Hello Internet - and welcome back to the most inquisitive channel on YouTube - Life’s
Biggest Questions - the place where we use one fictional serial killer to capture another
fictional serial killer, and wonder if two rights actually really do make a wrong.
What’s going on guys - as per usual, I’ll be your host Jack Finch - as we tuck into
that wonderful plate of food made of fava beans and - oh, what’s that?
- and curiously ask the question - What If Hannibal Lecter Was Real?
Hello Clarice.
I mean - roll the clip.
(1:29 - 1:39 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwQev_zC0y0)
Well - I mean, it really does depend on what those new things entail, doesn’t it, Doctor
Lecter?
Because I’m pretty sure you just inadvertently created a child cannibal - and, well - where
the hell is that kids parents?
Never mind not taking candy from strangers - I think it goes without saying that you
should never, ever - take an FBI agents cooked brain from them.
Sheesh.
Before we jump into that though - you know the drill by now - if you’re a fan of this
video, Hannibal Lecter, Thomas Harris - or just LBQ in general - then be a dear and hit
that thumbs up button - as well as that subscribe bell, so you can stay up to date with our
latest and greatest uploads.
Also - if you’re feeling particularly gregarious - then why don’t you go ahead and share
this video with a friend, because - you know, friendship is magic - especially when it pertains
to cannibalistic psychopathic serial killers, right?
Hannibal Lecter.
Well - where do we even begin?
I mean, like the Chucky Doll question a few days back - there’s much more to this question
than meets the eye, because if we ask the question What If Hannibal Lecter Was Real?
The simple answer is - he was.
Hannibal Lecter was first introduced in the 1981 thriller novel - Red Dragon, written
and created by Thomas Harris - a crime author who would dedicate his life's work to the
series of suspense novels that surround the Lecter story.
Little is known about Thomas Harris’ personal life - as he avoids publicity and hasn’t
given a press interview since 1976 - which is pretty impressive, actually.
But also - it’s that much more important, given the fact that little is known about
the inner-workings of the original Hannibal Lecter story.
Red Dragon is possibly the best insight into the mind of Dr. Hannibal Lecter - and the
very firmly stated fact that he does not fit any known psychological profile.
In the novel, the lead protagonist Will Graham claims that Lecter has zero conscience and
tortured animals as a child - two very common traits of sociopathic killers - but does not
exhibit any other criteria traditionally associated with sociopathy.
Graham goes on to explain that Lecter is referred to as a sociopath by psychiatrists because
they don’t know what else to call him.
Simple as that.
But did anyone like that ever really exist?
Thomas Harris, the author of the Lecter Series - agrees that they did.
And he can even go one better - he can tell us his name.
In 2013 - after the 25th anniversary edition of The Silence of the Lambs was released,
Thomas Harris left an updated introduction to the classic novel.
In it - he finally revealed - after a quarter of a century - that Hannibal Lecter was based
on an actual doctor, much to the surprise and chagrin of horror and literature fans
alike.
A surgeon from Mexico, by the name of Alfredo Balli Trevino - who was convicted of murdering,
and then chopping up his boyfriend, Jesus Castillo Rangel.
Although details of the murderer's motive are sketchy at best - there were several accounts
as to why Dr. Trevino went on to kill his boyfriend - in such a brutal manner.
Reportedly, the pair had known each other since high school, and Jesus has worked for
the doctor - before allegedly coming into conflict with the relationship.
Some say that Jesus had attacked his lover when he told Trevino that he was leaving him
- others say that he’d owed the Doctor money and refused to pay it back - which resulted
in him attacking the doctor with a screwdriver.
The one thing that is certain, though - is that Jesus died at the hands of Dr. Trevino
- in a brutal, and calculated manner that would first give rise to the Hannibal Lecter
story.
According to a police report - Dr. Trevino had injected a muscle-numbing drug into his
lovers body - before dragging him to a bathtub and slitting his throat with a scalpel.
He then drained all of the blood from his body - and began methodically slicing up Jesus’
body - after which he stuffed the tiny morsels of bone and flesh into a medical waste box.
Afterwards - Dr. Trevino, drove the box to a relatives farm, where he coerced a farmhand
into helping him bury the box - assuring him that it contained medical waste, and nothing
was amiss.
Well - of course, although the origin of Doctor Hannibal Lecter is real - no one can be as
machine-like and psychologically thorough as the fictional character himself - and Dr.
Trevino was caught, convicted of murder and sentenced to death in a Mexican prison.
This is where Thomas Harris met the man, the real life Hannibal Lecter on death row - who
went on to inspire his series of novels.
There - he described Trevino as a man with a certain elegance about him - although he
later went on to discuss methods of torture and murder with the author - ridiculing him
for his lack of medical knowledge.
Because that’s what Hannibal Lecter really is - he’s two sides of the same coin, dark
and light captured by the inspiration of a mortal man.
As Mads Mikkelsen described him when undertaking the role for the TV adaptation - Hannibal
Lecter is the traditional Satan, Lucifer - a fallen angel, enamoured with mankind and fascinated
with who we are as a people.
But he does not belong amongst us.
Hannibal Lecter is real, in the sense that he is based upon a very real man.
But he’s also real in the sense that our constant exploration of the human psyche is
ever-changing, and constantly coughing up new ways of looking at the world.
With all the recent talk of sociopathy and the normalisation of anti-social tendencies
- the work of Thomas Harris are an uncanny reflection of the times that we live in - and
like always, Doctor Hannibal Lecter was one step ahead.
Well - unfortunately, that’s all we’ve got time for in today's video folks - speak
your mind in the comment box down below.
If you were a fan of this video - then be a dear and hit that thumbs up button, as well
as that subscribe bell so you can stay up to date with our latest and greatest uploads.
Cheers for stopping by - and to continue with your questioning binge, make sure to hit that
playlist floating shortly above.
As per usual, I’ve been your host Jack Finch - you’ve been watching Life’s Biggest
Questions - and until next time, you take it easy.