Buzz
Throughout much of history and across most cultures, consuming human flesh for survival has been met with widespread disapproval. Despite this, such acts have occurred far more frequently than one might anticipate. Below are ten of the most gruesome historical instances:
10. The Donner Party
The Donner Party consisted of eighty-seven American pioneers who, while journeying across the United States, found themselves stranded due to heavy snowfall. When rescuers finally arrived, only forty-eight of the original members survived, sparking numerous speculations about the events that transpired.
It is widely believed that certain members of the Donner Party, driven to extreme measures by starvation, ultimately turned to eating those who had already perished. Initial interviews following their rescue frequently mentioned cannibalism. However, these claims were later refuted, prompting archaeologists to uncover tooth-marked remains, which confirmed the grim truth.
9. Regina v. Dudley and Stephens
The Dudley and Stephens case is a pivotal British legal case from 1884, still referenced in modern legal studies as a key example of common law and the defense of “necessity.”
In this case, four sailors found themselves adrift at sea with no food or water. Dudley and Stephens suggested that sacrificing one person would ensure the survival of the others. When no volunteer emerged, they killed and consumed their cabin boy, who was already in a coma. Upon rescue, they claimed the act was necessary to survive. The court rejected their defense, initially sentencing them to death. However, recognizing the severity of the situation, the sentence was later reduced to six months in prison.
8. The Crusades
The Crusades swept through Asia like a divine storm, leaving countless casualties in their path. However, such massive armies couldn’t sustain themselves solely on faith—when provisions dwindled, both sides resorted to consuming the flesh of their fallen foes.
While the cannibalism was primarily driven by desperation, it also served to terrify and demoralize their enemies. After all, how does one confront an adversary nourished by the bodies of their own comrades?
7. The Tang Dynasty
The Tang Dynasty, a significant era in Chinese history, is too vast to cover entirely here, so we’ll focus on one specific practice: revenge cannibalism.
Indeed, “revenge cannibalism” was a genuine phenomenon; disgruntled citizens would occasionally kill corrupt officials and consume their flesh. Additionally, it was not unusual for criminals to be executed by having their hearts removed, allowing officials to eat a portion as a form of retribution.
6. Leningrad
The siege of Leningrad pushed the boundaries of human endurance in the face of starvation. Desperation drove citizens to strip wallpaper from walls, scraping off and consuming the adhesive to survive.
With food supplies completely exhausted, cannibalism wasn’t just a last resort; it became a grim reality. The practice became so widespread that authorities formed a special police unit to address it. Parents feared letting their children outside, terrified they might be killed and eaten. The streets were littered with partially consumed corpses.
5. The Japanese in WWII
While Soviet citizens in Leningrad resorted to cannibalism out of sheer hunger, Japanese soldiers during WWII engaged in similar acts, though not always out of necessity. Their motivations often extended beyond mere survival.
Victims, often prisoners of war, were ruthlessly killed, and their bodies were stripped of all edible flesh, typically leaving only their hands and feet intact. However, some unfortunate victims endured the horror of having flesh torn from their limbs while still alive, before being discarded into pits to perish. The most chilling aspect was that some Japanese soldiers and officers committed these acts not out of hunger but to assert dominance, seemingly to demonstrate their capacity for cruelty.
4. The Ukrainian Famine of 1932
This famine is widely regarded as a man-made catastrophe. In 1932, the USSR forcibly confiscated nearly all food produced by Ukrainian farmers, leaving millions to starve, with a significant portion perishing from hunger.
A lesser-known aspect of this tragedy was the extent to which Ukrainians turned to cannibalism. One account describes a man who killed his wife and prepared her body in a soup, while other stories recount families consuming their own children and infants out of desperation—all while Joseph Stalin’s cheerful image was broadcast globally.
3. The Siege of Ma’arra and Antioch
While the Crusades have already been mentioned, these two infamous sieges deserve special attention. Here’s why:
Desperate Christian soldiers, driven to madness by starvation during the siege, were said to slice off portions of their fallen enemies’ buttocks and fry them. In their frantic hunger, they sometimes ate the meat undercooked, leading to severe illness. Other accounts suggest the Crusaders boiled adults alive and even roasted children on spits—apparently believing divine favor absolved them of any consequences.
2. St. Francis Raid
During the French and Indian War in late 1759, the village of St. Francis, Canada, was subjected to a raid. This event, though not widely known, stands out due to the sheer brutality of Robert Rogers and his men, who executed one of history’s most merciless attacks.
Robert Rogers and his ruthless raiders reportedly devastated the village, scalping and executing their captives. However, the relentless violence left Rogers’ men famished, driving them to consume the raw flesh of their victims. Reflecting on the atrocities, one Ranger remarked that he and his comrades “scarcely deserved to be called human.”
1. The Chinese Famine of 1959
Chairman Mao’s “Great Leap Forward” had catastrophic consequences for much of China, leaving millions without access to food. As history—and this list—demonstrates, such scarcity inevitably leads to dire outcomes.
As recounted in Hungry Ghosts, the unbearable hunger drove some to cannibalism as their only means of survival. Human flesh soon became a commodity, with horrifying accounts of parents trading their children to avoid the guilt of consuming their own. Instead, they faced the grim reality of condemning another’s child to death—a tragic compromise to ease their conscience.
