
Laughing with respect to children is a symbol of innocence. It seems to be another reference towards their death.
~
(THE PART LISTED BELOW FLASHES DURING THE ORIGINAL VIDEO. IT IS NOT SUNG BUT SIMPLY APPEARS WRITTEN DURING THE VIDEO)
May 19th, 1870 - January 16th, 1936
Cyril Quinn ran quick
Poor grace fell in vain
Into the Boogeyman’s hunt
Tiny saints digested, bisected
Hopscotch hops on creeks and cracks
Hide your tracks
Clear any target on your back
Foggy moon eyes glow
The first line is his birth date and the date of his death. He was the oldest man to have ever been executed in Sing Sing Prison.
Cyril Quinn was a victim of his who managed to escape before he was killed.
Another name for Fish is ‘the Boogeyman’ due to his crimes being directed mostly towards children.
The next line seems to be a reference towards his practices of cannibalism which included dismembering bodies.
The next few lines seem to be talking about how children were a constant target for Albert Fish. His complete number of victims isn’t even known. ‘Foggy moon eyes’ seems to be another reference towards the name given to him i.e. ‘Werewolf of Wysteria’.
~
Counting ten, nine, zero fingers
Won’t you come and play the gray man’s game
move quick, be an artful dodger
When the cleavers start fishing in flames
These lines refer to Grace’s murder and Fish’s cannibalistic tendencies. He dismembered Grace’s body and and ate her. His ‘game’ could be a reference to his heinous acts and the way he used to lure children into his houses. He was also named ‘the gray man’.
Albert also wrote a letter to Mrs. Budd and this was letter played a huge role in getting him caught. The letter is listed below (transcript is taken from a website).
"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 to 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 a famine in China. Meat of any kind was 1-3 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 girl's behind, which is the sweetest part of the body and is sold as veal cutlets, brings the highest price.
John stayed there so long that he acquired a taste for human flesh. On his return to N.Y., he stole two boys -- one 7, one 11. He took them to his home, stripped them naked, and tied them up in a closet, and 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, and he went the same way. At that time, I was living at 409 E. 100 St. He told me so often how good human flesh was, and I made up my mind to taste it.
On June 3, 1928, I called on you at 406 W. 15 St. and brought you pot cheese and strawberries. We had lunch. Grace sat on 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 the 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 the 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, though I could have if I wished. She died a virgin.”
Phantasmagorical
Willows of Wysteria
A memorial
A crescendo
Of hysteria
Little children went astray
In the sunny soil beneath
Wriggling worms in disarray
Hear them laughing underneath
The video ends with a clip played backwards. The clip when reversed, was seen to speak a few lines from the letter Fish wrote. It is said that the whole song, when reversed, turns into another song.
The song and video speaks of crimes that most cannot fathom. It leaves those that listen and attempt to understand speechless. I don’t know what else to say.
Bibliography-
Written by Manya Malhotra
"advised to maintain consciousness."- thanks for the advice. 🤣