Cannibals were picky eaters?

From the Google News archives 25 years ago comes this article asserting that Christian missionaries were rarely an impulse snack...

The Free Lance-Star November 5, 1986 (page 12)

You might find the Reverend Mr. Brown a bit skeptical of the prior article’s conclusions, according to this 128-year old article from the National Library of New Zealand archives...

Otago Daily Times March 31, 1883

-Tom

"I hold that it is not a missionary's duty to be eaten until he has expended his last cartridge"

That's rich!

culturally sensitive to some but an extremely interesting topic none the less,
possibly general forum worthy Tom?

Gruesome visions in my head from reading those articles, but very interesting. I guess getting a good BBQ recipe is out of the question?

MDM, that article is rich throughout. It clearly underscores that the missionaries were, unwitting or not, sort of the special forces of the colonial nations, landing on remote beach heads in what could be a suicide mission to collect intel and “civilize” the indigenous peoples, preparing them for later settlement and exploitation by the colonial powers and their merchants. This is clearly a sensitive subject all around. There were many selfless clerics who, in addition to fulfilling their holy calling, gave their all in trying to serve and protect the native peoples from the colonial tidal wave that inevitably followed them.

Komohana, only TC Moderators have the power to move threads among forums. This thread could go either way, up to General Tiki or downward to Bilge, depending on the responses and desires of the Ohana. I tried to strike a balance, as the subject is serious and clearly plays in Poly pop iconography. But in dealing with its serious nature, folks will naturally lighten the topic up a bit. I’m not immune to that myself.

So, VampiressRN, you’re wondering if there is a cannibal’s version of Louis Spievak’s Barbecue Chef, perhaps a Bobby Flay recipe for grilling puaka `enata, literally Marquesan for “pig people” but roughly translated as long pig... with parental controls alarming, the search engine did come up with this recipe for Kalua Long Pig. Don’t overlook the oiling and massaging :)

In the following article, Lord Shackleton insists that cannibals are discerning, even health conscious eaters...

The Age March 22, 1963 (page 3)

Here’s a 64-year old article from the Google News archives with a little-known story involving Abraham Lincoln and Marquesan cannibals...

Sarasota Herald-Tribune February 12, 1948 (page 13)

-Tom

Lord Shackleton was apparently correct, as this article from more than 130 years ago indicates a belief that American missionaries were unhealthy to consume for one reason or another in The Cannibal Islands (now know as Fiji), and there was a marked preference for British missionaries...

The New York Times April 11, 1881

-Tom

Once again eerie but fascinating. The utensils are unique too!!!

A very serious topic indeed, and to take the focus off the pacific island nations for a moment,
it probably should be remembered that cannibalism was/is not confined to that part of the world.

For example, various parties here in Australia have sought to gain political milage from tales of
cannibalism, particularly [but not exclusively] among the aboriginal tribes of our eastern seaboard.

There are literally days of reading to wade through so i'll just post a few links and anyone interested
can make of it all what they will...

http://www.warriors.egympie.com.au/cannibalism.html
http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/40001

...and an exceptionally interesting article here;

http://sydney.edu.au/law/slr/slr27_4/Biber.pdf

Tales of cannibalism among early seafarers are also nothing new, with established traditions dating back
hundreds of years;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Custom_of_the_Sea
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R_v_Dudley_and_Stephens

Also worth a look for anyone who hasn't seen it yet, is the film "Van Diemens Land", the incredibly
bleak but utterly compelling tale of british/irish convicts transported to the penal colonies in
Van Diemens Land, later to become the state of Tasmania.

http://www.vandiemensland-themovie.com/

Tom, that 1881 New York Times article is hilarious - it seems to be written a bit "tongue in cheek", satire is something we are not used to seeing in our newspapers today except in the editorial cartoons.

VampiressRN, if I ever get to Fiji and see that implement brought out, I’ll know what (or rather who) is for dinner.

Mahalo, komohana, for all of the interesting, if grisly, reading material on the subject, all of it new to me. Your point is well taken; cannibalism was not limited to any particular region of the world. In fact, the word itself originated from my part of the world, in the West Indies, according to this reference article in scribd.com...

Caribs, native people formerly inhabiting the Lesser Antilles, West Indies. They seem to have overrun the Lesser Antilles and to have driven out the Arawak about a century before the arrival of Christopher Columbus. The original name by which the Caribs were known, Galibi, was corrupted by the Spanish to Caníbal and is the origin of the English word cannibal. Extremely warlike and ferocious, they practiced cannibalism and took pride in scarification (ritual cutting of the skin) and fasting...

They were a warlike and savage people who are reported to have barbecued their captives and washed them down with cassava beer. In the History of Barbados, for example, it is reported that Caribs ate an entire French crew in 1596. They were incredibly accurate bowmen and used a powerful poison to paralyze their prey.

Mike, that was most certainly a bit of 19th century political satire, but it sure fit in with the topic!

Since VampiressRN introduced us to the subject of cannibal forks, here is a related article from more than 100 years ago that really shows its cultural bias... oh, those sly cannibal Fijians...

The Reading Eagle July 1, 1899 (page 3)

As cannibalism evolved to tourism, we have this report, again where the cultural lens of the times is so evident...

The Windsor Daily Star December 22, 1956 (page 14)

And from the Google News archive, we have this 1922 fictional tale by Richard Connell of an Ohio barber who fantasizes a South Seas adventure, then decides to make it real, “Mr. Potter and the South Sea Cannibals”(page 30)...

-Tom

An interesting tale of a Yankee cannibal king; later reports suggest that this story was not wholly accurate; for example, Rumrill was not shipwrecked but deserted...

The Reading Eagle July 6, 1902 (page 9)

So, when and where was the last cannibal? From various regions, here are a sampling of reports from the National Library of New Zealand and Google News archives...

Wanganui Herald March 25, 1872

Ashburton Guardian January 16, 1897

Wanganui Herald June 15, 1901

The Miami News-Metropolis July 28, 1923 (page 15)

In some parts of the world, old ways may remain (though not cited, that may also include remote areas of South America and Africa)...

The Leader-Post May 19, 1959

The Windsor Star February 20, 1973 (page 12)

The Standard October 18, 2011

-Tom

[ Edited by: TikiTomD 2012-01-03 03:03 ]

YIKES...that is some scary reading. Fascinating but scary!!!

On 2011-12-31 20:33, komohana wrote:
Tales of cannibalism among early seafarers are also nothing new

An extremely interesting example of this is the incredible but true saga befalling the hapless crew of the
American whaling ship "Essex".

A first-hand account of the tragedy, by the first mate Owen Chase, can be found here:

http://www.riapress.com/Narrative-of-the-Wreck-of-the-Whaleship-Essex/?-session=StoreSession:42F948990333828556THFF9B6743

Bob, I finally got a chance to read the entire story of the Essex... that was as dreadful a tale of privation as any I've come across. In the case of the Essex, the cannibals weren't picky eaters, as survival rather than ritual was the motivation. Interesting, too, this tale's role in the genesis of Melville's Moby Dick.

*** WARNING ***

This thread isn't really good fare for those with delicate sensibilities. That is especially true for the material that follows, which contains graphic images of a cannibal luau in preparation.

From a March 25, 1940 article in Life Magazine...

Letters to the editor on the article appeared in the April 15, 1940 issue of Life Magazine...

-Tom

Aloha Tom, fascinating material as always.

Yes, the tale of the Essex - probably the quintessential account of its type - was indeed the
inspiration for the novel Moby Dick, which was largely ignored at the time of its writing,
only to be "rediscovered" long after Melvilles' death.

Anyhow, to my mind, one of the most interesting aspects of the story regarding the Essex
is that because of their dread at falling into the hands of south sea cannibals, the crew
opted to make for South America...and consequently were forced into cannibalism themselves.

If only they had struck for Tahiti, they might have whiled-away their time in paradise.

[ Edited by: komohana 2012-02-26 23:09 ]

I know some folks are not appreciative of Wikipedia, but I think there is decent information on many topics. This is just a snippet from there on Cannibalism.

Cannibalism was widespread in the past among humans in many parts of the world, continuing into the 19th century in some isolated South Pacific cultures, and to the present day in parts of tropical Africa. In a few cases in insular Melanesia, indigenous flesh-markets existed. Fiji was once known as the 'Cannibal Isles'. Cannibalism has been well documented around the world, from Fiji to the Amazon Basin to the Congo to Māori New Zealand. Neanderthals are believed to have practiced cannibalism, and they may have been eaten by modern humans.

Cannibalism has recently been both practiced and fiercely condemned in several wars, especially in Liberia and Congo. Today, the Korowai are one of very few tribes still believed to eat human flesh as a cultural practice. It is also still known to be practiced as a ritual and in war in various Melanesian tribes. Historically, allegations of cannibalism were used by the colonial powers to justify the enslavement of what were seen as primitive peoples; cannibalism has been said to test the bounds of cultural relativism as it challenges anthropologists "to define what is or is not beyond the pale of acceptable human behavior". Anthropophagy is an uncommon act that is not illegal in most US states nor in most countries. People who eat human flesh are usually charged with crimes not relating to anthropophagy, such as murder or desecration of a body.

Cannibalism has been occasionally practiced as a last resort by people suffering from famine. Occasionally it has occurred in modern times. A famous example is the crash of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, after which some survivors ate the bodies of dead passengers. Also, some mentally ill individuals obsess about eating others and actually do so, such as Jeffrey Dahmer and Albert Fish. There is a resistance to formally labelling cannibalism as a mental disorder.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Then there is the infamous top 10...here is the...

TOP 10 CASES OF HUMAN CANNIBALISM

#10 Alferd Packer  
![](https://tikicentral.com/uploads/6053/4f6f6c26.jpg)  
Packer was an American gold prospector and convicted cannibal. On February 9th 1874, he left with 5 others for an expedition in the Colorado mountains. Two months later Packer returned from the expedition alone. When questioned of the whereabouts of the men that had been with him, Packer said that he killed them in self defense and was forced to eat their remains in order to survive the elements. His story was not believed and he soon after signed two separate confessions. Packer was given a 40 year sentence, at that time the longest communal sentence in United States history. Amazingly he was granted parole because sufficient doubt remained about his innocence.

#9 Albert Fish  
![](https://tikicentral.com/uploads/6053/4f6f6c76.jpg)  
Albert Fish was a true life monster in every sense of the word. He was sadistic, delusional and worst of all he received gratification from his repulsive acts. Besides being an admitted serial killer and cannibal, he was also a rampant pedophile and a deviant. Fish kidnapped, murdered, and consumed a 10 year old girl from Manhattan. Six years later Fish taunted the innocent girl’s family by sending a letter to them graphically detailing his crime and the pleasure he received committing it. The letter was traced back to him and he was arrested and convicted. Justice would be served on January 16, 1936 as Fish was executed at the Sing Sing Correctional Facility in upstate New York.

#8 Revolutionary United Front  
![](https://tikicentral.com/uploads/6053/4f6f6ccc.jpg)  
RUF was a revolutionary group based in Sierra Leone in Western Africa. By the late 1990’s they had been mired in a long bloody campaign to topple the central government. These insurgents terrorized rural Sierra Leone in an effort to control the nations diamond mines. Aided by factions of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia, these groups committed horrific atrocities which included forcing children to become soldiers, amputations of limbs and cannibalism of enemies, including peacekeepers and United Nations personnel. Their motives for eating their enemies were to receive “strength” from eating human flesh and as a tool for intimidation. The exact number of victims is unknown.

#7 Issei Sagawa  
![](https://tikicentral.com/uploads/6053/4f6f6d10.jpg)  
Sagawa was a Japanese student completing an English Literature degree in Paris. He met and then shot a co-ed on June 11, 1981. After her death, he proceeded to cannibalize her over the next two days. Sagawa was eventually arrested by French authorities but deemed unfit for trial due to insanity and was deported. In one of the worst examples of injustice in legal history; a paperwork error allowed Sagawa to simply check himself out of a mental institution after a little more than a year of confinement. He is now a free man living in Japan.

#6 Andrei Chikatilo  
![](https://tikicentral.com/uploads/6053/4f6f6d77.jpg)  
Chikatilo was a Ukrainian born serial killer and rapist. While in custody, Chikatilo confessed to over 50 murders and mutilations. He befriended, killed, and ate his victims. He admitted that his motives were solely for sexual gratification. The details of Chikatilo’s life and crimes are the stuff that nightmares are made of. This madman only halted his killing spree when he was finally arrested and identified after one of the largest operations in Russian police history. Chikatilo was executed in Rostov on February 14, 1994.

#5 Mauerova family (Klara-Mauerova-And-Barbara-Skrlova)  
![](https://tikicentral.com/uploads/6053/4f6f6dd4.jpg)  
The Mauerova’s are a family of cult members and cannibals from the Czech Republic. Over an 8 month period, relatives and fellow cult members participated in despicable acts against two brothers. The actual details of what a mother allowed to be done to her young children are extremely disturbing. By a remarkable chain of events, the truth about the Maurova family was discovered on May 10, 2007 when horrific images on a baby monitor (which they had installed in their house to view the crimes) where picked up by a neighbor who had the exact same monitor. A total of six people were eventually convicted.

#4 Armin Meiwes  
![](https://tikicentral.com/uploads/6053/4f6f6e5e.jpg)  
By most accounts Meiwes was a depraved and pathetic individual from Roteburg, Germany. In 2001 he posted an advertisement on an internet site which read in part “looking for a well-built 18 to 30-year-old to be slaughtered and then consumed”. Unbelievably Meiwes received a serious response from a willing participant. The two men met on Christmas Day and proceeded to commit and videotape some of the most unimaginable acts on earth. Meiwes was arrested after revealing details of his crime. He is currently serving a life sentence in a German prison.

#3 Jeffrey Dahmer  
![](https://tikicentral.com/uploads/6053/4f6f6e9b.jpg)  
Dahmer was an American serial killer, necrophiliac, and cannibal from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Dahmer, an extremely disturbed individual, would lure young men to his apartment where he would murder and dismember them after sedating them with alcohol or drugs. After disposing of his victims he would consume or experiment with their remains. By the time of his trial he was charged and convicted of 15 murders and given numerous life sentences. On November 28, 1994 Dahmer was beaten to death at the Colombia Correctional Institution in Milwaukee.

#2 Carib West Indian Tribes  
![](https://tikicentral.com/uploads/6053/4f6f6eec.jpg)  
The first known modern accounts of cannibalism were reported following Columbus’ expedition to the West Indies. At this point cannibalism was considered atrocious and sacrilegious in the developed world. Imagine, if you will, the indescribable horror that the first Europeans felt when they witnessed Carib natives during a post war ritual chewing and/or eating human flesh. This misunderstanding of Caribbean culture lead to the people of the America’s being considered “savages”. These sentiments lead to policies which encouraged countless incidents of slavery, mass murder, exploitation and destruction of the native culture of the America’s that continued for centuries.

#1 Stella Maris College Rugby Team (Uruguay Accident 1972)  
![](https://tikicentral.com/uploads/6053/4f6f6f35.jpg)  
On October 13, 1972 the team was on its way from Montevideo, Uruguay to play a match in Santiago Chile. Fierce wind and snow hounded the flight as the plane trekked through the Andes mountains. Due to poor weather and pilot error the plane crashed atop of an unnamed mountain on the border of Chile and Argentina. Search parties from three countries searched for 11 days in vain to find the downed flight of 45 people but were unsuccessful and all passengers were presumed dead. What followed next is one of the greatest examples of human survival ever recorded. Despite no food or heat 16 members of the team stayed on top of the mountain for over two months through the brutal winter while being forced to eat the remains of their fallen teammates before finally being rescued.

Then a Bonus nod on the list for The Maori People  
![](https://tikicentral.com/uploads/6053/4f6f6f84.jpg)  
The Maori were the first settlers of New Zealand – arriving many centuries before Europeans. Their culture dates back to the early modern era. They had been known to practice cannibalism during warfare. In October 1809 a European convict ship was attacked by a large group of Maori warriors in revenge for the mistreatment of a chief’s son. The Maori killed most of the 66 people on board and carried dead and alive victims off the boat and back to shore to be eaten. A few lucky survivors who were able to find a hiding spot inside the mast of the boat were horrified as they watched the Maori devour their shipmates through the night until the next morning.

Breaking news....

Huffington Post 03/24/2012:Serbian gangsters allegedly beat a traitorous associate to death with a hammer before cooking and eating his remains in Spain

So which thread becomes the official cannibal thread of Tiki Central?

If we're not supposed to eat people, why are they made out of meat?

[->>King Bushwich 33rd on Hulu.com

(This message was first posted two weeks ago in another thread - I am relocating to this thread, as it is a much better fit here)

A new book on cannibalism....

'An Intellectual History of Cannibalism' by Catalin Avramescu
http://lareviewofbooks.org/post/18900540016/people-who-eat-people

I have not yet purchased or read the book, but the above book review provides some insight into the theological debates raised by the Church and missionaries when encountering civilization where people were eaten. Here is a sample .....

A starving man eats the flesh of another, whereupon the flesh of the eaten is transformed into that of the eater. At the Resurrection, how will the bodies of each be made whole and rise up entire? If this problem could not be satisfactorily addressed, one Church Father wrote, critics could rightly “draw the conclusion that the resurrection cannot take place, because it is not possible for two men to be resurrected with the same flesh at the same time.”

Obviously the Admins may need to help corral all the Cannibal posts in one thread. At least we know the topic doesn't require a forum. :lol:

It is a creepy subject but hauntingly interesting. At least when I am shuffling through a bin of wooden trinkets and come across a fork, I will know what it is. Might be worth a small fortune and look good on the dining table. :wink:

OK...there I was mindlessly shopping on Amazon and also checking out ridiculous things on eBay and I never expected to find a cannibal fork for sale, but there it was on evilbay. Not Tiki as it is apparently from Africa...probably a TCer downsizing...but damnit...I just had to have it. I am a dish collector, but don't think I will be adding more to this acquisition to complete a service for 8. Here are some pics.

Wow, Marlene, that’s some fork! Maybe you can place that on the table setting when you next have some Tiki friends over to your home, and observe their reactions as they contemplate whether you’re serving the other white meat :)

The news media continues to ply our macabre fascination of the subject with a surprising number of contemporary Hannibal Lecter stories, though the involved individuals generally lack the brilliance of mind associated with that fictional character. It seems that there is no shortage of actual monsters in the “developed” world.

Meanwhile, back in the jungle, some things remain a bit “traditional”...

Myrtle Beach Online July 13, 2012

-Tom

YIKES!!! That is scary.

Ron Howard has directed a movie about the ill fated Essex whaling ship that inspired Melville to write Moby Dick. "In the Heart of the Sea" stars Chris Hemsworth and it will be released on March 13, 2015.

This Smithsonian article about the Essex is pretty graphic.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-true-life-horror-that-inspired-moby-dick-17576/

"The men were unwilling to leave the doomed Essex as it slowly foundered, and Pollard tried to come up with a plan. In all, there were three boats and 20 men. They calculated that the closest land was the Marquesas Islands and the Society Islands, and Pollard wanted to set off for them—but in one of the most ironic decisions in nautical history, Chase and the crew convinced him that those islands were peopled with cannibals and that the crew’s best chance for survival would be to sail south. The distance to land would be far greater, but they might catch the trade winds or be spotted by another whaling ship. Only Pollard seemed to understand the implications of steering clear of the islands. (According to Nathaniel Philbrick, in his book In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex, although rumors of cannibalism persisted, traders had been visiting the islands without incident.)"

The book was extraordinary. It looks like the movie is going to be an action-packed roller coaster, which means it will bear scant resemblance to the real story!