A tribe of Russian-speaking cannibals has been discovered in Africa. Do cannibals exist now? Negro cannibals

How many mysterious and unknown things the mysterious Africa hides within itself!

Its rich, fabulous nature and amazing fauna are still of great interest to scientists and excite the inquisitive minds of travelers. Inexplicable admiration, along with animal fear, is caused by the customs and morals of the local aborigines, belonging to the most diverse tribes that inhabit the black continent everywhere. Africa itself is quite contrasting, and behind the façade of the civilized world often hides the unprecedented savagery of the primitive communal system.

Wild Africa. Tribes of cannibals

One of the most mystical secrets of tropical Africa is, of course, cannibalism.

Cannibalism, that is, people eating their own kind, in many African tribes, constantly at war with each other, was originally based on the belief in the miraculous effect of human blood and flesh on such qualities of warriors as courage, masculinity, heroism and bravery. Some tribes of cannibals widely used various potions made from burnt and powdered human hearts. It was believed that such a black ointment based on the resulting ash and human fat could strengthen the body and raise the spirit of a warrior before battle, as well as protect against enemy spells. The true scale of all kinds of ritual murders is unknown; all rituals, as a rule, were performed in deep secrecy.

Wild tribes. Reluctant cannibals

Cannibalism was in no way connected with the level of development of a particular Aboriginal tribe or with its moral principles. It was just that it was very widespread throughout the continent, there was an acute shortage of food, and besides, it was much easier to kill a person than to shoot a wild animal while hunting. Although there were tribes that specialized, for example, in cattle breeding, which had enough animal meat, they did not engage in cannibalism. At the beginning of the 20th century, in the territory of modern Zaire, there were huge slave markets where slaves were sold or exchanged for ivory exclusively for food. On them one could see slaves of different sexes and ages, these could even be women with babies in their arms, although men were in great demand for food, since women could be useful in the household.

Cruelty of morals

The cannibal tribes openly declared that they liked it because of its juiciness; fingers and toes, as well as female breasts, were considered a delicacy.

A special ritual was associated with eating the head. Only the most noble of the elders received the flesh torn from the head. The skull was carefully stored in special pots, in front of which rituals of sacrifice were subsequently performed and prayers were recited. Perhaps the most inhumane ritual among the natives was the ritual of tearing off pieces of human flesh from a still living victim, and some Nigerian tribes of cannibals, distinguished by their special, ferocious cruelty, used a pumpkin used as an enema to pour boiling palm oil into the throat or anus of the captive. . According to these cannibals, corpse meat that had lain for some time and was completely soaked in oil was much juicier and more tender in taste. In ancient times, food was mainly consumed from the flesh of foreigners, primarily captives. Nowadays, fellow tribesmen often become victims.

Tribes of cannibals. Creepy hospitality

Interestingly, according to the cannibal customs of hospitality, refusal to taste the delicacy offered to guests was perceived as a mortal insult and insult.

Therefore, without a doubt, in order not to be eaten and to move freely across the continent from tribe to tribe, as well as as a sign of friendship and respect, African travelers probably had to taste this food.

The last cannibals are known to live in Papua New Guinea. People still live here according to the rules adopted 5 thousand years ago: men go naked, and women cut off their fingers. There are only three tribes that still engage in cannibalism, these are the Yali, Vanuatu and Karafai. The Karafai (or tree people) are the most brutal tribe. They eat not only warriors of foreign tribes, lost locals or tourists, but also all their dead relatives. The name “tree people” came from their houses, which stand incredibly high (see the last 3 photos). The Vanuatu tribe is peaceful enough that the photographer is not eaten; several pigs are brought to the leader. Yali are formidable warriors (photos of Yali begin with photo 9). The phalanges of the fingers of a woman of the Yali tribe are cut off with a hatchet as a sign of grief for a deceased or deceased relative.

The most important holiday of Yali is the holiday of death. Women and men paint their bodies in the form of a skeleton. On the holiday of death before, perhaps they still do it now, they killed a shaman and the leader of the tribe ate his warm brain. This was done in order to satisfy Death and absorb the knowledge of the shaman to the leader. Now Yali people are killed less often than usual, mainly if there was a crop failure or for some other “important” reasons.

Hungry cannibalism, which is preceded by murder, is regarded in psychiatry as a manifestation of the so-called hunger insanity.

Domestic cannibalism is also known, not dictated by the need for survival and not provoked by hunger insanity. In judicial practice, such cases are not classified as intentional murder with particular cruelty.

Apart from these not very common cases, the word “cannibalism” often brings to mind crazy ritual feasts, during which victorious tribes devour parts of the bodies of their enemies in order to gain their strength; or another well-known useful "application" of this phenomenon: the heirs treat the bodies of their fathers in this way in the pious hope that they will be reborn in the body of their flesh-eaters.

The most “cannibalistic” country in the modern world is Indonesia. This state has two famous centers of mass cannibalism - the Indonesian part of the island of New Guinea and the island of Kalimantan (Borneo). The jungles of Kalimantan are inhabited by 7-8 million Dayaks, famous skull hunters and cannibals.

The most delicious parts of their body are considered to be the head - the tongue, cheeks, skin from the chin, the brain removed through the nasal cavity or ear hole, meat from the thighs and calves, heart, palms. The initiators of crowded campaigns for skulls among the Dayaks are women.

The latest surge in cannibalism in Borneo occurred at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries, when the Indonesian government tried to organize the colonization of the interior of the island by civilized immigrants from Java and Madura. The unfortunate peasant settlers and the soldiers accompanying them were mostly slaughtered and eaten. Until recently, cannibalism persisted on the island of Sumatra, where the Batak tribes ate criminals sentenced to death and incapacitated old people.

The activities of the “father of Indonesian independence” Sukarno and the military dictator Suharto played a major role in the almost complete elimination of cannibalism in Sumatra and some other islands. But even they could not improve the situation in Irian Jaya, Indonesian New Guinea, one iota. The Papuan ethnic groups living there, according to missionaries, are obsessed with a passion for human meat and are characterized by unprecedented cruelty.

They especially prefer human liver with medicinal herbs, penises, noses, tongues, meat from thighs, feet, and mammary glands. In the eastern part of the island of New Guinea, in the independent state of Papua New Guinea, much less evidence of cannibalism is recorded.

In fact, here and there in the jungle they still live according to the rules adopted five thousand years ago - men go naked, and women cut off their fingers.

There are only three tribes that still engage in cannibalism, these are the Yali, Vanuatu and Karafai. The Karafai are the most cruel tribe. They eat not only warriors of foreign tribes, lost locals or tourists, but also all their dead relatives.....

The earth is inhabited by hundreds of different peoples. Some of them are adherents of European tolerance, others refuse to recognize such values, and others are distinguished by their own, sometimes original, values. But there are also those with whom it is better not to have anything to do with. Why? Just because for some tribes living in inaccessible corners, a stranger is not just an uninvited guest, but a special dinner. There are cannibal tribes in the South Seas, in the West and East Indies, in Africa, in South America...

African tribe Mambila and its traditions

Let's start with Africa. More precisely, from its western part. The country of Nigeria is located here. The Mambila tribe lives compactly on its territory. The leadership of Nigeria, as well as a significant part of its public, strive to ensure that this state looks no worse than others. There is an army, and a police force, and various laws exist. One of them prohibits cannibalism. For such a thing in Nigeria there is even a fairly severe punishment. However, not everything is so simple in Africa.

Until charitable missions came to the country in the mid-twentieth century, everything was fine. In European and other countries that adhere to universal human values, citizens were unaware of the events on the “dark continent”. But already from the first missionaries, reports began to pour in that mass consumption of people was being practiced in Nigeria. As it turned out, cannibalism was something of a mandatory ritual for the local population. Moreover, everyone was obliged to eat people, from young to old. The Mambila tribe fought with its neighbors, and intra-tribal clashes also occurred. According to established traditions, the victors had to eat their killed enemies right at the battle site. This was done so that the enemy’s power would pass to the winner along with his flesh.

Literally until recent years all the people of the Mambila tribe remained cannibals. Even now they would not give up such a feature, but they are afraid of the authorities. The punishments now in Nigeria for this are quite serious.

As for the tradition itself, often the killed enemies were residents of the neighboring village. In peacetime, marriages took place between such neighbors. But the war began, and sometimes it turned out that the winner ate some of his relatives. It happened that some hero killed and ate the brothers of his own wives. The only exception for the winner was his own father-in-law. It was forbidden to eat it. The winner could become seriously ill or even die.

For your information! Most often, cannibalism is associated with certain rituals. People not only believe that the power of the eaten enemy passes to them, but they are also confident that by doing so they secure help from some gods or spirits. That is, we're talking about about a custom prescribed by religion. The Mambili tribe has practically no religious component in cannibalism.

For the people of this tribe, as they explained to the missionaries, the corpse of a killed enemy is just ordinary meat. The victors simply cut the killed enemy into pieces. Some of the prey was eaten raw on the spot. At the same time, there were no formalities. The winners did not turn to either spirits or gods. They simply satisfied their hunger. The soldiers carried the remains of the loot home. There they gave what they got to the old people. After all, they also needed to satisfy their hunger.

The waste from such a feast was minimal. The Mambila people even ate the entrails. They were removed from the corpse and carefully washed. They were used for food in boiled form.

Particular attention was paid to the skulls. They were saved. When young warriors first went to fight the enemy, they first had to drink some special infusion from these skulls. If possible, we drank beer. Due to this, courage was instilled in the young warriors.

The customs of the Mamblila tribe are described quite thoroughly in the book by K. Mika. This anthropologist spent quite a lot of time in Africa, including among a cannibal tribe. He managed to get acquainted with such customs that researchers could not see either before or after him.

For example, K. Meek reported that women did not have the right to eat human flesh. As for restrictions for men, married men were not allowed to eat the meat of women who were killed during a raid on an enemy village. But if the old man did not have wives, he could eat the meat of women on any occasion and in any quantity.

The cruel customs of the Angu tribe

Now a few words about the traditions of a tribe that lived in another corner of the globe. Why "inhabited"? The fact is that over several decades it has almost disappeared among the other inhabitants of a large island in the Pacific Ocean. The tribe was called Angu, and it lived in the southwestern part of New Guinea. Until now, the people of the Angu tribe are considered the most warlike and bloodthirsty.

These people ate not only killed enemies. It often happened that they used their parents as food. They tried to hurry with this. The main condition is that the old people should not have time to lose their memory or fall into senile dementia. The murder of parents took place as a ritual. It was impossible to do this ourselves. A man from another family was invited to perform the ritual. For this murder he received a certain reward. After his body was washed, it was skinned and eaten. Only the head was left. It was installed in a certain place. Then followed magical rituals. They prayed to the head, asked her for advice, asked her for help and protection.

In contrast to the customs of the previously described tribe, the inhabitants of New Guinea almost did not eat raw human meat. It was boiled, sometimes stewed. The penis was considered a special dish. It was cut in half and fried over coals.

The Angu's category of "delicacies" included hands, feet, tongue, and mammary glands. The brain was considered a delicacy. They cooked it without removing it from the head. Then, through a “big hole” (unfortunately, the sources do not specify what it is), the boiled brain was pulled out, cut into small pieces and served to the most important tribesmen.

Uninvited guests of the Angus were treated as the most fierce enemies. For them there could only be one ending. These cannibals did the same with their captives. At the same time, they always tried to make the victims endure as much torture as possible. Moreover, the matter was not limited to physical pain.

If it was possible to deliver at least two prisoners to the village, they did not kill them all at once. The murder was carried out in front of living prisoners. At the same time, everything was done so that the living could see the death throes of a fellow tribesman.

Of course, such barbaric rituals could be considered a manifestation of sadism. That is, the Angu, while causing torment to those who were going to be killed and eaten, received pleasure by watching them. However, as researchers have established, cannibals did not suffer from such a massive mental disorder. For them all this was an ordinary event that could not be avoided. That is, we are talking about a tradition passed on from generation to generation.

Humane cannibals

The customs of the Bachesu tribe living in Uganda, as well as the Tukano, Kobene, and Jumano tribes living in the Amazon, can be considered more humane. These cannibals eat not only people they have killed themselves, but also the corpses of deceased relatives. They do this with good intentions. People are confident that by doing this they are showing true respect for the deceased.

The meal begins approximately a month after the death of a person. By this time the corpse was already half decomposed. But this is the custom, for the named tribes it is a normal, common thing. The process goes as follows. The corpse is placed in a large metal container. It usually resembles a huge cauldron. A fire is lit under the cauldron. The cooking process continues until the “brew” begins to smell so terribly that the smell spreads over many tens of meters.

A half-decomposed corpse is boiled without water. For this reason, it gradually turns into just coals. When there is nothing left in the boiler except these coals, the cooking ends. The tribesmen wait for the cauldron and its contents to cool down enough so that the process of preparing what they need can be continued. This continuation involves grinding the coals into powder. Later it is mixed into food and used as a spice. It is also added to some local drinks. As tribal members believe, such drinks are “drinks of courage.” All the warriors of the tribe drink it. It is believed that such a drink makes a person more courageous, resourceful, and wise.

Amasanga scoured the Internet and found a pop article about historical and modern cannibalism in Africa. And I decided to post it in order to shock the reader with a fine mental organization.

PS
I saw interesting photographs from Angola in the late 80s - early 90s of the 20th century.
P.P.S.
Amasanga wrote about cannibalism among the Indian peoples of the Amazon (in the historical period)

No other continent hides as many mysteries, mysteries, and unknowns as Africa. Fabulous, the richest nature and the amazing fauna of the “dark continent” with the many-sided, diverse world of African aborigines has always aroused and arouses in the soul of an inquisitive person admiration, surprise, fear and inexplicable undying interest.
Africa is a continent of contrasts. Here you can see the centers of the modern, so-called civilized world and immediately plunge into the depths of the primitive communal system. They don't know wheels here yet. Healers-shamans rule. Polygamy prevails. The population is divided along tribal lines. Separatism, black racism and tribalism are present. People are monstrously superstitious. Behind the outer façade of the white-stone capitals, primitive wildness reigns.
One of the dark, black secrets of tropical and southern Africa is cannibalism - cannibalism. Eating your own kind.
Belief in the effective influence of human flesh and blood is characteristic of many African tribes. Civil wars and fierce tribal clashes have always provoked the production of courage-stimulating potions from human flesh. Often it became widespread.
In the languages ​​of African aborigines, this drug is called “diretlo” or “ditlo” and, according to ancient customs, is prepared from the heart (sometimes the liver) of the enemy, in order to thereby adopt his courage, courage and heroism.
The heart was ground into powder, from which potions were prepared. Pieces of human meat were burned over a fire with medicinal herbs and other ingredients until the result was a charred mass, which was churned and mixed with animal or human fat. It turned out something like a black ointment. This substance, called lenaka, was placed in a hollow goat's horn. It was used to strengthen the body and spirit of warriors before battle, to protect their native village, and to counter the spells of enemy magicians.
In past times, this drug was prepared mainly from the flesh of foreigners, especially captives. Nowadays, to obtain a special drug called “diretlo”, it is necessary to cut the flesh of a living person in a certain order, and the victim is selected from among his fellow tribesmen by the healer of this tribe, who discerned in this person the necessary magical abilities necessary to prepare a powerful drug.
Sometimes even a relative of one of the ritual participants may be chosen. No details regarding the chosen victim are ever given to anyone. This is decided by the healer - omurodi. The entire ritual is performed in deep secrecy.
To prepare "diretlo" it is necessary not only to cut off the flesh of a living person, but then to kill him and the corpse to first be hidden in a secret place, and then moved somewhere away from the village.
Here is one example of such a ritual. A group of blacks led by Omurudi came to the hut of the one chosen for ritual murder. He, not knowing anything, went outside with them. He was immediately captured. The protesters remained deathly silent. The unfortunate man shouted that he would give everything he had if only he would be released. He was quickly gagged and dragged away from the village.
Having found a more secluded place, the blacks quickly stripped the doomed man naked and laid him on the ground. An oil lamp immediately appeared, by the light of which the executioners, deftly wielding knives, cut off several pieces of meat from the victim’s body. One chose the calf of the leg, the second - the biceps on the right arm, the third cut a piece from the right chest, and the fourth - from the groin. They laid out all these pieces on a white rag in front of the omurodi, who was to prepare the necessary potion. One of the group collected the blood flowing from the wounds into a pot. Another, pulling out a knife, tore off all the flesh from the face to the bones - from the forehead to the throat, cut out the tongue and gouged out the eyes.
But their victim died only after she was slashed in the throat with a sharp knife.
At present, all Africans understand that a magic potion prepared from human flesh is not capable of ensuring victory in civil war, but nevertheless it is widely used as a way to enhance intrigue and behind-the-scenes maneuvers.
Instead of enemy captives, the victims are now members of the same tribe - a rather rare form of human sacrifice, which previously required only strangers, slaves, captives, and in no case fellow tribesmen.
The scale of such ritual killings is unknown. Everything happens in the deepest secrecy, even from the residents of the villages where they are carried out. Currently, there is already an opinion among African aborigines that ritual killings are not “ritual” to the end, and therefore are not real human sacrifices. However, the choice of victim, the method of killing and disposal of the corpse convince us that a carefully developed ritual accompanies each stage of the preparation of the drug.
The belief in the effective influence of human flesh and blood in tropical and southern Africa is characteristic of many tribes. For them, human meat turned into a spell not only gives the desired privileges to representatives of the highest African nobility, but also influences the gods, encouraging them not to skimp on the fat harvest.
This is how the anthropologist and ethnographer Herbert Ward, who studied this region well, described the slave markets on the tributaries of the Lualaba River.
Perhaps the most inhumane practice among native tribes should be considered the tearing of pieces of flesh from a living victim. Cannibals become like a hawk pecking out the flesh of its prey.
As incredible as it may seem, captives are usually led from one place to another in front of those hungry for their meat, who, in turn, mark with special signs those tasty morsels that they would like to buy. This is usually done either with clay or with strips of fat glued to the body.
The stoicism of these unfortunate victims, in front of whose eyes there is a brisk trade in their body parts, is amazing! It can only be compared with the doom with which they meet their fate."
- Do you eat human flesh here? - Ward asked in one of the villages, pointing to long spits strewn with meat over smoking fires.
“We’re eating, aren’t you?” - came the answer.
A few minutes later, the leader of the tribe came out and offered a whole dish of large fried pieces of meat, which was undoubtedly human. He was terribly upset when he received Ward's refusal.
Once in a large forest, when Ward's expedition settled down for the night with a group of captured slave warriors and their fellow tribesmen, the whites were forced to change place, as they were bothered by the sickening smell of roasted human meat, which was being cooked everywhere on fires.
The leader explained to the whites that the conditions for devouring a human victim depended on what it was. If it was a captive, then only the leader ate the corpse, and if it was a slave, then the corpse was divided among the members of his tribe.
As for mass ritual killings in Africa, they were the exception rather than the generally accepted rule. The essence of Zimbabwean ritual human sacrifice was that it required the death of one person, rather than the mass destruction of people.
Cannibalism is far from dead in Africa. In our time, the ruler of Uganda, educated in the West, turned out to be a “civilized” cannibal who ate more than fifty of his fellow tribesmen.
It is absolutely impossible to exercise any control over the aborigines in the deep jungle. Because of false modesty and a reluctance to appear savage, the authorities hide the true picture of cannibalism.
In the north of Angola, on the border with Zaire, such an incident occurred. One provincial policeman (chief), standing on the threshold of his house and listening in the night to the booming long voice of a tom-tom, remarked: “They are probably cutting someone up there.” - “Why aren’t you doing anything?” - we asked. - “If I send one of my assistants there, he will only pretend that he has been there. He will not stick his nose there, fearing that he himself will end up on a spit. We can do something if we have evidence on our hands and we will find human bones. But they know how to get rid of them too."
In the seventies of the twentieth century, during the liberation struggle of the movement (later the party) for the liberation of Guinea-Bissau and the Cape Verde Islands from the Portuguese colonialists, the rebels had to escape from the attacks of Portuguese troops to the north, to Senegal. In order not to lose mobility, they left the wounded in the settlements of friendly tribes. But, returning again to Guinea-Bissau, they did not find the wounded soldiers left behind. There were many such cases.
And then the leader of Paigk Amilcar Cabral ordered to dig up the places where, according to the aborigines, they buried the dead. They found nothing there. The Africans admitted that “they ate them.” Bones and skulls were found outside the settlement boundaries. The rebels shot the cannibals with machine guns and burned all the settlements.
The authorities have to fight cannibalism, but despite all efforts, some tribes continue this monstrous practice. Some blacks have sharpened teeth - a sign of cannibalism. This was also pointed out by 19th century anthropologists who explored the Lualaba basin. Where the “sharp-toothed ones” live, it was not possible to find at least one grave anywhere nearby - very eloquent proof of this.
The custom of eating the dead was widespread among all the clans of the large Bogesu tribe (region of the Ubangi River). Eating was carried out during the period intended for mourning the dead.
The deceased remains in the house until evening. Relatives called for this occasion gather to mourn him. In some special cases, such gatherings took a day or even two, but usually they got by with one day. At sunset, the corpse was carried to the nearest vacant lot and laid on the ground. At this time, the clan members hid around in the bushes, and when the darkness deepened, they began to blow their gourd horns, creating a noise similar to the howls of jackals. Villagers were warned about the appearance of “jackals,” and young people were strictly forbidden to leave their homes. With the onset of complete darkness, a group of old women, relatives of the deceased, approached the corpse and dismembered it, taking the best pieces with them and leaving the inedible parts to be torn apart by wild animals.
Over the next three to four hours, relatives mourned the deceased. After this, all participants in the ceremony cooked his meat and ate it, after which they burned his bones at the stake, leaving no traces of him.
Widows, however, burned their grass loincloths and either went naked or covered themselves with the small aprons usually worn by unmarried girls. After this ceremony, widows again became free, able to get married. Such a ceremony was observed in one of the settlements in northern Angola. A very similar story about cannibal rituals was told by the Cubans who fought as part of an expeditionary force against the Zairean troops in the north and northeast of Angola. Members of the tribe explained the custom of eating their dead as follows. If, they said, you bury a dead person in the ground and, as is usually done, allow him to decompose, then his spirit will annoy everyone in the area: it will take revenge for the fact that the corpse is allowed to rot in peace.
And this is how the burial of a dead African goes. The deceased's legs were bent, and the crossed arms were extended along the body in front of him, which was done even before death. The corpse was tied in such a position that it would not straighten, and with the onset of rigor, all its members would harden. All jewelry was removed from the deceased. The grave was usually dug here, in the hut, and the body was lowered into it on an old mat or skin, and in a sitting position. The grave was then filled up. Women were buried outside the hut. The corpse was laid on its back, its legs were bent, and its arms were pulled from both sides to the head.
The brother of the deceased immediately took all his widows to him, but left one of them in the hut so that she would look after the fresh grave for a month (lunar month), and everyone else had to carry out the daily program of mourning the deceased with screams and heartbreaking cries. The mourners ate meat, then washed, shaved their heads and cut their nails. The hair and nails of each participant in the ceremony were placed in a bundle, which was hung from the roof of the hut. At this point the mourning ceremony ended, and no one else paid any attention to this place, although, of course, everyone was sure that the spirit of the dead man was wandering somewhere nearby.
A dug grave inside the hut, which was then collapsed on it, can, of course, to some extent explain the phenomenon of why no burial sites can be discovered. In the past, travelers also encountered this, from which they drew a completely reasonable conclusion: African tribes supported an ancient custom obliging them to eat their dead relatives on the spot.
The practice of cannibalism in some regions of Africa was secretive and secret, while in others, on the contrary, it was open and amazing. Anthropologists managed to collect a huge amount of facts. Here are some examples.
The aborigines of the Ganavuri tribe (Blue Mountains region), for example, tore the meat from the bodies of their defeated enemies, leaving only the entrails and bones. They returned home with pieces of human meat on the tips of their spears, where they handed the booty into the hands of the priests, who were supposed to fairly divide it among the old people. The most noble of the elders received the flesh torn from his head. To do this, the hair of the victim was cut off from the head, then the stripped meat, cut into strips, was cooked and eaten near the sacred stone.
But no matter how the young members of the tribe showed themselves in battle, they were strictly forbidden to take part in such a feast.
The Ganavuri tribe usually limited themselves to eating the dead bodies of enemies killed on the battlefield. These savages never intentionally killed their women. However, the neighboring Ataka tribe did not disdain the female flesh of their enemies; another tribe, the Tantales, engaged in “skull hunting,” “specialized” in consuming meat cut from women’s heads.
Cannibals from the Kohleri ​​tribe tried to eat as many corpses of their enemies as possible. They were so bloodthirsty that they killed and immediately ate any stranger, both white and black, if he suddenly found himself on their territory.
The cannibals from the Gorgum tribe usually waited two days after their warriors returned with the spoils and only then began their cannibalistic feast. The heads were always boiled separately from the rest of the body, and no warrior was allowed to eat the flesh from the head unless he personally killed that enemy during the battle. The rest of the human flesh was not of such great importance, and all fellow tribesmen - men, women and children - could feast on it. In this tribe, even the entrails were eaten after they were separated from the body, washed, and cleaned with a mixture of ash and herbs in water.
The cannibals of the Sura tribe (Aruvimi River) added salt and vegetable oil to the meat of their victims when boiling and more widely used the age limit of their victims. They did not allow any woman of their tribe to even look at human flesh, but they fed boys and young men, even by force, if they refused to eat, since, according to the elders, this instilled in them more courage and courage.
The Anga tribe refused to eat the meat of boys and young men, because, in their opinion, they had not yet developed any special virtues suitable for passing on to others. They also did not eat old people for the reason that even if in their mature years they were brave and courageous people, skilled trackers, then with age all of them best qualities were clearly in decline.
Some of these cannibalistic tribes had a fairly well-developed "penal code" associated with their cannibalistic practices. In the Anga tribe, it was allowed to eat the flesh of a fellow tribesman if he was found to be a criminal and sentenced to death. The cannibals of the Sura tribe ate the flesh of their fellow tribeswoman if she committed adultery.
The Warawa tribe were ready to sacrifice any member of the clan who in any way violated the law, and such punishment was accompanied by an elaborate ritual. The culprit was not just killed, but sacrificed. Blood was pumped out of him for a kind of Eucharist (communion), and only after that his flesh was transferred for consumption to members of the tribe.
Some tribes had a slightly different motivation, not as “ignoble” in nature as a brutal passion for human flesh. They had deeply rooted superstitions: by eating the head and other parts of the body, they supposedly destroyed the spirit of the victim, depriving her of the opportunity to take retribution, to return from the other world to harm those who were still here. Although it was believed that the victim's spirit resided in her head, there were suspicions that it could, if necessary, move from one part of the body to another. Hence the desire to destroy the entire victim without a trace.
But there was another belief. Members of the Anga tribe usually ate their old people, who had not yet reached senile dementia and had demonstrated their physical and mental abilities to the proper extent. The family that made the fatal decision turned to a man living on the outskirts of the settlement with a request to take upon himself the execution of the unspoken sentence and even offered him payment for this.
After killing a person, his body was eaten, but the head was carefully kept in a pot, in front of which various sacrifices were subsequently made, prayers were said, and all this was done quite often.
The Jorgum and Tangale tribes (Niger River) practiced the most primitive form of cannibalism. An unquenchable passion for human flesh, coupled with an equally strong passion for retribution, played an important role. The people of this tribe even had a ritual prayer in which they expressed their hatred of their enemies and shameful passion for human flesh, which excited them even more.
Cannibalism is in no way connected with the level of development of a particular tribe or with its “moral standards”. It was widespread even among those tribes that had the most high level development. (Tribes such as the Herero and Maasai never engaged in cannibalism, as they were pastoralists. They had enough meat from livestock)
Cannibals stated that they ate human flesh only because they liked to eat meat, with the African aborigine preferring human flesh because of its greater juiciness. The biggest delicacy was considered to be the palms of the hands, fingers and toes, and the woman's breasts. The younger the victim, the softer its meat. Human meat is the most delicious, followed by monkey meat.
Some Nigerian tribes were distinguished by their ferocious cruelty. The cannibals of the Bafum-Banso tribe often tortured captives before death. They boiled palm oil and, using a gourd used as an enema, poured the boiling contents either down the unfortunate man's throat into his stomach, or through the anus into his intestines. In their opinion, after this the meat of the captives became even more tender, even juicier. The bodies of the dead lay for a long time until they were soaked through with oil, after which they were dismembered and greedily eaten.
In the heart of equatorial Africa lies the basin of the great Congo River (Lualaba). Many, many travelers, missionaries, anthropologists, and ethnographers devoted themselves to exploring this area. One of them, James Dennis, said in his Travel Notes: “In central Africa, from the east to the west coasts, especially up and down the numerous tributaries of the Congo River, cannibalism is still practiced, which is accompanied by brutal cruelty. Almost all tribes in the Congo Basin are either cannibals or until recently were, and among some the disgusting practice is on the rise.
Those tribes that had never been cannibals until that time, as a result of constantly growing conflicts with the cannibals around them, also learned to eat human flesh.
It is interesting to note the predilections of different tribes for different parts of the human body. Some cut long, strip-like pieces from the victim's thigh, legs or arms; others prefer the hands and feet, and although the majority do not eat the head, I have not met a single tribe that disdains this part of the human body. Many people also use the innards, believing that they contain a lot of fat.
A person with eyes will certainly see terrible human remains either on the road or on the battlefield, with the difference, however, that on the battlefield the remains are waiting for jackals, and on the road where the tribal camps are located with their smoking fires, there are a lot of white broken , cracked bones - all that remains from the monstrous feasts.
During my travels through this country, what struck me most was the enormous number of partially mutilated bodies. Some corpses were missing arms and legs, others had strips of meat cut from their thighs, and still others had their entrails removed. No one could escape such a fate - neither a young man, nor women, nor children. All of them indiscriminately became victims and food for their conquerors or neighbors."
The cannibals of the Bambala tribe considered human meat a special delicacy if it had lain buried in the ground for several days, as well as human blood mixed with cassava flour. Women of the tribe were forbidden to touch human flesh, but they still found many ways to get around this “taboo”, and carrion extracted from graves, especially those that had reached a high degree of decomposition, was especially popular among them.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Catholic missionaries who spent many years in the Congo told how cannibals many times turned to the captains of ships plying along the river from the mouth of the right tributary of Mobangi (Ubangi) to Stanley Falls, so that they would sell them their sailors or those , who constantly worked on the ocean coast.
“You eat chickens, other poultry, goats, and we eat people, why not?”
One of the leaders of the Liboko tribe, when asked about the consumption of human flesh, exclaimed:
- Ay! If it were up to me, I would devour every last one on this earth!
In the Mobangi River basin, cannibals organize surprise raids on settlements scattered on both banks of the river, capturing the inhabitants and enslaving them. The captives are fed for slaughter, like cattle, and then transported up the river in several canoes. There, cannibals exchanged live goods for ivory.
The new owners, resellers, kept their slaves so that they had a decent, “marketable appearance”, after which they killed them, dismembered the corpses and sold the meat by weight. If the market was oversaturated, then they kept some of the meat, smoked it over the fire, or buried it to the depth of a spade bayonet near a small fire. After this treatment, the meat could be stored for several weeks and sold without any haste. The cannibal bought a leg or other part separately, cut it into pieces and fed them to his wives, children and slaves."
This is a picture of the daily life of thousands and thousands of people in black Africa at the beginning of the 20th century. Missionaries who spread the new faith among the natives of Africa claimed that the newly converted cannibals began to lead a righteous, quiet Christian life.
But there were few of them. One talkative savage, when asked why he eats human flesh, answered indignantly:
“You white people think pork is the most delicious meat, but it can be quite compared to human flesh. Human meat tastes better, and why can’t you eat what you especially like? Well, why are you attached to us? We also buy our live meat and kill it. What do you care about this?
In a conversation with the missionary, a local resident admitted that he had recently killed and eaten one of his seven wives: “She, a scoundrel, violated the law of the family and tribe!” And he feasted gloriously with the rest of the wives, filling himself with her meat for edification.
In East Africa, cannibalism existed until recently, as the authorities of the countries of this region say, but it was accompanied by much less cruelty and atrocities compared to cannibalism in equatorial Africa, especially in its western part.
Cannibal customs in eastern Africa are characterized by some kind of “domestic” economy. The flesh of old people, sick people, incapable of anything, was dried and stored with almost religious reverence in the family pantry. She was offered as a sign special attention as a delicacy for guests. Refusal to eat was perceived as a mortal insult, and agreement to accept the offer meant an intention to further strengthen the friendship.
No doubt, many travelers to East Africa, for the above reasons, had to try this food. And here you shouldn’t be a hypocrite. How else can one explain the fact that expeditions consisting of several whites could freely cover vast distances across eastern and equatorial Africa, inhabited by savage, bloodthirsty tribes who ate their own kind as a matter of course?
How to explain all this? During their travels, they were actively helped by the indigenous population. What was their friendship based on? On strict adherence to local traditions and customs. Anyone who has been lucky enough to visit the African outback knows this firsthand.
In their memoirs, the great travelers to eastern, western and equatorial Africa did not say a word about the fact that, due to certain circumstances, they had to violate the commandments of Christianity. Morals and ethics did not allow them to write this.
The same cannot be said about the legendary African explorer Henry Morton Stanley. Arms in hand, he made his way through the jungles of Africa, not alone, but as part of squads armed with firearms, numbering from 150 to 300 or more people.
Stanley carried with him the morality of a "real" white man. He went down in the history of exploration of the African continent as a cruel, unyielding white colonialist who stopped at nothing to achieve his goals.
Man is carnivorous by nature. For many hundreds and hundreds of thousands of years he adhered to traditions of their ancestors- eating their own kind. This is evidenced by bones and skulls discovered in Switzerland and other countries. And later, at the end of the Bronze Age, while processing metals, man ate human flesh. Evidence of this is the judgment and point of view of Diogenes. Polemicizing about the benefits of labor as the most terrible and invincible opponents of lazy people, he proposed subjecting the latter to “purification rites, or better yet, killing them, cutting them into meat and eating them, as they do with large fish.”
Based on information collected in the 19th and 20th centuries, it can be assumed that the practice of eating human flesh existed on all continents, except Europe .
Back in the 17th century, the great French philosopher and moralist Michel Montaigne suggested leaving the cannibals alone, because the customs of the Europeans, although different in many ways, were, in essence, even more cruel and misanthropic than those of the cannibals.

Cannibalism is perhaps the biggest taboo across cultures. Most reasonable, sensible people have never thought about eating the flesh of another person. This does not even occur to normal people; moreover, the very thought causes nausea and disgust. Of course, there are certain situations in which eating human flesh is the only way to survive without dying, but there are other, more disturbing, horror stories about when a person becomes a cannibal for no apparent reason other than that he simply enjoys the taste of human flesh. The following cases of cannibalism are not for the faint of heart, read at your own risk. But you need to know this, since all the stories took place in real life. So what are some people capable of? Read and be surprised!

Stella Maris Rugby Team

On a cold October day in 1972, a plane en route to Uruguay carrying a rugby team crashed on an unidentified mountain between Chile and Argentina. Several of the best search teams were sent to the crash site, and after an 11-day search, the team was written off and presumed dead. Miraculously, some members of the team were able to survive; they were without food or water for more than two months. But this is due to the fact that they still had food. The team was forced to eat the bodies of their comrades who died near them. Having gained strength, two men (Nando Parrado and Roberto Canessa) went hiking in the mountains and finally found help. Of the 45 people who were on board the plane, only 16 managed to survive and go through all these unpleasant ordeals.

Chief Ratu Udre Udre

This leader, who lived on the island of Fiji, is considered the most terrible cannibal in the history of all mankind. According to his son, he ate nothing but human flesh. When he had at least some “food” left, he hid it for later and did not share it with anyone. Its victims were mainly soldiers and prisoners of war. Udre used stones to keep track of how many bodies he ate. It is believed that Udre Udre ate approximately 872 people in his lifetime. His beliefs about the benefits of cannibalism are not entirely clear, but nevertheless Udre Udre is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as “The Worst Cannibal.”

Reverend Thomas Baker

This man was part of a group of missionaries who worked in the Fiji Islands, where cannibalism was rampant in the 1800s. The situation was too shocking for many missionaries: men and women were killing and eating people, with the main victims being those who were defeated in battle. Some were even forced to watch as their torn limbs were consumed by their conquerors. Despite the terrifying surroundings, the missionaries remained unharmed. That was until Reverend Thomas Baker delved even deeper into Fiji's largest island with a group of other missionaries. The tribe that lived in the area killed and ate his entire crew. The tribe then experienced a period of poor harvests and mysterious deaths, which they attributed to a curse placed on them by the God of the Christians for eating one of His chosen ones. They tried everything to get rid of this curse, including the fact that they even invited Baker's relatives and held traditional forgiveness ceremonies.

Richard Parker

In 1884, the ship Mignonette, which sailed from England to Australia, was shipwrecked. Four crew members managed to survive and continued to swim aboard a four-meter lifeboat. Nineteen days did not pass without a trace. They were without food or drinking water and began to resort to cannibalism. Richard Parker was the youngest - he was only 17, he had neither a wife nor children, he had no one to return to. He was also of heavy build, so the other three decided to kill and eat Parker in order to satisfy their hunger a little and prolong their lives. Five days later, the boat washed ashore and the three men were eventually convicted of murder and cannibalism. They were later released, but only after the jury sympathized with their situation.

Alfred Packer

The Gold Rush sent many American prospectors west in search of riches in the late 1800s. One of these enthusiasts was Alfred Packer. The man and five other "companions" set out for Colorado in search of gold, but the situation turned dire when Packer came to a nearby camp to report a storm that had recently passed. He claimed that his comrades had gone in search of food and had not yet returned. You can probably guess from the title of this article what really happened to his missing comrades. Of course, Packer was the one who sought food and found it in the flesh of his companions. After living on the run for nine years, police caught up with him and Packer was sentenced to 40 years in prison. He was released in 1901, and while in prison he reportedly made radical changes to his lifestyle. He became a vegetarian.

Albert Fish

He was not only a cannibal, but also a serial killer and rapist who abused children. He was so feared that he is remembered by nicknames such as the Brooklyn Vampire, the Gray Ghost and the Moon Maniac. The exact number of victims is unknown, but many claim that Fish committed about 100 murders, although only three incidents indicated his involvement. He specifically targeted, maimed and killed people with mental disabilities (children and the elderly) because he felt that no one would look for them. After writing a letter to the parents of 10-year-old Gracie Budd, whom he kidnapped, killed, and then partially ate, Albert was eventually caught and sentenced to death. And the clue was precisely his horrifying letters that he wrote to Gracie’s parents, where he told them about what he had done to their child.

Andrey Chikatilo

The Rostov Butcher, aka Andrei Chikatilo, was a serial killer, rapist and cannibal who killed people in Russia and Ukraine. He confessed to killing more than 50 women and children between 1978 and 1990. After Chikatilo was caught and arrested, police noticed a strange odor coming from the pores of his skin. This rotten smell was reminiscent of human flesh. And everything immediately fell into place. He simply ate some of his victims so as not to leave any traces or clues. He was executed on February 14, 1994. The investigation and subsequent trial resulted in the resolution of more than 1,000 unrelated crimes, including murder and sexual assault.

Alexander Pierce

Alexander Pierce is a mixture between a survivor and a natural-born cannibal. After another escape from an Australian prison in the early 19th century, he and eight other escapees trekked through the forests of Tasmania before realizing they didn't have enough food. After long wanderings, several prisoners were eaten, but Pierce and the other two prisoners managed to survive, since they were the best. But he soon killed and ate the rest of the escapees, and was eventually caught and sent back to prison. But soon he managed to escape again with another prisoner, and you probably guessed that he also first killed him and then ate him. This time, when Pierce was caught, body parts of another fugitive were found in his pockets. Alexander Pearce was soon sentenced to death and hanged in Hobart on July 19, 1824 (at exactly 9:00 am). His last words were: “Human flesh is very tasty. It tastes better than fish or pork.”