Cases of Cannibalism in US History

Cases of Cannibalism in US History (1846- present)

1846-47- The Donner Party: A group of American pioneers led by George Donner who set out to California via wagon train. Due to a poorly planned trip that landed in them in the Sierra Nevada mountain range in mid winter during a horrible snow storm. Some pioneers resorted to cannibalism to survive.

Donner Party Members 

January 28, 1828 – January 14, 1864 - Boone Helm: A Kentucky mountain man known as "The Kentucky Cannibal", was an American serial killer. Helm gained his nickname for consuming the flesh of his enemies as well as those who traveled with him. Searching for gold, as many were, proved the west to be extremely treacherous. Helm said he partook in the killings for survival. He as hung in Virginia City, Montana for his crimes. 

Boone Helm

January 21, 1842 – April 23, 1907 - Alfred Griner "Alferd" Packer: An American prospector who also resorted to cannibalism after finding that the Colorado mountains proved to be as harsh as those in the Sierra Nevada's, as the Donner Party found out. He confessed to having lived from the flesh of his companions after they killed each other to survive. It took him two months to emerge from the mountain range and his story was called into question. He hid for 9 years after people became suspect of his story. He ended up doing 40 years for manslaughter once he was caught.

Alfred Griner "Alferd" Packer 

April - October 1918 -SS Dumaru- A steam ship that departed from Portland, Oregon in April, was comprised when it was struck by lighting the following October off the coast of Guam. The strike ignited the ship's ammunition cargo and the ship was a complete loss, stranding the crew into two life boats and a raft. All hands were rescued, amounting to 52 people. They drifted for three weeks across the pacific, consuming those that died due to exposure.

SS Dumaru

May 19, 1870 – January 16, 1936 - Albert Fish- Albert Fish is a notorious 1920's American Serial Killer who's main target were children. He was also known by many titles, including the Gray Man, the Werewolf of Wysteria, the Brooklyn Vampire, the Moon Maniac, and The Boogey Man. A braggadocious by nature, Fish claimed to have killed at least one child in every state and often bragged about how sweet their meat was. He claimed to have killed over a 100, but was only suspected of 5. He died in via the electric chair in 1936.

Albert Fish

1930's - Appalachian Mountain Cannibals - Reports of residents of the Appalachian Mountains practicing ritualistic cannibalism, consuming their dead relatives in order to honor them. This has been the source of many recent horror movies including "The Hills Have Eyes" and "The Wrong Turn" but over all seems to be a mystery. Not much info on this.

Appalachian Life

1930's - William Buehler Seabrook - New York Times journalist William Seabrook, claims that in the interest of research, he took part in cannibalism. He obtained chunks of human meat from a healthy specimen, from a hospital intern at the Collège de Sorbonne, in London. Seabrook reported, "It was like good, fully-developed veal, not young, but not yet beef. It was very definitely like that, and it was not like any other meat I had ever tasted. It was so nearly like good, fully developed veal that I think no person with a palate of ordinary, normal sensitiveness could distinguish it from veal. It was mild, good meat with no other sharply defined or highly characteristic taste such as for instance, goat, high game, and pork have. The steak was slightly tougher than prime veal, a little stringy, but not too tough or stringy to be agreeably edible. The roast, from which I cut and ate a central slice, was tender, and in color, texture, smell as well as taste, strengthened my certainty that of all the meats we habitually know, veal is the one meat to which this meat is accurately comparable".

William Seabrook

February 1945 - Chichijima - 8 American airmen were consumed by Japanese soldiers in Chichijima during WWII.  "This case was investigated in 1947 in a war crimes trial, and of 30 Japanese soldiers prosecuted, five were found guilty and hanged". Our 41st President, George H. W. Bush, was one of these airmen shot down. but he had escaped. The others were not so fortunate, as they were beaten, tortured, beheaded and eventually eaten by battalions and senior Japanese officers. All of this at the order of Lt. General Yoshi Tachibana. Because the military and international law did not specifically deal with cannibalism, they were tried for murder and "prevention of honorable burial".

Those that were executed were:
Navy Aviation Radioman Jimmy Dye, from Mount Ephraim, New Jersey
Navy Pilot Floyd Hall from Sedalia, Missouri
Navy Aviation Radioman Marve Mershon from Los Angeles, California
Marine Pilot Warren Earl Vaughn from Childress, Texas
Navy Aviation Radioman Dick Woellhof from Clay Center, Kansas
Aviation Gunners Grady York from Jacksonville, Florida
Navy Aviation Gunner Glenn Frazier from Athol, Kansas
Navy Pilot Warren Hindenlang of Foxboro, Massachusetts.

George H. W. Bush

Lt. General Yoshi Tachibana

1957-1960 - While not US history, it's important to note ritualistic cannibalism among the Fore people caused a Kuru epidemic, with approximately 1000 deaths during this time.

1970s-1990s- American Killers/Cannibals.

Stanley Baker: July 1970- Hitchhiker Stanley Baker kills a man who stopped to give him a ride in Montana. He admitted to shooting the man and then consuming his body, including his heart.

Stanley Baker

Albert Fentress: August 1979 Former school teacher Albert Fentress lured, killed and cannibalized an 18-year-old high Poughkeepsie school student. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity in 1980.

Albert Fentress

Jeffrey Dahmer- Between 1978 and 1991, notorious American serial killer Jeffery Dahmer murdered at least 17 boys and men while living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was known to rape, murder, and dismember his victims and later consume them. He was sentenced to 15 life terms in 1992 but was beaten to death by a fellow inmate in 1994.

Jeffery Dahmer

Hadden Clark - In 1986 American Serial Killer, Hadden Clark killed and cannibalized 6-year-old Michelle Dorr. He was also charged with killing 23-year-old Laura Houghteling in 1992. He confessed to others. According to Murderpedia "last December he led police to a bucket with 230 pieces of women's jewelry buried in the Cape Cod property. One of the pieces was Laura Houghteling's high school ring. Clark told his inmate friend that the discovered jewelry was a collection of "trophies" from a two-decade long killing spree."

Hadden Clark

Gary Heidnik- In 1986 serial rapist and murderer Gary Heidnik abducted six women . He held five of those women in the basement of his home in North Philadelphia. After one of the women died from starvation, Heidnik ground the victim up and fed her to the other victims a combination of dog food and human flesh. While at his parole hearing...he refused to speak but instead wrote "The Devil Put A Cookie In My Throat" on a piece of paper.

Gary Heidnik

The 21st Century- 2000- Present. This timeline is littered with cases from around the world of people partaking in cannibalistic rituals. You can see them all here.

While I do not believe in glorifying what these people do to others. I think it's important to remember that people live among us who think like this. The likelihood of anyone acting on their desires, urges, or curiosities, I'm sure is very rare. But after researching and talking to others, there is no doubt in my mind that they do fact blend in amongst us all.