Image: Cannibalism in Brazil in 1557 as described
by Hans Staden
Cannibalism, the practice of eating the flesh of one's
own kind. The word cannibal is a corruption of Caribal,
or carib, and derives from Columbus' report of the
eating of human flesh by the West Indian Aborigines
( The Caribs).
Many early tribes were addicted to this practice.
Certain tribes in Ireland were reported to be cannibals.
During the 17th century a believe was current in
France that the Samoyedes were cannibals
The believe, however, appears to have little or no
warrant.The eating of one's own kinsfolk
( endocannibalism ) was practice as a pious funeral
rite by the ancient Egyptians.
Isolated instances, even among people of high
cultural level, have been recorded where ship wrecks, prolonged sieges or other disasters with consequent
lack of food and uncontrollable hunger induced cannibalism.
The religious rites of the Aztec involved cannibalism
in connection with human sacrifices to the gods.
Other eaters of human flesh are linked with the natives
of New Guinea and some Central African tribes, the Maoris of New Zealand, the Fiji Islanders and the Caribs.
Image1: Dahmer Image2: Kemper
Modern Day Cannibalism
Germany: The Cannibal of Rotenburg
In a large house in a German town near Kassel, Bernd Juergen
Brandes was butchered by Armin Meiwes, a computer technician.
Meiwes' motive for killing and eating his victim, was born from a
desire for this younger brother he never had - "someone to be part
Victim Bernd-Juergen Brandes travelled by train to meet cannibal
Armin Meiwes in the western town of Rotenburg after the two men
made contact over the internet.
Meiwes then videotaped himself severing the victim's penis with
a knife before both men tried to eat it. Bleeding profusely, Brandes fell unconscious and with the video recorder still rolling,
Meiwes laid him out on a bench and kissed him on the lips before plunging a knife into his throat.
Described in court as affable and self-confident, Meiwes had corresponded with about 400 people over the internet
in search of a victim, including one man who had advertised for "a likeable, older gentleman to read me my death
Idi Amin, a former Ugandan dictator, was reported to be a cannibal. Human flesh, he complained, was too salty.
His son Taban Amin claimes that the film Last King of Scotland falsely depicts his father as a cannibal.
Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer (May 21, 1960 Ė November 28, 1994) was an American serial killer. He murdered at least
17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991 (with the majority of the murders occurring between 1989 and 1991).
His murders were particularly gruesome, involving acts of necrophilia, dismemberment, and cannibalism.
Edmund Emil Kemper (born December 18, 1948), also known as The Co-ed Killer, is
an American serial killer who was active in the early 1970s. Kemper killed and dismembered six female hitchhikers
in the Santa Cruz, California, area. He then murdered his mother and one of her friends before turning himself in to the
Woman slashes her lover with axe and minces his meat for chops and dumplings
A female resident of the Bashkiria republic slashed her lover with an axe and made meat chops, meat dumplings,
meat-jelly, sausages from his body. Afterwards she invited her neighbors to dinner. Friends and the 15-year-old son
of the woman all praised the killerís cooking skills. The people could not even think that they were eating human meat.
The festive dinner was interrupted when one of the guests went to the kitchen, opened the fridge and saw human
remains there. The court sentenced the cold-blooded killer to eleven years in prison.
The horrible tragedy took place in the town of Sterlitamak in 2005, shortly before the New Year. Police officers said that
the 44-year-old woman killed her lover as a result of a fight.
The two people argued over jealousy: the woman believed that her man was cheating on her. The woman flew into rage,
grabbed an axe and slashed the young man on the head several times. The man died of severe injuries instantly.
The view of the manís dead body and blood flowing out of his head did not stop the jealous woman. She cold-heartedly
dismembered the body, put the manís head into a garbage can and used the rest of the body for food.
Several hours later the killer was mincing her loverís meat for meat dumplings and chops.
She made meat jelly from the manís hands and feet.
When the New Year dinner was ready, the woman invited her neighbours for the party. When investigators were
interrogating the killerís friends, they said that the table was groaning with meat dishes. One of the guests noticed that
the dishes were rather unusual to taste: the meat had a sweet flavour to it. The proud "cook" said that she was lucky to
find wonderful meat on a local market.
The slaughterer was exposed incidentally. One of the guests went to the kitchen and decided to look into the fridge
simply out of curiosity. The man saw a severed human arm in the freezer.
The woman pleaded guilty to manslaughter during the first interrogation. She added, however, that she did not want to
kill her 26-year-old lover. She was defending herself when he started beating her, she added.
It was later revealed, though, that the woman had committed her crime in a state of alcoholic intoxication. The killer hardly
has any memories left of how she was dismembering the dead body and why.