Modern dating can already feel impossible. But what happens when you finally connect with someone, only to discover a disturbing secret over dinner?
One Minneapolis woman’s story about taking a chance on love has gone massively viral for a reason no one could have predicted.
Woman Takes a Chance on Love
In a viral video with more than 5.8 million views, content creator Clare (@clearlyclose) shared that she’d been struggling to meet people in the Twin Cities dating scene.
“I am a lesbian. I live in The Twin Cities. I’m 27 and I’ve never been in a long term relationship,” she says in the video.
Her friends kept telling her to put herself out there more, but dating apps weren’t working, and since she doesn’t drink, meeting people at bars wasn’t an option.
“I think it’s hard to meet people in the Twin Cities because there’s this weird competitive culture of who can out dyke each other,” Clare explains. “I don’t know if anybody else has noticed that, but I have felt that a lot in the queer spaces that I have been in. And I’m just not interested in competing with anybody.”
So when she heard about a lesbian singles party happening in Minneapolis last spring, she decided to give it a shot.
Off to a Good Start
At the event, Clare spotted someone sitting at the bar, and despite being “scared [expletive]less,” she made the first move. They vibed and exchanged contact information, started hanging out, and things seemed to be going well.
“It wasn’t anything hot and heavy. I wasn’t madly in love, but it was cool,” Clare says. “And she was really into me, which was nice because I haven’t had a whole lot of that.”
The woman she was dating was wealthy and would take Clare to nice restaurants around Minneapolis and would say things like “I’ve never met a girl like you” and “You’re so amazing.” While Clare noticed some small red flags here and there, it was nothing alarming enough to end things.
“A lot of people have commented things like, ‘How did you not know?'” Clare addresses. “And it’s like people don’t wear t-shirts saying, ‘I eat people.’”
The Dinner That Changed Everything
One evening over dinner, Clare asked, “What is the most unique or craziest thing you’ve ever eaten?”
The woman laughed and said, “Oh, you’ll never guess.”
What came next was horrifying.
Her date proceeded to tell her that when she was 14 years old, she’d been friends with an older man in her hometown who worked at the morgue. One day, this man brought home a body from the morgue, cooked it, and invited her over to eat it.
“Yeah. I didn’t see her again after that,” Clare said.
More Context
In a follow-up video, Clare addressed the flood of questions she received.
Many people asked why she didn’t call the police. She explained that, based on what her date told her, the incident happened over 15 years ago and didn’t occur in the United States. The woman was raised outside the country in a rural town whose name Clare doesn’t even remember.
“Even if I wanted to, I really don’t have enough information to be able to contact any authorities about this,” she explains.
She also acknowledged that her date could have been lying, or the morgue worker could have lied to her date. But based on additional graphic details shared during the conversation—details too disturbing to share on TikTok—Clare believes the story was true.
People also asked why she didn’t immediately run or scream when told this information. Clare, who has a history of trauma herself, explains that she sometimes has delayed reactions to shocking news. She was also scared and didn’t want to do anything that might cause her date to harm her.
But she did ask one crucial follow-up question: Would you ever do this again?
“She said, ‘Oh, yeah. I would absolutely do it again if given the opportunity,'” Clare recalls. “And that’s when I was like, ‘OK. We’re done.'”
Since she had to drive her date home, Clare changed the subject and finished the evening. When the woman kept reaching out, wanting to hang out and take trips together, Clare declined and eventually blocked her.
As for Clare’s dating future, she says she’d still like to have a girlfriend eventually, but she’s not desperate.
“With the luck I’ve had in this situation and in others and just in traumatic friendship issues that have happened in my life, I just I feel like right now I’m OK with being on my own and spending time with myself and not risking being around people who eat other people,” she says.
Understanding the Unthinkable
The reality is that cannibalism has occurred throughout human history under various circumstances. In a 2017 interview with National Geographic, zoologist Bill Schutt explained that documented cases include survival situations like the Donner Party, famine-driven incidents during China’s Cultural Revolution, and even “medicinal cannibalism” in Europe that continued into the 19th century.
Schutt also told NPR that from a scientific perspective, there’s “a predictable calculus” for when humans and animals turn to cannibalism.
“At a certain point, one of the predictable behaviors that you’ll see is cannibalism,” he explained. “It could start with dead bodies and then get to the extreme where you kill somebody and eat them.”
But not all cannibalism falls into the survival category. As writer Carmen Maria Machado explored in Bon Appétit, there are essentially two types of cannibalism narratives: stories of desperation and survival where people breach “an unthinkable taboo in the face of certain death,” and something else entirely—acts driven by desire, power, or identity rather than necessity.
The second category isn’t about starvation; it’s about choice. And according to Machado, “those who eat their kind become necessarily inhuman.”
@clearlyclose Replying to @jasmine❄️?? here’s the storytime! #wlw #minnesota #datingstorytime ♬ original sound – clare ?
Commenters React
“Finding this with no context is wild lmao,” a top comment read.
“Girl….. maybe call the police,” a person said.
“The wealthy are never beating the cannibalism allegations,” another wrote.
The Mary Sue reached out to Clare via Instagram and TikTok direct message.
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