Interview with a cannibal
I’ve got to put this in my blog, it’s to weird not to. This first part took place at the end of march when I was in Darjeeling with Sarah, we met an American guy who had been living (teaching English) in India for a while. He was a pretty cool cat and was very informed on many local issues. We went out for a few beers and thanks to the beer, he ended up telling us the freakiest story ever. I can’t remember a lot of the details, but I remember enough to identify the psycho he told us about.
Our friend (of course…I can’t remember his name) started telling us about one of his trips to Varanasi. One day he was approached by a Sadhu (holy man), that’s pretty normal there, but this one was holding the top of a human skull (like a bowl) to collect money (Baksheesh). He started talking to the Sadhu for a while, since the Sadhu spoke perfect English. Eventually the psycho admitted that he was a cannibal, so was his teacher! He said that he eats the flesh of the people that are burned on the ghats (on the Ganga river). He also said that he lived in San Francisco, but he’s originally from Hawaii.
Needless to say or friend was a bit tweaked out! He went back to his town (in India) to work again, but returned about a year later. This time he met a journalist who was writing something about the cannibal dude. My friend said that it sounded just like the cannibal he had met a year before! The journalist gave him a link to check out on the internet and when he checked it out for himself, not only did he see the same cannibal that he had met, but he was on a most wanted list! Not just for murder either, but serial murder! Crazyness! The journalist said that he went to the phsyco’s lair and found a pile of human skulls inside!
Anyway, at the time (we were in Darjeeling) our friend told us that the cannibal was in Darjeeling begging for money! He had shaved his head (used to have dreadlocks down to his waist) and has a brace on his leg and also needs a cain to walk with. He was pretty freaked out of course and so was everyone at the table! After that, every time Sarah and I would give money to the beggers there, we would check to see if they had a leg brace and a cain before we gave, but we never saw him.
I forgot all about him untill I came back to Kolkata (from Bangladesh) and stayed in the same dorm as before. I saw an old guy laying down with a bunch of strange tattoo’s all over him. I broke the ice and asked the usual traveler questions, where are you going/coming from etc. We talked for a while and I knew he was a weirdo, but had no idea. He ended up telling me he was from Hawaii! As soon as he told me that, the hair stood up on my arms and I must have gone pale! I could see the top half of a human skull on the floor next to his bed, but didn’t know what is was untill he told me he was from Hawaii. Then the cain and his leg brace was a dead give away!
Two of my friends were in the dorm at that time, so I figuered I spill the beans. I told him staight up that I had heard a lot of stories about him while he was in Hawaii and Varanasi. He asked who told me and I just said some travelers. He didn’t seem to care one way or the other, the only thing he said was “you never know who you’re talking to!” I really wanted his picture, but he was up and gone before most of us woke up. He didn’t go far though, he stayed on the same street and checked into the Salvation Army’s Dorm. I happened to hear some whitey’s talking about him (not the cannibal part though) while we were drinking chai on the street. I told them the whole story and after having seen him, they believed me.
That was the first and last I’ve seen of Hanibal Lecter (spl?)! Crazy huh! True
storie too!
Check this out! After I put this story on my blog, I made a comment about it on bootsnall. One guy gave me a link and asked if it was the same guy, It is, so now you can all see the Cannibal man (I didn’t even need a photo!).
http://www.alligator.org/edit/news/issues/stories/030603cannibal.html
Tags: My India
Bear
April 22nd, 2005 at 4:58 am
Wow! It was a good thing he was NOT hungry! You lucked out again.