So, I came across this little gem when I was browsing the $5.00 rack at my local used bookstore some years back. I think I went in trying to get the "Left Behind" series, and somehow ended up with this as well....go figure.

This book is comprised of 30 or so case studies of various cannibal murderers over the ages.

It starts off in the 3rd Century AD in the British Isles with the first known cannibal, a woman named Ethne the Dread, and moves through the years giving detailed accounts of murderous cannibals including but not limited to:

Sweeny Todd, Albert Fish, Jeffrey Dahmer, an enterprising sausage vendor circa WWII Germany, and that well documented, and made into a movie "internet" cannibal" somewhere in Europe who recorded his multi-hour encounter with a stranger who agreed to meet up for the intent to be killed and eaten. This is just a small sampling of what kind of people you will read and learn about.

Honestly? This is one of the guilty pleasure reads that I freely admit to because it is an easy read but filled with fascinating accounts of people I have never heard about and people who I only knew by name but not by details, and people I recall seeing in the news when it happened.

Cannibal Killers is non-fiction, but reads like a fiction anthology, and delivers more than enough examples of how man has killed and eaten man over the ages. The bonus of reading this book is becoming knowledgeable in such an esoteric topic that the information learned will surely win you bar bets and rounds of Jeopardy and Who wants to be a Millionaire.

For those of you still in school and looking for a book or topic source to write a paper for sociology, psychology, criminology, history or even philosophy this is the book for you..tons of citable sources and lots of great details...

I would suggest getting the dead tree version of this book since it has pictures and illustrations and can easily be found used. The best part is the conversation it starts when friends come over and see it parked between your "Learning Python for Dummies" and "What to Expect When Your're Expecting" on the bookshelf..Like that white collar worker who has piercings and tattoos under his shirt. ( )

I have enjoyed reading this book due to liking anything that is dark, macabre, creepy, disturbing, weird or unexplained, it inspires my dark and vivid imagination. However I was really disgusted by the except of people that are cannibals in China, due to them eating domesticated animals, it made me feel physically sick, so trigger warning for animal abuse, people consuming, cats, dogs and other animals.
It's interesting to read about murderers that are a Cannibal, Vampire or or Werewolf that I haven't always heard of.
This book is not for the squeamish or the faint of heart, and there is a entry about specific animals beings eaten as well, so if you can handle the gruesome & gut wrenching graphic detail in this type of book, either don't read it or listen to a audiobook version of it, so you can at least pause it if you get overwhelmed, or feel physically sick like I did while reading this book.

My favourites are:
"Ethne the Dread" (She was a badass, feared Celtic warrior & a cannibal)
"The Rough Grey Dog-man"
"The Monster of East Lothian"
"Sawney Beane" (Alexander "Sawney" Beane)
"Bluebeard" A.K.A (Gilles de Rais)
(A French knight, Occultist/Satanist, serial killer)
"The Werewolf of Dole"
"The Blood countess" or "The Bloody Countess" (Elizabeth Bathory)
"The Witches' Pie"
"The Edinburgh Body-Snatcher"
"The Demon Barber of Paris"
"The Custom of the sea"
"The Bread & Butter Brides"
"The Düsseldorf Monster"
(Peter Kürten A.K.A "The Düsseldorf Vampire")
" The Vampire Killer" ("The Acid Bath Murderer") John George Haigh
"The Psycho-Killer" A.K.A "The Butcher of Plainfield" Ed Gein
"The Cannibal of Bois De Bolougne" (Issei Sagawa)
"The man that made zombies" (Zombified sex slaves)
"The Milwaukee Cannibal" Jeffrey Dahmer
"The Ripper of Rostov" Andrei Chikatilo
"Satan's Disciples"
"The Internet Cannibal" (Armin Meiwes used the Dark Web to access the "Cannibal Café")
"The real Hannibal Lector?"

I'm surprised that there hasn't been any entry so far about a cannibal or Vampire murderer that specifically drank the blood of babies, infants or animals blood.
Or the symbolic aspect of Christianity that is Vampiric & Cannibalistic.
Gilles de Rais was a cannibal, Vampire, that was a Occultist/Satanist & he practiced black magick, he committed Vampirism & Cannibalism as part of a ritual, to summon demons.
He used Alchemy to attempt to create gold to gain more wealth for himself.
Except possibly Elizabeth Bathory he is the only other
cannibal-vampire/Occultist/Satanist that was a cannibal & vampire for a spiritual reason & purpose.
The spiritual aspect of Vampirism, Cannibalism or Lycanthropy is not often mentioned but it is interesting to me at least to read about.
I'm not sure why Elizabeth Bathory never attempted to gain immortality because it seems like she would have wanted to live forever if it was possible.
Some of the entries about cannibals in the book are disturbing and disgusting to read about, Gilles de Rais, Elizabeth Bathory, Ethne the Dread and the cannibal troops the "Babe-eaters" & "Bloodybones" as they were referred to.
So if you don't like reading about people historically & ritualistically sacrificing babies, children, animals drinking their blood or eating them then maybe this book isn't for you.
It made me feel sick & disgusted sometimes, but I have a dark and vivid imagination so it inspires my dark & vivid imagination 🙂
Some of the entries in the book weren't as interesting due to speculation, similarities to the Sawney Beane incestuous/cannibalistic clan & there wasn't much to prove it actually happened whereas the legend of Sawney Beane seems plausible.
The least interesting entry about a person that was a cannibal but not a murderer was (in my opinion) was "The White Cannibal of New York"
It was boring to read, however I would read some of the books that William Seabrook wrote about witchcraft, cannibalism & various tribes.
Peter Kürten was known as The Düsseldorf Vampire (in Germany 1930's) and there is a book about him with that exact name if your interested in reading about him.
There is also a similar Vampire killer named Fritz Haartman that might be of interest to anyone that reads this book or my review 😊
He killed people then sold their "meat"
"Two-Legged Mutton" It's been awhile since something I have read has absolutely disgusted me, made me feel physically sick and pissed me off, this entry about Chinese Cannibalism is disgusting!
If you love animals then avoid reading this entry in the book.
There was a video on youtube.
(I don't even want to know how or why the cat was cooked, but it was a Mukbang video on youtube & they were eating a whole fucking cat, literally!
It fucking horrified, disgusted me & it made me feel physically sick! 😖
Most people by not know who Manuela & Daniel Ruda are especially if they are from Germany, they are now infamous for being Sanguinarian Vampires/Satanists or Devil-worshippers that sacrificed Daniel's friend to Satan to please Satan, before he was murdered they drank his blood.
Both of them are delusional & mentally ill, but I like their alternative/Gothic style of clothing, their rebelliousness & individuality but they are murderers.
Armin Meiwes used the Dark Web to access the Cannibal Café & Flesh & Bone (the second website/online forum I haven't heard of but I already know about this Cannibalistic murderer.
Armin's victim Bernd Brandes was a willing victim they had a fetish Vorarephilia (a person is turned by by the idea/roleplaying that they will be consumed by another person or by a creature) that involved wanting to be consumed by a a person & being sexually turned on by that.
Armin filmed the whole process of drugging, mutilating, butchering/dissecting and dismembering Bernd Brandes's corpse so he could save the limbs/body part that he wanted to preserve so he could eat later.
It's disturbing that Armin sat & read a Star Trek book while he waited for Bernd Brandes to bleed out in the bathtub, or that this crime seemed perfectly normal & acceptable to him due to the violent, and perverse fantasies he had since childhood, he was finally living out one of his most dark & perverse fantasies in real life.
In my opinion the inspiration for Hannibal Lecter was "The Monster of Florence" the unknown serial killer was mentioned in the Hannibal tv series, so Hannibal may have had known of them, since it takes a Cannibal/murderer to recognize another Cannibal/serial killer or murderer.
Nothing is taboo, or shocks Hannibal Lecter since Cannibalism is the last taboo, in the modern world.
I don't understand why Hannibal Rising the film or book wasn't mentioned, it's about Hannibal Lecter as a teenager & young adult which is a important aspect of his character & about why he became a Cannibal.
I did enjoy reading this book, but sometimes it was quite gruesome & gut wrenching to reading due to the graphic accounts of torture, murder, mutilation, Vampirism & Cannibalism.
Some entries about a Vampire or Cannibal murderer were more interesting that others, while some entries completely disgusted me/pissed me off due to the disgusting "delicacies" or the incompetence of the police really pissed me off.
Albert Fish isn't really that interesting to me, not sure why he is considered as inspiration for the fictional character Hannibal Lecter because to me he seems like he would have been a patient of Hannibal Lecter, Jeffrey Dahmer and Ed Gein seem like more plausible inspirations or "The Monster of Florence" due to their violent & unprovoked attacks, the real serial killer is unknown.
In my review I have included honourable mentions of other Vampires, Cannibals that are a murderer/serial killers, some have a book or film made about them, some don't, but you can still do your own research about them. Some things that were tedious to me were the very long sentences that were a paragraph long or the author kept using the term "flesh-eater" when a Cannibal drinks the blood of their victims & eats their flesh so I prefer the term Cannibal instead.
If you don't already know about the Vampires/Cannibals mentioned in this book then it is worth reading, but only if you have a very strong stomach or are stubborn enough to read the entire book despite feeling physically sick sometimes due to the graphic details of what the Vampires or Cannibals did to their vitims or what their motivation for doing it was. Enjoy reading it I know I did 🙂

Honourable mentions (People that are/were a Vampire or Cannibal murderer)-
Shake off the Devil (a couple stayed in their home during Hurricane Katrina, he somehow became possessed and then killed, cooked & ate his girlfriend)
Matthew Hardman (He wanted a German foreign exchange student to bite him & turn him into a Vampire, he was obsessed with Vampires. He stabbed a 90-year old woman Mabel Leyshon, cut out her heart & drank her blood from a ladle. He believed this ritual would turn him into a "real Vampire")
A book by Jack Rosewood about Jeffrey Dahmer is worth readng if you have a strong stomach & your not squeamish or disturbed/disgusted or uncomfirtable reading about animal being dissected, people being drugged, their corpse being raped, they are cannibalised, dismembered but the skulls, some of their flesh, organs were frozen and saved for later/the rest of the remains were disposed of.
Armin Meiwes (The Cannibal of Rotenburg, there is a book about him called Cannibal and a film based on what he did called Grim Love the German actor Thomas Kretschmann is Armin in the film)
There is a book about Armin Meiwes called Cannibal by Lois Jones
Issei Sagawa (Japanese Cannibal)
Tamara Samsova (A terrifying Russian Cannibal/murderer)
Dmitry & Natalia Baksheevy (A murderous Cannibal couple)
Manuela & Daniel Ruda (They are a German couple & were married and Sanguinarian Vampires/Satanists that lived a alternative Vampire, Goth, Satanist lifestyle)
The Vampire rapist
Nico Claux "The Vampire of Paris"
Metal Fang (A Russian serial killer)
The Vampire of Krakow Karol Kot
(A Polish Vampire/murderer, there is only a book written about them in Polish unfortunately)
Albert Fish ("The Brooklyn Vampire")
There are Occult crimes in various books about crimes that involves witchcraft, Satanism or Devil-worship, Vampirism & Cannibalism so it ties in to the theme of the book. ( )

Could not make it past the introduction. This author seems to think that the movie Cannibal Holocaust was an actual film documentary as he mentions exactly that in the introduction of this book. I'm not going to even humor such ignorance and give myself a headache with reading the rest of the book which was obviously not very well researched. ( )