Crypt Critters: The Lions of Tsavo

 In the animal kingdom there are few creatures more feared and respected than the actual “King”, the Lion. It must have been terrifying then, if you were one of several thousand people hired to construct the Uganda Railway in the late 19th Century where two of these apex predators decided humans were delicious. In 1898 the British wanted to complete work on a railway spanning from the city of Mombassa in Kenya over 500 miles to Uganda. The hope was that the railway would grant easy access and encourage people to move into the African heartland. The railway would also allow trade routes to open up between Africa and Europe and bring an end to the diabolical conditions slaves were subjected to making the trek across land. Two years into construction, the railroad had been built as far as the Tsavo River in Kenya. A temporary bridge was constructed to allow workers to cross the river and continue laying track on the other side. Ultimately, a more permanent railroad bridge was needed. It was Colonel John Henry Patterson, a British soldier often referred to as “The Godfather of the Israeli Army” because he was commander of the Jewish Legion during the first World War. Patterson, then based out of India, was charged with overseeing the construction of the railroad bridge. Thousands of railroad workers were already scattered in camps along the river when the permanent bridge project was begun. All of them under Patterson’s watch. Just days after Patterson’s arrival, workers started to go missing.

Many of the workers assigned to Africa were from India and often referred to as “Coolies”. The British already had previous success in building railroads in India and the assumption was that Indian workers could be managed more efficiently than others. The Uganda railroad would take thirty years to complete and would stretch for 580 miles. It was no small feat, and workers had to be strictly controlled. But the Coolies were out of their comfort zone. Vulnerable and exposed, they would soon find out that monsters exist in the shadows AND in broad daylight! Quickly, more workers went missing and grisly dead bodies began turning up. Disturbingly, lion sightings became more frequent. Patterson would move from camp to camp in a desperate hunt to try and put an end to the beast that was hobbling his bridge construction. Shockingly, it became clear that more than one lion was involved! Patterson had his work cut out for him as the lions outwitted his every move. The workers surrounded their camps with protective fences made from the thorny branches of the Acacia trees in the hopes that the lions would be discouraged by the barbed branches and the fires the workers kept burning all night. Unfortunately, the Lions were not dissuaded and bodies continued to pile up. Local African workers began referring to the fearsome felines as “The Ghost and The Darkness” due to their almost supernatural ability to show up when least expected.

After a lion attack on a hospital tent, Patterson actually moved the tent to a new location, only for the Lions to show up at the new location and attack again. Next, Patterson even used himself as bait. The Colonel outfitted a boxcar with a cage that would be triggered by a tripwire. Patterson spent many nights in the cage waiting for one of the predators to show up. One eventually did. Patterson got a shot off, but only succeeded in chipping the lion’s tooth, causing the enraged animal to go beserk and escape the makeshift prison. Eventually Patterson was able to kill one of the lions after tracking it, wounding it, and coming face to face with it. It took Patterson two two shots to kill the regal animal. After baiting and wounding the second lion, Patterson eventually bagged it after spending the night in a tree, which had become a regular tactic, and firing upon it finally killing the second of the maneaters. All of this is detailed in Colonel John Henry Patterson’s 1906 book, “The Man Eaters of Tsavo” in which Patterson claims that the lions killed 135 people in all. It’s safe to say that there may be a few exaggerations in Patterson’s account, embellished for showmanship and the sake of a good read. The facts are, two lions did attack and kill at least 30 Indian workers during the construction of the Tsavo River Railway Bridge and possibly many more local workers who were not accounted for. Arab slave caravans on their way to Mombassa may have encouraged the lions taste for human flesh after chucking corpses of sick and dead slaves into the Tsavo bush. Lions are good hunters but specialize in scavenging. For an animal that spends around twenty hours a day resting (if you have house cats, you know this is their custom), a helpless slave here and there was probably a tasty treat. 

The story of the Tsavo predators has enjoyed a few different movie incarnations, Including Bwana Devil from 1952, whose promotional material promised, “A LION in your lap, a LOVER in your arms”, when advertising its pioneering color 3D. It’s not only the first 3D color movie, it is also responsible for spawning the initial 3D craze of the 1950s. Perhaps the better known retelling, is the Val Kilmer, Michael Douglas starrer from 1996, The Ghost and the Darkness. Directed by Stephen Hopkins (A Nightmare on Elm Street 5 and PREDATOR 2).

Val Kilmer takes on the role of “Colonel Patterson” while Douglas appears as “Charles Remington”, a famous hunter character invented by legendary screenwriter William Goldman, presumably to give the movie it’s weathered ‘Quint’ character like in Jaws. The real life Patterson, not content with merely killing his prey, made trophies of them. Their skulls were cleaned and polished and their skins would adorn his living room floor for 25 years until they were sold to the Chicago Field Museum for $5,000 in 1924. Arriving at the museum in very poor condition, the lions have endured extensive treatment and tests over the years to maintain and preserve them and to learn a little more about these powerful pussycats. Patterson passed away in 1947 in California at the age of 79. The magnificent Tsavo predators continue to stalk the display at the Chicago Field Museum to this day.