Cannibalism is often synonymous with times of great hardship and desperation. It is not the first thing that comes to anyone’s mind, but if need be, the will to survive and need for nutrition breaks that soft locket. There were times when cannibalism — in the past — happened in places you would least expect it; however, hard times called for hard measures. There are places where people on a large scale still partake in this malpractice to this very day. Strangely enough, it is barely a secret. The funny thing is that it is not seen as anything but habit and culture. They may do it because they simply like the taste of human flesh. At least at this point, many of them may see no other option. I’m going to list the 10 amazing cases of modern day cannibalism.
The 10 Amazing Cases of Modern Day Cannibalism
1. Soviet Holodomor
The Ukrainian Holodomor, also known as the Great Famine, was a period between 1932 and 1933 that involved a mass famine in Soviet Ukraine. The death toll was in the millions, and by the end, it was estimated that nearly 5 million people died from starvation. It wasn’t only starvation that killed the people of this Soviet state, it was also the consumption of human flesh by other humans that made this even more horrible. Millions and millions of peasants were forced to find scraps to eat, and a cordon was drawn around Ukraine to prevent escape.
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In the Autumn of 1932, the Soviet Politburo further worsened the famine by creating even worse restrictions, and police going into households and stealing from anyone anything they had. You see, the body begins to cannibalize itself when someone begins to starve, but the horror did not end at that. Families and parents would even silently murder their children to save themselves from watching them die. Before long, cannibalism was widespread, and families were even cannibalizing their children out of madness from hunger. The sickness continued on a large scale until the famine came to an end, in spite of official reports.
2. Aghoris Indians
The Aghoris Indians are a tribal sect of Hindu followers that preside in India. Although their believes seem to go against the beliefs of orthodox Hinduism, they follow Bhairava, the Lord Shiva of death. They are believed to be in chase of spiritual goals often seen as taboo by others, following asceticism, where they avoid sensual and pleasure goals in favor of spirituality. The Aghoris even have sex amidst the dead bodies to gain supernatural powers.
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They not only eat human flesh, they ritualistically use the remains as trinkets of sorts, i.e., using skulls to drink out of. Beyond this, they often cremate the bodies of the dead; however, the occasionally avoid it in favor of a more flavorful experience. Often, they will consume the bodies, wear the corpses or turn the corpses into alters. They are even said to use alcohol and marijuana to help induce a state of spiritual enlightenment via deeper concentration through meditation. It is even said that they chew the heads off of animals and drink from the skulls of their “victims.”
The 10 Amazing Cases of Modern Day Cannibalism
3. Korowai Tribe
The Korowai are a remote tribe of people who inhabit West Papau, Indonesia, living just as they had been for 10,000 years prior. Not only do they live naked like other tribal groups, they eat the flesh of their fellow humans. The Korowai people live a humble life, feasting on bugs and living naked in their stilted huts. Since they don’t have access to modern medicine, they use herbs and witchcraft methods to heal. Since their backwoods style of living is so harsh, their life expectancy is often shorter than 50 years.
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Korowai tribesmen often think that, because of their lack of scientific knowledge, demons of “Khakhua” take the form of humans. “Khakhuas” are said to take the form of humans so that they can kill them and eat their flesh. They are said to disguise themselves of friends and family members to gain their trust. This would be the case until eventually be slaughtered and eaten as a form of ritual. This is said to be their way of protecting the tribe as a whole from the evil entities, further leading to flesh eating of humans. It is said that they still may partake in the practice to this very day.
4. Tibetan Buddhists
While it may not be to this very day, areas of China in Tibet used to be home to the Bon religion. This religion, in ancient warlike Tibet, was said to have many instances of ritualistic cannibalism. While this goes against the tenets of the modern Buddhist religion of today, it was before it’s time. Not only would they sacrifice the person, they would of course eat the flesh of the victim being sacrificed. Now, they do not follow the same guidelines they did before, not even wanting to hurt an insect. It was even said that flesh pills were consumed by Buddhists. Although, Jeffrey Dahmer and other serial killers alike would win a one on one battle in eating other humans. It seems that the Tibetans at least knew how to properly swallow their pills.
The 10 Amazing Cases of Modern Day Cannibalism
5. North Korean Famine
North Korea is known for it’s recent and tumultuous history that started after World War 2. The country’s people haven’t been treated the best since the beginning, initiating the rise of communism. In the 1990s, there was a famine that swept across the entirety of the nation. It was said that at least 3 million people were killed due to undernourishment. There was also word that nearly one in ten North Koreans died during this time. To this day, North Korea is said to still be under substantial amounts of hunger, being upwards of 40 percent.
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It got so bad, not unlike the Holodomor, where, where numerous instances of cannibalism were said to be very common. One instance involved a woman being arrested for murdering her son to eat, his head being found in a cauldron. Human rights violations have been the only consistent thing about North Korea’s past. This is including the implementation of concentration camps for defectors. It is said that the authorities of North Korea are to blame for this blight against humanity, including the famine.
6. Democratic Republic of the Congo
In the DRC, instances of sexual slavery and incest have been common. Not only this, mutilation, dismemberment and cannibalism have been common recently there. During the Congolese Civil War between 1999 and 2003, there were said to be numerous instances of cannibalism. At least one instance involved them eating an arm in front of the woman they cut it off of. The soldiers who did it threatened to do the same to her husband and later did it to the rest of her family.
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The Ituri conflict was said to be one of the most inhumane conflicts of all of the Congo wars. The soldiers involved were said to have done this to inspire terror in their opponents and ritual strength in themselves. It was said that breaking the taboo of eating human flesh was a way of training the soldiers to indoctrination of unthinkable crimes; it was used as a tactic of intimidation. This sadistic habit was forced on numerous other victims in various ways, involving people seeing their loved ones butchered for consumption.
The 10 Amazing Cases of Modern Day Cannibalism
7. South Sudanese Civil War
The South Sudanese Civil War was a war between South Sudan and Sudan proper, beginning with South Sudan seceded from Sudan back in 2011. After years of war, the country is still embroiled in conflict since 2013. It ended in 2020, but still struggles with problems now. Along tribal lines, both sides were seen as mortal enemies to each other. The United Nations has claimed that upwards of 2.2 million people have been displaced, South Sudan having been given the worst of it.
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South Sudan had been dealing with food shortages and disease in conjunction with the massive toll on human life to the violence. Stories involving people being beaten, burned alive, mutilation, forced blood drinking, and even the eating of burnt human flesh. The soldiers of one side would kill one of the other sides members and ask the dead person’s fellow tribesman to eat their dead friend or family member. (Link 7)
8. Japanese during WW2
In Papua New Guinea around this time, it had been discovered that Japanese troops had been cannibalizing Australian soldiers, Asian laborers and indigenous people. It was said that they claimed that it gave them a sense of victory. They proceeded to kill and eat at least one human prisoner a day over the course of 100 days. Their flesh was sliced from their body before being thrown into a ditch where they later died from their wounds. Other incidences including what happened to the Suzuki unit, where they ate human flesh out of necessity, are also prevalent. A lack of surrender gave the drive of cannibalism a stronger meaning to the Japanese. The last incident is the Chichijima incident, which was very gruesome. This was where Japanese men were ordered to eat the flesh of their victims after beheading them.
The 10 Amazing Cases of Modern Day Cannibalism
9. Povolzhye Famine
The Soviet people have been through a lot, especially since the beginning of the 20th century. During the beginning of the 1920s, a famine broke out — the Povolzhye Famine — in Russia, killing over five million people. The famine lasted a less than two years, but it made it’s mark in a very negative way. After Vladimir Lenin seized power in 1917, he had little regard for his fellow countrymen. He instructed food to be seized from the poor, and since he thought that the poor were directly trying to impede the progress of the Bolshevik party, he did so.
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Thanks to World War 1, civil war and a drought leaving millions undernourished, the famine took place with relative ease. Lenin had the intention of making them sell human flesh through the black market. It had been proven that peasants were grave digging bodies to eat them, including instances of families killing each other for food. Since the police took little to no action, it was deemed acceptable to murder and cannibalize anyone. It was even said that human sausages were being made out of the corpses of the dead.
10. Great Leap Forward
The Great Leap Forward, also known as the Three Years of Difficulties, was a period in China between 1958 and 1961. Mao Zedong was the supreme leader of China, and the period was defined by catching up to the development of the United States. The estimated number of deaths range from 10 to 45 million people, including deaths from mostly starvation and disease. It was also possible that many of these deaths, especially in light of starvation, came from the cannibalization of other people, be it killing a person or digging up a grave. The typically diet was a mix of family, friends and children. The cases of cannibalism were considered special cases because of them seeming like outliers.
The 10 Amazing Cases of Modern Day Cannibalism
Honorable Mentions: Cambodian Troops, Urapmin People, etc
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