It was a typical boiling evening in July 1991. The news was the furthest from normal. The indelible images of barrels being rolled out of an apartment building cannot be bleached out. Even more is the horror of a kid trying to comprehend what those barrels contained. And that freezer.

I remember that live news report, a victim’s sister screaming in court, and hearing that Jeffrey Dahmer was beaten to death in prison. A large part of why his crimes are unforgettable is because who thinks something like that happens; that there are people in the world who commit such unimaginable barbarity. Living while John Wayne Gacy and the Zodiac were still inhabiting Earth did not absorb the shock of Dahmer.

Dahmer’s normal appearance enabled him to become adept at entangling prey in his web. Years after his first kill, Jeff’s appetite metastasized to dozens of people*. Decades of rejection by intimacy and holding a perverse view of coping mechanisms created a predator.

Cannibalism is not new nor is it rare in the animal kingdom. It serves a purpose for some species and is unfathomably repulsive to others. When realizing the fascination and fandom that has accompanied Netflix’s series on Dahmer**, it cannot be ignored that some humans may still have lurking cannibalistic inclinations. It really makes you ask who the predatory animal is.

In science, it is important to look at nature to understand people. The purpose of cannibalism in animals may be linked to anything from siblings and parents, to sexuality. In the wild, cannibalism can serve as an advantage when threats are encountered or perceived.

Science

Spider cannibalism- Considered a measure to avoid sexual conflict, female spiders eat males usually after mating. This may be a method to prevent the partner from mating with others.

Cell cannibalism- Cells in human bodies cannibalize in cases such as cancer. “Magic bullet” antibodies can be used to trigger this process. It’s called phagocytosis and generally used to protect the body from harm.

Dahmer- Jeffrey Dahmer was filled with hate and a thirst for power, disguising them behind a mousy demeanor. He didn’t eat his brother David since sibling cannibalism occurs in only around 2.5% of anthropophagi and it was relatively inopportune. For the 17 people he did victimize, Jeffrey showed no remorse or real need to commit those crimes.

The Dahmer Boys: Jeffrey with his brother David and father Lionel. Sibling cannibalism is rare. David changed his name and Lionel, a chemist, admitted to having violent thoughts.

Bottom Line

The difference between animals in the wild and humans is morals and ethics. These must be recognized when serving needs. Humans share genomic similarities with several non-human creatures, from spiders to yeast. The functionality may be the same for survival, like searching for food, but predatory behavior is a significant deviation. A rugby team that crashed into the Andes and was trapped by an avalanche ate some dead members of their team to avoid starving to death. They don’t continue cannibalism in their regular rescued lives. Jeffrey was provided ample time to develop his hunting skills and habituate his behavioral patterns.

Though I only witnessed the events on TV from several thousand miles away, that Milwaukee community was not afforded breathing space. Especially the victims’ families. The incident was so devastating that the entire apartment complex had to be demolished and community members removed Dahmer’s possessions from public consumption. In perspective, a series glamorizing the specific events seems unnecessary. Furthermore, at issue is figuring out who is the cannibal: The one who is psychologically distorted or the one who wears his costume and binges on his show? Will society’s cannibalism of Jeffrey Dahmer ever reach satiation? It is speculated that something severe happened to Jeffrey to make him that way, including abandonment, parental neglect, and pharmaceuticals. Even the prisoner who killed Dahmer and another inmate had delusions of God demanding him to do it because they were white, thus sending him to a prison for the severely insane.

What happened to the people who are obsessed with him?