The last death row prisoner in Iowa ordered the most unusual final meal for an even more unusual reason
Callum Jones
Featured Image Credit: Iowa State Penitentiary
The last death row prisoner in Iowa went out with a bang by ordering the most unusual final meal.
But the most baffling part of this story is the reason he gave for the unusual choice.
Although most of us won't actively choose what our last meals on this earth will be, it's often a topic of conversation that comes up.
While some might opt for a whopping great, three-course meal consisting of steak and KFC, others find it hard to think about something so morbid.
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As we all know, death row prisoners get a choice in the matter - and their last requests are as varied as they come.
For example, John Wayne Gacy had a distributing last meal of a dozen deep-fried shrimp, a bucket of KFC's original recipe chicken, some French fries, strawberries, and a bottle of diet Coke.al recipe chicken, some French fries, strawberries, and a bottle of diet Coke.
An unusual but delicious mix for the last meal, right?
Well, in Gacy's circumstances it isn't so much, as he managed KFC restaurants while he was living his double life as serial killer.
But this one last meal for a death row prisoner is surely the most bizarre out of the lot.
Victor Harry Feguer was the last federal inmate put to death in the state of Iowa, and was executed by hanging in 1963, aged 28.
And for his last meal, he requested the tinniest meal imaginable - a single olive with the pit still in.
There was a reason for his modest last meal request - apparently, Feguer told guards he hoped an olive tree would grow from his grave as a sign of peace.
Anyhow, you'd think as a last meal you'd want something to really whet your appetite, which Feguer obviously saw with the olive.
The unusual meal was brought to live by photographer Henry Hargreaves in his collection No Seconds.
In this unique collection, he snapped recreations of some of death row's last meal, and Feguer's was his favourite.
He told CBS News: "It's just such a polarising image.
"We think about last meals, and is it something that's going to be totally gluttonous, and then he just has a single olive."
"You know, it's so simple, beautiful and kind of final. It's like a full stop at the end of his life."
Hargreaves also spoke on why he decided to create the photo series.
He said: ""In my photography I have always been fascinated by the mix of the mundane and the extraordinary.
"So while I was reading about efforts to stop the last meal tradition in Texas, it sparked my interest. In the most unnatural moment there is (state sponsored death), what kind of requests for food had been made?"