Cannibalism - History And Types
Historical Perspective
Except from Herbert Ward's A Voice From the Congo as found in Gary Hogg's book, Cannibalism and Human Sacrifice:
'Do you people eat human bodies?' I said one day, upon entering a native village, and pointed to a quantity of meat, spitted upon long skewers, being smoke-dried over numerous smouldering fires. 'Io; yo te?' was the instant reply - 'Yes; don't you?' And a few minutes later the chieftain of the village came forward with an offering, which consisted of large and generous portions of flesh, only too obviously of human origin. He seemed genuinely disappointed when I refused.
Historically shrouded in mystery, myth, symbolism, fear and speculation, cannibalism remains in most cultures one of the ultimate taboos. According to William Arens' book The Man-Eating Myth: Anthropology & Anthropophagy, the first known account of cannibalism came following an expedition to the West Indies, led by Christopher Columbus. Columbus and his crew supposedly discovered that the Carib West Indies tribe participated in a particularly gruesome practice of ritualistically eating the flesh of other humans.
The Man-Eating Myth
The explorers mispronounced the name of the tribe and referred to them as "Canibs," which was overtime changed to "canibales," meaning thirsty and cruel in Spanish. The English translation of the Spanish word became cannibalism, which is the most widely used term to express human's consumption of other human beings. The Latin form of the word cannibalism is anthropophagy and is a term used mostly in anthropology and archeology.
The existence of cannibalism has been a widely disputed topic in academia. However, the evidence supporting its existence is abundant and is represented in every medium imaginable, including stories, symbols, legends, writings, archeological evidence and first hand accounts. Cannibalism is a practice that reaches across centuries and cultures. In many cultures, it is considered atrocious and sacrilegious, whereas in another culture it is a sacred and revered custom. Cannibalism is an undeniable occurrence rooted in antiquity and branching forth to the present-day.
Survival Cannibalism
Perhaps the only generally accepted form of cannibalism is when humans eat the flesh of other humans in an attempt to stay alive in adverse and desperate situations. Survival cannibalism is rare and explicable in many cases, yet is still an act that is often punishable by law. There have been several prominent cases of survival cannibalism over the last two hundred years, including that of the Donner Party expedition and the more recent cases that occurred in the Andes Mountains following a plane crash.
Donner Party monument
In 1846, a group of eighty-nine men, women and children led by a man named George Donner set out across the Sierra Nevada Mountains enroute to California. During the trek, the weather took and unexpected turn and they were forced to take an alternative route. The travelers began to run out of food and other resources. Many died from exposure and starvation.
Half of the travelers perished before the remaining people eventually succumbed to their situation and began to feed on the flesh of the dead in an attempt to survive. The forty-six survivors were eventually rescued, however upon reaching civilization they were regarded as monstrous criminals and tried for their actions. The travelers served around six months before they were re-released back into their communities.
In 1972, a group of rugby players, their friends and families left on an airplane for Chile from Urugua. The plane crashed into the snow-covered Andes Mountains killing thirteen of the forty-five passengers onboard the aircraft. Many of the passengers died over the weeks from crash-related injuries. Without any provisions, those left alive resorted to cannibalizing the dead. Those who refused to eat the human flesh died of starvation. After seventy days in the mountains, sixteen survivors were rescued and taken home.
Even in the most extreme cases, the act of cannibalism is treated with scorn and disgust by many cultures and is sometimes punishable by social ostracization, institutionalization in a mental facility, arrest, incarceration or even death. Cannibalism is most commonly believed to be the epitome of savage behavior. Although disease and religion have greatly diminished the practice, it continues to be practiced worldwide.
Criminal Cannibalism
In modern times, the murder of a person or the use of a corpse for the purpose of consumption by another human in any situation, outside that of conditions of starvation, is considered to be a form of criminal cannibalism or anthropophagy. However, the definition of and laws governing criminal cannibalism vary considerably from culture to culture.
In many parts of the world cannibalism is not considered a crime in and of itself and it is often only recognized in concurrence with another crime. For example, in Britain and the United States of America, cannibalism is not considered to be a felony, but is socially unacceptable. Those who have been found to participate in the gruesome act are usually charged with another crime that is directly related to the act of cannibalism, such as murder, grave robbery or necrophilia.
In other cultures, what some deem to be an act of criminal cannibalism may be an acceptable element of another culture. For example, Japanese enemies were allegedly consumed during the height of World War II by tribes in Papua New Guinea, which was acceptable in the culture during that period.
There are many who refuse to believe that cannibalism is practiced in this modern, "civilized" age. However, there is much evidence suggesting that it does occur and with some frequency. There have been many documented cases of cannibalism, especially within the last 100 years.
There are four primary forms of criminal cannibalism:
1. sexual cannibalism
2. aggression cannibalism
3. spiritual and ritual cannibalism
4. epicurean/nutritional cannibalism.
These various forms substantially overlap with one another. For example, one may consume human flesh for several purposes, such as to achieve a sense of power and control (aggression cannibalism), yet one may also find the taste to be agreeable (epicurean/nutritional cannibalism). Another may indulge in cannibalism in order to reach a higher spiritual affinity with the person they have devoured, simultaneously achieving intense sexual and gratification.
Sexual Cannibalism
Sexual cannibalism is considered to be a psychosexual disorder, which involves a person sexualizing the consumption of another person's flesh. This does not necessarily suggest that the cannibal achieves sexual gratification only in the act of consuming human flesh, but also may release sexual frustration or pent up anger. Sexual cannibalism is considered to be a form of sexual sadism and is often associated with the act of necrophilia (sex with corpses). There have been several high profile cases, which have involved sexual cannibalism, including that of Andrei Chikatilo, Edward Gein, Albert Fish, Armin M and Jeffrey Dahmer.
Albert Fish under arrest
During the 1920's Americans were confronted with the horrors of Albert Fish who was said to have raped, murdered and eaten a number of children. Fish was a sexual cannibal in the truest sense of the term and claimed to have experienced enormous sexual pleasure when he imagined eating a person or when he actually indulged his fantasies.
Andrei Chikatilo
Andrei Chikatilo, a Russian serial killer, was responsible for the murders of scores of young boys and girls. During most of his life, Chikalito suffered from impotency and was only able to achieve sexual gratification from the torture and murder of other people. He would often mutilate and then consume the flesh of his victims, including the breasts, genitalia and internal sex organs, as well as other body parts. It is possible that he also achieved sexual gratification when cannibalizing. Chikatilo claimed that he was disgusted by the "loose morals" of many of his victims, who served as painful reminders of his own sexual incompetence. Moira Martingale writes in Cannibal Killers that many of the murders Chikatilo committed came after viewing sexually explicit or violent videos.
Ed Gein
Edward Gein, a farmer from Plainfield, Wisconsin was as believed to have killed at least three people including his brother, a bar keeper named Mary Hogan and the owner of the local hardware store, Bernice Worden. In 1957, police searched Gein's home and found the body of Worden along with the remains of over fifteen other women. A majority of the remains found at the crime scene were robbed from a nearby cemetery. Gein was believed to have had sexual contact with the corpses.
He was also an admitted transvestite, who found delight in dismembering the bodies and peeling away the skin of the corpses so that he could wear them around the house. Gein was known to have cannibalized some of the bodies, including Worden's whose heart was in a pan on the stove at the time police conducted their search of the house. Whether Gein sexualized the consumption of his victims was unclear. However, there was a strong relationship between his necrophilia and cannibalistic behavior.
Jeffrey Dahmer
Intriguingly, some people that claim to be cannibals have admitted to feeling a sense of euphoria and/or intense sexual stimulation when consuming human flesh. In an article written by Clara Bruce titled Chew On This: You're What's for Dinner, anthropophagists compared eating human flesh with having an orgasm. The experience was further believed to cause an out-of-body-experience causing effects comparable to taking mescaline.
According to Lesley Hensel, author of Cannibalism as a Sexual Disorder, eating human flesh can cause an increase in levels of vitamin A and amino acids, which can cause a chemical effect on the blood and in the brain. This chemical reaction could possibly lead to the altered states that some cannibals have claimed to have experienced. However, this theory has not been substantiated by scientific evidence.
In Fascination with Cannibalism has Sexual Roots, Josh Cannon writes about psychologist Steven Scher and his team who conducted one of the only known studies on sex and cannibalism at Eastern Illinois University in 2002. The study surveyed several groups of people who were asked questions pertaining to cannibalism and sexual interests. The results of the study found that people were more likely to eat someone that they were sexually attracted to than not. This suggests that there might be a significant sexual component in the practice of cannibalism.
Except from Herbert Ward's A Voice From the Congo as found in Gary Hogg's book, Cannibalism and Human Sacrifice:
'Do you people eat human bodies?' I said one day, upon entering a native village, and pointed to a quantity of meat, spitted upon long skewers, being smoke-dried over numerous smouldering fires. 'Io; yo te?' was the instant reply - 'Yes; don't you?' And a few minutes later the chieftain of the village came forward with an offering, which consisted of large and generous portions of flesh, only too obviously of human origin. He seemed genuinely disappointed when I refused.
Historically shrouded in mystery, myth, symbolism, fear and speculation, cannibalism remains in most cultures one of the ultimate taboos. According to William Arens' book The Man-Eating Myth: Anthropology & Anthropophagy, the first known account of cannibalism came following an expedition to the West Indies, led by Christopher Columbus. Columbus and his crew supposedly discovered that the Carib West Indies tribe participated in a particularly gruesome practice of ritualistically eating the flesh of other humans.
The Man-Eating Myth
The explorers mispronounced the name of the tribe and referred to them as "Canibs," which was overtime changed to "canibales," meaning thirsty and cruel in Spanish. The English translation of the Spanish word became cannibalism, which is the most widely used term to express human's consumption of other human beings. The Latin form of the word cannibalism is anthropophagy and is a term used mostly in anthropology and archeology.
The existence of cannibalism has been a widely disputed topic in academia. However, the evidence supporting its existence is abundant and is represented in every medium imaginable, including stories, symbols, legends, writings, archeological evidence and first hand accounts. Cannibalism is a practice that reaches across centuries and cultures. In many cultures, it is considered atrocious and sacrilegious, whereas in another culture it is a sacred and revered custom. Cannibalism is an undeniable occurrence rooted in antiquity and branching forth to the present-day.
Survival Cannibalism
Perhaps the only generally accepted form of cannibalism is when humans eat the flesh of other humans in an attempt to stay alive in adverse and desperate situations. Survival cannibalism is rare and explicable in many cases, yet is still an act that is often punishable by law. There have been several prominent cases of survival cannibalism over the last two hundred years, including that of the Donner Party expedition and the more recent cases that occurred in the Andes Mountains following a plane crash.
Donner Party monument
In 1846, a group of eighty-nine men, women and children led by a man named George Donner set out across the Sierra Nevada Mountains enroute to California. During the trek, the weather took and unexpected turn and they were forced to take an alternative route. The travelers began to run out of food and other resources. Many died from exposure and starvation.
Half of the travelers perished before the remaining people eventually succumbed to their situation and began to feed on the flesh of the dead in an attempt to survive. The forty-six survivors were eventually rescued, however upon reaching civilization they were regarded as monstrous criminals and tried for their actions. The travelers served around six months before they were re-released back into their communities.
In 1972, a group of rugby players, their friends and families left on an airplane for Chile from Urugua. The plane crashed into the snow-covered Andes Mountains killing thirteen of the forty-five passengers onboard the aircraft. Many of the passengers died over the weeks from crash-related injuries. Without any provisions, those left alive resorted to cannibalizing the dead. Those who refused to eat the human flesh died of starvation. After seventy days in the mountains, sixteen survivors were rescued and taken home.
Even in the most extreme cases, the act of cannibalism is treated with scorn and disgust by many cultures and is sometimes punishable by social ostracization, institutionalization in a mental facility, arrest, incarceration or even death. Cannibalism is most commonly believed to be the epitome of savage behavior. Although disease and religion have greatly diminished the practice, it continues to be practiced worldwide.
Criminal Cannibalism
In modern times, the murder of a person or the use of a corpse for the purpose of consumption by another human in any situation, outside that of conditions of starvation, is considered to be a form of criminal cannibalism or anthropophagy. However, the definition of and laws governing criminal cannibalism vary considerably from culture to culture.
In many parts of the world cannibalism is not considered a crime in and of itself and it is often only recognized in concurrence with another crime. For example, in Britain and the United States of America, cannibalism is not considered to be a felony, but is socially unacceptable. Those who have been found to participate in the gruesome act are usually charged with another crime that is directly related to the act of cannibalism, such as murder, grave robbery or necrophilia.
In other cultures, what some deem to be an act of criminal cannibalism may be an acceptable element of another culture. For example, Japanese enemies were allegedly consumed during the height of World War II by tribes in Papua New Guinea, which was acceptable in the culture during that period.
There are many who refuse to believe that cannibalism is practiced in this modern, "civilized" age. However, there is much evidence suggesting that it does occur and with some frequency. There have been many documented cases of cannibalism, especially within the last 100 years.
There are four primary forms of criminal cannibalism:
1. sexual cannibalism
2. aggression cannibalism
3. spiritual and ritual cannibalism
4. epicurean/nutritional cannibalism.
These various forms substantially overlap with one another. For example, one may consume human flesh for several purposes, such as to achieve a sense of power and control (aggression cannibalism), yet one may also find the taste to be agreeable (epicurean/nutritional cannibalism). Another may indulge in cannibalism in order to reach a higher spiritual affinity with the person they have devoured, simultaneously achieving intense sexual and gratification.
Sexual Cannibalism
Sexual cannibalism is considered to be a psychosexual disorder, which involves a person sexualizing the consumption of another person's flesh. This does not necessarily suggest that the cannibal achieves sexual gratification only in the act of consuming human flesh, but also may release sexual frustration or pent up anger. Sexual cannibalism is considered to be a form of sexual sadism and is often associated with the act of necrophilia (sex with corpses). There have been several high profile cases, which have involved sexual cannibalism, including that of Andrei Chikatilo, Edward Gein, Albert Fish, Armin M and Jeffrey Dahmer.
Albert Fish under arrest
During the 1920's Americans were confronted with the horrors of Albert Fish who was said to have raped, murdered and eaten a number of children. Fish was a sexual cannibal in the truest sense of the term and claimed to have experienced enormous sexual pleasure when he imagined eating a person or when he actually indulged his fantasies.
Andrei Chikatilo
Andrei Chikatilo, a Russian serial killer, was responsible for the murders of scores of young boys and girls. During most of his life, Chikalito suffered from impotency and was only able to achieve sexual gratification from the torture and murder of other people. He would often mutilate and then consume the flesh of his victims, including the breasts, genitalia and internal sex organs, as well as other body parts. It is possible that he also achieved sexual gratification when cannibalizing. Chikatilo claimed that he was disgusted by the "loose morals" of many of his victims, who served as painful reminders of his own sexual incompetence. Moira Martingale writes in Cannibal Killers that many of the murders Chikatilo committed came after viewing sexually explicit or violent videos.
Ed Gein
Edward Gein, a farmer from Plainfield, Wisconsin was as believed to have killed at least three people including his brother, a bar keeper named Mary Hogan and the owner of the local hardware store, Bernice Worden. In 1957, police searched Gein's home and found the body of Worden along with the remains of over fifteen other women. A majority of the remains found at the crime scene were robbed from a nearby cemetery. Gein was believed to have had sexual contact with the corpses.
He was also an admitted transvestite, who found delight in dismembering the bodies and peeling away the skin of the corpses so that he could wear them around the house. Gein was known to have cannibalized some of the bodies, including Worden's whose heart was in a pan on the stove at the time police conducted their search of the house. Whether Gein sexualized the consumption of his victims was unclear. However, there was a strong relationship between his necrophilia and cannibalistic behavior.
Jeffrey Dahmer
Intriguingly, some people that claim to be cannibals have admitted to feeling a sense of euphoria and/or intense sexual stimulation when consuming human flesh. In an article written by Clara Bruce titled Chew On This: You're What's for Dinner, anthropophagists compared eating human flesh with having an orgasm. The experience was further believed to cause an out-of-body-experience causing effects comparable to taking mescaline.
According to Lesley Hensel, author of Cannibalism as a Sexual Disorder, eating human flesh can cause an increase in levels of vitamin A and amino acids, which can cause a chemical effect on the blood and in the brain. This chemical reaction could possibly lead to the altered states that some cannibals have claimed to have experienced. However, this theory has not been substantiated by scientific evidence.
In Fascination with Cannibalism has Sexual Roots, Josh Cannon writes about psychologist Steven Scher and his team who conducted one of the only known studies on sex and cannibalism at Eastern Illinois University in 2002. The study surveyed several groups of people who were asked questions pertaining to cannibalism and sexual interests. The results of the study found that people were more likely to eat someone that they were sexually attracted to than not. This suggests that there might be a significant sexual component in the practice of cannibalism.