Jeffrey Dahmer
Serial killer and cannibal
Dahmer murdered at least 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991. He ranks among the most bloodthirsty of serial killers – when his crimes were first uncovered police found severed heads in his refrigerator, corpses stored in vats of acid, skulls and stockpots of body parts.

Dahmer had sex with bodies of his victims. He’d photograph each stage of his dismemberment process, getting off on the stink and sticky heat of human entrails. He experimented with seasonings and meat tenderizers, acting more like a gourmet chef than a raving cannibal. He then ate the flesh of his victims, later claiming that he believed that they’d come alive inside him. He’d also get turned on by the taste.

In 1992 Dahmer was sentenced to 957 years in prison for his crimes. He was killed in 1994 by a fellow inmate.

Albert Fish
Abducted, killed and ate children...
Fish’s taste was for the tender flesh of children. A suspect in at least five killings in the 1920s and 30s, he boasted of many more.
His lust for sado-masochistic sex, obsession with castration, and mental illness combined in a deadly fashion.
In 1928 he abducted 10-year-old Grace Budd. He was arrested for her murder six years later after her wrote a letter of confession to her parents. In it he told how “sweet and tender her little ass was roasted in the oven.”

Fish later also admitted to the murder of Billy Gaffney, telling his mother, “The front of his body I liked best. His monkey and pee wees and a nice little fat behind to roast in the oven and eat. I made a stew out of his ears, nose, pieces of his face and belly… It was good… His little monkey was as sweet as a nut, but his pee-wees I could not chew. Threw them in the toilet.” Fish was executed in January 1936.

Sawney Bean
Head of a Scottish cannibal family
Alexander “Sawney” Bean was, according to legend, the head of a massive 48-strong clan who lived in Scotland in the 16th century. Bean shared a cave near Galloway with his wife, children, and grandchildren (the product of incest).

The stories tell that the clan would ambush travellers, and drag their bodies back to eat. The Beans were finally discovered after an unsuccessful attack on a couple. Stories tell how their cave was stacked with human remains, and that the victim total was at least 1000.

The Donner Party
American pioneers who ate each other in order to survive
The harsh winter of 1846 hit pioneers travelling across America hard. Many travellers starved or froze to death. One party, consisting mainly of the Donner and Reed families became stuck at a pass at the Sierra Nevada. 15 of them struck out to find help. Caught in a blizzard, four of them died, and the others had no option but to eat them to stay alive.

Later three more died, and were again eaten. Finally, the surviving 7 members of the team found safety and sent back a rescue party for the others, who had also resorted to cannibalism. Of the 87, only 48 survived.

Armin Meiwes
Ate a voluntary victim – starting with his penis
In 2001 German Armin Meiwes put a post on the internet, stating that he was “Looking for a well-built 18 to 30-year-old to be slaughtered and then consumed”. Unlikely as it sounds, he got many responses, including one from masochist Bernd Jürgen Brandes.

On March 9 the two met in Meiwes’ home. Meiwes hacked off Brandes’ penis, and the two then tried to eat it. Brandes complained that it was too chewy to eat raw, so Meiwes fried the penis, but unfortunately burned it to a crisp. Meiwes killed Brandes and, over the next 10 months, ate his flesh. He was arrested in December 2002, and sentenced to life inprisonment in 2004 for manslaughter. He is now vegetarian.

Welcome to the Jungle, a visceral tale of cannibals and heirs to vast fortunes is out on DVD now. See images on the right...

Also out from Optimum Releasing on April 21 is Storm Warning, in which a couple stumble across an old farmhouse crammed with hydroponic weed. Unfortunately the dope is protected by three psychopaths...