VIDEO: Interview with a Cannibal – Armin Meiwes

Armin Meiwes has become known as the real-life Hannibal Lecter after it was revealed that he had killed and eaten Bernd-Jürgen Brandes, who had volunteered himself as victim after answering a message on a cannibalism website.

According to Wikipedia, Meiwes posted an advertisement on the website, The Cannibal Cafe (a blog site for people with cannibal fetishes). Meiwes’ post stated that he was “looking for a well-built 18- to 30-year-old to be slaughtered and then consumed.” Bernd Jürgen Armando Brandes, an engineer from Berlin, answered the advertisement in March 2001.

Many other people responded to the advertisement but backed out; Meiwes did not attempt to force them to do anything against their will. The two made a videotape when they met on 9 March 2001 in Meiwes’ home, in the small town of Rotenburg, showcasing Meiwes amputating Brandes’ penis and the two men attempting to eat it together, before Brandes’ ultimate demise.

Brandes had insisted that Meiwes attempt to bite his penis off. This did not work, and ultimately, Meiwes used a knife to remove Brandes’ appendage. Brandes apparently tried to eat some of his own penis raw but could not, because it was too tough and, as he put it, “chewy”.

Meiwes then fried the penis in a pan with salt, pepper, wine, and garlic; he then fried it with some of Brandes’ fat, but by then it was too burned to be consumed. He then chopped the penis up into chunks and fed it to his dog.

According to court officials who saw the video (which has not been made public), Brandes may already have been too weakened from blood loss to eat any of his penis. Meiwes read a Star Trek book for three hours, while Brandes lay bleeding in the bath.

Meiwes gave him large quantities of alcohol and pain killers, 20 sleeping pills, and a bottle of schnapps, kissed him, and finally killed him in a room he had built in his house for this purpose, the Slaughter Room.After stabbing Brandes to death in the throat, he hung the body on a meat hook, tore chunks of flesh from it, and tried to grind the bones to use as flour.

The incident was recorded on the two-hour video tape. Meiwes ate the corpse over the next 10 months, storing body parts in his freezer under pizza boxes and consuming up to 20 kilograms (44 lb) of the flesh. According to prosecutors, Meiwes committed the act for sexual pleasure.

Meiwes was arrested in December 2002, when a college student in Innsbruck phoned the police after seeing new advertisements for victims and details about the killing on the Internet. Investigators searched his home, and found body parts and the video tape of the killing.

On 30 January 2004, Meiwes was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to eight years in prison.

Meiwes has admitted cannibalizing Brandes and has expressed regret for his actions. He added he wanted to write a book of his life story with the aim of deterring anyone who wants to follow his footsteps. “They should go for treatment, so it doesn’t escalate like it did with me”, said Meiwes. While in prison, Meiwes has since become a vegetarian.