# Did pigs really eat people on a ship in WW2? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 11, 2022, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-pigs-really-eat-people-on-a-ship-in-ww2/966050 "2022-06-11T23:13:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 4
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2022, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-pigs-really-eat-people-on-a-ship-in-ww2/966050/4 "2022-06-12T00:17:38Z")
Legends (and facts) about people being eaten by pigs long predate WW2. Just a peek at out own archives show - > [@Civil War Mythology \[pigs eating battlefield dead\]](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/civil-war-mythology-pigs-eating-battlefield-dead/521015): > > I recall in college we were discussing Arkansas experiences in the Civil War. There was one rather disturbing story about a famous battle on the Missouri/Arkansas border. Brig. Gen. John S. Marmaduke launched a preemptive strike into Missouri on April 26, 1863. Brig. Gen. John McNeil defeated the confederate troops at the battle of Cape Girardeau. Marmaduke retreated back into Arkansas and was pursued relentlessly until Little Rock ultimately fell and was occupied by the Union forces. Sterlin… But AFAIK, the only WW era story specific to any of your details was the one @Peter_Morris linked earlier. I mean, the story has a certain limited plausibility, in that shipboard animals were kept for food, and probably weren’t well fed themselves, but seems more like an urban legend rather than documented fact. Especially if it was a throwaway line, or someone repeating something they themselves had only heard 2nd/3rd/etc hand. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-pigs-really-eat-people-on-a-ship-in-ww2/966050)._