Cannibalism - #27: Storage

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TRANSCRIPT OF EPISODE: Cannibalism (munching) “could you eat a whole human being? With the help of a doctor, a scientist and a chef, I set out to see if it’s possible. Cannibalism: part twenty-seven – storage”. (burp)

If a cannibal plans to eat a whole human, given how long it would take and how each part needs to be prepared differently to ensure that its safe to eat, surely their first thought should be how to store it?

1987, Philadelphia, Gary Heidnik, an inspiration for ‘Buffalo Bill’ in The Silence of the Lambs, kidnapped his 2nd victim, Sandra Lindsay. Holding her captive in in a self-dug basement pit, she died of starvation, torture and fever. Having dismembered her, he said he ate her ribs, boiled her head and having frozen her limbs which he labelled as ‘dog food’, it is claimed he fed it to his dogs, as well as his other victims.

Few cannibals or serial-killers are experienced butchers or chefs – except Dennis Nilsen, Stephen Port ‘The Grindr Killer’ and Karl Großmann ‘The Berlin Butcher to name a few – so, how likely are others to know how fast the edible bits of a body will go off, how fast putrefaction sets in, or what it smells like?

With the average home freezer being 100litres, big enough to fit Steve our average UK male, the first option for preserving the body is a mortuary bag. Technically known as cadaver pouches, they’re made of a 4mm non-porous mix of vinyl and polyethylene with a reinforced heat seal, they’re designed to prevent leaks, and act as an airtight barrier and limited temperature control to delay decomposition.

‘Cadaver pouches’ are available online without restrictions with one type (worryingly) sold on Amazon.

Again, few serial killers have access to a mortuary – exceptions being necrophile David Fuller and John Wayne Gacy who was briefly a mortician’s assistant, to name a few – but keeping a body at 2 degrees Celsius, some embalming is still required after 24 hours, and it only delays decomposition by a week.

Freezing is said to be the best long-term solution.

September 2018, Birmingham, UK, said to be grieving his friend’s death, Damion Johnson was “unable to let go” and said to be “not thinking rationally”, he bought a 2ft by 3ft freezer where he kept the body for two years. Arrested on unrelated matters, the flat was boarded up, the freezer unplugged, and the body only found when the removals men sent it to a refuse tip, and they noticed the smell.

The Food Standard Agency states “meat needs to be frozen at 0°F (-18°C) to prevent bacterial growth”, but with many types of meat spoiling owing to ‘freezer burn’ – being exposed to cold, dry air which causes the outer layer of moisture to dehydrate – many chefs agree that meat is best frozen in small portions as at some point it’ll need to be thawed, as well as wrapped in air-tight plastic like cling film.

Admittedly, the purchase of mortuary bags is as suspicious as buying an axe, a spade, plastic sheets and 20 litres of formaldehyde, so - as one unnamed ‘supposed’ cannibal did in France – he used a food vacuum sealing machine in the restaurant’s kitchen he worked in. Able to air-seal a whole 25lb turkey in a single package, with all of the oxygen mechanically extracted, once frozen, it was said if he hadn’t been caught, each limb would have stayed fresh for 3-4 years, twice as long just being in a freezer.

But what if a cannibal doesn’t have a fridge, or can’t risk buying one?

An artisan food supplier, who (for obvious reasons) wishes to remain nameless, suggested five options for preserving the meat. Curing which uses salt to limit the moisture, smoking but who owns a smoker, brine which is effective and cheap, air-drying which isn’t best suited to the moist British climate, or being submerged in oil and sealed in fat, although does run the risk of being an incubator of botulism.

Each of these options gave the meat a potential ‘best before’ date of a few weeks, or at best months, but none were as effective as vacuum sealing, although a decent 25lb sealer costs as much as £4000.

Without an adequate method of storing a body, the smell of decay is what leads to many serial-killers and cannibals being caught. But decomposition doesn’t have a single smell, but six, as the body gives off different chemicals during the process. Cadaverine (caused by the decarboxylation of lysine) smells like rotting flesh, Skatole (caused by the metabolism of L-tryptophan in the digestive tract) has a strong faecal odour, Indole (from the breaking down of faecal matter) smells like mothballs, Hydrogen sulfide smells like rotten eggs, Methanethiol smells of rotting cabbage, and Dimethyl disulfide smells of garlic.

And although they are all very different, the smell of decomposition is said to be unforgettable.

2009, Ohio, from the corner of East 123rd Street and Imperial Avenue, for years an overpowering smell had been put down to overflowing drains, a faulty sewer, and even a sausage shop. Gaining entry, that smell alarmed the police, and with at least 11 women found in shallow graves and crawlspaces, where the law had failed, that unforgettable smell of decay led to the conviction of the Cleveland Strangler.

Join me tomorrow for the final part of Cannibalism.