Authors: Daniel Diehl
If the current spate of cannibalism in Russia results from the stress of economic and social collapse, does similar social stress produce the same phenomenon elsewhere, or are the Russian people particularly susceptible to eating each other? Certainly, Germany has undergone tremendous economic and social upheaval since the incorporation of East and West Germany into a single, political unit in the early 1990s. Has this experience caused a similar rise in cannibalism? According to German criminologist Rudolf Egg, who testified at the Armin Meiwes trial, ‘There are several hundred people with cannibalistic tendencies in Germany alone, and many thousands around the world.’ Obviously, this is only one man’s opinion – but should it frighten us?
Before attempting to make sense of the apparently increasing rate of cannibalism in the world, the authors feel it necessary to point out that we are neither criminal psychologists nor psychiatrists; for those opinions we have drawn on the work of experts. We are, however, historians who are experienced in recognising general trends in society over a long period of time, and it is from this standpoint that we draw the conclusions below.
It should be evident from the case histories presented in the chapters of this book dealing with individual cannibals that
certain, similar factors might have influenced the behaviour of some of our subjects. Certainly, the vast majority of those who lived recently enough to have undergone psychological examination would appear to have suffered from severe psychoses. It is equally evident that the majority of them had difficult relationships with their parents, particularly in the lack of a mother with whom they could bond properly. Even in the case of Issei Sagawa, who seemed to have a stable home life, many of his earliest years were spent in hospital, thus depriving him of the early bonding experience necessary to establish the ability to socialise properly.
It is frightening to note that even while this book was being written there were no fewer than two cases of cannibalism reported in England alone. On Wednesday, 16 March 2005 the
Sun
newspaper reported on the case of Peter Bryan, thirty-five, a violent substance abuser, convicted murderer and diagnosed schizophrenic who had recently been given leave to come and go as he pleased from the mental health ward at London’s Newham General Hospital. In February, Bryan pleased to go. Hours later he murdered 43-year-old Brian Cherry with a hammer and screwdriver, chopped up his victim’s body and cooked and ate his brain. When police arrived at Bryan’s flat, he was still covered in Cherry’s blood, calmly cooking up a second helping of his victim’s brain. His only comment to police was, ‘I ate his brain with butter. It was really nice. I would have done someone else if you hadn’t come along. I wanted their souls.’ Even when placed in custody, Bryan killed another inmate stating that he had wanted to eat him raw. Bryan’s statements would later make it clear that there was a distinctly sexual element to the murders.
Only thirty-three days after the Bryant case hit the papers, on 19 April, the
Daily Mirror
’s cover story related the case of serial killer Mark Hobson, also thirty-five. Hobson, a drug-using alcoholic, who reportedly averaged 36 pints of lager a
day, murdered his girlfriend, Claire Sanderson, with seventeen hammer blows to the head before luring her twin sister to a similar fate. The twin, Diane, was violently sexually assaulted as Hobson tore, and ate, numerous pieces of her flesh, mostly from her breasts. Before his capture, Hobson also murdered a couple in their eighties. Both of these cases make it clear that the perpetrators, while committing acts of cannibalism, were primarily violent psychotics with severe alcohol and drug problems. Whether or not they ever ate another human being, they are obviously dangerous individuals.
If, indeed, there is a rising tide of cannibalism – along with other severe forms of anti-social behaviour – at work in our world, is it possible that the increasing crush of overpopulation is playing a part in the phenomenon of social degeneration? Certainly laboratory experiments with mice have shown that when a rodent population, kept in a confined space, reaches critical mass, the creatures turn on each other exhibiting behavioural patterns not only of violence, but also of cannibalism. In addition to, and in conjunction with, the sheer crush of humanity is the breakdown of community, religious and family structures that traditionally helped keep anti-social behaviour in check. The censure of family, friends, neighbours and clergy has nearly disappeared in a society where job-related moves, excessive political correctness and mass migration of the economically deprived have permanently altered the make-up of cities and towns everywhere.
Whatever the cause of the increased awareness of cannibalism, it is inescapable that the nature of cannibalism itself is also changing. Thanks to the internet people like Armin Meiwes can locate their victims without exposing themselves to the danger of being caught while abducting an innocent passer-by. Using pseudonyms and phoney identities prospective internet cannibals can converse freely with like-minded people all over the world at the touch of a button. Where once such topics as
eating human flesh would have made a social pariah of anyone who even suggested such a thing, the internet allows those with cannibalistic tendencies to create their own little world far from the censorious eyes of society, and nearly beyond the reach of the law.
Criminologist Rudolf Egg believes there are thousands of cannibals and cannibal wannabes out there looking for a way to put their desires, urges and fantasies into practice. ‘Cannibalism’, says Egg, ‘has always been around, but the internet reinforces the phenomenon. You can be in contact with the whole world and do it anonymously.’
In addition to this new means for the deranged, including cannibals, to find one another, and their willing victims, while hiding from society in general, there seems to be a change in both the physical and mental make-up of cannibals. The only known historical female cannibal (with the exception of the semi-legendary female members of the Sawney Beane clan) is Margery Lovett, whose story appears in chapter six of this book. Recently, however, some women have adopted the ways of the flesh eater. In addition to the four Russian women mentioned in the brief accounts given above, there is the case of Anna Zimmerman, a 26-year-old German mother of two. In 1981 Anna killed and butchered her boyfriend, froze the human cutlets and slowly shared them with her children. One is forced to wonder whether these instances are simply aberrations in an aberrant trend, or if women are staking a claim to equality among cannibals?
The case of Marc Sappington also presents new and disturbing trends in the make-up of the cannibal. Sappington’s psychological profile seems to bear no resemblance to any known guideline which psychiatrists, criminal psychologists and police profilers traditionally relied on to build up a psychological picture of suspected cannibals. Again we are forced to ask, is this a trend or simply a one-off aberration?
It would be comforting to be able to present a tidy summation at this point, but the fact is, there is nothing tidy about cannibalism. What we can conclude is that in a world where every nasty act, every abominable crime, is pounced on by a gloating news media and trumpeted instantly around the world, things which were once swept conveniently under the carpet as socially unacceptable have become the daily diet of every scaremonger, opportunistic politician and paparazzo on the planet. But as to whether or not there really are more cannibals among us than there used to be, we are forced to conclude that the answer is ‘yes’.
What leads us to this conclusion? Simple. There are more people on the planet than there used to be. In 1900 the population of the USA was 75 million; it now stands at 270 million. In 1950 the global population was about 4 billion people, now it is over 6 billion. If, as it appears, there really are more people eating their neighbours, it is probably only true because there are more people and we are more aware of world events than ever before. Still, the incidence of dangerous psychotics and dangerous criminals in society is worthy of our concern. If there is a lesson to be learned from all this, we have not been able to determine what it might be. What we do know is that, like so many sad trends that have carried over into the twenty-first century, man’s inhumanity to man in general, and cannibalism specifically, are both very real and very frightening.
Notes on Sources
A debt of gratitude to all the authors who have recorded the legendary cannibals of the past, present and future, including Herodotus, Homer, Jonathan Swift, Daniel Defoe, E.A. Poe and the greatest chronicler of classical mythology, Thomas Bulfinch. Thanks too to the entire Monty Python troupe.
We are endlessly grateful for the scholarly work and published articles concerning the Anasazi and other early cultures carried out by Christy Turner, Paola Villa, Douglas Preston, Brian Billman and others.
A debt of gratitude beyond measure is due to the intrepid explorers and missionaries whose bravery and concise records and diaries made this chapter possible. They include – but are not limited to: H.W. Walker, Jens Bjerre, Alfred St Johnston, A.H. Keane, Russell Wallace, H.W. Bates, Algot Lange and Prof. A.P. Elkin.
A special thanks to Dr Maynard Felix and Alexandre Dumas for their accounts of disasters at sea, and to Mick Angelo for his concise chronicles of Japanese atrocities during World War II.
We acknowledge Sabine Baring-Gould and Ronald Holmes, for information provided in their books
The Book of Werewolves
and
Legend of Sawney Bean
(respectively) for background information on the Beane legend. Also to R.H.J. Urquhart at
http://ayrshirehistory.org
for dispelling the myth.
We are indebted to author Peter Haining for
Sweeney Todd: The Real Story
, the most in-depth study of Todd yet undertaken.
For his compelling work on Alfred Packer, to R.W. Fenwick, author of
Alfred Packer: The True Story of the Man-Eater
, we acknowledge a debt of gratitude. Our thanks also to the governments of the State of Colorado and the town of Littleton, Colorado for providing access to historical documents and photos of Alf Packer. We also appreciate the insights of Jeff Hoskin at
www.concours.org
.
For information on Karl Denke, we acknowledge Daniel Korn, Mark Radice and Charlie Hawes found in their book
Cannibal: The History of the People Eaters
. For information on Georg Grossman, we also acknowledge Brian Mariner and his work
Cannibalism: The Last Taboo
. Our thanks also to Alan Denke for his translation of articles from the
Warsaw Gazette
.
We are indebted to Harold Schechter for his thorough and insightful book
Deranged
, and also to Marilyn Bardsley for her in-depth articles on Albert Fish at
www.crimelibrary
.
For the general story of Ottis Toole and Henry Lucas we drew heavily on the work of Dr Joel Norris, entitled simply
Henry Lee Lucas
. Additional material was provided by Patrick Bellamy in his articles at
www.crimelibrary
. Additional information on Ottis Toole came from information found at
www.mayhem.net
.
Our primary source for information on Ed Gein was
The Shocking Story of Ed Gein, The Original Psycho
, by Harlod Schechter. A special thanks to bbqshackowner, the webmaster of
www.geocities
for his archive of now rare ‘Geiner’ jokes.
We acknowledge our primary sources of information on André Chikatilo as Richard Lourie’s
Hunting the Devil
and Brian Marriner’s
Cannibalism: The Last Taboo
. Additional important information was provided by
www.crimelibrary
.
The main facts on Jeffrey Dahmer were gleaned from Edward Baumann’s book,
Step into My Parlor
. Quotations and insights from Dahmer’s father, Lionel Dahmer, came from Mr Dahmer’s book
A Father’s Story
. Police record details came from the database at
www.nndb.com
and extracts from Jeffrey Dahmer’s confession came from
www.tornadohills.com
.
We gratefully acknowledge Daniel Korn, Mark Radice and Charlie Hawes’ book
Cannibal: The History of the People Eaters
and
www.crimelibrary
as providing essential information on Iessei Sagawa. English translations of excerpts from Sagawa’s book,
In the Fog
, came from
www.answers.com
(a part of Wikipedia) and Nicolas Claux’s website nicoclaux.free.fr.
Our thanks to Adrian Havill for his book on Hadden Clark,
Born Evil
, and to Paul Duggan and Veronica Jennings for their series of articles on Clark written for the
Washington Post
and archived on the
Post
’s website.
Gratitude is owed to author Jack Apsche for his biography of Gary Heidnik,
Probing the Mind of a Serial Killer
, to the
Pittsburgh Post Gazette
’s online morgue and their coverage of the Heidnik story, and to
www.crimelibrary
for additional information.
Thanks to David Lohr and his series of articles on Nico Claux at
www.crimelibrary
, and to
www.mansonfamily
picnic for Claux’s recipies and to
www.francesfarmersrevenge
for the interview with Claux. Thanks, too, to Mr Claux for his cooperation.