The Tsavo Maneaters

Has anyone ever gone to the Field Museum in Chicago and seen the display of the Tsavo Man-eaters? A movie was made in ’96 called “The Ghost and the Darkness”, staring Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas, perhaps you have seen it? Evidently, back in the 1800s when railway workers were building a railway in Kenya, some of the workers started to go missing. Later it was discovered that two lions, which generally do not eat people, tag team hunted for people apparently due to drought, provoking their literal thirst for blood. Together the two lions ate 135 people between the railway workers and locals in the surrounding region.

Eventually the Ghost and the Darkness, as they were named, were shot and killed by Lt. Col. John Henry Patterson. Years later the skins were sold to the Field Museum in Chicago, and are currently on display. Fascinating story, especially considering the first one that was shot was over 9 feet long from nose to tail. Rumor has it that if you look directly into the eyes of the stuffed lions in the Field Museum, great terror will come over you. I don’t know if I buy that, but I’d love to be the guinea pig who finds out for sure. I’ll let you know what my discovery is as soon as I get a chance to check it out.