There are some downright terrifying facts about Armin Meiwes, the German cannibal killer. Not only did he fulfill his fantasies of eating another person, but he managed to find a willing victim who enjoyed it. His monstrous dream came true the night he invited a stranger he met online to his home where they sliced, prepared, and consumed said stranger together. He probably should have done his research on what happens to you if you eat human flesh.
Eventually earning himself the frightening title of Der Metzgermeister or "The Rotenburg Cannibal," Armin Meiwes was a real-life Hannibal Lecter, a man who found beauty in the culinary preparation of human flesh. Eventually captured by police, his bizarre fantasies were uncovered along with a two-hour video documenting the extremely graphic nature of his endeavor. The details of this interlude were so shocking, they left the nation of Germany speechless and reminded everyone that there are still monsters in the world.
Terrifying Facts About Armin Meiwes, The Cannibal Who Found Dinner Online,
He Cooked And Ate 53 Pounds Of Human Flesh Over Time
Over a period of ten months, Meiwes defrosted and cooked several parts of the body in olive oil and garlic, eventually consuming about 53 pounds of human flesh before he was caught. According to Meiwes, "with every bite, my memory of him grew stronger," and he was able to revisit the most memorable evening of his life again and again with each new meal.
In all, Meiwes was able to carve off about 65 lbs of flesh from the body and even tried to grind the man's bones into flour. Leftovers, teeth, and inedible organs were buried in the garden next to his home. When the meat began to run low, Meiwes jumped back online and began searching for a new victim.
His Savored His First Meal À La Hannibal Lecter
Like Hannibal Lecter from Silence of the Lambs, Meiwes took great pleasure in preparing his first meal of human flesh. He set the table with candles, his best dishes, and opened a bottle of his finest South African wine. He chose "a piece of rump steak—a piece from his back" for this "special occasion" and prepared it with potatoes and sprouts. He told the court the meat tasted "like pork, but stronger. More substantial." He later told reporters he understood what he did wrong. "The wishes, the fantasies you have, these could never be fulfilled. These things you dream about could only be a dream."
He Read Star Trek While His Victim Bled Out
Delirious with happiness (and significant blood loss) at having his penis lopped off, Brandes agreed to soak in a warm bath until he slipped into unconsciousness and eventual death. Meiwes gave Brandes some more sleeping pills and pain killers and waited for his friend to bleed out by patiently reading a Star Trek book for the next three hours. But when he checked on the Brandes in the early morning hours, he realized he was still alive. Kissing him on the forehead, he finally killed him by stabbing him in the neck.
He Had His Own "Slaughter Room" Upstairs
After his victim was dead, Meiwes had to "prepare" him. Meiwes had designed a special room in his house called the"Slaughter Room" designed for the purpose of cutting up another human, and he was finally able to use it. This windowless upstairs room was furnished with a bar bed and a special cage for holding his victims.
He hung the body on a butchering hook suspended from the ceiling and used two different saws to cut Brandes's body into edible portions. Placing the pieces in freezer bags, he stacked them neatly in a secret compartment in the bottom of his refrigerator next to some takeaway pizza. Then he went outside and buried the man's skull in his backyard. When the police arrived and found the frozen meat, Meiwes claimed it was wild pig.
He Sautéed And Ate The Penis With His Victim
It was Friday night and Armin Meiwes had been waiting a long time for this "date." Once his new friend, Berndt Brandes, arrived the men hit it off immediately and had sex in the upstairs bedroom. After that, Brandes swallowed 20 sleeping pills with a bottle of schnapps and instructed Meiwes to bite his penis off. When that didn't work, Meiwes burst both the man's testicles with his teeth and used a kitchen knife to slice off his member. In a later memoir, he said Brandes "screamed horribly... for maybe 20 to 30 seconds. The blood was squirting from the open wound, similar to a fountain."
He offered Brandes a bit of his own penis to try, but the organ was apparently "too chewy" for either man to enjoy. Meiwes proceeded to fry up the severed flesh in some of Brandes's fat and a bit of garlic. According to his testimony in court, however, he became distracted by taking care of Brandes and burned the "food," in the end feeding it to the dog.
He Found Willing Victims Online Who Were More Depraved Than Him
Meiwes began scouring the internet for men who wanted to be eaten in 2001 using a site called The Cannibal Café. Although the site is now offline, many disturbing pleas for human flesh are still floating around the Internet. Using the name of his imaginary childhood friend "Franky," Meiwes was a regular on the forum where people posted their cannibal fantasies and tried to meet like-minded friends.
Before Brandes, Meiwes met several men online who seemed interested in being devoured, and he had several unsuccessful meetings. The first man Meiwes found wanted him to "pick him up in a cattle truck and slaughter him like a pig," so they met at the train station and returned to Meiwes's house. Once the man was licking Meiwes rubber butchering boots and being wrapped up to be slaugthered, he backed out. Afterwards, the men just "fooled around, drank beer, and ate pizza."
Another Italian man made such a shocking suggestion, even Meiwes couldn't go through with it. The man had asked Meiwes to "burn his testicles with flamethrower and hammer his body down with nails and pins," all the while being whipped to death. Meiwes was even offered the body of a young boy at one point who could be purchased for a price. Apparently, the boy was used in the meal of a Russian Orthodox feast instead, and the offer was rescinded.
He Dreamed Of Eating His Classmates Since He Was Eight
Meiwes's childhood in Essen, Germany was not particularly normal. He was abandoned by his father and lived alone with his mother who kept a close eye on him, often accompanying him on dates and even to his Army training excursions.
She eventually died when he was a young adult, and Meiwes described his life as "lonely" without family to keep him company. Since he the age of eight, he had always fantasized about killing and eating another person, including his classmates. And after the death of his mother in 1999, this urge grew even stronger. He often felt alone and directionless, until he discovered a way to bring his fantasies to life.
His Home Movie Had Jurors Seeking Therapy
Crucial to the case against Meiwes was a four-hour video tape made during his evening with Brandes. Even though only 19 minutes of the entire film were shown during his trial, many jurors sought therapy afterwards as a way to erase the horrifying images. The video was deemed "too disturbing to show" and was promptly locked away in a police warehouse so it could not be leaked to the press. The video is rumored to show sex and conversation between the two men, as well as the eventual slaughter of the Brandes.
Although some screen shots have been leaked, the video is not available anywhere online and is rumored to have been destroyed after the trial to avoid voyeurs and copycats. While the video is terribly incriminating, it did clearly show Brandes giving his explicit consent to all that happened and corroborated Meiwes's testimony about consensual cannibalism.
In Germany, Cannibalism Was Not Illegal And He Was Charged With "Disturbing The Peace"
Although Meiwes offered a full confession of his crimes, the unprecedented case proved problematic for the prosecuting lawyers who soon discovered cannibalism is actually not illegal in Germany. Instead, Meiwes was charged with murder for the purpose of sexual pleasure and "disturbing the peace of the dead."
This was certainly true, but the charge did not speak to the depraved nature of the crime or the intense level of perversity. Meiwes's lawyers responded with a unique defense claiming that his victim had actually agreed to be killed and eaten which would negate the charge of disruption. His defense went on to say that Meiwes was, at worst, guilty of "killing on demand" which is only punishable by five years in jail.
During his pre-trial interview, Meiwes claimed to feel better and more stable after eating his friend. Brandes spoke excellent English, and Meiwes claimed his language skills had also improved since eating the man.
Eating Human Flesh Turned Him On And Brought Him Closer To His Victim
While Armin Meiwes seemed to enjoy the process of butchering and parceling the sections of the body, the real thrill came when he was able to eat it. Described by psychiatrists as a "highly specific form of fetishism, where his desire for attachment and comfort is achieved by contact to his fetish," Meiwes found tremendous pleasure in preparing and devouring the body of his past lover.
His fetish was to eat the flesh of a man who he knew and liked - the experience not only fulfilled an ongoing childhood fantasy, it apparently also created a meaningful connection between him and his victim. This condition is known as Paraphilia, which is intense sexual arousal resulting from deviant behavior - in this case, cannabalism. By eating the body of Brandes, Meiwes was able to achieve both a sexual and emotional release, giving him a feeling of contentment and well-being.