10 Most Horrific Cannibal Killers Of All Time

Between December of 1978 and November of 1990 Andrei Chikatilo's murderous career saw him kill at least 56 people according to his own confession, marking him out as one of the worst serial killers in history based on pure numbers alone.

Hints of the monster that Chikatilo would become began to surface when he worked as a teacher, with numerous accusations of sexual assault being made against him by students that eventually led to his firing in 1981. However, his killings had started before that final assault, with the murder of Yelena Zakotnova in 1978 following a failed rape attempt.

His modus operandi seemed to be to stab his victims in a frenzy before mutilating the body and dumping it. On occasion tongue tips and some of the organs of his victims appeared to have been bitten off, hinting at a cannibalistic nature.

For his part Chikatilo claimed that his nature came to be because of his upbringing where, amongst other things, he supposedly saw his 10-year old brother murdered and cannibalised.

How true that is still remains up for debate. As for Chikatilo, he was executed via a single gunshot behind the ear in February of 1994.