CANNIBALISM: A BRIEF HISTORY OF PEOPLE EATING PEOPLE

Article BY Courtney Wood

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Cannibalism is one of the most misunderstood practices amongst society today. It is a subject that invokes a lot of strong emotional responses; mainly horror, confusion and extreme repulsion. In today’s progressive western society when one thinks of cannibals they tend to think of people like Jeffery Dahmer who have mental health issues that caused them to consume human flesh or they think of “savages” on some island with no moral conscience that brutally eat their victims for sport. Most people normally do not think of why they would do this, its various history or other practices of it. Cannibalism itself has been practiced for several different reasons throughout history, dating all the way back to the first century. These practices have varied from medical to mental health purposes. However, to fully understand this uniquely complex subject one first needs to have an understanding of the various forms of its practice.

*A piece of interesting trivia, the word cannibal is said to be a legacy of Columbus’ second voyage to the Caribbean in 1943. Referring originally to the Caribs in the Antilles who were identified as eaters of human flesh, the term has been subsequently extended to a descriptive term for flesh eaters in all other populations.

 

Cannibalism’s Medical History in Europe and Other Countries

Cannibalism has a wide medical history in Europe throughout the course of history. For instance during the first century, the ingestion of human tissue was used as a medicine or tonic and the drinking of blood was said to be a cure for epilepsy. Later on from the sixteenth century to the eighteenth century, the medical ingestion of various human body parts that included flesh, blood, heart, skull, bone marrow and other body parts was widely used to cure a wide range of various diseases. In more recent history, in England specifically, from the late 1960’s to early 1980’s, human growth hormones that were made from the pituitary glands of cadavers were used to help clinically stunted children. The use of these hormones came under scrutiny during the epidemic of mad cow disease.

 

Survival Cannibalism

Survival cannibalism is when the consumption of others occurs only when a person’s life is in danger. This happens under conditions such as starvation, ship wrecks, military sieges and famine where there are no other options for survival. An example of this is the tragic story of the Donner Party. The Donner Party were a group of travelers on their way to California in 1876 during the famous gold rush. They became stranded in the frozen wilderness of Sierra Nevada and were forced to eat one another to survive. Author Lewis Petrinovich writes about survival cannibalism and human’s primal will to survive in his book The Cannibal within, saying that “the evolutionary underpinnings of cannibalism as a survival strategy has been practiced since pre historic times.” History is full of tragic stories like the Donner party’s where cannibalism was the only means for survival. Other countries such as France during the 1570’s, China between 1958 and 1962 and Cambodia in the late 1970’s have had a history of cannibalism.

 

Auto Cannibalism

Auto-cannibalism is when a person eats parts of themselves. These parts include but are not limited to their hair and nail clippings. This term also refers to those who under torture are forced to eat their own flesh. The concept of auto-cannibalism has since evolved into Placentophagy, which is when a person consumes the ashes of a loved one. Most notable of this type is legendary Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, who admitted to snorting the ashes of his cremated father (along with cocaine) during an interview in 2007.
Innocent Cannibalism

Innocent cannibalism is when a person does not know that they have eaten human flesh. This concept was used as the basis of the major Hollywood movie Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street starring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. Sweeny Todd is the factious story of a barber who takes revenge on the town that he was unjustly removed from. He exacts this revenge with a willing accomplice and the owner of the towns meat pie shop by taking the lives of the innocent and serving them to the patrons of said meat pie shop. Although fictional and not based on any actual historical events, the story of Sweeney Todd does illustrate how the subject of cannibalism has affected the world all the way up to popular culture.

 

Mortuary Cannibalism and the Wari Tribe of Brazil

Mortuary cannibalism is where large amounts of a corpse are eaten in some kind of funeral type service. The corpse is usually eaten by the deceased person’s closest family members. This form is practiced by a Brazilian tribe called the Wari’, who up until 1960 disposed of their dead by eating nearly all of body parts of a corpse as opposed to burying them. Although those who traditionally practice mortuary cannibalism tend to only eat a small amount of the deceased, the Wari consumed most of the body as a way to show respect and symphony for the deceased. They believed that cannibalism was the most respectful way to treat a human body and a way to incorporate the vital life energy of the deceased into a living person as opposed to abandoning it to the earth. All of these beliefs caused cannibalism to become the cultural response to a family members or fellow group member’s death.

The Wari are a truly unique people in the fact that they employ mortuary cannibalism for one primary reason which directly goes against the beliefs of all the others who engage in the same behavior. Mortuary cannibalism is a small sub category of endocannibalism, which is defined as “the volitional eating of someone from within a group”. This usually occurs for the purpose of acquiring body substances, vital energies, or personal attributes contained in the dead person’s corpse and to transfer them to whoever eats it. Cannibalism is essentially believed to recycle and regenerate social forces that are thought to be physically constituted in bodily substances or bones. However, the Wari did not engage in this practice for that purpose, they viewed it as a service that they as living family members provide for their deceased family members. Informants for the tribe have said that the ritual is for the comfort of the dying person before they die, not for the benefit of the living person who is eating their body. They believe this because they do not believe that they receive any energies or anything of that nature as a result of consuming a person’s body parts.

 

Exocannibalism Cannibalism, the Tuinamba and the Jesuits

The Tuinamba were a Brazilian tribe who practiced exocannibalism, which is when all or parts of a body belonging to members of an outside group are eaten as an act of aggression. The Tuinamba practiced this form on their enemies, which were typically people who they killed in battle or those that they kept as prisoners. The Tuinamba beliefs were the opposite of the Wari, because they ate people out of violence whereas the Wari did out of respect and love. All that is known about these people and their practice of cannibalism are from the Jesuits’ recollection of their trips there. The Jesuits described the Tuinamba as a savage and violent people who ate their enemies for pleasure, fellow Jesuit missionary Jose De Anchieta wrote about his first experience:
“… (Brazil) is peopled by Indians who without exception eat human flesh, in this [act] they demonstrate such pleasure and delight, so that they commonly travel more than 300 miles to [make] war. If they capture four or five of their enemies, they [immediately] return [to their village] to eat them at a great feast [accompanied by] singing and copious libation of wines, which they made from roots, such that not even the [prisoners’] nails are lost. They are proud all their lives because of this singular victory.”
When one compares these two tribes, the vast differences in beliefs is apparent; as well is the complexity of cannibalism itself.

 

Cannibalism and Mental Health

Psychopathology is the medical term for cannibalism as a result of a mental disorder; and that is when cannibalism occurs as a result of a severe personality disorder or psychosis. This is also the most popular in the modern western world. This type most commonly pertains to serial killers whose “goal” is not to kill their enemy but to eat them. Examples of this are people like Jeffery Dahmer, Rudy Eugene and Germany’s Armin Meiwes. Most people know the story of Jeffery Dahmer, but not the motives behind his unspeakable actions. Jeffery Dahmer grew up in a home that became divided once his parents divorced. Unfortunately for young Jeffery his parents focused almost entirely on their other son, his parents would have severe custody battles over Jeffery’s brother with little to no mention over their other elder son. These battles would leave him with a lifelong feeling of abandonment. As a teenager he started drinking heavily to the point where he would come to school drunk. Jeffery’s alcoholism would later cause him to be discharged from the military. After coming home from the military and while being on his own as an adult for the first time, Jeffery began visiting local gay bars to search for unsuspecting victims. He would seduce them, drug them, take them home and perform many experiments on his victims. Most notably of his experiments was Dahmer’s desire to turn people into zombies. When the zombie experiments ultimately failed he resorted to eating their flesh. All of these extreme measures were Jeffery’s way of no longer being alone. Dahmer struggled from many demons in his life; accepting his sexuality, alcoholism and the continuous feeling of abandonment. Sadly many innocent people would lose their lives in the war against these demons. During his life, Jeffery Dahmer ate the flesh from 17 young men. He killed from 1978 to 1991 in Milwaukee Wisconsin. He was sentenced to 15 life sentences which totaled 957 years in prison. He died in jail by the hand of fellow inmate Christopher Scarver in 1994. The Dahmer case has gone on to be one of the most infamous serial murder cases in American history. Dahmer engaged in what is known as romantic cannibalism, because he would love his victim to the point where he never wanted that person to leave. By eating them, they would be a part of him forever, and he would not be alone. Rudy Eugene violently attacked Ronald Poppo by biting his face. This incident accrued in Miami Florida on May 26, 2012, and ended when the police fatally shot him. Ronal Poppo was left blinded in both eyes after he was attacked. Eugene has since been dubbed the “Miami Cannibal” in popular media and culture. Armin Meiwes killed and then ate the body of Bernd Jürgen Brandes in March 2001. He was arrested in December 2002 and was sentenced to life imprisonment in January 2004. The story has gone on to impact the world in many unique and unexpected ways, mainly because unlike most stories where the victim is innocent and unaware of what will happen to their body, the man Meiwes ate wanted to be eaten. With this case we get a rare glimpse into the other side of cannibalism, we can learn about people who hate themselves to the point where they want no piece of themselves to exist in the world. We got this unique story from two completely different yet shockingly similar perspectives. Armin has used the story to raise awareness of other real life cannibals to encourage anyone who has these “urges” to seek help, and the German heavy metal band Rammstein wrote a song about the case entitled “Mein Teil” which translates to My Part/ My Penis.

 

Cannibalism in Movies

As with many controversial topics that make people uncomfortable, cannibalism is often used in movies to invoke strong emotional responses. Most commonly cannibalism is used in horror movies as a way of playing on humans fears while making them as uneasy as possible. This occurs most often in zombie movies, where humans return from the grave to feast on the flesh of the living. George Romero changed cinema, challenged societal views, created a subgenera of horror, and scared a nation with his groundbreaking masterpiece Night of the Living Dead. On the surface it may seem like just another unrealistic scary movie with no real value other than catering to sick people’s love of cheap gore, but if one digs a little deeper they can see that cannibalism was used as a way to address social issues of the 1960’s. Night of the Living Dead was released in 1968, which was right in the middle of the Civil Rights movement and the Vietnam War. Many view the movie as a commentary on Americans fear of change and the racial problems that occurred during that time. Night of the Living Dead has had several sequels and has become the measuring stick all other zombie movies are compared to. Another popular horror movie that involves cannibalism is one of the most critically acclaimed horror movies of all time; the exceptionally brilliant Silence of the Lambs (1991). Unlike any other portrayal of cannibals, Silence of the Lambs is centered around the polarizing genius of Dr. Hannibal Lector. Dr. Lector is an incarcerated serial killer psychologist who helps a F.B.I trainee catch a serial killer before he kills again. This movie is uncomfortable to watch for a couple of reasons aside from the obvious of it being extremely graphic and gory; Dr. Lector is almost two different people. On the one side he is a bright, insightful, cultured doctor who helps solves crimes with his unique insight of the human mind, and the on the other side there is why he has this insight, it is because he is a brutal, savage, unmerciful serial killer who enjoys biting the flesh right off the bones of his victims. Silence of the Lambs was the first horror movie (or at least the first film many consider to be a horror movie) to win best picture at the academy awards (not to mention the four other awards it won that night); an achievement no other horror movie has accomplished since. The success of Silence has spawned three sequels as well as a T.V. show. Finally there is Tobe Hooper’s classic Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974); a movie whose antagonist was so petrifying it was tagged who will survive and what will be left of them? Texas Chainsaw Massacre is the unfortunate story of what happened to a van full of young people who become stranded outside of a house full of cannibalistic killers. The young people are picked off one by one by a family who kills, eats and wears the skin of any outsider who was unlucky enough to be stuck there. What makes this story more horrifying is that aspects of it were based on a real life killer; Ed Gein. Just like the serial killer Buffalo Bill who Dr. Lector helps apprehend in Silence Of The Lambs, Gein was the inspiration the appropriately named Leatherface in Texas Chainsaw (Leatherface gets his name as he wears a mask made of other people skin). Gein would kill and skin his victims to make clothing and various household items out of their body; he made suits and lampshades out of their skin, bowls out of their skulls, belts made from their nipples and even a set of blinds decorated with human lips. This horrific ritual can be seen throughout the household of Leatherface’s family home, who even have a couch made of bones. Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one of the most popular horror movie franchises in history and the character of Leatherface has become a true icon of horror,

Whether it is part of a burial ceremony, an aspect of warfare, someone’s only chance of survival or the result of a mental defect; cannibalism is a topic that will forever confuse, repulse and fascinate people. Most of this fascination comes from the fact that this is an act most people could not even fathom doing in any situation for any reason; but as this article hopefully demonstrated there are several situations and reasons that people engage in this virtually unthinkable practice.