External Exam - Thanksgiving Special: Cannibalism

for humans eating other humans. Cannibalism always makes me think about the first time I saw an autopsy. I always joke that this job doesn't gross me out, and that I could eat a hamburger over a dead body. But the first time I saw an autopsy, I felt a little bit differently. I mean, after all, when you cut open a human, it's the same as cutting open an animal. And when I saw the human ribs I was not able to eat Chinese spare ribs for a really long time.

So cannibalism has been documented throughout history and many different cultures all over the world. Most of the time cannibalism is frowned upon, but in some societies, it's totally normal. There's a book by the American Museum of Natural History titled Cannibalism, A Perfectly Natural History, and it discusses how during the Chinese Yan Dynasty, royalty and upper class citizens dined on various different types of prepared humans that were baked, roasted, broiled,

smoke dried, and sun dried. Children were considered the tastiest, followed by women and last men. And I would venture to say this is because of fact content. This remained widespread in China until the late nineteen sixties. These humans did not eat each other out of necessity. They did it because they thought people tasted good. And then there is Rick Gibson. Rick Gibson's a Canadian sculptor and a performance artist. In nineteen eighty eight, Rick was given preserved

human tonsils in alcohol by a friend. He was hoping to make a pair of ear rings out of these tonsils, but instead he decided to eat them. On July nineteenth, nineteen eighty eight, he stood on a corner in London, put the tonsils on a cracker with some spread and a garnish, and ate them in public. About a year later, on April fifteenth, nineteen eighty nine, he publicly ate a slice of human testicle in London. A few months later, he tried to do it again in Vancouver, but the

testicle urduv was confiscated by Vancouver police. He later tried again and successfully ate another slice of human testicle. I really cannot tell you why Rick Gibson ate human meat other than he was a starving artist get it. In fact, there are many reasons why a person decides to eat human flesh. Let's talk about the different types of cannibalism. Cannibalism can be broken down into three main categories. Cultural.

Throughout history, some cultures would eat the remains of people in their tribe as part of the grieving process or because of cultural superstitions endo cannibalism. The Kawai tribe, the Korwai tribe from New Guinea, Indonesia, is thought to be one of the last tribes who still practice cannibalism. The Kori live deep in the rainforest and many of them have never seen an outsider. Many members of the tribe are completely unaware of our modern world and have no

knowledge of diseased germs or accidental deaths. Few outsiders have been able to observe the Krawai tribe and their cannibal practices. The Korai believe that mysterious deaths that happen in their village are a result of the Quaqua, a witch that takes over the form of man. The tribe believes that this witch wants to kill people and comes disguise dressed as a friend or relative. They think that this witch invades their loved ones and then eats their insides while

they sleep and replaces their insides with fireplaced ash. Should they do not know they are being eaten, then the witch shoots a magical arrow into the heart and kills them. When a member of this tribe dies or is about to die, it is the duty of the Korai tribe to seize and kill the Kaqua witch. Once they kill one of their own tribe members who they believe had been taken over by the Quaqua, they treat the body

like they would treat the flesh of a pig. They cut off the legs separately and wrap them in banana leaves. They cut off the head and it is given to the person who found the Kaqua. Then they cut off the right arm and the right ribs as one piece and the left as another. They eat everything except the hair nails, and you guessed it, the penis. Children under thirteen are not allowed to eat it because they believe eating the kequa is dangerous and the evil spirits all

around make children too vulnerable. If you ask the member of the Korwai tribe why they eat humans, they would argue and tell you that they do not eat humans. They only eat kekua. Okay, now we're going to talk about the Four Tribe. In some cultures, consuming the meat of a dead person is done with the intent of taking on some of the traits of the dead person.

The Four Tribe, also from New Guinea, would cook and eat family members after they died, which was thought to invoke the spirit of the dead, and in some sense they were doing just that. Women and children were primarily consuming the brains of the dead family members. And you should never eat brains. Why because of prion disease. Prions are not the classic organism we think about when we

think about transmissible diseases like viruses and bacteria. Prions are abnormal proteins that can cause transmissible spongeiform and cephalopathy, which is similar to mad cow disease, but in people. Prion disease has a long incubation period. It can be years or decades before a person starts to show symptoms after exposure. Even though this tribe stopped eating their dead family members in the nineteen sixties, tribe members started popping up with

an unusual disease called kuru years later. Kuru is a prion disease and was mostly found in women and children of the tribe because they were mostly eating the brains during the rituals. Now, we're going to move on to exo cannibalism. This is the consumption of a person outside of a community, usually a celebration of victory against a rival tribe. Necro cannibalism. This type of cannibal eats an

already dead person to survive. Now we're going to talk about one of the most famous cases of this, which is Uruguayan Air Force Flight five seventy one. Would you eat another person to save your life? In nineteen seventy two, a college rugby team from Uruguay chartered a Uruguayan Air Force plane to take the team from Montevido, Uruguay, to Santiago, Chile. The flight initially left Uruguay with forty passengers and five

crew members. Due to the poor weather conditions in the Andes Mountains, the flight had to land and stay overnight in Mendozo, Argentina. They were cleared to leave the next afternoon. The flight departed at two eighteen PM and just after three PM air controllers then cleared the plane for descent, but shortly after lost communication with the plane. The pilot had misjudged the location of the plane, which was still

in the Andes and crashed around three thirty PM. As the plane tumbled down the mountain, it lost both its wings, the talcone, and part of the fuselage, which is the central part of the plane where the passenger and cruise its. The remainder of the plane eventually slid down into a snow bank in a remote valley of Argentina near the border of Chile. Twelve people died during the initial crash, with thirty three left to survive the harsh conditions of

the mountains. Shortly after the crash, a search rescue was underway with no luck, as clearly the pilot misjudged their initial location. Rescue teams quickly looked to the Andes However, the snow covered mountains made it incredibly difficult to spot the remains of a white aircraft. After eight days, the search was called off with the assumption that there were

no survivors. Over two months after Flight five seventy one crashed, the remaining survivors were finally rescued on December twenty second, nineteen seventy two. Out of the thirty three people who survived the initial crash, only sixteen survived. So how did they survive? Survivors of the initial crash got to thinking quickly and used parts from the plane such as seat luggage, DeBras, etc. To create sufficient shelter. They relied on additional clothing found

in luggage to keep as warm as possible. While most of the plane's fuselage was intact, it did not provide much relief from the harsh weather conditions and eventually killed an additional eight passengers sleeping inside when an avalanche hit. For about a week, the remaining survivors were able to eat any leftover food on the aircraft. This mostly involved candy and wine, but quickly they ran out from here. They were desperate and resorted to eating cotton and leather

from the plane seats. It was clear after a week that rescue efforts were not sufficient, and the remaining survivors were willing to do anything to live. Robert Cassenna, a survivor who was nineteen at the time of the crash, stated in his memoir, we knew the answer, but it was too terrible to contemplate. The bodies of our friends and teammates, preserved outside in the snow and ice contained vital, life giving protein that could help us survive, but could

we do it. Initially, the survivors had deep moral concerns about eating the deceased, as they were all devoted Catholics. Later, in the media, one survivor claimed that they were influenced by the Last Supper, in which Jesus gave his disciples bread and wine that he stated were his body and his blood. This perspective helped with the media backlash after survivors revealed that they resorted to cannibalism on day nine.

The difficult decision was made and a pact was formed that if any of them died, they could eat the deceased for sustenance. Robert used broken glass from a window to cut off frozen flesh from the deceased. They decided to consume the pilot and co pilot first, as they were strangers. Two months after the crash, Robert and another survivor decided to take their own journey in search of health. After days of hiking with no map or supplies, they got the attention of some men across a river. The

men alerted authorities and the remaining survivors were rescued. Now we're going to get into this historical case of cannibalism, the Donner Party. In another case of survival cannibalism, a group of American pioneers headed west on the Oregon Trail in hopes of a better life, but unfortunately were left trapped in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Journeys on the Oregon Trail typically lasted four to six months and came with great risk. About ten percent of voyagers did not make

the journey west. The Donner Party, originating in Illinois, departed Missouri on the Oregon Trail in the spring of eighteen forty six. The group of eighty seven decided to go on a relatively new path, Hastings cut Off, which was an alternative route for those seeking settlement in California. Many peers advised the group against taking the alternative route, stating that the terrain was not suitable for wagon travel. This new route extended the time of the journey and created

many issues down the line. The rugged terrain along this trail caused the loss of wagons and horses, further slowing down the journey. By November, the group reached the Sierra Nevada Mountains. As a result of poor planning, they became trapped by heavy snowfall with little supplies. About a month after becoming trapped, fifteen of the settlers ventured out in search of help. Several days of wandering the snowy terrain left them weak and starving. They even contemplated human sacrifice

or a duel between the two men. Fortunately for them, some of the group members died from natural causes and left them with enough food to regain strength. Seven of the fifteen members who ventured from the remaining stranding group made it to California and formed a rescue plan for the others. Of the eighty seven original group members that left in the spring of eighteen forty three, forty eight survived.

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so many reasons why you want to support them again. Arteryinc. Dot Com fifteen percent off of your order Love Your Insides twenty three. Okay, let's get into homicidal cannibalism. This type of cannibal kills a person and then eats their dead body. This brings us to the whole point of this post. Most people eat turkey and stuffing on Thanksgiving,

but this woman ate her husband for Thanksgiving. It was a whirlwind romance between Omema, a twenty three year old Egyptian model, and her husband, fifty six year old Bill Nelson. In late nineteen ninety one, Omema met Bill, who was a pilot after living in America for about five years. A few days after meeting, the two married, and things

would turn deadly in only a month. In their brief relationship, Omema claimed that Bill had sexually assaulted her, and after an attack on November twenty eighth, nineteen ninety one, which was Thanksgiving Day, she had enough. She stabbed Bill in his chest and stomach with a pair of scissors and finished him off with a clothing iron. In a moment of blind rage, Omama began to cut up Bill's body. She even castrated him, which is removing his testicles as

of revenge for the times he abused her. Omeima spent hours attempting to get rid of Bill's remains. She mixed some of his body parts with turkey leftovers to disguise them in a trash bag, shoved other bits down the garbage disposal, which neighbors told investigators they heard running for hours, and eventually boiled his hands in an attempt to remove fingerprints. She then stuck his head in the freezer to deal with him later. Now this is where the crime really

takes a turn. Court documents detailed a conversation between Omeima and her psychiatrist. In the session, she admits that she quote did his ribs just like in a restaurant. It is so sweet, it's so delicious, I like mine tender. She actually took Bill's ribs, which she dismembered after the murder, and cooked them in barbecue sauce and ate them for dinner. She was sentenced to twenty seven years to life in prison,

and she will be eligible for parole. In twenty twenty six, So you know, she'll probably get released and get some kind of a cookbook deal or something. Okay. On to Jeffrey Dahmer. Jeffrey Dahmer has been more in the limelight as of late, and is arguably the most famous cannibal. Jeffrey killed his first victim at the young age of eighteen in nineteen seventy eight. This crime took place in his childhood home, and he hid the remains in the

crawl space underneath of his house. It would be almost a decade before his next murder, while living in his grandmother's house. All in all, Dahmer was thought to have killed seventeen men, but was only convicted for fifteen. He was eventually caught in nineteen ninety one after one of his victims escaped and drew attention to the haunting scene in his Milwaukee apartment. Dahmer's apartment had been recounted as one of the most horrific scenes in true crime history.

When police searched the apartment, they found the remains of eleven men. Dahmer had a fifty seven gallon barrel in his bedroom filled with hydrochloric acid to dissolve the skin off of his victim's skeletons. At the time of his arrest, police found three torsos dissolving in the acid. Also in his bedroom was a drawer full of polaroids showing the deceased victims and acts of necrophilia, which is sex with a dead person. He once stated he took the photos

to remember the beauty each victim once had. Dahmer kept a reserve of some body parts in his freezer to cook. There were also three decapitated heads and a human heart in his refrigerator at the time of discovery. While Dahmer never denied his killings, he could never fully explain what drove him to start eating the body parts. He stated, at first it was just curiosity, then it became compulsive. He also noted to investigators that biceps tasted like beef.

Doctor Eric Hickey, a professor of forensic psychology, explains cannibalism as the ultimate form of control over a victim, commenting that quote eating their victims gives them a sense of power because their victims can never leave. Doctor Hickey goes on to explain that cannibalism is often the result of obsessive sexual desire and experimentation. He says, quote, you don't

usually see people jump from killing to eating. It starts with watching people sleep, then drugging victims, then you want to be with someone who's buried or unconscious, and then it progresses from there. Jeffrey Dahmer was known for drugging his victims, and he was even banned from certain clubs and bathhouses for doing it. Based on doctor Hickey's explanation and Dahmer's admitted compulsiveness, it definitely makes sense that Dahmer

would progress to this horrific behavior. Jeffrey Dahmer was sentenced to fifteen concer executive life sentences in nineteen ninety two, but he was beaten to death by a fellow inmate in nineteen ninety four. Ed Gain Going back a few decades, the search for a local missing woman would lead police to a truly horrific crime scene. In November nineteen fifty seven, a local hardware store owner, Bernice Warden, went missing. This was an incredibly rare instance for the time, especially in

such a small town. The only clue left behind was bloodstains. Police looked through her records from the store and the last receipt that she wrote out for the day was a man named Ed gain who went into the store to purchase antifreeze. Police went to Gaines's house, who lived in an isolated farm right outside of town, and immediately found Bernice. She was decapitated and hanging by her ankles. The farmhouse was filled with bones, human organs, and even

crafts and furniture made from human remains. Some of the items they discovered included mass made from faces, a belt made of nipples, a lamp shade made from a face, a pair of lips acting as a window shade, drawstring and chairs, and a pair of leggings made from human skin. Gain immediately admitted that he had kidnapped his victims in addition to robbing graves for female remains. He then told police he was trying to create a quote woman's suit

that he could wear to become his mother. She had died a decade prior, and he was obsessed with her, even leaving her favorite rooms of the house boarded up to preserve their pristine condition, while the rest of the house was a scene out of true crime hoarders. Does this idea of a woman suit sound familiar? Ed Gain is said to be the inspiration for Buffalo Bill in the Silence of the Lamb's movie and Norman Bates in

the Psycho movie. Even though those movies are fictional, it's extra scary to know it is sourced from a true story. While he never admitted it, many believed that ed Gain participated in cannibalism. He was said to be obsessed with reading about the topic, and human remains were discovered throughout his kitchen. If we approach his crimes from a psychological point of view, he had an obsessive build up, just like Jeffrey Dahmer. His mother had died in nineteen forty five,

leaving him alone in their family farmhouse. He was obsessed with her, and he slowly began to take extreme measures to resurrect her. Although police found remains from as many as forty bodies in his home, ed only admitted to killing two of them. He maintained that the rest of the women were from graves that he had robbed over time. These gruesome acts granted him the nickname the Butcher of Plainfield. Now let's talk about Albert Fish. Lastly, in the true

crime Time Spectrum comes the serial killer Albert Fish. While many are not as familiar with Albert Fish as Dahmer and Gain, he is thought to have influenced the character of Hannibal Lecter. At twenty years old, Fish moved to New York City, where he began his life as a criminal, participating in male prostitution and raping young boys. Albert later recounted the beginning stages of his interest in sexual mutilation

when a lover took him to a wax museum. At forty years old, in nineteen ten, Albert became involved with a mentally disabled young adult. Shortly into their relationship, Albert took the man to an old farmhouse, where he tortured him for two weeks. While Albert intended to kill his lover, he ended up just mutilating him by cutting off half his penis, as he feared the heat would draw attention

to a dead body. A few years after this incident, Albert began having hallucinations and harming himself by inserting needles into his groin. An X ray later revealed that he had twenty nine needles lodged in his pelvic region from nineteen nineteen to nineteen thirty. Albert's violent fantasies fully came to late. He began harming and murdering young children, stating that he felt God was commanding him to do so. Albert's reign of terror would eventually end with the murder

of Grace Budd in nineteen twenty eight. Albert met Grace after her brother put an ad in the New York World seeking a job. Albert posed as a farmer looking to hire Edward, although his true intentions were to mutilate him. He convinced Grace's parents to have her accompanying him to a made up party for his niece, but instead took her to an abandoned house, where he killed her and then ate her. Several years later, an anonymous letter was sent to Grace's parents, and it is too disturbing to

read here. Police investigated this letter, and while the beginning parts could not be verified, the events surrounding Grace's disappearance were accurate. What ultimately led police to Albert was a small detail on the envelope. There was a small emblem with the letters NYPCBA representing New York Private Chauffeur's Manipulate Association. A janitor for this company told investigators he had some of the stationery at his rooming house, and he had

left it there when he moved out. Turns out that Albert had been staying in the rooming house. Police arrested Albert at the rooming house in nineteen thirty four and he did not deny the murder. Okay, let's get into some modern day cannibalism. I think most people would find the idea of cannibalism disgusting. However, cannibalism has played a role in the history of medicine and it's still popular today. Have you ever heard of placental encapsulation? Eating your placenta

has become all the rage. These people who are pro eating placentas say that it offers health benefits to help with postpartum depression and boost the milk supply. People like me who are anti eating placentna say that humans are not cats, and its gross and its cannibalism. Although cannibalism has been sensationalized in Hollywood with films like Silence of the Lambs and Dahmer, it becomes very real, disturbing, and unsettling when you learn the real facts of these cases.

If you still have a taste for cannibalism. You can see the photos that go with these cases at the grossroom dot com. Cannibalism is rare, but just last year, a Michigan man was sentenced to life in prison after admitting to killing and eating the genitals of a male lover, admitting that he was involved in a violent sexual fetish. We can see the cases of Dahmer and gain in their obsessive compulsiveness and mental disorders led them to cannibalism.

Well why Omema. The killing could be justified as a result of abuse, but why cooks ribs? Just because human remains can be cooked and apparently taste similar to other mammals we consume, doesn't mean they should be so after all of this cannibalism talk, are you still craving your Thanksgiving dinner? Thank you for listening to mother nos death. As a reminder, my training is as a pathologist's assistant. I have a master's level education and specialize in anatomy

and pathology education. I am not a doctor, and I have not diagnosed or treated anyone dead or alive without the assistance of a licensed medical doctor. This show, my website, and social media accounts are designed to educate and inform people based on my experience working in pathology so they can make healthier decisions regarding their life and well being. Always remember that science is changing every day and the opinions expressed in this episode are based on my knowledge

of those subjects at the time of publication. If you are having a medical problem, have a medical question, or having a medical emergency, please contact your physician or visit an urgent care center, emergency room, or hospital. Please rate, review, and subscribe to Mother Knows Death on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or anywhere you get podcasts. Thanks