The most famous cannibals (11 photos). Modern cannibals do not give up their favorite delicacies

If you want to go abroad on your own, then you need to remember the very real threats that may lie in wait for you in some, so to speak, not entirely civilized countries.
Typically, guidebooks warn of the dangers that a traveler may encounter in a particular country, but, unfortunately, they do not say anything about cannibalism, which is still practiced in some tribes in New Guinea, Cambodia and western Africa.

Here is a list of countries where people still eat people.

1. New Guinea - South East Papua

This one killed 30 Khakhua

One of the last on Earth is the Korowai tribe. About 4,000 people live in the jungles of New Guinea and do not hesitate to eat human flesh. They live along the Ndeiram Kabur river. Most Korowai still live with little knowledge of the world outside their homeland and are often at odds with each other.

Why do they eat people?

Korowai have no knowledge of the deadly germs that of course exist in the jungle, and associate mysterious deaths with Khakhua (witcher) taking the form of people. "Khakhua eats the victim's entrails while she sleeps." When Khakhua kills a person, i.e. he dies, his or her male relatives are captured and killed by Khakhua's friends. Typically, the [dying] victim whispers to relatives the name of a person he knows as Khakhua. He may be in the same or another tree house.
The victim is almost entirely consumed by the adults of the tribe, with the exception of bones, teeth, hair, nails and genitals.
It is important to understand that the Korowai believe that they do not eat people, they eat Khakhua.
But pale-skinned people are still feared in this area, and they are still called “laleo” (“ghost of demons”).

Known fact:

Michael Rockefeller disappeared in 1961 (son of then-New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller) while collecting artifacts about the tribe. His body was never found.

2. India

The Aghori Hindu sect in northern India eats volunteers who, so to speak, bequeath their entrails. However, in 2005, an Indian television investigation revealed that the tribe also eats rotting corpses from the Ganges and also steals organs from cremation sites. In general, they do not kill, but rather eat the flesh of people who are already dead.
Mysterious members of the tribe live near cremation sites, smear the ashes of burned bodies on themselves, drink from human skulls, and chew the heads of living animals in search of spiritual enlightenment. They use a combination of marijuana, alcohol and meditation to help them achieve a disconnected state of heightened awareness and bring themselves closer to the revered Hindu god Shiva.

Why do they eat people?

Aghori believe that this prevents the body from aging.

Interesting Facts:

They make really good ones from human bones and skulls Jewelry.
Despite their terrible reputation, the Aghori are involved in charity work and have created a leper colony where they care for and heal 99,045 patients with complete leprosy, and 147,503 with partial leprosy.

3. Fiji

Previously it was known as “Cannibal Island”. Local residents to this day cannot restore order and there are still those who feed on human flesh, though only from enemy tribes.

Why do they eat people?

This is a ritual of revenge for them.

Interesting fact:

The cannibals of Fiji are not animals at all: they eat with cutlery, and collect rare things left from their victims. You can see examples of such collections at the University of Pennsylvania Museum.

4. Brazil

The Wari tribe ate religious and pious dead until 1960, when some missionaries massacred almost the entire tribe.

However, due to the prohibitively high level of poverty and lack of enforcement of laws, cases of cannibalism still exist in the slums of Olinda.

Why do they eat people?

Poverty and hunger.

Interesting fact:

In 2012, researchers conducted a survey local residents who claimed that they heard voices telling them to kill this or that person.

5. West Africa

Since the last century, in western Africa, a tribe of active cannibals, the Leopards, have been eating people. Human remains were found in the surrounding area until the 1980s. Usually the people of the tribe are armed with animal fangs and dressed in their leopard skins.

Why do they eat people?

The tribe believes that eating human flesh makes them faster and stronger.

Interesting fact:

They have a following that does similar things - the Human Alligator community.

6. Cambodia

According to Neil Davis, a journalist, cannibalism in these regions gained momentum during the wars in Southeast Asia (1960 -1970). Today, manifestations of cannibalism are observed occasionally.

Why do they eat people?

Eating the enemy's liver is a ritual of the Cambodian troops.

Interesting fact:

In cities and villages, people were under the control of the Khmer Rouge, an organization that strictly accounted for all the food in the area and artificially created famine in the country.

7. Congo

Cases of cannibalism are also known in the Congo. They were at their maximum during the Congolese civil war (1999 - 2003). In 2014, a man was stoned, burned and eaten by a mob in the Democratic Republic of Congo, accusing him of being from an Islamist rebel group.
Cannibalism remains widespread in all parts of Africa. In January 2014, for example, cannibals in the Central African Republic (CAR) were photographed eating a Muslim "rebel". The cannibals claimed that they were “Christians” and were taking revenge on “Muslims.”

Why do they eat people?

Rebel groups during the war believed in eating enemies, especially their hearts, which were prepared using special herbs.

Interesting fact:

Congolese today believe that the heart gives a person special energy, and if there are people, then courage increases, and this scares away enemies.

By the way, if you've ever bitten your nails or chewed a little of your own hair, it's called self-cannibalism.

The modern film industry widely uses the theme of cannibalism. Having watched enough blockbusters, many have a very dubious idea about the phenomenon itself and its manifestations. According to the average person, a cannibal is a monster of the human race who shamelessly kills and eats people. But the concept of cannibalism is much broader and multifaceted. Let's try to shed light on this phenomenon in biological, social and mystical aspects.

Process theory

Explanatory dictionaries explain what a cannibal is. This is a representative of a biological species that eats its own kind, predation within the species. Biology knows many examples of cannibalism among animals, both primitive and highly organized.

The meaning and examples of cannibalism in the animal kingdom are varied and are found in more than 1,300 species. Biologists distinguish the following types of this phenomenon in nature:

• maternal (some female scorpions eat their young, which climb onto their backs; many rodents can resort to this);
• obligate or permanent (ants prevent infection of anthills with rotting products by eating dead comrades);
• sexual (females of karakurts or mantises eat males after mating);
• predatory (older individuals, such as pike, simply do not distinguish their younger counterparts);
• forced cannibalism (male salamanders feed on eggs, guarding the clutch);
• competitive ( famous example change of the head of a pride of lions and a pack of some primates - the new leader will kill all the cubs of the previous one);
• in conditions of a shortage of food resources, bears, wolves, lynxes, not to mention rats and other rodents, resort to cannibalism;
• and even intrauterine (found in sharks when embryos eat each other).

Natural selection tool

Biologists explain that in nature the phenomenon of cannibalism often has a positive adaptive meaning. This is one of the types of natural selection as the driving force of evolution. If we discard external cruelty, then the etiology of this process is simple and understandable. Due to the long gestation period and the readiness to mate when the cub is already grown, the actions of the new owner of the pride of lions in the desire to leave their offspring are understandable. And in general, all other things being equal, a cannibal is a predator who fights for existence by all available means.

Cannibalism Homo sapiens

People like biological species, not an exception. In relation to people, this phenomenon is called anthropophagy or cannibalism. And in the history of human civilization, cannibalism is far from an unusual and exceptional event. Archaeological research confirms that this phenomenon was widespread among our ancient ancestors. Neanderthals were, apparently, not the most cruel among the cannibals.

Domestic cannibalism

Sociologists studying what a cannibal is in human society, they distinguish between everyday (as an option - forced) and mystical - religious - its types. Neanderthals were domestic cannibals. The aborigines who ate the famous Cook are adherents of ritual cannibalism.

Forced cannibalism at a later time in the existence of mankind, documented, includes mass cannibalism in Egypt during the long drought of 1200-1201, and cases during the siege of Paris in 1595 by Huguenot troops, and sadly known cases in Ukraine and the southern part of Russia in the period 1933-1935, and the tragic chronicles of Leningrad during the Great Patriotic War. There are examples of airliner crashes and lost expeditions that illustrate the necessity of cannibalism for survival.

Religious-mystical cannibalism

This type of cannibalism is associated with rituals and mysticism that have accompanied human relationships since time immemorial. A religious-mystical cannibal is a person who uses parts for food human body to achieve certain goals.

The North American Tupinamba, Hurons and Iroquois, the African Mambila, Angu and Bachesu, the island tribes of the Bahamas and Haiti resorted to active warlike ritual cannibalism, based on the belief that the strength and dignity of the eaten enemy passed on to them. But there were also non-warlike customs. For example, a Latin American passive cannibal is an inconsolable relative of the deceased who prepared a ritual dish from him, such as chips. And in Africa, the Batetelo tribes added the ground ashes of the deceased to their drink and thus commemorated kind words deceased. African tribe The Kraketo similarly venerated the dead by dehydrating the corpse over low heat and hanging it from the ceiling of relatives' houses for several years.

The myths of Greece, Scandinavia and other countries deserve a separate discussion. For example, the Greek god Kronos ate his sons. Mythology, one way or another connected with cannibalism, is the topic of a separate article.

Eaten by missionaries

Countless volunteers who carried the light of faith in New World and Oceania, fell victims to cannibals.

Everyone knows from the song by Vladimir Vysotsky, James Cook, who committed three circumnavigation and more than once communicated with cannibal tribes in Hawaii. Historical fact- the aborigines ate him and his crew after they had finished off his gifts - pigs, sheep and goats. Thus ended Cook's attempts in 1779 to wean the natives from cannibalism.

A little earlier, in 1772, on the islands of New Zealand he completed his life path famous Frenchman, navigator M. Marion-Duffin. Somewhere there and at the same time, the crew of the pirate John Davis Jr. died, and he himself miraculously escaped.

It is little known that the son of Nelson Rockefeller, the governor of New York, Michael, wanted to make a film about a primitive war on the shores of New Guinea in 1961. He brought iron axes to the Papuans and set off two neighboring tribes. However, the film did not work out. There are several versions about the disappearance of 23-year-old Michael, but most likely, the Asmats, a tribe of cannibals with whom he collaborated, decided to obtain the alien’s power and weapons in their usual way.

Names are heard

One should not think that the times of human cannibalism are in the distant past and it was mainly primitive tribes who were guilty of this. The most famous cannibals in the world are constantly replenished with new names.

During World War II, a US military tribunal executed several high-ranking Japanese military officials for ritually eating the livers of American prisoners of war.

Ugandan dictator Idi Amin (ruled 1971-1979) even gave interviews about eating his subjects. He treated his guests to a cutting from a human body.

The enemy's liver brings good luck, believed Jean-Bedel Bokassa, the emperor of the Central African Republic, overthrown in 1989. He especially loved the meat of students. He died in prison, complaining about the disgusting food.

Japanese cannibal Issei Sagawa, author of A Dictionary of Cannibalism, three books of macabre revelations, is today a popular TV presenter. In 1981, in Paris, he was declared insane and sent to a psychiatric hospital for eating his girlfriend. He was 30 years old at the time, and in 1986 his wealthy relatives managed to initiate deportation to Japan, where after 15 months in a mental hospital he was freed.

A terrible incident occurred in Germany in 2003. 40-year-old Arvin Maiv, who found a victim on the Internet who was ready to be eaten, was sentenced to 8.5 years in prison (not for cannibalism, but for murder - there is no article on cannibalism in the criminal code). At least five people came to Rottenberg for an interview with the cannibal, of whom he chose Bernard-Jürgen Brands.

And this is not the end of the list. From time to time, information about crimes with elements of cannibalism comes to light in different parts of the world. These facts are scary. Although sociologists argue that society in its development must go through the stage of cannibalism to one degree or another, I would like to believe that modern humanity has left these terrible customs in the past.

Just to think about eating a person... no, I don’t even care nightmare I can’t imagine it.. I once watched a movie about such people, but they were “in the cinema”.. were they really there? or there is, isn’t it God???

Cannibalism has been practiced by people since the Stone Age. After all, there was not much food, so the Neanderthals ate their own kind. Later this phenomenon began to be of a religious or sexual nature. With the development of civilization, cannibalism has practically disappeared, although facts of eating bodies or their parts by other people sometimes emerge in history.

Today, such a phenomenon is associated either with maniacs or with savages who have remained at a rudimentary cultural level. Cannibals become despised by the entire civilized society, they are feared, and based on such stories it is time to make horror films. Let's talk below about the most famous eaters of human flesh.

Issei Sagawa. Today this venerable Japanese is a restaurant critic whose essays often appear in Tokyo newspapers and magazines. But this man’s past bears the terrible imprint of cannibalism. Sagawa studied at the Sorbonne, his grades were excellent. Only the Japanese had a strange craving for tall women. June 1, 1981, studying English literature Sagawa invited his fellow student, the Dutchwoman Renee Hartvelt. At home, the Japanese killed the girl and then ate her over the next two days. Sagawa hoped to absorb the energy of the beautiful and healthy person. While trying to get rid of the mutilated body, the cannibal was spotted. Five days later he was arrested by French police. Medical experts ruled that the Japanese was insanity and he was extradited to his homeland. After just a year and a half in a mental hospital, the cannibal was released. Perhaps his rich and influential father influenced this. Sagawa now lives in Tokyo and is a local celebrity. He is often invited to talk shows and consultations. The cannibal himself claims that he is still visited by such wild fantasies, but he will never want to realize them.

Armin Meiwes. This man’s childhood can hardly be called happy - at the age of 8 his parents divorced, and his mother overprotected her son. After her death, Armin lived alone, doing system administration and dating men. In 2001, a 41-year-old man posted an ad on the Internet looking for a young guy between the ages of 18 and 25 who wanted to be eaten. Oddly enough, such a request received a positive response. 43-year-old homosexual Bernd Brandes, also a system administrator, responded to the ad. The lovers began filming their meeting. After another sex session, Meiwes cut off Brandes's penis, which they then ate together. The victim was forced to take a large dose of painkillers along with alcohol. Meiwes then killed his lover by putting his meat in freezer. For the next few months the German ate his ex-lover. When the cannibal was arrested in December 2002, he managed to eat about 20 kilograms of human flesh. In particular, the ribs were grilled on a barbecue. The court initially sentenced Meiwes to 8.5 years in prison, since the murder was found to be manslaughter. But in May 2006 the case was reviewed, new sentence meant life imprisonment. Interestingly, in prison Meiwes became a vegetarian and headed a branch of the Green Party.

Jeffrey Dahmer. This American became famous for killing 17 boys and men between 1978 and 1991. Moreover, the crimes were characterized by cruelty, and Dahmer raped and ate the corpses of his victims. The childhood of the future cannibal was difficult. Jeffrey had practically no friends, and his family constantly moved from place to place. From the age of 13, Dahmer realized that he was homosexual. At school, the teenager showed a craving for dead animals, he begins to imagine himself as a participant in scenes of necrophilia and dismemberment of bodies. The first murder took place in 1978, when the maniac was only 18 years old. Over time, Dahmer developed a whole tactic for finding victims. These were usually sexual minorities to whom the guy offered to continue acquaintance outside the walls of the bar. Dahmer wanted his victims to become obedient zombies, for this purpose he made holes in their heads using a drill and acid. Some unfortunates lived after this for up to two days. The maniac practiced necrophilia and ate the bodies of his victims. In 1988, his next victim, a 13-year-old Laotian boy, ran away from Dahmer. The police arrested the maniac, but the court sentenced him to only a year of correctional labor. Even while under investigation, the killer continued to kill people. In the summer of 1991, Dahmer began killing once a week. As a result, his next lover managed to escape, and the police raided the maniac’s apartment. Three heads, a heart and entrails were found in the cannibal's refrigerator. In the toilet, Dahmer kept a pot with hands and penises, body parts were everywhere. In total, the remains of 11 people were found in the apartment. The hearing of the case became very resonant - the maniac was kept behind bulletproof glass, shepherd dogs were on duty, and metal detectors were installed in the courtroom. Punishment overtook the cannibal already in prison - other prisoners killed him with a metal pipe in 1994. The maniac's body lay in the refrigerator for about a year and then was cremated.

Albert Fish. This American killer, maniac and cannibal is known by many nicknames - “ Gray man", "Brooklyn Vampire", "Boogie Man", "Moon Maniac". Albert was born in 1870 and was the youngest in difficult family. Many relatives had psychological problems, suffering from religious mania. At the age of 5, Fish, left without a father, ended up in an orphanage, where he became the object of frequent beatings. Suddenly, Albert discovered that physical pain brought him pleasure. His stay at the shelter and his experiences there left an indelible mark on Fish’s psyche. At the age of 12, he entered into a homosexual relationship with a postman boy. Since 1890, Fish has lived in New York, where he has been involved in prostitution and the rape of young boys. In 1898, the maniac married a person 9 years older than him. The couple had six children. In 1903, Fish was sent to prison for embezzlement, where he regularly had sex with men. The maniac began committing his first murders when he reached the age of 40. The victims were minor children. The story with the girl Grace Budd gave the cannibal away. Fish infiltrated her family, posing as a farmer, and stole the girl, allegedly for a relative’s birthday. Grace was never seen again. Six years later, the family received an anonymous letter, which eventually led the police to Albert Fish. The text told how the formation of a cannibal took place, as well as the story of the death of the poor girl. The maniac described in detail how he ate his victim. The police captured Fish. At the trial he stated that he had sexual relations with 400 children, although one hundred cases were officially reported. The exact number of the cannibal's victims is unknown; there were from 7 to 15. On January 16, 1936, the maniac was executed in the electric chair.

Andrey Chikatilo. It's hard to believe that this maniac and cannibal was a school teacher. Chikatilo was considered an exemplary husband, he had two children, he was a member of the CPSU. Nevertheless, the most famous Russian maniac, sadist, ripper and cannibal has 53 proven murders. Chikatilo committed most of his crimes in forest belts adjacent to the cities of Shakhty, Novocherkassk, Novoshakhtinsk. While visiting Rostov-on-Don, Leningrad, Moscow and Tashkent on business trips, Chikatilo killed people there too. In July-August 1984 alone, 8 women and children became his victims. Usually the maniac chose those who seemed to him to be offended by fate and unhappy. These were women who were alcoholics and simply mentally retarded. The excuse put forward was quite simple - to share a drink. Chikatilo lured children into the forest with computers, VCRs, puppies and rare brands. Having killed his victim, the maniac mutilated the bodies - cutting off or biting off tongues, genitals, nipples, noses, fingers. The cannibal opened the abdominal cavity, gnawed and ate internal organs. The worst thing is that many of the victims were still alive. Almost all of those killed had their eyes gouged out; the maniac himself said that he was superstitiously afraid of the remnants of his image on their retinas. Most likely, Chikatilo was simply afraid of the gaze of his victims. The maniac took the cut off parts of the body with him, eating them later. This was also indicated by the fact that on “trips,” according to his wife, he took a saucepan with him. Chikatilo rarely entered into direct sexual contact with his victims, as he was impotent. His sexual satisfaction was achieved by murder. Catching the maniac took for a long time. Chikatilo himself even helped the police as a vigilante. As a result, the killer was nevertheless captured; at the trial he tried to pretend to be crazy. In 1994, the maniac was executed.

Alexander Pierce. The Irishman was born in 1790, and in 1819 he was sentenced to 7 years of exile for stealing several pairs of shoes. Pierce began serving his sentence in Tasmania. There he showed a rebellious character - he was credited with two escapes, theft of carts, and drunkenness. On September 20, 1822, Pierce and 7 other prisoners escaped again. They ventured deep into the dense, rugged forests of Tasmania. After 8 days, the feeling of hunger became so strong that the fugitives killed Alexander Dolton. Pierce said that they didn’t like him anyway because of his voluntary participation in floggings. After this, two fugitives left the group, fearing a similar fate. The fugitives' journey took five weeks, during which time two more weakened comrades were eaten. As a result, the former sailor and guide Greenhill, his friend Travers and Pierce himself survived. It would seem that the Irishman's fate is sealed. However, Travers was bitten by a snake and gangrene began. The starving fugitives also ate this comrade of theirs. Since Pierce and Greenhill had not yet reached inhabited areas, it was clear that one of them would fall prey to the other. For eight days the men did not sleep, fearing each other. As a result, Greenhill fell asleep, and Pierce immediately killed him with an ax. Having reached the populated lands, the cannibal lived in freedom for only a few months. The judges did not believe Pierce's story, believing that this was his way of protecting his hiding comrades. In November 1823, the Irishman fled again, this time with a young companion, who persuaded him to take him with him. When Pierce was caught a few days later, they found human flesh in his pockets, although there was plenty of other food. The cannibal said that he also killed this comrade, dismembering his body. For his crimes, the maniac was sentenced to death by hanging. His last words were that human meat is much tastier than fish or pork.

Go Amen. The future dictator spent his youth in the army, where he showed himself to be cruel and merciless towards his enemies. With Uganda gaining independence, Amin's career is developing rapidly. After coup d'etat he becomes commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and in 1971 he seized power in the country. The first steps of the dictators turned out to be very democratic; they were designed to win over the population and foreign states. Amin promised to give power to civilians after the elections and released political prisoners. But already in 1976, the dictator declared himself president of the state for life. Mass terror began in the country. The dictator kept the head of one of his main opponents, Suleiman Hussein, in his safe. As a result, there were so many murders that there was no time to bury the bodies, simply throwing them into the Nile for the crocodiles. The bloody reign ended in 1979 when Amin fled the country. He died in 2003 in Saudi Arabia. After the end of his reign, it turned out that the cruel ruler was also a cannibal. Yes, he himself did not deny this. Amin said that he ate his dead opponents. A refrigerator containing human body parts was discovered in the dictator's residence. But delegations of foreign states were received nearby; the ambassadors had no idea about Amin’s wild essence.

Alexey Sukletin. This man worked as a watchman in a horticultural society near Kazan. Together with his accomplices, Madina Sharipova and Anatoly Nikitin, Sukletin created a gang that was engaged in extortion. It was this part of their illegal activity that led to the arrest and search of the maniac’s house in 1985. During excavations of Sukletin's garden, many human bones were found; investigators collected as many as 4 bags. In the guardhouse they found the belongings of the murdered victims and irrefutable evidence of cannibalism, in particular, half a bucket of rendered human lard. It turned out that the criminals even sold human meat to neighbors under the guise of a pair of tenderloins. Cannibals Sukletin treated his unsuspecting friends and guests to human liver. In total, 7 women became victims of the maniac between 1979 and 1985. The youngest victim was only 11 years old. Sukletin butchered the bodies of the dead kitchen knife, he poured the blood into a basin, forcing his partner to drink. When choosing potential victims, the maniac estimated how much meat or liver there would be. The examination eventually proved Sukletin's sanity; he was shot in 1987 by court verdict.

Nikolay Dzhumagaliev. Maniac was born in 1952. From his youth, he treated women as second-class creatures. Traveling around the country only strengthened the hatred of the weaker sex for their loose morals. As a result, it was precisely these women that the maniac later killed. Dzhumagaliev approached his first murder very responsibly. It was a female cultist. The maniac cut her throat with a knife and began drinking her blood. The killer warmed his frozen hands on his wife’s body, then cut up the body and ate it at home. Dzhumagaliev says that human flesh was tough, but then he got used to eating such food. In 1979, the maniac killed 5 more people, each time the scenario of dismembering and eating corpse meat was repeated. Dzhumagaliev was arrested for the drunken murder of his colleague, but he was released after being diagnosed with schizophrenia. Returning home, the cannibal committed three more murders. The ninth in a row became fatal. Having invited friends and girlfriends to visit him, the killer began to dismember one of them right in the next room. Seeing this, people fled in horror, reporting everything to the police. Everyone was so shocked that the fleeing killer was arrested only the next day. However, instead of prison, a mental hospital awaited the maniac, from where he escaped in 1989. He is said to have committed several more murders in Moscow and Kazakhstan. Now the cannibal killer is being held again in a strict psychiatric hospital. Doctors say that Dzhumagaliev has now recovered and is no longer in danger. While he was temporarily released, dismembered bodies were again found in the surrounding area.

Medusa crew. This case of cannibalism went down in history, including painting. Theodore Gericault created the painting "The Raft of Medusa", which captured the scandalous events. On July 5, 1816, the frigate "Medusa", heading to Senegal with the aim of establishing French dominance, was wrecked. The death of the ship was accompanied by terrible scenes. Initially there was no discipline on the ship; all this manifested itself at a critical moment. Part of the team, led by the commander, sailed away in six boats, and 150 people settled on a raft created in a hurry. At sea it turned out that it was so poorly made that it did not protect against the waves, and there were no sails or oars. And most importantly, there was only enough provisions in the form of crackers for one day; several barrels of wine could not correct the situation. The raft struggled with the waves for 13 days. People began to quarrel and fight, embittered by misfortune. Someone himself jumped into the sea from a raft, wanting to die rather than die in a knife fight and be eaten by his comrades. On the fifth day, only thirty people remained on the raft; three were immediately thrown overboard for attempting to steal. Those who remained began to think about how to prolong their existence. Twelve of them were declared too weak to continue living in pain. They decided to throw them overboard in order to save the remaining provisions from the human ball and the fish that accidentally jumped onto the lot. As a result, the Argus ship picked up the raft, the picture that appeared shocked everyone - pieces of human flesh were drying on ropes, and the remaining people literally went mad.

Often in our minds, a cannibal is a person who existed far in the past, when the planet was inhabited by wild primitive tribes. Is it so? Can ruthless devourers of their own kind exist in our civilized world?

Cannibal - who is this? Meaning and interpretation of the word

Very often cannibalism is called cannibalism, although this is not entirely true. What's the difference? A cannibal can be any creature that eats people. These are mainly large predatory animals that are capable of attacking and eating humans, for example, brown and polar bears, sharks, wolves and others.

A cannibal is a creature that eats members of its own species. That is, the terms “cannibalism” and “cannibalism” are equal only when it comes to humans. Unfortunately, this is also possible in modern realities. History knows many cases where people ate each other.

The word was formed from the name “caniba”. Before Columbus's discovery Bahamas This is the name given to the people of Haiti. Eating people was commonplace for the Aborigines. In the Herero tribes, canibal means "brave". In Russian in figurative meaning it is interpreted as “a rude or cruel person.”

Cannibalism in animals

In nature, a cannibal animal is not uncommon. More than a thousand species of mammals, fish, insects and arachnids eat their fellow creatures. Strange behavior is explained as a manifestation of This is how population regulation occurs.

Cannibalism increases when living conditions become too harsh and animals suffer from a lack of any resources, especially food. In this case, eating “our own” helps the rest to survive and maintain the population.

Females are usually more prone to cannibalism than males. For example, females eat their partners immediately after mating. This is observed in praying mantises, some species of mosquitoes, and flies. To avoid death, males sometimes bring other insects to the female as their replacement.

Cannibals are found among lizards, snakes, turtles, rodents and primates. Some fish eat all the small individuals in a row, sometimes without distinguishing between their own offspring. A young lion, having displaced the aged leader of the pride, eats his offspring. Wolves and lynxes are also capable of eating their young.

Cannibalism in humans

Previously, people were less picky about food, and they began to practice cannibalism since the Stone Age. At first it was associated with a lack of food, but over time it began to acquire religious significance. Many cannibals believed that eating the brain, heart and other parts of the enemy would give strength and courage. Due to the lack of heat treatment, they often developed various diseases.

Medieval sailors periodically discovered tribes of cannibals. One of them was supposedly eaten by James Cook. Cannibalism was discovered in the Malay Archipelago, Asia, Africa, North America. Some researchers claim that it spread to Europe.

Greek, Scandinavian and other myths tell about cannibalism. Greek god Kronos, for example, devoured his children. Among ancient tribes, cannibalism was part of the ritual of sacrifice, which was later replaced by the killing of an animal rather than a person.

Modern cannibal tribes

Not all people got rid of this tradition. Currently, there are quite a few tribes left that have not been touched by civilization. Some of them still practice cannibalism. Members of the Aghori community in northern India believe that eating people slows down aging, although they only feed on volunteers for now.

The cannibals of Guinea believe in dark magic and witchcraft, which can only be gotten rid of through cannibalism. The news periodically publishes reports of missing tourists in the south Papua New Guinea. Once they even kidnapped and ate voters during elections.

Tribes use cannibalism as revenge against their enemies. Examples of cannibalism are found among the tribes of Brazil and Congo. At the end of the 20th century, a tribe was discovered in West Africa that wore leopard skins and believed that cannibalism gave strength and speed. Later they were inherited by the Human Alligator community.

Conclusion

Cannibalism is the eating of creatures similar to oneself. It is widespread in the wild and is the primary mechanism that controls population size. Wild human tribes eat people not only for food; they often attach spiritual or religious meaning to their actions.

Unfortunately, cannibal people are found not only among savages. There is a whole list of maniacs who killed and ate their victims. Many of them did not differ from other people either in appearance or behavior. The famous Russian cannibal maniac Andrei Chikatilo had a family, worked as a teacher and more than once helped the police as a vigilante.

Guidebooks warn of many dangers that may await travelers in a particular country. But no one warns about cannibalism. Surprise! Cannibalism is still practiced in some tribes such as India, Cambodia and West Africa. And here are 7 countries where tribes are still not averse to feasting on people.

South East Papua New Guinea

The Korowai tribe is one of the last on Earth that regularly eats human flesh. They live along the river, and there have been cases when they killed random tourists. Healers also considered warm brains a real delicacy.

Why do they eat people? When someone in the tribe dies without any apparent reason(illness or old age), they consider this to be the tricks of black magic and, in order to protect others from harm, they must eat a person.

Interesting fact: In 1961, Michael Rockefeller (son of New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller) disappeared while collecting artifacts about the tribe. His body was never found.

India

The North Indian Hindu sect of Aghori eats volunteers who bequeath their entrails. However, in 2005, Indian television crews conducted an investigation and learned that they also eat decaying corpses from the Ganges (a local tradition), and also steal organs from crematoria.

Why do they eat people?

Aghori believe that this prevents aging of the body.

Interesting fact: They make really nice jewelry out of human bone and skulls.

Fiji

Formerly known as "Cannibal Island". Until now, local residents cannot restore order, and there are still those who eat human flesh, but not all, but only those of enemy tribes.

Why do they eat people? This is a ritual of revenge.

Interesting fact: Fijian cannibals are not animals at all - they eat with cutlery and collect rare things left over from their victims. You can find examples of such collections at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology.

Brazil

The Wari tribe ate pious and religious dead until 1960, and after that some government missionaries slaughtered almost the entire tribe. However, poverty levels in Olinda's slums have been prohibitively high since 1994, and outbreaks of cannibalism still occur.

Why do they eat people? Poverty and hunger.

Interesting fact: In 2012, information appeared from researchers who interviewed local residents, and they claimed that they heard voices that told them to kill this or that person.

West Africa

The Leopard Society of Active Cannibals has been eating people since the last century. Until the 80s, human remains were found in the vicinity of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Cote d'Ivoire. The tribe is usually dressed in leopard skins and armed with their fangs.

Why do they eat people? The tribe believes that eating people makes them stronger and faster.

Interesting fact: They have a following - the Human Alligator community, which does similar things.

Cambodia

Journalist Neil Davis reported that cannibalism in these regions gained momentum during the wars in Southeast Asia (in the 1960s and 1970s). Nowadays, manifestations of cannibalism are occasionally observed.

Why do they eat people? The Cambodian troops had a ritual - eating the liver of the enemy.

Interesting fact: Many people in cities and villages were under the control of the Khmer Rouge organization, which strictly controlled all food in the area and artificially created famine in the country.

Congo

There are known cases of cannibalism in the Congo, and the latest were recorded not so long ago - in 2012. They reached their maximum during the Congolese civil war (from 1998 to 2002).

Why do they eat people? During the war, rebel groups believed that enemies should be eaten, especially the heart, which was cooked using special herbs.

Interesting fact: Congolese still believe that human heart gives special strength, and if there are people, it will scare away enemies.