Sometimes an event makes the news and it inspires reports on other similar incidents around the country. The incidents might be quite common, and only suddenly newsworthy because that first event piqued the public’s interest for one reason or another.

And then sometimes an event makes the news and is quickly followed by other similar, yet uncommon, newsworthy events. These subsequent events may or may not be related to the original one. They might simply be serendipitous (or anti-serendipitous) coincidences. Either way, the result is the same: we hear about something in the news, and then suddenly we start hearing about an ongoing string of similar events.

Events in the recent news have a theme: face eating, dismemberment, and generalized cannibalism. The question it raises is this: is there some sort of outbreak of zombie-like behavior going on; or is this something that actually happens now and then, and we’re only just now hearing about it?

To review:

A man in Florida was shot and killed by police when, in an alleged drug-fueled frenzy, he refused to stop eating a man’s face.

A man in Canada, who the press loves to keep mentioning was a gay porn star, is accused of dismembering a person and mailing body parts around.

A Maryland college student reportedly admitted to killing his roommate and eating his brain and heart. Continue reading →