True Crimes Involving Necrophilia

Necrophilia is defined as an "obsessive fascination with death and corpses" or an erotic attraction to corpses. The thought disgusts many, but it may be surprising to hear there have been cases of true necrophiliacs throughout history. Note: this article will not get too explicit, but it may not be for the squeamish either.

In 1847, Francois Bertrand was a Sergeant in the French army. The 25-year-old was arrested for crimes that profaned graveyards, shocking his fellow soldiers. Bertrand claimed he could not explain why he committed these crimes. He could only explain that he often felt compelled to exhume the recently deceased and cut into their flesh with his sword and teeth. Bertrand violated dozens of graves before being caught and spent the rest of his days in an asylum.

Ed Gein is perhaps the most noted example of a necrophile. In 1957 he confessed to having stolen a dozen female corpses. Police found certain body parts in various stages of preservation around his home. His community had believed him to be a nice, normal man. The movie Psycho is loosely based on Gein.

Necrophilia does not always include such extreme or distasteful practices. There are some necrophiles that don't necessarily have an expressed interest in corpses; they just can't bear to see their loved ones go. So after a loved one passes, they carry on as if their loved one isn't dead.

Angel Rivera killed his girlfriend Trudy Poley, then became overcome with remorse. He did not know what to do with the body, so he placed Poley in the passenger seat of his car, reclined the seat, and covered her with a jacket. He drove 2,000 miles with his deceased girlfriend before confessing in New York. Poley appeared to be napping to passersby.

A man known as Harold continued as normal after his mother's death - including watching television with her in the evenings. Unbelievably, he kept his mother in her room for quite some time. She was not discovered to be dead until government investigators came to the house to find out why she hadn't been cashing her pension checks.

Anna, a woman in her fifties, couldn't let her husband go when he died. She kept him dressed and in bed, and even continued cooking meals for him. He was not discovered until months later when a repairman from the gas company came to fix the heater.