Endocannibalism: The Bizarre Custom of Eating Deceased Relatives in Papua New Guinea

• Endocannibalism, the practice of eating deceased relatives, was a funerary custom among the Fore Tribe in Papua New Guinea.
• The tribe believed this practice allowed the souls of elders to merge with them and prevented bodies from being eaten by worms.
• Mainly women and children participated, consuming cooked brain and other body parts, excluding the gallbladder.
• This custom led to the spread of Kuru, a fatal neurodegenerative disease, causing severe tremors and other symptoms.
• The practice was abandoned in the 1950s due to the Kuru epidemic, which nearly wiped out Fore women, though cases continued until 2012.

Why It Matters: Endocannibalism in Papua New Guinea, meant to honor the dead, led to a deadly disease.