Hopefully none of you will ever have to put in a last meal request. If you do, you done messed up somewhere along the line. Having said that, we got to thinking what ours would be. In that vein, we looked at the last meal requests from some of the most notorious criminal in history.
Last Meal For John Wayne Gacy
Age: 52 years; State: Illinois; Crimes: rape, 33 counts of murder; Type: lethal injection
Requests:
- 12 fried shrimp
- Bucket of Original Recipe KFC*
- French fries
- 1 lb. of strawberries
* Prior to being convicted, Gacy had managed three KFC restaurants.
Last Meal For Timothy McVeigh
Age: 33 years; State: Indiana; Crimes: 168 counts of murder; Type: lethal injection
Requests:
- Two pints of mint and chocolate chip ice cream
Last Meal For Ricky Ray Rector
Age: 42 years; State: Arkansas; Crimes: two counts of murder; Type: lethal injection
Requests:
- Steak
- Fried chicken
- Cherry Kool-Aid
- Pecan pie*
* He left the pecan pie, telling a guard he was “saving it for later.”
Last Meal For Ted Bundy
Age: 43 years; State: Florida; Crimes: rape, necrophilia, prison escape and 35+ counts of murder; Type: electric chair
Requests: declined a “special” meal; was given the traditional last meal.
- Steak (medium rare)
- Eggs (over easy)
- Hash browns
- Toast with butter and jelly
- Milk
- Juice
Last Meal For Ronnie Lee Gardner
Age: 49 years; State: Utah; Crimes: burglary, robbery, two counts of murder; Type: firing squad
Requests:
- Lobster tail
- Steak
- Apple pie
- Vanilla ice cream
- To eat while watching the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy
Last Meal For Teresa Lewis
Age: 41 years; State: Virginia; Crimes: murder, conspiracy and robbery; Type: lethal injection
Requests:
- Fried chicken
- Peas with butter
- Apple pie
- Dr. Pepper
Website: HenryHargreaves.com
Henry: In my photography I have always been fascinated by the mix of the mundane with the extraordinary. While I was reading about efforts to stop the last meal tradition in Texas, my interest was sparked. In the most unnatural moment there is (state sponsored death), what kinds of requests for food have been made?
In New Zealand (where I’m from) and, in fact, nearly anywhere else in the developed world, the death penalty is just not even in the conversation. It is a remnant of an earlier era. This little bit of civility — “Hey, we are going to kill you, but what would you like to eat?” — just jumped off the page.I felt that it could be a really interesting idea to try to represent visually. Researching this topic strangely personalized these people for me and, for a moment, I was able to identify with them through the common denominator of food.
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