The Cannibal House — This is the house of Armin Meiwes, a notorious German cannibal. In 2001 at the age of 39, Meiwes searched for a volunteer to be “slaughtered and consumed” on a website called The Cannibal Café. Bernd Brandes, a 43-year-old from Berlin, responded to the advertisement. The two met on March 9th, 2001, in Meiwes’ house in a small farming village near Rotenburg, Germany. After Brandes consumed sleeping pills and alcohol, Meiwes amputated Brandes’ penis with a knife. They attempted to eat the penis which was fried with spices and wine; however, this plan failed as it was too burned. Just after, Meiwes poured Brandes a bath (in the bathtub featured above), where he lay bleeding for three hours. Eventually, Brandes was dragged upstairs to the slaughter room where he was killed after Meiwes slit his throat. The body was hung on meat hooks and was later hacked into pieces. This entire gruesome ordeal was filmed on a two-hour long videotape.
Over the next 10 months, Meiwes consumed approximately 20 kgs (44 lbs) of Brandes’ flesh and stored body parts in his freezer. Eventually, Meiwes longed for another victim, and placed more advertisements on the internet. In December 2002, police arrested Meiwes in his home after receiving a phone call from a man who was concerned by the new ads. Meiwes was convicted of manslaughter in January 2004, and was sentenced to eight years in prison, as it was ruled that Brandes was a voluntary participant in the killing. In May 2006, this sentence was revised to life imprisonment for murder due to a retrial. Meiwes conducted several interviews in prison, and has stated that he believes there to be approximately 800 cannibals in Germany. He has since become a vegetarian and is reportedly feeling sorry for his crimes.
