Robert Christian Hansen was born on February 15, 1939, in Esterville, Iowa to Christian Hansen, a Danish immigrant baker and his wife Edna. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire wrote that Hansen had a difficult upbringing. His father was very strict and insisted that his son work long hours in the family's bakery. Adding to this ever-present strain, he was always considered small for his age and his face bore severe acne sores all throughout his adolescence. In later
Harvey continues to insist that he was a mercy-killer, but the facts indicate otherwise. Over the course of eighteen years in several different institutions, he killed for petty reasons as well as mercy. One man he just didn't like; another he killed out of revenge. And then there were the acquaintances he poisoned with arsenic who just happened to have annoyed him. There seems little doubt that he was engaged in occult practices when he chose some of his victims, and
Such was the case in Houston in the early 1970's. Houston was growing rapidly and there were simply not enough police per capita to keep the crime rate under control. Missing persons was a real afterthought, especially if the person missing was a kid from a rundown neighborhood. Such a neighborhood was The Heights, an old area of the city that boomed in the late 1800's, but was tired and decrepit after World War II.
A huge tragedy began quietly in The Heights on May 29, 1971. 13-year-old
Police returned to the ranch with Hernandez in tow. He readily pointed out the cult's private graveyard and then when asked, used a shovel to unearth the first of 12 bodies buried in a tidy row. All the victims were men. Some had been shot at close range and others hacked to death with a machete. One of the bodies was Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire, his skull split open, his brain missing. Detectives entering a nearby shed found the cult's cast-iron kettle called a nganga brimming with blood,
Within the field of psychology there is a debate on what factors lead a person to practice criminal cannibalism. There are a many theories which have been presented, ranging from the over nurturing of a child during the first few months of their life to sudden stress. However, there is little evidence to support most of these theories. Nevertheless, the theories put forth present a framework in which one is able to gain a better understanding of the possible psychological factors behind