We’ve gathered chilling details about the most famous cannibals in history to satisfy your dark curiosity. From real cannibal-killers like Albert Fish turning a child victim into a stew to more historic cannibal cases like the Donner Party consuming corpses for survival, these notorious cannibals embody some of the darkest aspects of human nature.
Cannibalism has horrified and fascinated the public for thousands of years—whether in ancient rituals or modern crimes. Unlike the monsters in fiction, real cannibal cases have been driven by desperation, obsession, or mental illness.
Most of these infamous cannibals have earned their place through gruesome acts, though not all cannibals are created equal. Many of us would eat fresh human remains if it meant we could someday return home to see our loved ones. Others may come from cultures where cannibalism was a religious practice, often consuming the dead so they may live on. For this list, however, we’ve excluded ritualistic cannibalism and only included those with dark connotations.
Read on to learn about the most notorious cannibals ever recorded and the stories behind their twisted or tragic legends…
Albert Fish: America’s Most Infamous Child Cannibal and Killer
Albert Fish was one of America’s most ruthless killers and, more importantly, one of history’s most disturbing cannibals. Since his killing spree in the late 1800s and early 1900s, society has known Fish as “The Gray Man.” Fish’s victims were all children, and it was one of the victims’ mothers who gave the killer his nickname. The woman thought she’d seen a gray-colored man abduct her son, whom authorities would find dead in the woods only days later.
Notably, Fish sent a note to a victim’s parents detailing the gruesome death, butchering, and cooking of their daughter. He allegedly made a stew from the 10-year-old girl, which he ate over nine days. The note eventually led to his capture.
In custody, Fish confessed to other atrocities. According to a case summary by the American Institute for the Advancement of Forensic Studies, he harmed or killed hundreds of children at the beginning of the 20th century. Murder, cannibalism, and torture were among his many crimes.
It was clear even to psychologists during Fish’s time that he suffered from mental illness. Nonetheless, the courts sentenced him to the electric chair. According to Executing the Mentally Ill: The Criminal Justice System and the Case of Alvin Ford, when Fish went to the chair, he told the guards, “It will be the supreme thrill—the only one I haven’t tried.”
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Andrei Chikatilo: The Butcher of Rostov and Soviet Serial Killer
Andrei Chikatilo is the most famous cannibal to ever terrorize the Soviet Union. His crimes included the mutilation of women and children, as well as cannibalism, between 1978 and 1990. Similar to Ian Brady and Myra Hindley’s Moors Murders, Chikatilo’s crimes horrified the nation and left a long-lasting scar on public memory.
Known as the “Butcher of Rostov,” Chikatilo abducted runaways, sex workers, and young boys from public transport stops. In 1992, according to The Washington Post, Russian courts convicted him of 52 counts of murder. Authorities, however, believe his actual kill count was much higher.
Chikatilo likely became one of the most famous cannibals in history because political tensions complicated his capture. The Soviets believed serial killers couldn’t exist in a communist society. As shown in serial killer statistics worldwide, this misconception was far from reality. This resulted in the Russian government arresting innocent men for Chikatilo’s crimes—and executing at least one of them.
Investigators finally caught Chikatilo in 1990 after a surveillance team observed him stalking victims at train stations. He later confessed his crimes in graphic detail, according to UPI, including the eating and dismemberment of his victims. In 1994, Russia executed the cannibal by firing squad.
Levi Boone Helm: The Kentucky Cannibal and American Frontier Outlaw
Having left a trail of bodies from California to Montana, Levi Boone Helm held a reputation as a dangerous man in the American West. Helm was a robber, a murderer, and one of the most notorious cannibals in United States history.
Helm earned the moniker “Kentucky Cannibal” after confessing to eating human flesh on multiple occasions, including that of a fellow traveler named Burton. The pair had been trapped in the wilderness during a brutal winter, and according to Helm, he ate Burton’s corpse after Burton allegedly took his own life.
Helm was finally hanged in 1864 in Virginia City, Montana, along with several other outlaws. According to Legends of America, Helm said, “I have looked at death in all forms. I am not afraid to die.”
Jeffrey Dahmer: The Milwaukee Monster and Modern Cannibal Killer
Jeffrey Dahmer tops the list of most well-known cannibals in modern history. Between 1978 and 1991, he committed a series of gruesome murders that involved rape, dismemberment, necrophilia, and cannibalism. In total, the courts convicted Dahmer of murdering 17 men and boys.
Dahmer lured victims from bars and bus stops and often targeted young, gay Black men. Once they reached his home, the killer would usually drug them, commit his murder, and dismember their bodies.
In July 1991, as ABC News explains, Tracy Edwards escaped from Dahmer’s apartment and alerted police to his activities. Authorities discovered photographs of dismembered bodies and human remains—including severed body parts in Dahmer’s freezer. Like the Richard Ramirez case, forensic details played a key role in Dahmer’s conviction.
In 1992, a judge sentenced the notorious cannibal to 15 consecutive life terms in prison. Two years later, karma caught up to Dahmer as fellow inmate Christopher Scarver beat him to death.
Armin Meiwes: German Cannibal and the Controversial Consensual Murder Case
Armin Meiwes became one of the most famous cannibals in history in a way no one had before—with consensual cannibalism. Unfortunately for Meiwes, legal cannibalism is difficult to pull off.
In 2001, Meiwes posted online ads in Germany looking for a volunteer who wanted to be killed and eaten. A 43-year-old man named Bernd Jürgen Brandes responded. The two met in Meiwes’s home in Wüstefeld, Hesse, where Meiwes murdered and cannibalized Brandes.
Meiwes began by amputating Brandes’s penis while he was still conscious, and both parties consumed it. Meiwes killed Brandes the next day. He then butchered his volunteer and stored his parts in the freezer to eat later. In all, Meiwes consumed over 40 pounds of Brandes before the police came knocking.
The case drew international attention for its disturbing nature and legal ambiguity. As reported by The Guardian, Meiwes told the court, “I always had the fantasy and in the end I fulfilled it.”
The German courts initially convicted Meiwes of manslaughter in 2004. They later upgraded the sentence to murder and sentenced the cannibal to life in prison during a retrial. The court determined that since Meiwes had killed for sexual gratification, it negated the victim’s consent. As of 2020, according to 9 News, Meiwes remained incarcerated and became a vegetarian.
Alfred Packer: Colorado Cannibal and Survivor of the “Cannibal Plateau”
In 1874, Alfred Packer led five men into Colorado’s San Juan Mountains in search of gold. A few months later, he came back alone. Each time authorities questioned Packer about being the only survivor, he changed his story.
Initially, he claimed the group had gotten lost in a snowstorm. However, he showed up carrying many of their belongings. Next, he confessed to cannibalism, saying all of the others had died during the trip—he had no choice but to eat their bodies to survive. The story around the event kept changing, but from that moment forward, each iteration included Packer eating his companions.
In his final confession, Packer claimed four members of the party had died of natural causes, while one was the result of murder. Poor Packer was forced to shoot the killer in self-defense. As for the others—cannibalism was a byproduct of being alone in the wilderness.
According to Colorado Life Magazine, Packer told investigators, “It would not be the first time that people had been obliged to eat each other when they were hungry.”
To this day, nobody knows what actually happened on the so-called “Cannibal Plateau,” and it’s this mystery that makes Alfred Packer one of the most famous cannibals in history.
Sawney Bean: Scotland's Cannibal Clan Leader
Around the turn of the 16th century, Alexander “Sawney” Bean went off the grid, where he and his wife moved into a well-hidden sea cave. To support themselves, Bean took up thievery. To keep his identity secret, Bean would kill his victims and use their bodies to feed his family.
It’s nearly impossible to separate fact from fiction in Sawney Bean’s story, as he’s become an urban legend over the years. As the story goes, Bean and his wife robbed and ate travelers for 25 years.
According to Historic UK, they also raised a 48-member incestuous and cannibalistic clan to assist in the robberies. The family lived in Bannane Cave, which stretched more than a mile underground and concealed them beautifully.
The gruesome truth was only discovered after a victim escaped and prompted King James I to lead a manhunt into Bannane Cave. Inside, troops found a human butchery—meat hanging from walls, piles of bones, and heaps of the Beans’ victims’ belongings.
According to the BBC, the Bean clan was captured and allegedly sentenced to an excruciating execution. Executioners cut off the male Beans’ limbs and left them to bleed out. The women were then burned at the stake, permanently ending the most twisted cannibal clan in Britain’s history.
Lewis Keseberg: Donner Party Cannibal and Survivor
Lewis Keseberg was a member of one of America’s most infamous cannibal tragedies. In the spring of 1846, Keseberg and the Donner Party set out for California with a total of 87 members. According to Sutter’s Fort State Historic Park, only 46 of them made it.
Between a late start and a time-consuming “shortcut,” the group found themselves in trouble. They’d reached California too late into winter, and upon crossing the Sierra Nevada, 25 feet of snow imprisoned them in the wilderness.
It didn’t take long for their food stores to run out—then their animals. Some survivors chewed leather and bark to stay alive. Others, however, turned to cannibalism.
Months later, rescuers arrived at a nightmare. Human bones were scattered all around the campsite. According to Legends of America, a history website, Keseberg was the final Donner Party member to leave the encampment. Rescuers found him surrounded by the butchered bodies of the dead.
Out of the original members, 41 died during the ordeal. Many of the survivors admitted to consuming human flesh to stave off starvation, but Keseberg’s story stood out. Rumors soon spread that he’d killed two members of the party to satisfy a hunger he couldn’t control.
Historians still debate what actually happened in that mountain camp.
Issei Sagawa: The Japanese Cannibal Killer
In 1981, Japanese student Issei Sagawa became one of the most infamous cannibals in world history, known to many as the “Kobe Cannibal.” While studying in Paris, Sagawa invited fellow student Renée Hartevelt to his apartment, where he shot her in the head and ate parts of her body.
Sagawa documented his gruesome crime in photographs and audio recordings. When he was finished, the cannibal carried Hartevelt’s butchered remains into the Bois de Boulogne woods, hoping to dispose of the evidence for good. He planned to dump what was left of his peer into a local lake, but the plan failed.
Witnesses saw Sagawa awkwardly carrying two suitcases into a forest and quickly called the police. Authorities apprehended him soon after. During Sagawa’s trial, French psychologists concluded that he was suffering from mental illness and shouldn’t be imprisoned.
Instead, Sagawa was institutionalized and later deported back to Japan. The Japanese government tried to charge him once he was back on home soil, but the French government wouldn’t cooperate. As a result, Japan set him free in 1986.
Sagawa became a media figure in Japan and lived off publishing books about his crime. As reported by News 18, he died of pneumonia in 2022 at age 73. Until his death, he still craved the taste of women’s flesh.
Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571: The Survivors Who Turned to Cannibalism in the Mountains
On October 13, 1972, Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 crashed into the Andes Mountains. The flight carried five crew members and forty passengers—most of whom were members of the Old Christians Club amateur rugby team or related to them.
Only 27 people survived the plane’s initial impact into treacherous terrain. The mountains were harsh and devoid of life. Their food supply vanished within a week. To make matters worse, they heard a report stating that they were presumed dead over their transistor radio.
With no food sources and having been stranded for weeks, the surviving group ultimately turned to consuming their fallen companions.
In a 2024 TIME interview, survivor Roberto Canessa reflected on the experience, saying: “You are eating a dead person, and the person is your friend; and you wonder, ‘Should I do this? Or should I let myself die?’”
Only 16 of the 45 passengers made it out of Andes alive. Two of the survivors eventually mustered the strength to hike for help. They crossed freezing peaks with no gear or direction, finally reaching a river where they found two Chilean farmers. It took ten days, but they were able to call for help by tossing notes wrapped around stones over the water.
According to Britannica, the survivors quelled societal backlash after their return by equating their unconventional choices to The Last Supper. In this way, the tragic dead had sacrificed their bodies to save the stranded. The Church later absolved the men of their perceived sins from these desperate actions.
