The Other White Meat

Warning: Todays Post is Exceptionally Graphic and should be avoided by those weak of stomach BUT there is a Christmas tie-in…proceed at your own risk… I warned you…

So, these two cannibals are eating a clown, and one says to the other, “does this taste funny to you”? ….. We don’t often have conversations about cannibalism. We don’t trade recipes or talk about health issues. That’s because it’s off the table, not permitted, inconceivable. But do you ever wonder what people taste like? Cannibalism is perhaps the ultimate cultural taboo. There are many reasons why humans partake in this practice; for cultural purposes, for survival or even for pleasure. Be clear: I do not condone or in any way endorse cannibalism, well ok maybe just a little bit from a strictly anthropological and healthy dose of morbid curiosity… and as far as you know – I’ve never partaken… as far as you know.

This is a love story of sorts and you may recall hearing about it in the papers a few years back, 2001 to be exact – this is the story of Armin Meiwes, the Rotenburg Cannibal.

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Looking for a willing victim, Meiwes posted an advertisement at a website, The Cannibal Cafe, whose disclaimer mentions the distinction between reality and fantasy. Meiwes’s post stated that he was “looking for a well-built 18 to 30-year-old to be slaughtered and then consumed”. Bernd Jürgen Brandes then answered the advertisement. Many other people responded to the advertisement, but backed out; Meiwes did not attempt to force them to do anything against their will.

As is known from a videotape the two made when they met on Christmas Day in 2001 – in Meiwes’s home in the small village of Rotenburg, Meiwes amputated Brandes’s penis and the two men attempted to eat the penis together before Brandes was killed. Brandes had insisted that Meiwes attempt to bite his penis off. This did not work and ultimately, Meiwes used a knife to remove Brandes’s penis. Brandes apparently tried to eat some of his own penis raw, but could not because it was too tough and, as he put it, “chewy”. Meiwes then fried the penis in a pan with salt, pepper, wine and garlic; he then fried it with some of Brandes’s fat but by then it was too burned to be consumed. He then chopped it up into chunks and fed it to his dog.

According to journalists who saw the video (which has not been made public), Brandes may already have been too weakened from blood loss to actually eat any of his penis. Meiwes read a book for three hours, while Brandes lay bleeding in the bath. Meiwes apparently gave him large quantities of alcohol and pain killers, 20 sleeping pills and a bottle of schnapps, and finally killed him in a room that he had built in his house for this purpose, the Slaughter Room. After stabbing Brandes to death in the throat, he hung the body on a meat hook and tore chunks of flesh from it; he even tried to grind the bones to use as flour. The whole scene was recorded on the two-hour video tape. Meiwes ate the body over the next 10 months, storing body parts in his freezer under pizza boxes and consuming up to 20 kilograms (44 lb) of the flesh.

Meiwes was arrested in December 2002, after a college student in Innsbruck phoned the police after seeing new advertisements for victims and details about the killing on the Internet. Investigators searched his home and found body parts and the videotaped killing. On 30 January 2004, Meiwes was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 8 years in prison. The case attracted considerable media attention and led to a debate over whether Meiwes could be convicted at all, given that Bernd Jürgen Brandes had voluntarily and knowingly participated in the act.

They met on Christmas day.. really?!?  And you thought Christmas at your house was unpleasant…. dry turkey has absolutely nothing when compared to tough, chewy penis….probably a good idea to steer well clear of the gravy as well…

Merry Christmas – I warned you it would get graphic up in here today. I thought it provided a nice contrast to the season and as a completely free-of-charge gift from me to you – giving you a visual you may well carry for a long time to come… so remember when the holidays get tough and all the relatives start getting on your nerves, and the frenetic pace makes you wish it was all over and done with – well….. think of this story and remember – you could always be spending Christmas in Germany.

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