ok ok fine…the story of the cannibal, Armin Meiwes.

I’ve got a few of these stories written up and waiting to get posted to the internet someplace, they’re true stories. They may have been told in more detail or with better prose on other websites, to which I include links so you can find out more if you like.

Once again, if you don’t want to read about gory gross stuff, or see yucky pictures, or you are faint of heart, skip this post. If you’re steeled and ready for the worst, go ahead and read more.

Arwin Meiwes posted internet ads asking for a well-built, fair-complected male to volunteer to be eaten by him. Seriously, he was seeking a cannibal mate. He repeatedly attempted to meet someone who would fulfill his fantasy, but the men he met tended to be less than serious, and many would not meet him in real life. “I hope you can come quick to me, I am a hungry cannibal. Please tell me your height and weight and I will butcher and eat your fine flesh.”

He spoke, in fact, to hundreds of men until finally, in 2001,  Bernd-Jurgen Brandes responded to him, “You don’t have to buy meat again, there will be plenty left.”, and the two met in person shortly afterward. Meiwes said,”I had the fantasy, and in the end I fulfilled it.”
The two went to Meiwes’ home, where he sliced off Brandes’ penis, and cooked it. They ate it together, recording everything on video. Then, at Brandes’ request, he stabbed Brandes in the neck repeatedly, killing him. He then butchered the body and consumed it. Meiwes says, “My friend enjoyed dying, death. I only waited horrified for the end after doing the deed. It took so terribly long.”

Meiwes expressed disappointment in his partner, saying  “The next one must be young but not so fat.”

He kept about 60 pounds of the meat in his refridgerator, eating it over a span of time, saving it and relishing it, cooking it with cabbage and potatoes. He labeled the packages of human flesh “schnitzels”.

He was caught when he placed another ad. A young man noticed it, and reported it to the police. He was tried and first sentenced to 8 years, but public outcry soon called for a second trial, and he was given life in prison.

His defense was that the death was consensual, and could not be considered murder. According to some involved in the case, the video tape made by the participants made this a very strong defense.The fact that cannibalism is itself not a crime in Germany, made his case even stronger.
Meiwes was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 8 and a half years in prison in 2004; the case attracted considerable media attention and also led to a debate over whether Meiwes could be convicted at all given that Brandes had voluntarily and knowingly participated in the act. Evidence provided by the defense was a video tape made my Meiwes of the entire incident.

During the trial Meiwes’ lawyer, Harald Ermel, cited e-mails in which the victim insisted on being killed and eaten. One read: “There’s absolutely no way back for me, only forwards, through your teeth.”
Meiwes’ video of the killing in March 2001, as well as a note left by Bandes in his apartment saying he was a willing victim, persuaded even prosecutors to concede the death was voluntary.
Media and observers were kept outside while the tape was shown to the court. One newspaper said a woman almost fainted during the film, which shows Meiwes talking to the severed head while he disembowels the body, hung from a hook.

There was a film made about the case, which was for a time banned in Germany. It is now available there.