Photography is an art and photographers sometimes reach a whole another level while working on their imaginative and expressive shots. One such creative being chose to photograph the last meals of some of the world’s most notorious death row prisoners and the result is quite interesting. Widely observed in the United States, this tradition entails the prisoner to select his final meal.
Photographer Henry Hargreaves recreated and captured the last meal requests of the death row inmates in his series called No Seconds. According to him, a person’s food choice tells a lot about their character and personality, and death row choices are powerful examples of this theory.
Check out his work below:
1. Victor Feguer, who was sentenced to death for kidnapping and murder, requested a single olive with the pit in it.
He thought the olive might grow into a tree from inside his body and would make use of him as a symbol of peace.
2. John Wayne Gacy, who was sentenced to death for rape and 33 counts of murder, requested 12 fried shrimp, a bucket of original recipe KFC, french fries, and a pound of strawberries.
He managed three KFC restaurants before his conviction.
3. Timothy McVeigh, who was sentenced to death for 168 counts of murder, requested two pints of mint chocolate chip ice cream.
4. Ricky Ray Rector, who was sentenced to death for two counts of murder, requested steak, fried chicken, cherry Kool-Aid, and pecan pie.
However, he didn’t eat the pie as, the guard revealed, he was saving it for later.
5. Stephen Anderson, who was sentenced to death for burglary, assault, seven counts of murder, and escaping from prison, requested two grilled cheese sandwiches, a pint of cottage cheese, a hominy/corn mixture, peach pie, chocolate chip ice cream, and radishes.
6. Angel Nieves Diaz, who was sentenced to death for murder, kidnapping, and armed robbery, made no special requests.
He was served the regular prison meal but he declined to eat that as well.
7. Ronnie Lee Gardner, who was sentenced to death for burglary, robbery, and two counts of murder, requested steak, a lobster tail, apple pie, vanilla ice cream, and the Lord of the Rings trilogy to watch while eating his last meal.
8. Ted Bundy, who was sentenced to death for rape, necrophilia, prison escape, and more than 35 counts of murder, made no special request so he was served with the traditional last meal: steak cooked medium-rare, eggs over easy, hash browns, toast with butter and jelly, milk, and juice.
9. Allen Lee “Tiny” Davis, who was sentenced to death for robbery and three counts of murder, requested lobster tail, fried potatoes, half a pound of fried shrimp, six ounces of fried clams, half a loaf of garlic bread, and 32 ounces of A&W root beer.
10. Teresa Lewis, who was sentenced to death for murder, conspiracy, and robbery, requested fried chicken, peas with butter, apple pie, and a Dr Pepper.
11. Sacco & Vanzetti, who were sentenced to death for two counts of murder, requested soup, tea, meat, and toast.
12. Ronnie Threadgill, who was sentenced to death for murder, requested baked chicken, mashed potatoes with country gravy, vegetables, sweet peas, bread, tea, water, and punch.
I wonder what was going on in their minds when they decided on their last meals. Pretty fascinating!
