Miami is often considered the Latin American capital of the world, and it is home to glamour, crime, corruption, trigger-happy cops, and the strangest stories. Two recent Miami news reports exemplify why the Magic City is as unusual as it is alluring.

The first report comes from the Miami Herald. Several reporters contributed to a story that juxtaposed the hedonism and party atmosphere that is the norm in South Florida during a Memorial Day holiday weekend. The scene was the McArthur Causeway that connects the continental mass of Florida with the isles that comprise Miami Beach. While police kept watch on party revelers on the Miami Beach side, a gruesome scene unfolded at the foot of the causeway on the City of Miami side.

According to the Miami Herald:

“[…] a naked man was shot to death by police after he was found chewing on another man’s face.”

The ghastly situation was witnessed by a woman who called the attention of a security officer guarding the building of the Miami Herald. In a scene reminiscent of zombie films and video games, a police officer ordered the man to stop, then shot him once. The naked cannibal did not stop gnawing at his victim’s face, and the officer shot him again -this time to his death. The victim was rushed to the hospital.

The news of the grim incident traveled fast online, prompting some comments about just how much of a threat would a naked man posed to an armed Miami police officer. Given the fact that the perpetrator was shot once and did not stop chomping on the victim’s face, the Fraternal Order of Police is standing by the officer.

That was not the only recent shooting by Miami-Dade police that has been questioned. In the early morning hours of Memorial Day, a man carrying a baseball bat in his belt was shot by a patrolman in the semi-rural area of Southwest Miami. Preliminary reports indicate that the shooting officer noticed a shiny object -the aluminum baseball bat- hanging from the belt of the man prior to drawing his service pistol and firing. The pedestrian was rushed to the hospital.

While in Costa Rica there are no reports of anthropophagite criminal behavior, researcher Jose Maria Figueroa Oreamuno (1820-1900) looked at the incidence of cannibalism among ancient Mesoamericans and whether the practice could have carried over to our indigenous people. Mr. Figueroa did not find such evidence.

Another criminal case in which an anthropophagus was observed consuming facial tissue of a victim unfolded on a Greyhound bus traveling through the province of Manitoba, Canada in 2008. Vince Weiguang Li stabbed, killed and beheaded a fellow passenger, Tim McLean. After the bus was evacuated and law enforcement arrived, a standoff ensued and the perpetrator was observed cutting pieces of the victim’s face and eating them before he was arrested.

The murder of Tim McLean would later serve as a platform for the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) to run an advertisement comparing the incident to eating animal meat. The press release from PETA concluded that:

“PETA is running the ad to make people rethink the proposition that it is, rightly so, a criminal act to kill and eat our own kind but that it’s “OK” to kill every other species but our own and eat them.”

Yet another strange case of cannibalism, this time voluntary instead of criminal, was recently reported by the Daily Mail (UK). A young Japanese man allegedly had part of his genitals surgically removed and cooked with mushrooms and parsley. The report from adds that the man charged about $200 per person to participate in the cannibal dinner in Tokyo. The Daily Mail only offers a link to a nutritional website as a source.