Tsavo River Bridge - The Man-eaters of Tsavo - The Ghost and the Darkness

In 1898 John Henry Patterson was tasked to build a bridge over the Tsavo river as a part of the Uganda railway. Almost as soon as Patterson arrived lion attacks began to take place on the worker population, causing delays in the work. The lions were dragging men from their tents and feeding off them, behavior considered highly unsual for lions. Patterson determined to kill the lions in order to complete his work. The first lion was killed on December 9, 1898 and the second on December 29th. Both lions were nine feet long from nose to tail. Patterson wrote his account, "The Man-Eaters of Tsavo" in 1907 and the film "The Ghost and the Darkness" is based on the book.

Today you can see the lions at the Field Musuem in Chicago, Illinois.