When the Dutch Ate Their Prime Minister on This Day in History

This day in history: Prime Minister Johan de Witt and his brother Cornelius were killed and partially eaten by a mob on this day in 1672.

"With his power in tatters after having been forced to resign, Johan went to visit Cornelius in prison at the Hague on August 20th, 1672. Unwittingly he walked straight into a trap. At the prison, an organized lynch mob awaited his arrival. 'Everyone wanted to draw a drop of blood from the fallen hero and tear off a shred from his garments,' wrote the French writer, Alexander Dumas, in The Black Tulip.

The frenzied mob literally ripped the brothers apart. According to Dumas: “Then came the most dastardly scoundrels of all, who had not dared to strike the living flesh. Cut the dead piece, and then went about town selling small slices of the bodies of Johan and Cornelius at ten sous a piece.” 

"Legend has it that the mob ripped the flesh from the bodies and began selling and eating the remains. Limbs and clothes belonging to the brothers were apparently sold to bystanders in auctions, while pieces of the bodies were proudly put on display in pubs. Believe it or not, some of Johan’s and Cornelius’ body parts still survive today and are preserved in the Historical Museum of The Hague where the prison gates stand." Source

"The attack might seem far-fetched, but eyewitness accounts and art inspired by the event all have the De Witt brothers looking quite flayed. In fact, people used to snatch 'souvenirs' from executions all the time. Souvenirs of the fleshy variety. Consider Oliver Cromwell’s head, which was placed on a 20-foot spike long after his death. Or the commoners who reportedly dipped their handkerchiefs in the blood of King Charles I after his execution. Hell, you can pop into any large European cathedral and find at least one saintly fingernail or incisor. But as far as I can tell, this is the only case of mob mania resulting in political execution turned feast." Source

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A Voluntary Cannibal Death on This Day in History

 

This Day in History: Bernd Jürgen Brandes was voluntarily slaughtered and eaten by Armin Meiwes, following an appointment via internet. 

Looking for a willing volunteer, Meiwes posted an advertisement on the then-active website The Cannibal Cafe (a defunct forum for people with a cannibalism fetish). Meiwes's advertisement stated that he was "looking for a well-built 18- to 25-year-old to be slaughtered and then consumed." Bernd Jürgen Armando Brandes, a 43-year-old engineer from Berlin, answered the advertisement in March 2001. Many other people responded to the advertisement but backed out; Meiwes did not attempt to force them to do anything against their will.

At the request of Brandes, Meiwes first amputated his member and they unsuccessfully tried to eat it. Meiwes taped the entire amputation and killing, and conserved and ate Brandes' meat. Meiwes was eventually arrested and sentenced to life in prison.

Meiwes became a vegetarian during his prison sentence.

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The Donner Party on This Day in History

 

This Day in History:  The Donner Party of pioneers departed Independence, Missouri for California on this day in 1846, on what will become a year-long journey of hardship and cannibalism.

The Donner Party (sometimes called the Donner–Reed Party) was a group of American pioneers who migrated to California in a wagon train from the Midwest. Delayed by multitude mishaps, they spent the winter of 1846–1847 snowbound in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Some of the migrants resorted to cannibalism to survive, eating the bodies of those who had succumbed to starvation, sickness, and extreme cold. 

"Once the party was trapped on the east side of the High Sierras, they killed and ate all the horses and oxen. They boiled the hides to make a gelatinous concoction and picked all the marrow from the animal bones. They gobbled up any mice they could catch in their makeshift cabins. Then, one by one, they killed all their pet dogs and ate them. Finally, desperate and delirious, they chewed on pine bark and pine cones. As a last resort, while watching their children and others die, they turned to the dead bodies buried in the snowdrifts." Source

Occasionally, starving people have resorted to cannibalism for survival necessity. Classical antiquity recorded numerous references to cannibalism during siege starvations. More recent well-documented examples include the Essex sinking in 1820, the Donner Party in 1846 and 1847, and the Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 in 1972. Some murderers, such as Albert Fish, Boone Helm, Andrei Chikatilo, and Jeffrey Dahmer, are known to have devoured their victims after killing them. Other individuals, such as artist Rick Gibson and journalist William Seabrook, have legally consumed human flesh out of curiosity or to attract attention to themselves.

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