5 Tragic Stories of Cannibalism

There are those who have chosen to eat other human beings out of preference rather than desperation. Many have done so out of a sense of perverted sexual pleasure, as in the cases of serial killers Jeffrey Dahmer and Andrei Chikitilo. Gaining a gruesome reputation, those who choose cannibalism out of desire rather than necessity are shunned by society.

That said, there have been societies in which cannibalism has been an accepted part of cultural and religious practice. Some of these societies still exist today, living deep within the rainforest, isolated from the modern world. The Korowai of New Guinea are an example of a tribe that claims to still practice cannibalism. Historically, the Aztecs stand out as a culture that practiced religious, ritual cannibalism, eating the bodies of sacrificial victims.

There are also those who are forced into cannibalism not because of habit or perverted desire, but because of circumstances. In these stories, the victims are also those who had to eat human flesh. Here are five of those stories.

The early years of settlement in America were not kind to the colonists. The Jamestown settlement struggled as it starved through the first few winters. Of the 104 families that founded the colony, only 38 survived the first winter.

The winter of 1609 was the worst, and this period in Jamestown’s history was known as the “Starving Time.” The colonists had come to rely on supply ships, and when the cargo ship was lost at sea, anything that could be eaten was eaten. Horses, dogs, cats, mice and rats were the first victims. People ate leather boots and belts. Finally, the inhabitants turned to cannibalism.

In 2012, archaeologists discovered the remains of a 14-year-old girl who had been butchered and eaten. Researchers suggest that the victim was not killed to be eaten, but was an opportunistic meal as a recently deceased individual. However, this is speculation and we will never know. What is known is what the girl looked like. Enough of her skull was found to reconstruct her face.

The leader of the Jamestown settlement, George Percy, had made claims of cannibalism in 1625, and his writings were subject to skepticism until the archaeological find. He made another claim to have executed a man by burning him for the crime of eating his pregnant wife. So far, no archaeological finds have been found, but since the discovery of the latest victim, the veracity of George Percy’s claim is in very little doubt.

In 1816, the French Frigate Surprised crashed 100 kilometers (60 miles) off the coast of Mauritania. The crew numbered about 400 people, but there was only room for 250 people in the lifeboats. The remaining men (and one woman) attempted to make the journey to the African coast via a large raft.

Initially, the lifeboat towed the dinghy, but after only a few kilometers, someone made the fatal decision to cut the ropes and the dinghy sank. The rations on the raft were few. The only food was a bag of biscuits which was consumed on the first day. The only cask of water fell into the sea during a fight, and all that was left to drink were six casks of wine.

Chaos broke out on the first day and fights broke out between different groups on the raft. By the end of the first day, 20 people had jumped into the sea or committed suicide. Stormy weather threatened and waves rolled over the sides of the raft, dragging the unfortunate victims to their doom. Others were killed in the fighting while trying to get to the center. By the fourth day, only 67 crew members remained.

Burned, starving and deranged, the survivors turned to cannibalism, killing and butchering their comrades. On the eighth day, the strongest of the survivors threw the weakest overboard, leaving only 15 men in the raft. They survived for another four days before being accidentally found by a brig called The Argus.

In 1846, a group of American pioneers headed west under Captain George Donner. They decided to take a shortcut called the Hastings Cutoff through the Sierra Nevada on the advice of an unreliable guide named Lansford Hastings. The Donner party decided to continue on their way regardless of a warning to the contrary. The “shortcut” turned out to be 125 miles longer than claimed, and passed through extremely inhospitable terrain.

The 87 members of the Donner Party reached the Great Salt Lake Desert, crossing which caused the loss of dozens of cattle. Some wagons had to be abandoned. By the time the party had reached the end of the Hastings border, they were racing against time as winter was fast approaching.

Winter hit hard and the Donner Party was stranded in the Sierra Nevada with heavy snow falling relentlessly. The cattle wandered off and perished, leaving the party members to starve. In desperation, a group of ten men and five women left the party to find help. Eight of the men died en route, but the survivors managed to cross into California and gather help. But not after roasting and eating flesh from the bodies of the fallen. Two of the climbers, Native Americans, had refused to eat the bodies of the dead. They ran away but were hunted down, shot in the head and eaten.

Meanwhile, the dogs were eaten in the camp, then the skin of the cow, and finally, the bodies of the dead. After two months, rescue teams arrived. Among those rescued was a crazed Prussian named Lewis Keseberg. All around him were human remains and he was preparing Tamsen Donner’s lungs and liver for his next meal. He was accused of murder, but nothing could be proven. Forty-two members of the Donner party died, and about half of the survivors turned to cannibals.

It is not known that the story of Moby Dick is inspired by true events. However, where Moby Dick ends, the story of the crew of Essex it continues and becomes a horrific tale of people stranded at sea and turning to cannibalism to survive.

In November 1820, the whaling ship Essex had found good hunting grounds in the Pacific and the small boats were out hunting when an 85-foot sperm whale made straight for Essex, crashing the ship twice and causing irreparable damage. Captain Pollard, who was out with the whaling boats, returned to Essex and asked his first mate Owen Chase what had happened. “We’ve been stove by a whale,” Chase replied.

The decision was made to abandon ship, and in a strange and ironic twist of fate, they decided to head south instead of the nearest islands, believing the latter to be inhabited by cannibals.

The crew piled into boats and left the sinking Essex back. The salt water soaked the bread and the scorching sun hit them mercilessly. After two weeks, they saw Henderson Island, but it was barren. However, three crew members decided to stay on the island rather than get back on the boats.

A storm hit and Owen Chase’s boat broke apart. After eating one of their dead crewmates, they were rescued by a British brig. The other two boats fared worse. In one of the boats, three men were eaten before the remaining two boats were separated. A whaleboat with three skeletons was later found on Ducie Island, but it was never confirmed that it was from Essex. The ship with Captain Pollard had the most difficult decision. They pulled out straws to see who would be shot and eaten. Pollard ended up eating his cousin.

When they were finally rescued, only two men remained, one of whom was Pollard. The men were maddened by their ordeal and barely registered that they were being rescued when the American whaler Dauphin appeared. They continued to suck the bones as they approached the ship, and when they pulled on board, they put the bones in their pockets.

The three men who remained on Henderson Island were later rescued and the survivors of the incident were all reunited. In 2015, a film that tells this horrific story, In the Heart of the Seastarring Chris Hemsworth and Cillian Murphy, was released.

One of the most famous incidents in modern times is the horrific story of a Uruguayan rugby team whose plane crashed high in the Andes. On October 13, 1972, the team was en route to Chile when their flight crashed in the snowy mountains. Of the 45 people on board, 29 survived the initial horror. But things would only get worse.

The ordeal that followed would last 72 days. At high altitude in the Andes, starvation sets in quickly, and after a few days, one of the survivors took a piece of glass and began cutting chunks of meat from the backside of one of their comrades. It was clear that to survive they would have to resort to cannibalism. The pilot had died in the crash and the survivors ate him first as they had no emotional connection to him, but soon they had to eat their friends too.

Soon after, they find a transistor radio and learn that the search has been called off. After an avalanche struck and killed eight other survivors, it was decided that a team would go out to find rescue. Two men headed west toward Chile. They hiked to the nearest peak, a monumental task in itself, but there was no sign of civilization from their point of view.

Resigned to their fate, they went down, certain that they would die. They heard the sound of rushing water and found a river. Near the river they found an empty shoulder can, a horseshoe, a herd of cows and finally a man on a horse.

Chilean military helicopters were dispatched and on December 22, 16 survivors were rescued. In 1993, a film called Alive! was released portraying the events of the ordeal.

Human history is replete with events that have led to cannibalism, from our earliest ancestors to the modern day. In those incidents where survival is at stake, those who have eaten human flesh often struggle with the moral dilemma of what to do. There will no doubt be cases of desperate cannibalism in the future as humans continue to explore, progress and take risks.