THAT German cannibal
February 1st 2007 12:59
In 2001 Armin Meiwes, a polite and unassuming German native in his early 40s, placed an ad in an internet chat room catering to cannibals, modern cannibals that is (and apparently there’s a disturbingly large underworld of these sociopathic individuals).
“Looking for a well-built man, 18-30 years old, for slaughter” read the ad. Armin received hundreds of replies. Over two-hundred of these offered themselves up for his consumption. All of these whom Armin contacted directly through email never followed through with actually meeting Armin in person … except one; Bernd Juergen Brandes.
Bernd had a deep-rooted desire to be eaten by another human being. Armin wanted desperately to satisfy his own craving for cooked human flesh. Both men were deeply disturbed individuals who had been having these fantasies since they were pubescent boys. They were sexual fantasies, but rather than fellatio and intercourse; they were about devouring and being devoured. It was carnality taken to utter hardcore extreme.
Armin met Bernd at the train station and took him back to his dilapidated farmhouse where he had lived with his overbearing mother all his life until she died. Armin took Bernd upstairs to his custom built slaughter room. They indulged fleetingly in normal sexual activity, but there was something much more important on their menu.
Eventually, after Bernd had consumed many sleeping pills and glasses of Schnapps, the two men prepared to cannibalize. Armin took a kitchen knife and chopped off Bernd’s erect penis (but only after several agonising blows). After applying a diaper-like bandage to Bernd’s profusely bleeding penile stump the two men rushed downstairs to the kitchen and hurriedly tried to fry Bernd’s severed member. Bernd was delirious. Armin was equally excited. But the penis proved too chewy for impatient Bernd and then it burnt in the pan; not the succulent and tender piece of flesh Bernd had hoped it would be. Yet Armin was thinking more of Bernd’s rump steaks and thigh fillets.
They returned upstairs and Armin assisted Bernd into the bathtub where he proceeded to lose blood at a rapid rate. But Bernd was content. He knew of Armin’s intentions. They had agreed on this from the start. They had made a contract with each other. As Bernd had stated to Armin early on, “There is absolutely no way back now, only forwards, through your teeth”.
It took eight hours for Bernd to slip into a coma. At 4am Armin ended Bernd’s life, plunging the kitchen knife repeatedly into Bernd’s throat as he lay naked and prone on the makeshift slaughtering table. Then he hung Bernd from meat hooks in what is known in cannibal circles as the Gein Configuration and proceeded to butcher him; first he bled the body, then he severed the head by slicing away the neck muscle and twisting the head off where the spinal cord met the skull.
He went on to skin the body, gutting the carcass, then removing the legs and arms. It was long and arduous work. But Armin took great ardour in it. He had videotaped the entire butchery so that he could watch it all again for his own discrete pleasure. But what he was looking forward to most would be the eating and ingesting of Bernd, slowly and surely, which is exactly what he did over the next 18 months.
He got caught of course. A curious student dabbling in one of the cannibal chat rooms started a communiqué with Armin which eventually freaked the student out when he realized Armin was quite serious in his taste for human flesh. The frightened young man contacted police, whom quickly identified Armin, went to his house with a search warrant and found substantial evidence; from several thousand images of torture and deviant porn on his computers to the elaborate death chamber upstairs.
This brings me to Armin Meiwes' subsequent trial and sentencing in January 2004 where the jury returned a verdict of manslaughter, much to the horror and disbelief of most of Germany (and the rest of the world).
Armin Meiwes’ defense was claiming “killing on demand” (similar to euthanasia); that Bernd Brandes had wanted to die and be eaten. But the prosecuting attorneys were set on murder of the first degree with a minimum of 15 years.
(I might be a gorehound, a terrorfreak, a horrorphile, but I pity the poor souls in the courtroom who were forced to witness Armin’s video footage of Bernd’s slaughter.)
So Armin got eight years, with a chance of walking free in four years if he is a good boy in prison. Almost immediately after Armin’s lawyer told him publishers were already fighting for the rights to his life story, and a bidding war had broken out over the film rights as well.
There have been a couple of German films made already, based on the events, but nothing of any real impact. Perhaps German director Tom (Perfume) Tykwer will get down and dirty? Or maybe it’ll be that appalling Bavarian hack Uwe Boll who’ll get his hands on it. Argh!
Here's the trailer to the "grim love story", which does look promising, however, I wonder how hardcore any of those movies actually are? I mean, we’re talking about real life modern cannibalism here, not the fictional world of Thomas Harris. You gotta go the whole hog, so to speak ....
But of course there’s the very controversial food for thought which lingers on the palette; Should Armin Meiwes have been given a life sentence? He could be out on the streets again in a year or so … trawling the underworld cannibal sites like Cannibal Café, Gourmet and Eaten Up, searching for his next “long pig”.
Oink, oink.
* the images on this page were taken from the following wikipedia pages:
Armin Meiwes and Butterfly: A Grimm Love Story
They are licensed under the GNU Free Document License
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Comment by David
One of the best reads I've had for a while ... Can't wait for the film ... (Can't wait to do a director's course and start making some reality films ... either ...
David ...
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Reality flicks huh?
Comment by Tracy
Movies and Life
I've never heard of anything like it...I doubt if I could sit through the film, I feel queasy just reading about it..
Tracy
Comment by Damo
Now where did I keep my barf bag?
Strange how a the story of a person fascinated by cannibalism can become a film to satisfy the desires of more people who are fascinated by cannibalism.
Is art imitating life or will life try to imitate art which is imitating life which is....
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
If you havent read them yet Bryn I recommend Hunting Humans by Elliot Leyton which theorises on the social and cultural mnotivations of the most notorious serial killer.
Also MindHunter which is all about the art of profiling and delves deep into the sociopathic, psychotic mind of the big hitters. Its written by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker real life FBI profilers who developed most of the techniques still used today...
Last one would be Forty Years of Murder which is written by Professor Keith Simpson of Scotland Yard. The guy who caughht John Christie and worked on the acid bath murders.
Great read as always my friend
Comment by KylieW
Celebrity Obsession
Bloody great post (pun intended)!
I'm not sure how good the Grimm Love movie will be, but the book sounds grotesque and fascinating. I'm not sure who is more disturbed, Armin for slaughtering and eating Bernd....or Bernd for volunteering to be slaughtered and eaten????
A book I read on Fred and Rosemary West....it might have been called Happy Like Murderers....but I can't recall exactly. Great read and very disturbing.
I feel so sorry for those jurors who had to watch Armin's video!!! ***shudder***
Kylie
Comment by Ash
Australian Traveller
Flashes of memories
very bizarre!
Mindhunter is a good movie btw
slightly queasy...
ash
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
This book is MindHunter which is essentially the
story of the real life dude who caught Bundy, Dharmer etc..going deep into the black psyche of killers
Comment by MelissaA
Fun Facts
I think I'd better put my pizza back down for a while now! Funny thing that.
I always wondered about this, the whole story of it - well there you go - be careful what you wish for as they say.
I thought 1 man offering himself up to be eaten was bad enough, but to know that there were more than 200 candidates!!! *shakes head*
Comment by Ash
Australian Traveller
Flashes of memories
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
No chance of that now
Comment by Ash
Australian Traveller
Flashes of memories
Comment by Cibbuano
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
How many cannibals do we have among us? Is Bryn one?
Comment by Damo
And we taste like Roast Piggy,
Do we have crackle like roast Piggy?
And what ever happened to Wa Wa?
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Yes, I've been having strange dreams since the book ... and I wake up with a craving for pork crackling ... (muah-ha-ha-ha!) ... yes, Cibby, care to come round to mine for din-dins? I do a delicious rare ham-string in garlic and white wine ...
JD, yeah, was wondering what the title was on Dahmer ... cheers! It's all research of course!
Yup, apparently Europe, and especially Germany, is crawling with modern cannibals, the Armin Meirwes case opened a whole can o' mealworms!
Curiously, I wonder how one accesses some of those cannibal sites ... ?? In the book the police had to get Armin to assist them in doing so ... so I guess one can't simply type in "cannibal cafe" in google then ... (not that I've tried mind you ... not yet, anyhow ... heh heh heh ...)
Comment by Tracy
Movies and Life
I read that Rosemary and Fred West book too. It was disturbing but very good...
Comment by Damo
I bet it is BYO.
Comment by MelissaA
Fun Facts
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Comment by Damo
Do you want eyes with that?
Comment by DuskDevi
Rugby World Cup 2007
I think I'm going to hurl.
Comment by Nina
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
cheers guys!
Comment by Adrian
Philosophy Blog
The main problem, in my mind, is that once you make a choice like this, there's no going back. Should rational, sane, and consenting adults be prohibited from making irreversible choices?
Similar questions arise in the case of body dysmorphics in general. People who want to cut their fingers off and sew them to their chests, etc.
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by Anonymous
If it is not allowed, may i suggest.
someone, to upload a txt file on rapidshare so we all can download that file and go to the link where that video is of Armin Meiwes.
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by Anonymous
Try the following movie:
Cannibal
made in 2005
director: Marian Dora
Starts off slow, but worth the watch. Very raw.
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by ~41~
Really Long Link
The Cannibal Cafe
Comment by Fronky
And yes I've searched for the vid through P2P.
Because I'm a freak like that.
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by Fronky
I did see Grimm Love/Rohtenburg and didn't like it, the student character has no business being in there. It's as if the director/script writer thought the 2 main characters weren't interesting enough on their own ... o_O
I don't think the slaughter vid will ever get released, I think it's 4 hours long or something. Maybe some rich kid could bribe a cop to land it in his lap for a week?
I can pm you a link containing the pics if you want (after I've registered in here).
Btw, did you read the book Cannibal? I liked it a LOT. The description of the actual slaughter is just as intense as the scene in the movie.
Regards,
Fronky
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Yeah, I'm keen to see the pics. Send me a PM.
I read Cannibal, which despite its pulpy nature was a darkly fascinating read. I have a movie Cannibal which is apparently also based on the crime, but I haven't watched it yet. I'll review it in the weeks to come.
Comment by fronky
I also saw 2 documentaries, one of which has an interview with Meiwes. Did you see those too?
I sent you a PM.
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by fronky
There's Cannibal and Grimm Love/Rohtenburg, is there a 3rd one?
So you haven't seen Cannibal yet huh?
It's an art movie and VERY extreme in both the gay sex and sick gore department (the slaughter looks like they used a real human corpse, you won't believe your eyes).
Some of the scenes also definitely have Buttgereitesque influences, especially the meeting/romantic parts, piano music included.
I have the special edition dvd and there's also some shorts on it. Dora is one sick puppy Yes Sir!
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
So I'm curious, what's the most disturbing movie you've ever seen? When I say "disturbing" I'm referring to movies where the atmosphere as well as the special effects (if they have any) are thoroughly convincing. I've seen numerous twisted movies that weren't very convincing.
Comment by fronky
Mu Zan E is pretty vile too, as are the Harakiri movies.
I don't watch Mondo/True Gore though; I guess Africa Addio would be a nightmare for me since I like animals.
And Girl Hell is in my top-5 of most depressing movies.
PS : Murder-Set-Pieces is way cool, I call it the modern Maniac.
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Personally I don't get off on gross-out stuff that is designed purely to gross out the viewer. I love the artifice of special effects make-up, but it has to be well done, and have a strong context within the movie. I have no time for low-budget gore that tries to look hardcore and is purely gratuitous.
I love the work of Tom Savini and Rob Bottin. Day of the Dead and The Thing are probably my favourite examples of special effects make-up.
Comment by Cougar<3
Comment by fronky
I've seen all the movies you've mentioned but recently I saw the new number 1 as far as sick is concerned. It's called "Philosophy Of A Knife" and entails the experiments the Japanese did on POW's in Camp 731 near the end of WWII. It features tens of totally disgusting scenes and it being in black and white doesn't do anything to soften the blows. It lasts about 4.5 hours(!) and is only for DIE HARD hardcore horror freaks. And then some of them will STILL reach for the puke bucket.
See it if you must, but you (and everyone else) have been warned ...
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
and where pray tell did you find such a movie? bit torrent site? black market??
Comment by fronky
And one last thing : to say it's worse than August Underground Mordum is a BIG understatement (also because every single experiment in the movie happened for real).
PS : it's an ntsc version but it played fine on my Pal dvd recorder.
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
cheers for that, i'll check it out.
i've bought a lot from caiman. they're very reliable.
i've not seen august underground. a lot of those "snuff" flicks don't do much for me. i like the contrivance of an actual story, rather than the "reality" pretense.
Comment by fronky
In Philosophy, the director goes VERY far in a lot of scenes, probably too far. As an example, there's this scene where a woman gets her teeth pulled without anesthetic. The sick element is that you see them pull 10-15 teeth whereas 2 or 3 would have gotten the message through. It's exploitation in a way.
Someone should make a "I survived Philosophy Of A Knife" T-shirt.
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by fronky
You don't watch a movie like this for fun though. I certainly didn't have "fun". It's an experience you'll never forget.
And regarding T-shirts : I have tees from Cannibal Holocaust, Make Them Die Slowly, House By The Cemetery and one with Chikatilo on it. Should be fun during the summer! lol
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
House by the Cemetary tee would be cool, does it show the original poster art? I should review that some time soon ... I suppose the Cannibal Holocaust one depicts the impalement right?
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by RotWild
If anyone has ANY information at all, kindly email me at:
beaumortis@aim.com
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by Anonymous
binnesch@hotmail.com
If you have the video, PLEASE contact me.
My Orkut:
http://www.orkut.com.br/Main#Profile.aspx?rl=mp&uid=3608272173939345841
Comment by fronky
I have 2 docu's about Meiwes but don't recall seeing any of THE footage.
Comment by fronky
If RS (the company) watched all the files on their servers and censored them themselves they would be out of business lol.
Comment by ×
Comment by fronky
"CookingProgramme.rar" would be an apt title.
Comment by Rissa
If you could kindly contact me when the video is uploaded,
my email is beaumortis@aim.com
I realize that it must be annoying, having all these people who you have to email, but it would be incredibly appreciated.
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by Anon55
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by Annonymous
I would really love to see it. For my thesis, of course
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Thesis, of course
Comment by Binne
If you have any information at all about the video, please send me an email: binnesch@hotmail.com
Or if you have the original video and want to sell it, give me your price and I'll play in cash.