Post by Joanna on Sept 10, 2014 18:13:15 GMT -5
Our Fascination with Necrophilia
Reports about the latest investigation into the sexual assaults carried out by Jimmy Savile in a hospital in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, were invariably led by accounts from a small group of staff that Savile had engaged in indecent, sometimes sexual, behavior with human corpses. The allegations were based on statements that Savile made himself, after the fact, and were far less substantiated than other abuses carried out by Savile with living persons. But nevertheless, the necrophilia quotes took center stage.
But what is it about the sexual abuse of corpses (shortened to the term necrophilia in the 19th century) that some seem to find so fascinating, titillating and abject? The short answer is the necrophiliac’s unbridled desire and eagerness to engage in a transgression that would horrify most people. We find many dead things difficult, not least a human. And as researchers into disgust might tell you, a sense of disgust generally stops us before we do things we shouldn’t.
One study that reviewed 122 cases of necrophilic acts or fantasies classified it into three types: necrophilic homicide, “regular” necrophilia and fantasies of committing necrophilia. They found the most common motive for necrophilia was “possession of an unresisting and unrejecting partner,” rather than explicit psychopathic tendencies, for example. The authors said necrophiles – as they are also called – often choose occupations that put them in contact with corpses.
Savile certainly had access to a morgue. But from a public perspective, a person’s ability to imagine these explicit taboos actually happening is also what gives necrophilia its shock value.
Legally Speaking. Necrophilia laws in the UK cover this type transgression and make clear that any sexual penetration or inappropriate physical conduct with dead bodies is illegal. If convicted, a person can end up in prison for anywhere from six months to two years as well as being required to pay a fine. In the United States, necrophilia laws vary from state to state and in some, it is not illegal.
The problem with many necrophilia crimes – which often go unreported – is that unless a specific law exists making the acts illegal, it can become difficult to prosecute. This is exactly what happened in Wisconsin in 2006 when twin brothers Nicholas and Alexander Grunke and their friend Dustin Radke, all 22, decided to dig up a newly dead young woman. Armed with shovels, a crowbar and a box of condoms, the three crept into the cemetery in Cassville and were attempting to remove the corpse of a 20-year-old girl killed in a motorcycle crash the previous week. Nicholas Grunke had seen a photo of the pretty nursing assistant and asked the others to help him disinter the lady so he could defile her body. The men were discovered by a police officer responding to reports of a suspicious vehicle in the cemetery, and they were charged with attempted sexual assault and theft. A judge dismissed the assault charges because, at that time, necrophilia was not illegal in Wisconsin. The decision was appealed and the appellate court decided that, in fact, dead bodies can be defined as “persons,” which meant that in this instance, two of the men could be charged with attempted necrophilia or more specifically, “attempted third-degree sexual assault.”
At trial, Nicholas Grunke admitted he planned to take the young woman’s body home with him, but claimed sex was not on his mind. Instead, he said he was “going to take it to a clearing in the woods and just kind of spend time with it ....” He described a scene from the movie, I’ll Bury You Tomorrow in which the main character slow-danced with a corpse and insisted his intention was to emulate what he had seen in the movie.
But Dustin Renke told a different story. “Nick said numerous times over the years how he’d love to have sex with a dead body because he wouldn’t want to have a woman to come home to holler at, or complain or nag at him. And he said that more than once.” He said when Grunke showed him the young woman’s obituary, he knew right away that he intended to have sex with her corpse.
According to testimony, while en route to Cassville, the men admitted stopping to buy a box of condoms. But each contended it was the other’s idea to buy them. Grunke has already been convicted of attempted theft and vandalism, but not sexual assault.
A family friend told TV9 that Nick was a troubled person, but that he never intended to have sex with the body. He only wanted to spend time with the corpse. “This act was a cry from the deepest part of Nick, that sought the intimacy from another human being. It had nothing to do with sex,” Susan Hutches claimed.
In addressing the jury, the assistant district attorney said, “You don’t need a box of condoms to carry on a conversation. You don’t need a box of condoms to go chit chat.”
Nick Grunke was found guilty and was forced to register as a sex offender. The judge also sentenced him to five to seven years of intense psychotherapy, saying confidential records showed Grunke was the victim of a horrific crime when he was a small child.
Before Grunke’s trial, Dustin Radke had pled guilty to a third degree attempted sexual assault. In a subsequent trial, Alexander Grunke was found guilty of attempted third-degree sexual assault. All three had been previously convicted of criminal damage to a cemetery and theft.
A dead body’s legal status often makes necrophilia all the more impossible to fathom when we take into consideration the sacredness some families attach to the corpse of their loved one – the person may be dead, but they are still cherished by those who love them. In the eyes of the law in many necrophilia cases, a dead body becomes a sort of “property” for the next-of-kin, which is a concept that many people find doubly disturbing because necrophilia, in this sense, becomes an act of vandalism rather than a sexual assault on a human being.
Sources: John Troyer, RealClearScience; KCRG News, and The Associated Press.
