While most of us are familiar with cannibalism in humans and animals, there is autocannibalism, which entails individuals eating their body parts. This can happen for various reasons, including psychiatric disorders, brain development disability, self-injurious behavior, religious preoccupations, and sometimes being forced. Unfortunately, cases of autocannibalism have been reported in humans over the years. This article highlights some of the most devastating instances where people have consumed their body parts, whether willingly or otherwise.
1. A Reddit User Consumed His Amputated Foot
In May 2018, a Reddit user confessed to eating his amputated foot together with 10 of his friends. The guy had been involved in an accident which led to severe injuries to one of his feet. After two years with no sign of recovery, his doctors proposed that they amputate the affected leg, to which he agreed.
After the procedure, he reminded his 10 friends of the time they asked themselves if they would ethically eat human meat if they had the chance to do it. One thing led to another, and they ended up consuming the amputated leg.
2. A Man Cooked And Ate A Finger He Lost In An Accident
David Playpenz was a man from Colchester (England) who went viral for eating his finger. Following a motorcycle accident, one of Playpenz’s had to be amputated. Interestingly, the man asked for the cut limb, took it home, fried it, and ate it. He also took a picture of the meal and posted it on Facebook. The incident happened in 2013.
3. An Instagram Model Made Spaghetti Bolognese Out Of Her Knee Cartilage
Paula Gonu is an Instagram model with close to 2 million followers. In 2023, she hit the headlines after she allegedly made spaghetti Bolognese out of her knee cartilage. As the story goes, the model had just had a minor knee surgery where a section of her cartilage was removed.
According to the model, the doctor who performed the surgery explained everything to her and then asked if she wanted to keep the removed part. In a surprising turn of events, Gonu agreed, so the doctor stored the cartilage until she was discharged.
While at home, the actress asked her partner if she could cook and eat the cartilage as she wanted it to go back inside her body. They agreed, and the model mixed the meniscus with Bolognese and ate it.
4. A group of Believers Were Forced to Eat Their Ears
In the 1990s, a young group of people had returned to Uganda from Sudan, where they had gone for consecration. They were arrested, and their left ears were cut for “failing to listen to the words of the Koran. Those detained were forced to eat the chopped ears before being released.
5. A Man Cut and Ate A Piece of His Thigh While in Prison
A 34-year-old prisoner took the doctors by surprise when he was brought in with a lacerated leg. In the incident that happened in 2014, the prisoner had cut a rectangular chunk of his right thigh’s soft tissue with a knife and eaten the flesh.
6. A Depressed Man Cook and Ate His Finger in New Zealand
In 2009, the people of New Zealand heard about an incident that had never been reported in the country before! A depressed man had cut, cooked, and eaten his little finger, in what was the country’s first case of self-cannibalism.
The patient, who was 28 at the time and only identified as “Mr. X,” reportedly tied a shoelace around his little finger and then cut the finger off with a jigsaw. It is said that the man later regretted the move and had been suffering from insomnia and suicidal ideation.
7. A Death Row Inmate Gouged His Eye And Ate It
Andre Thomas was a man on death row convicted of some gruesome attacks that took the lives of his wife and two children. After the ordeal that happened in 2004, he removed his left eye and was left with one. Four years later, he removed the second remaining eye, eating it this time.
8. A Man High on PCP Gnawed His Finger after a Botched Carjack Try
A man from Jersey City believed to be high on phencyclidine (PCP) hit the headlines after he gnawed his finger while being held at the Hudson County Jail. Jargget Washington, 29 at the time, stripped naked and then attempted to carjack a vehicle.
When he was arrested, he defecated in the police car on the way to the station. He then tried to chew his wrists in an attempt to remove the handcuffs. After he was booked, Washington gnawed and swallowed one of his fingers.
9. A Victim Attacked By Thugs Was Forced to Eat a Part of His Ear
A young man called Brendan Higginbotham was attacked by thugs and dragged into a vacant house. They then tortured him, severed his ear, and forced him to eat a part of it. The victim needed a plastic salary to repair the horrific injuries but said he was lucky and just glad to be alive.