What happens when a German computer repairman with a dark fantasy for cannibalism meets Internet fetish forums? A grizzly disaster waiting to happen....
The year was 2001, when Armin Meiwes decided to go online to a cannibal fetish room (yes, there are people with cannibal fetishes) to put up an ad for a well-built man 18-30 who might allow Armin to cannibalize him.
Amazingly, an engineer named Bernd Brandes answered the ad and actually showed up. He allowed Meiwes to perform an amputation of a most private appendage so they could attempt to eat his flesh, but that was unsuccessful. Then, Meiwes proceed to kill Brandes.
Next, Meiwes hung the body from a meat hook in a "slaughter room" and proceeded to tear off chunks of flesh and grind the bones into flour. He stored pieces of the man's body in containers in the freezer and ate him over the next 10 months' time.
In 2002, Meiwes was arrested after he had put up ads looking for another victim. Authorities found the body parts and the the videotapes he had created during the acts.
In 2004, amazingly, Meiwes was convicted of manslaughter with eight years in prison! (yeah, amazing, huh?)
In 2006, thankfully they retried him, giving him a conviction of murder and life imprisonment.
There have been plenty of killers who cannibalized and this dark turn in human tendencies isn't unheard of, as there are plenty of Native People around the world who have practiced this for religious purposes or totemism (one form is the eating of the flesh to take on the characteristic symbolism of the victim). Other native people wear the skins of an animal to take on the characteristics. And, upon occasion in desperate situations, cannibalism was necessary. But cannibalism as part of a twisted perversion is perhaps one of the most disgusting aspects of the human psyche. An obvious break from reality and the sacred rules of being human are broken when one crosses this line.
Are there still those out and about stalking humans for the purpose of appeasing their dark lusts? Yes, there are. Ed Gein became famous for killing his victims to use their bones and skins as trophies of a sort. And, Jeffrey Dahmer was well known as a serial killer with a taste for human flesh. The mind can take a million routes to insanity but this one is one of the most repulsive known to man.
Movies dealing with these dark places -
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Silence of the Lambs
Wrong Turn
Ravenous
Hannibal
Parents
Alive
Soylent Green
Manhunter
Night of the Living Dead
**Tomorrow's post "America's Creepiest Museums"**
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