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Hey weirdos, I'm Ash. And I'm Elena. And this is a podcast called Morbid. >> Have you heard of it?
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>> I've heard of it. >> You have cuz you're here. >> It's been my livelihood for a few years.
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>> For a few years. A handful. >> A handful of years. >> Yeah. Actually, it's been a quite a few
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years >> almost a decade. >> This is my longest job that I've had. >> Woah. >> I know. I mean, I was a youth when we
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started this. I listened to her. First of all, if you just started listening to Morbid and you caught up like super
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duper fast, thank you so much because in the early episodes, I sound like I don't
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give a [ __ ] about anything. I sound I was just like, "Yeah. I was at work today and like blah blah
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blah and then this happened." >> You loved that. >> Ew. >> No, it it worked. I I know. The people
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stayed. It must have been for you at that point. >> If you stayed, probably not.
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>> Let's face reality. >> I don't know what it was. It was our charm, I guess. >> If you stayed, you're a real one. You're
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the realest one. I appreciate you. >> I always did, but now I sound like it. >> It like really really hits when we
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listen to the older episodes how how much you how much you just like hung in there and
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what we put you through. >> It is crazy that it will be like a decade in not that many years.
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>> Yeah. That's nuts. >> It's crazy. >> I know. We'll have to like do something fun or something.
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>> And it feels like we're finally in like a we're back to the the >> the early days.
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>> fun part again. >> Yeah. Yeah. I agree with >> a we had a little middle part there.
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>> We had a [ __ ] journey. >> You know. >> Which was a journey. You guys know. >> You know.
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>> I lost years off my life, but I'm gaining them back right now. >> I'm learning how to regulate my nervous
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system again. >> Yeah. >> Which is a really fun thing. >> I I was just saying like I wish that I
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could do I've I've said this so many times, but now I can even tell you like even more why. I wish I could do my
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wedding again because my cortisol faced at my wedding. >> I think you look phenomenal.
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>> Thank you, I did. I looked gorgeous. >> Good for you. >> So [ __ ] y'all. >> Yeah.
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>> But I still wish I could do it again because I think I would have even enjoyed it that much more, especially
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the planning process because it was just >> Cuz there was a lot going on. >> There was so much going on.
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>> Cuz there was like a mini disaster every day. >> family things going on, too.
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>> Yeah. And then there was like work things >> Yep. >> that were literally constantly going on.
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>> Yep. >> So that was a lot. >> I'm pretty sure the day of my wedding a podcast came out.
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>> Yeah. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Cuz we weren't >> No time off. >> Cuz no no time off.
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>> Yeah. >> Yep. >> Just reminiscing. >> No. >> No time off. No creativity No creative
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control. >> Just nothing. >> Um yeah. >> But you know what? That's in the past. >> But now
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>> we're doing things like playing Radio City >> [ __ ] Music Hall. >> Which you guys got to come. We still
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have a a few tickets left. >> Yeah. We got tickets on sale. >> One time only. >> This is one time.
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>> just got my tap shoes delivered the other day. >> And we're really brainstorming some
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really cool ideas, and we have one in particular that we're hoping is going to happen and
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I'm excited about it. >> Oh, yes. If that happens, that thing that I we can't say right now, I'll [ __ ]
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my pants. >> Go go get your tickets. It's going to be fun. >> It's going to be [ __ ] lit.
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>> to be themed. And it's going to be a real good time, and it's one time only, and we only have
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some tickets left. So >> Remember >> to get them at Ticketmaster only. >> Yes, cuz those are the ones we said
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yeah. >> We said yeah. Sounds good. It's going to be a lot of fun. I can't wait.
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>> Jinx. >> You owe me a Coke. >> But you know what? You already bought me a Coke today.
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>> Oh, yeah, I did. >> So you're it's retroactively paid back. >> it. >> All right, what's up, girl?
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>> Um so oh >> More. >> Tomorrow also, uh stay tuned >> on bonus episode coming up.
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>> For a fun [ __ ] bonus episode. One that I think you guys are going to be pretty excited about.
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>> know what it's about or anything, but >> I think you guys >> Just leave that in.
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>> That's it. So, stay tuned for that. >> That's an Easter egg. Everyone's like, "Bitch, have you Do you
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know what an Easter egg is?" They're like, "That's an Easter dump." >> If you can dissect that Taylor Swift
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level >> marketing >> little marketing genius over here. >> Check it. >> Uh, so listen to
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Listen to that. Listen to it. >> out. >> Uh, and also go go take a peek at my social media because there's some fun
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book stuff happening tomorrow. >> Ooh. >> So, go you know, set your alarm. Go go
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>> For what time? >> out. I don't know. Tomorrow. >> Oh, okay. For 12:00 a.m. tonight. Got it.
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I don't know. Set your alarm for tomorrow. >> Head on over >> tomorrow. >> to my to my Instagram page and I'll tell
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you. >> All day only. >> Okay, all day only. So, get over there. Uh, so yeah, so that's all the
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business-y I think we had to talk about. >> Yes, girl. >> So, what are we going to talk about
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today? >> I don't know. What's your case? >> because it's my case. >> People are like, "What the [ __ ] are you
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guys on?" You know what we're on? We had McDonald's today. >> and we took a walk.
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>> Uh, we took a walk and it lit up different parts of our brain. >> At one point I just looked at everyone
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and I said, "This has been a great day, guys." >> Yeah. >> So, >> It has been. >> here we are. Uh, now we're going to get
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a little gnarly, though. >> Oh. Um, did you say something about lions? >> Yeah, I sure did. Lions. So, this is a
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little different because we know when I talked to you guys about the shark attacks in Joysey,
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>> You liked that. >> you guys were like, "That was pretty interesting." >> Yeah.
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>> And then some people said, "More animal attacks, please." And I said, "Okay, okay." And then Dave said,
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"Got it." He said, "What about this one?" >> Dave said, "Say less." >> He He did. So, we're going to talk about
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the man-eaters of Tsavo today. >> What? >> That's right. You heard that right. >> I've never heard of that.
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>> So, this one's wild. >> I bet. >> Uh this one's gruesome. Uh it does have trigger warning. There
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are animal deaths in it. Um and I'm just going to say it right now that I wish the I don't wish any human being to get
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hurt or mauled by an animal. But I do wish the animals just got to kind of go off and live their lives after this.
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And just kind of go away, you know? >> Yeah. >> Uh that's just how I feel. Let's begin.
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In the spring of 1898 >> Oh, [ __ ] We're going way back. >> Yeah, let's go back, you
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>> I wasn't even there. >> Colonel James Patterson arrived in East Africa to take up a position leading the
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construction staff on the Uganda Railway, which was a very big infrastructure project based in
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Kilindini, Kenya. >> Okay. >> I hope I said that correct. I looked up many pronunciations.
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As one of the main waterways between Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, this whole region had been steeped in
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wars between competing interests trying to gain control. But by that point, it was the British who held majority
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control and had set the project forth, like set it into motion. And they were really kind of largely relying on local
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labor managed by British officials. >> Okay. >> So, after spending a week waiting on his
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orders, Patterson finally received a letter that told him he was going to go travel about 150 mi inland to a region
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called Tsavo, which is a combo word meaning place of slaughter. >> Don't go there, baby.
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>> I said, "Whoa." >> Why would you name it that? >> Um because apparently there had been so
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many wars and like battles and things that had happened on this land. So, he was going to go there to take command
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of a crew that was going to build a large railroad bridge over the Tsavo River. Uh like much of Kenya at this time,
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Tsavo was really dry. It was really arid. Uh there was rivers and streams cutting through various uh sections of
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it. And in addition to the large population of Kenyans living in the area, it also was home to a very diverse
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population of wildlife. >> Oh, I love that. >> Yeah, this was a bush >> elephants, giraffe, buffalo, hyena,
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jackal, rhinoceroses. >> Rhinoceroses? >> Rhinoceroses, I think it might be. >> Rhinoceroses?
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>> Is it rhinoceroses? I think it is rhinoceroses. >> You do? >> I don't know. >> Wow.
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>> I'm going to look it up though. >> You should. >> Rhinoceroses. >> get smart. I like getting smarter. So,
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let's do this. >> My brain is going to look it up. >> This plural. >> Rhinocero?
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>> I did not spell plural. Um it's okay. The plural is either rhinoceroses or rhinoceroses.
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>> I like rhinoceroses better. >> It kind of feels nice. >> It does. It's got a nice mouth feel.
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That word. >> the tongue. You love elephants. >> Me, too. >> lay down my life for elephants.
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>> I also love elephants. My youngest just got a stuffed elephant that she made.
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>> And she named her >> And she named them Ewie. >> Yeah. >> And said, "Sometimes they're a boy,
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sometimes they're a girl." And I said, "Okay, >> Non-binary king and queen?" >> Yeah, I said, "Iconic, Ewie."
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Uh and it's not Ellie. >> Ewie. And that's not even due to any kind of speech impediment. That's just her
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straight-up name. >> That's it. Their straight-up name. >> Don't get it twisted.
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>> No. >> Uh so, yeah. So, there's that. So, while many of the species living in the region
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did pose a threat to humans, there were definitely not a lot that were as fierce and as
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dangerous as the maneless lion. >> Maneless lion, you say? >> So, this is a subspecies of big cat that
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evolved without the large fluffy mane. >> So now they feel like they have something to make up for.
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>> Well, here's the thing. They evolved without the large fluffy mane because it
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allows them to better survive the heat of the desert. >> Oh. >> actually like >> That's interesting.
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>> a leg up. >> Yeah, that's really cool, actually. >> it makes them less floofy looking cuz
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like when I see a big old lion with a big old mane, I'm like, "Oh, got to touch it." And I know I can't.
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I know I can't and I won't. >> How often are you running into lions? >> And when I see one at like a zoo or
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something. >> day that I see a lion. >> Yeah, every time I just run into one. But if I know I got to see one on like
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TV, I'm like, "Oh, touch that." Like I just want to pet it, you know? >> I love you.
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>> You know? >> You know what I mean? >> Cuz it's that floofy mane. >> No, I get it. It just makes them look so
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>> Those are the boys. The girls don't have that. >> Yeah, you just want to boop.
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Boop, there's snoot. >> boop lions. >> You run into a lion, do not boop the snoot.
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>> Unless you're familiar with that lion and like you have a bond. >> And and and and you've booped the snoot
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before cuz I'm not here to tell you to boop any snoots. >> Never boop a snoot for the first time.
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>> Yeah, get acquainted if you're not familiar with that lion. >> Uh but these are mainless, so they to me look a
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little more villainous, to be quite honest. >> Okay. Without a mane, it's like you're
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just a scary ass cat. >> like the ladies and the ladies actually are more fierce.
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>> They're badass. >> I learned a lot about lions last time I went to Disney. >> I love that for you.
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>> Thank you. Uh so establishing a path through the dense jungle to get to this area where they were going to do
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construction was not an easy task. >> not supposed to go there, probably. >> We're really not. The jungle in Tsavo
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was densely forested. It was overgrown. It was filled with like snarled plant life, which included a species of like a
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this like species of plant that has like a variety of different species that are
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covered in large hooked thorns and they're called wait-a-bit thorns. Wait a bit. Wait a bit. Wait a bit before you
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come up on this area. >> Yeah, or it's like you're going to get stuck in these thorns and then you're
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going to wait a bit to get out. >> Ooh. >> So, in that first week much of Patterson's time was spent getting to
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know the area, just kind of familiarizing himself with the work, the crew, what was going to be happening.
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>> Yeah. >> And this obviously wasn't like super manually intensive. This wasn't like the
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labor that they were going to do. >> Yeah. >> It was still physically taxing and each
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night Patterson looked forward to going to sleep in the tent and he was like, "This has been a long day."
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>> I look forward to going to sleep in my bed every day without doing much. So. >> you got a tent, why not?
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>> Never have I ever looked forward to sleeping in a tent. Never have I ever slept in a tent.
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>> There you go. >> Uh but he would be exhausted, he said, every single night. But he wrote in a
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journal. He kept a journal of everything. So, he wrote, "I little knew then what adventures awaited me in this
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neighborhood. And if I had realized that at the time two savage brutes were prowling around seeking whom they might
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devour, I hardly think I would have slept so peacefully in my rickety shelter." >> What prose.
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>> Right? So, as soon as he'd arrived in the camp, Patterson began hearing stories of men
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disappearing from camps in the area. >> Not what you want to hear upon settling.
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>> Upon arriving. At first he was like, "Okay, whatever." Like maybe they're just like legends, you know? Like people
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love to talk [ __ ] Like maybe they're just trying to get me scared. You know, we all love it." But after a few days it
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became kind of impossible to ignore the increasingly credible tales. Um he said all the old caravan leaders had disliked
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this camp for one reason or another. And it was a noted place for desertions. >> Ooh.
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>> And in fact very few of the caravans seemed to make it through the area without losing one or two of their
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porters. To the other men, the leaders of the caravan would usually provide a, you
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know, some kind of like, whatever answer. Something about how the men had simply deserted them at in the night and
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joined an easier route. That's why they're not here. But few of the remaining members of the caravan found
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that to be reasonable at all. Cuz who's going to work hard for several weeks only to abandon their camp and their
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belongings in the middle of the night? >> Fair. >> Like you're busting your ass for weeks
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at a time just to like peace out and leave everything now. >> Yeah. >> So a few weeks into the construction
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project, the crew had finally reached the west side of the Tsavo River. When Patterson first heard that one of his
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crew had disappeared the night before. >> Uh-oh. >> Several others on the crew cited the
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stories of the other men who'd gone missing and insisted the missing worker had been carried off in the night by a
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lion. No, thank you. So Patterson said, "At the time I did not credit this story
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and was more inclined to believe that the unfortunate man had been the victim of foul play at the hands of some of his
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comrades." But nevertheless, workmen were a valuable resource, so Patterson immediately assembled a group of people
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to go search for him. It didn't take long before his mind was changed. In speaking with the other men
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who shared a tent with the missing man, Patterson found one worker who witnessed
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the attack. >> Oh, [ __ ] >> "It was around midnight," this guy said, and he said, "When a a large maneless
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lion poked its head through the flaps of the [ __ ] tent." >> Said, >> "Anybody in here?" And he quickly
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scanned the interior of the tent, saw that there were definitely people in there, and grabbed the nearest worker.
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His name was Ungan Singh. And he grabbed him by the throat. >> Oh. >> So Singh cried out "Koro!" which means
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let go. And wrapped his arm around the lion's neck trying to get him to release him, but the lion's grip grip was too
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tight and the other men in the tent just all they could do was watch in horror as
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their literal friend and co-worker was dragged into the darkness screaming for his life.
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>> My >> So Patterson and the other men in the search party grabbed their rifles and
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went to investigate the area outside of Singh's tent. And they found large paw prints in the sand and deep gashes in
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the earth, which showed them what direction that he was being dragged away. And he said, "We found it an easy matter
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to follow the route taken by the lion, as he appeared to have stopped several times before beginning his meal."
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>> Oh. >> The areas where the lion appeared to have paused were accompanied by pools of
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blood, each larger than the last. >> Oh my god. >> Finally, less than a mile from the tent,
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they found Singh's body. It was They said it was unimaginable horror. >> That's Yeah.
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>> His body appeared to have been completely ripped apart, with the flesh torn from all but his head and feet.
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Patterson wrote, "The ground all around was covered with blood and morsels of flesh and bones."
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But Singh's head had been left intact. The eyes staring wide open with a startled, horrified look in them.
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>> Oh my god. >> All around the body were paw prints similar to those found along the bloody
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path that led from the tent to the body, but similar, but they weren't all the same. And as they looked at the prints,
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it occurred to them that those were two distinct set of prints in the dirt, indicating that one lion definitely
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pulled him from the tent, but he had been killed and eaten by at least two. >> Oh my.
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>> Yeah. Patterson wrote, "I've witnessed many an accident with fatal consequences, but the sight of this
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skeleton from which the flesh had been ravenously torn was one of the most gruesome spectacles imaginable."
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>> Also, imagine you're standing there, like taking that all in. >> Sitting duck.
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>> But that's the thing. Exactly. You're sitting there where that group of lions,
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a pair of lions just had a meal. Where the [ __ ] are they now? >> Yeah. >> That's the thing. Like, are they not
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sitting there watching? >> Oh, that's horrifying. >> Now, in his mind, Patterson began
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thinking about all the stories he had heard about men going missing from caravans in the in the Tsavo region. And
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he was like, "Oh [ __ ] is this the same group of lions that are responsible for
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those attacks?" >> Mhm. >> And it seemed impossible because animal attacks didn't, you know, they happened
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from time to time, but they were like still exceedingly rare. They still are. >> Um since most animals wanted nothing to
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do with humans who were just encroaching on their territory at this point. Now, at the riverbank, the men gathered up
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Singh's remains as fast as they could, and they buried them in the sandy ground. They piled stones on it because
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kind of like a grave marker. >> Right. >> His head they placed in a burlap sack and brought back to camp in order to
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provide an identification to the medical officer. >> Oh, wow. >> Yeah. The next day they returned to the
00:18:01
area heavily armed, but there was no sign of the lions that had killed Singh. But to their horror, as they searched
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the area, they found a lot of evidence of other attacks. There were skulls and parts of skeletons littering the area.
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>> What the [ __ ] >> He had definitely not been the first victim, and he was likely not going to
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be the last. >> You guys got to get out of there. >> So that night the workmen were uneasy in
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their tents. They were scared to sleep, and they were like, "They could just be lurking right
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outside our tent, just waiting to pounce." >> Yeah. >> James Patterson, on the other hand, took
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up a position in a near tree to the tent. >> I don't blame him. >> And it was near the tent that Singh was
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taken out of. >> But you got to think of all the animals that can climb trees. >> Patterson is wild cuz he's like the lead
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here. He's supposed to be like heading up this thing. He does take lead. Like he puts himself in positions to try to
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protect his crew. So he's up in a tree, and he said if one of the lions returned that night, he was
00:19:01
going to defend the camp, and he was going to kill it. >> Okay. >> So several hours passed with no sight or
00:19:06
sound of lions anywhere near the camp. So he was beginning to think, okay, he's not going to come back tonight. When out
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of nowhere, he heard, "A great uproar and frenzied cries coming from another camp about a half a mile away."
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>> Uh-oh. >> The men at Patterson's camp knew they wouldn't be able to reach the camp in
00:19:24
time to be of any use, and even if they were able to get there, none of them were really confident that they could
00:19:29
fend off or fight off a man-eating lion. >> Yeah. >> The best they could do was find some
00:19:34
comfort in the fact that, at least for tonight, they weren't going to see the lion.
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>> Like, what a shitty >> They're just like, I guess we can go to sleep. Like, >> Yeah.
00:19:45
>> So, the next morning, news reached his camp of the previous night's commotion,
00:19:49
and it was what he had thought. Another of his workers at the rail head camp had been ripped away from his tent
00:19:55
by a lion in the middle of the night. >> Oy. >> That evening, Patterson took up a new
00:19:59
position in a tree near the rail head camp and waited in the pouring rain for any sign of stalking lions.
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>> Just like the night before, several hours passed, and he was soaked. He's like, freezing, soaked to the bone. He's
00:20:13
about to climb down from his position when he heard, "A heart-rending shriek," indicating that there had been another
00:20:19
attack. This time, at a camp about a half a mile from the rail head. >> Okay. >> What we're going to see is that the
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lions are [ __ ] smart. >> Okay. >> It's like they know. Every time he moves to another one, they
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move away. >> Interesting. >> other one that he was just not at. It's like really crazy.
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>> It's like weird intelligence. >> Yeah. >> Now, when the construction project began, the workmen were assigned to one
00:20:45
of several camps scattered within an 8-mile stretch along the river. Lions are known to travel up to 12 miles a day
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to find food. >> That meant any of the men in any of the camps along the Tsavo River could be
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prey, and there was no way to know which camp the lions were going to hit. It was
00:21:04
like whack-a-mole. >> Yeah. So, I just actually Googled it and lions are considered the most
00:21:10
intelligent of big cats. >> That makes sense cuz this their intelligence in this situation, it's
00:21:16
like they were watching and like they would kind of just like adjust their plans.
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>> This actually says they excel at cooperative hunting, complex problem-solving, and observational
00:21:27
learning. So, they were studying them. >> literally observing and watching and learning.
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>> solve puzzles, remember solutions for months, and they they possess larger frontal cortex regions, which is crucial
00:21:39
for managing complex social bonds. >> That makes so much sense. >> very fascinating.
00:21:44
>> Because I always think like a lion pride is so inter- I always think like groups
00:21:47
of animals and how they function are >> I agree. >> really interesting. >> Yeah.
00:21:51
>> Like elephants are very intelligent, too, and they're very emotionally intelligent.
00:21:55
>> Elephants have straight-up funerals. >> Yes. And they like and their their communities are so interesting.
00:22:01
>> Yep. >> I could learn about that stuff for like ever. >> animals. >> so interesting and I don't think we give
00:22:06
them enough credit >> No, we don't cuz we're so self-centered. >> us they are, but better than us they are
00:22:12
in so many ways. >> Yep. >> So, at first Patterson spent night after night just cycling between the camps
00:22:19
with a rifle, taking up positions in makeshift hunting blinds, searching the landscape for any signs, just trying to
00:22:26
keep his his workers safe. And the men also successfully petitioned to consolidate the camps as best they could
00:22:33
just to try to keep them from being so spread out. >> Right. >> And they built a sort of barrier around
00:22:37
themselves, winding the plants with wait-a-bit thorns, and around the perimeter for extra protection.
00:22:44
>> that was smart. >> Unfortunately, >> smart. >> however sensible, these efforts really
00:22:49
didn't have a lot of effect on the two lions. They didn't give a [ __ ] >> Well, you have to think they probably I
00:22:54
mean, they've lived there forever, so they can adapt to those kinds of things. >> so And Patterson wrote, "They almost
00:23:00
appeared to have an extraordinary and uncanny faculty of finding out our plans beforehand, which is exactly what we
00:23:07
were just talking about. >> Now, in fact, whenever the men would put up an extra protection in one camp, or
00:23:13
which camp whichever camp Patterson chose to monitor, the lions seemed to instinctually know to stay away and
00:23:20
would instead choose to attack another camp. Knowing that they couldn't possibly
00:23:24
protect every camp equally every single night, Patterson began laying simple traps for the animals. Sometimes he
00:23:30
would use livestock as bait at the perimeter of the camp, hoping the animal would attract the lions. Other times he
00:23:37
would lace the corpses of animals with strychnine and other poisons. >> Brother.
00:23:43
>> Just hoping that they would eat it and die, essentially. And like you can see why
00:23:48
>> I know, I know. >> they're going to these lengths. Like men are dying and like they're obviously
00:23:53
What Like we'll see, they're getting very brazen. >> Yeah. >> But I want you to know that at the end
00:23:57
of this you're going to find out why they're being so brazen. And it might make you think a little differently
00:24:02
about it. >> Were they really hungry? >> They were really hungry. And obviously it's not okay that
00:24:07
>> No, it's not okay. >> I've said this in the shark attack thing. I think you guys understand
00:24:11
my vibe here. I don't think anybody who takes this as like "Alaina hates thinks humans should die by animal attacks and
00:24:17
that animals should live." No. >> Right. >> So just It's just a bummer. >> Yeah.
00:24:23
>> It's a bummer that they were encroaching. They were doing a job that they were
00:24:27
sent there to do. >> Right. >> But we are encroaching on animals' land and that these things happen when we
00:24:32
encroach on animals' land and it sucks, you know? So you can see he was just trying to
00:24:37
protect his men. The animals are just trying to eat. >> Yeah. >> So it's really just It's the circle of
00:24:42
life, you know? Uh but yeah, it was sad. Uh but none of these things caught caught
00:24:48
the lions and they didn't really prove effective. In fact, Patterson wrote "The beasts much preferred live men to dead
00:24:54
donkeys." >> Woah. >> Which I was duh. >> Well, I mean like when a donkey dies, it's like the
00:25:01
same thing when a human dies, decomposition starts to set in. So, they it probably tastes a little funky.
00:25:05
>> It's I'm sure it tastes different. >> I'm sure they prefer fresh food. >> Now, given the amount of time and energy
00:25:11
that James Patterson devoted to hunting these man-eating lions, you could easily forget that regardless
00:25:17
of nocturnal terrors, there was a construction project going on during the day. >> Mhm.
00:25:21
>> During the day, they work crews conducted backbreaking, exhausting manual labor
00:25:28
building a massive bridge across the river. The physical toll this work took on the body was
00:25:34
immense. Like, we can't even And in the heat >> And then think about the mental toll.
00:25:38
>> I'm sure, like supplies that they need to stay like as hydrated as they could
00:25:42
be, all this. You got to think about that, for sure. So, it's like then they're going to sleep at night, they
00:25:47
should be able to just plop down and pass out and let their body recover from what they've been going through.
00:25:53
>> They can't. And it's like and Patterson here is staying up in trees in the pouring rain all night trying to protect
00:25:59
his camp. >> And leading this project. >> And it's just the psychological strain
00:26:04
of having become prey for an animal at night. >> That's [ __ ] >> That's a lot. None of them felt equipped
00:26:10
to protect themselves, and then they're dealing with this fight or flight thing all night.
00:26:14
>> It's similar to like when there's a serial killer in your area. You know what I mean? Like
00:26:18
>> Your body needs time to rest and like recharge from your day. And if this is happening at night, it's like this is
00:26:24
bad. >> Yeah. >> So, the attempts to catch or kill the lions may have provided a sort of
00:26:28
psychological distraction, at least, from the sheer terror of being actively hunted at night.
00:26:35
>> But, feeling proactive didn't really do a lot to stave off the reality that it
00:26:39
was only a matter of time before they made their way into the camps every night.
00:26:43
>> Right. >> Night after night, the men listened helplessly as the terrified cries coming
00:26:49
from nearby camps went on and on and on as one or more of their co-workers were yanked out of bed and dragged away to
00:26:57
their death. >> Oh my god. >> We'll find out one of these lions ate upwards of 20 men.
00:27:03
>> Holy [ __ ] >> Yeah. So, it was it was night after night. >> 20 men? >> And sometimes the victim would get
00:27:10
lucky. Like one night in early April, a Greek contractor managed to avoid the horrible fate that his co-workers faced
00:27:19
when the lion grabbed the mattress he was lying on rather than him, and he was able to roll
00:27:25
off and escape before the lion realized that it was holding a mattress and not a
00:27:29
human. >> But, yeah. But, more often than not, the lions struck with unbelievable speed and
00:27:37
precision. They're just >> That's the other thing you have to think of. They're so [ __ ] fast.
00:27:41
>> Yeah. They're highly evolved predators. Like, this is what they do. So, it gives
00:27:46
the the victim and the other men in the tent have no second to react. They can't
00:27:50
do anything. >> Also, just imagine being the person like sleeping next to the the person that
00:27:55
gets dragged out of the tent. >> And you can't help them. You can't help them. >> Yeah.
00:27:58
I was that It was that close to being me. >> hearing them scream. >> How do you reconcile that?
00:28:03
>> Exactly. Now, according to Ronald Preston, who the engineer managing the team at railhead, by the end of April,
00:28:09
the lions had killed, quote, 16 Punjabi workmen and one Punjabi headman. >> Wow.
00:28:16
>> So, while the loss of life was obviously the primary issue in the camps, it wasn't the only challenge that was being
00:28:22
posed by the lions. For the most part, an animal will really only kind of expend as little energy and effort as
00:28:29
necessary to catch prey. >> Yeah. >> And this is pretty true for the Tsavo man-eaters, too.
00:28:34
>> Okay. >> If they could simply stick their heads in through a flap of a tent and grab a
00:28:38
man by the neck, that was simple for them. Like, they would do so and just be on their way.
00:28:43
Other times, however, it seemed like the circumstances were were like un- unfolding in a way that a simple attack,
00:28:52
like what would normally be a simple attack, would escalate into pure chaos, and they would not really run away. They
00:28:58
would like >> The lions. >> Yeah, they would stay the course until they got it. >> Okay.
00:29:02
>> Like one evening towards the end of April, one of the lions climbed high into a tree adjacent to a tent in which
00:29:09
14 workers were sleeping. And it leaped down onto the tent from above. >> No. >> Crawled into a tree and jumped on top of
00:29:23
the tent. >> Oh my god. >> Every night my 80-lb dog jumps on me in bed to lay on me, and it's the scariest
00:29:35
event in my life every time. And that's a that's a a little poop monster who's just there to snuggle me.
00:29:44
>> Brother, I'll do you one better. I have a 12-lb cat that scares the [ __ ] out of
00:29:48
me on the nightly. 12 lbs. How the [ __ ] much does a lion weigh? >> ass man-eating lion jumps on your
00:29:58
[ __ ] tent. Can you imagine the chaos that broke out in that tent? No, I'm good. Cuz now you can't see, you can't
00:30:05
move, you're being like restricted by tent fabric. Like you don't know where it is.
00:30:10
>> whole ass lion and 13 other people? >> I need you to guess what a typical male
00:30:17
lion generally weighs. Give me a little bit of a range. Between what and what? >> I'm trying to think. So my dogs are like
00:30:25
80 lbs each. >> Okay. >> So two of them are 160 lbs. >> Yeah. >> Between like 200
00:30:37
>> No. >> and 250 maybe? >> No. Average adult male lions generally weigh between 330
00:30:47
and 570 lb. >> And if it was a woman lion? >> I think they were they were boys. >> Were they boys? Well, just so you know,
00:30:56
women lions average 260 between 265 and 400 lb. >> Holy [ __ ] >> So like that might have just killed
00:31:06
somebody. >> Just purely off of landing on them. Yeah. >> Holy [ __ ] >> And just the fact that that lion first
00:31:14
of all, thinking of a lion climbing up a tree. I didn't know that they could climb trees by the
00:31:19
>> ever. Like you can't get away from it by climbing up a tree. Imagine climbing up
00:31:23
a tree and the and the lion's like >> Me, too. >> Yeah. I'll get I'll meet you up there.
00:31:27
Like I'd be like, oh [ __ ] >> Absolutely not. >> And then for a lion to look down and be
00:31:31
like Huh. I bet if I jumped on that, I could probably get them. >> Oh my god. >> [ __ ]
00:31:38
So it easily tore through the top of the tent and its claw caught one man in the
00:31:43
shoulder and knocked him to the ground. But in its attempt to make a hasty escape because things got a little
00:31:49
crazy. >> Okay. >> The lion grabbed a large bag of rice and thought it was a person at first lying
00:31:55
on the ground next to the man and made off with the large bag of rice. >> Have the rice.
00:31:59
>> Which also is bad cuz I'm like that's their food source. I know. >> The next day when the men searched the
00:32:04
area, they found the bag of rice a little less than a mile away and it was it was made of cloth. That's why it
00:32:09
tore, too. >> Yeah. >> And it was torn to shreds and the contents was just everywhere. Now, in
00:32:14
another failed yet still harrowing attack, an Indian trader was approaching one of the camps along with his donkey
00:32:21
late one evening when one of the lions sprung from the underbrush and knocked them both to the ground with like
00:32:28
incredible force. The donkey was badly wounded by the claws of the lion and the trader assumed the lion would make off
00:32:35
with the donkey rather than fight the stronger prey. Like they know. And the trader quickly found out he was
00:32:41
wrong though cuz the lion turned right to him and literally like in like like hunches
00:32:49
up like I'm going to attack. But when the lion began to move, his claws and forepaws were
00:32:55
in the the way he described this later was he said it was almost comical the way he was tangled in the donkey's
00:33:01
reins. So because the donkey had like a bunch of empty oil tins and other pieces of
00:33:07
metal like strung on his reins. So the lion was eventually able to rip the reins free from the donkey, but they
00:33:13
were still tangled around his front legs. >> Oh my god. >> And according to Patterson, the rattle
00:33:18
and clatter made by these as he dragged them after him gave him such a fright that he turned tail and bolted off into
00:33:25
the jungle to the intense relief of the trader. >> I mean that's great for the trader.
00:33:29
>> But like the poor >> And that lion was probably so embarrassed. >> He was probably like, "Fuck y'all. I was
00:33:33
going to I was going to eat you." >> You're an [ __ ] >> gosh. Like damn. >> So among the workers, a legend emerged
00:33:41
that these were not ordinary lions, but they were in fact um shaytans, which it means demons.
00:33:47
>> Oh, [ __ ] >> Others believed the lions were physical manifestations of the spirits of long
00:33:53
dead local tribal leaders who were angry with the British for invading and altering the region with their
00:33:59
construction work. >> Or maybe they're just lions that are upset that you're interrupting their
00:34:03
region. >> that possibility. >> that seems pretty simple. >> These were the So these beliefs came out
00:34:09
of like the behavior of the animals. >> Right. Which was >> definitely more aggressive and more
00:34:15
assertive than ordinary lions. >> Yeah. >> And the lengths that they would go to
00:34:19
attack and eat humans and how consistent they were, that was different because there was other prey available. So they
00:34:27
were like, "There's like wildebeests over there. That's like your favorite thing in the world. Why are you not
00:34:31
eating those and you're coming to us? >> so much bigger, too. >> That's the thing about it.
00:34:35
>> more. >> We are not lions like choice prey. >> No. >> Like if given us and like a wildebeest
00:34:41
or us and something else, they'll take the wildebeest. >> thing every time. >> Yeah.
00:34:44
>> So, by the summer, complaints about the attacks and the missing workers had finally reached such a fever pitch that
00:34:50
the British authorities had to address the fears of further attacks. In July, the company responsible for the project,
00:34:58
the British East Africa Company, offered a 200 rupee reward for And this is sad.
00:35:04
Quote, "The skin of any lion shown to the satisfaction of the managers to have been destroyed within 1 mile on either
00:35:11
side of the railway line and to a distance of 5 miles east and west of the River Tsavo."
00:35:16
>> It's one thing to kill an animal for your protection. >> Yeah. >> That, you know, you know how we feel.
00:35:23
>> Yeah. >> It's another thing to skin a [ __ ] lion. >> I'm sorry, but go [ __ ] yourself.
00:35:30
>> don't get it. >> You like Like this is the 1800s, so sure it was like >> [ __ ] was wild, but
00:35:36
>> upsetting. >> Now, in a region that frequently struggled with poverty as well, this
00:35:40
bounty on lions attracted a large number of hunters. Cuz again, they're like struggling just to feed themselves. Like
00:35:47
a 200 rupee reward is huge. Um and so like a ton of hunters and would-be hunters came to the area all
00:35:54
hoping to claim the reward. It was likely the dramatic increase in people and noise that actually ended up keeping
00:36:01
the Tsavo man-eaters, quote unquote, away for so many months. Uh cuz they did stay away for quite some time.
00:36:07
>> [ __ ] that. We know what y'all are up to. >> They're real smart. >> Right. >> Uh cuz these lions are clever. They
00:36:12
would know better than to return to an area where the sounds of rifles could be heard every few minutes. They're like,
00:36:17
"Yeah, I'm going to be >> I'm good. >> Think I'm all set with that." >> The presence of so many hunters and the
00:36:21
lions' failure to appear night after night allowed the workmen at least to relax for the first time since the
00:36:27
project began. But because of that, they let their guard down. And so when they did return, which they did, they were
00:36:35
not prepared. >> After nearly 6 months of relative peace, >> Wow. >> Yeah. The attacks began again in
00:36:43
Patterson's camps one night in early November. He wrote, "On this occasion, a number of
00:36:48
men had been sleeping outside their tents for the sake of coolness." >> let their guard down.
00:36:54
>> Yep. He said when the men heard one of the lions forcing its way into the boma,
00:36:58
which was the animal pen where they were sleeping, he said, "All the men leaped to their
00:37:03
feet and raised the alarm to alert the rest of the camp." Then they took up whatever weapons they could find to try
00:37:09
to protect themselves. This was like rocks, sticks, just hurling them in the direction of the lions, just trying to
00:37:15
protect themselves. Unfortunately, the noise and thrown objects had no effect on the lion. A few moments later,
00:37:24
the lion burst into the middle of the group of men and just grabbed one and dragged him off through the thorny fence
00:37:32
and into the darkness. >> Holy [ __ ] >> So the lion just like launched himself into the middle of a ton of men and just
00:37:38
grabbed the nearest one. >> That's not >> Yeah. Like damn. >> The entire camp listened with horror as
00:37:45
two lions devoured this man not more than 30 yards away from the camp. Now the return of the lions was
00:37:54
disheartening, obviously, cuz they really were hoping they would have peace. But it wasn't just the return
00:37:59
that shook up the men. It was now how [ __ ] bold they were. So in the past, one lion would sneak
00:38:06
silently into the camps, grab the unsuspecting prey, then drag the man nearly a mile away from camp before
00:38:12
killing and eating him. Now the lions were aggressively forcing their way into the camps,
00:38:18
like barreling through any protective measures, and attacking large groups of armed men, paying no attention to the
00:38:26
loud sounds and thrown objects. >> And not going as far. >> grabbing the prey, they barely would
00:38:32
wait until they were outside of camp before killing and eating him. >> They had to have been like legitimately
00:38:37
starving. >> Yeah. >> So the next morning Patterson discovered the remains of this man less than 50
00:38:42
yards outside the camp. Unlike the previous attacks, he refused to let the men bury the remains this time, hoping
00:38:48
the animal would return that night. Posted in his tree, he waited but that night but the only animal animal that
00:38:56
came around was a hyena. And the hyena sniffed the remains and then just ran off.
00:39:00
>> Oh. >> So the next morning he received word that the lions had attacked another camp
00:39:04
2 miles down the river. >> Okay. >> Like same night. >> Yeah. >> Night after night he sat in the trees
00:39:11
outside the camps along the river, listening as the men shouted their warnings from one camp to the next.
00:39:17
And the warning that you would often hear, and I'm going to try my best to say this correctly, was Kabar Dar Beiona
00:39:24
Shatana Ata, which is beware brothers, the devil is coming. >> Oh [ __ ] >> would be like yelling this to each
00:39:30
other. >> Oh, that's so chilling. >> But for at least one of the camps, the warnings always came way too late. And
00:39:35
one among them was inevitably dragged away in the middle of the night. So these lions are getting more and more
00:39:41
brazen by the day it seemed. And one evening one of them grabbed a man from the railway and actually brought him
00:39:46
closer to the camp rather than far away in order to eat him. >> What? >> Yeah. Uh Patterson wrote, I could plainly hear
00:39:54
them crunching the bones. >> Oh my god. >> And the sound of their dreadful purring
00:39:59
filled the air and rang in my ears for days afterwards. >> think of them purring.
00:40:05
>> Like that's so messed up. And the crunching bones. By mid-November the lions changed their
00:40:12
strategy yet again in another display of boldness. Until that point their hunting pattern
00:40:18
had been that one animal again would sneak into camp. The other would wait in the bush a distance away.
00:40:24
Now, they were entering together. So, now it wasn't just one bringing it out, it was both.
00:40:29
>> "We don't need a lookout." >> Sometimes now grabbing multiple victims cuz now each lion would grab one.
00:40:35
This new strategy didn't always work out very well for the animals or for the victims on that matter. On one night in
00:40:41
late November, the lions attacked one of the camps and dragged away two men into
00:40:45
the dark, each one. Um from inside the camp, the workmen could hear one of the men moaning in
00:40:51
pain just outside the camp. And when they finally mustered up the courage to go out and look for him, they found that
00:40:57
he was badly mauled, but he was stuck in the thorny underbrush a few dozen yards
00:41:02
away from camp. >> Oh. >> It looked like he had become stuck there and the lion wasn't able to drag him
00:41:07
through. So, they left him and just went to consume the other victim. The workmen were able to untangle him
00:41:13
from the bushes, but he died from his injuries that night. >> say the thought of getting mauled by a
00:41:18
lion and then left stuck in gigantic thorns. >> Yeah. >> Oh my god. >> Yeah. >> By the beginning of December, the
00:41:25
workmen on Patterson's crew had finally had enough. One afternoon when they returned to his camp, Patterson found
00:41:32
the entire construction crew standing there waiting for him. They said they had come from India to work and get
00:41:38
paid. And they said, "We did not come here to get attacked and eaten by lions." And they said, "We are not going
00:41:44
to work until these lions are gone." I mean, I did it. I can't blame them. This is terrifying.
00:41:49
>> Yeah, you I would just I'd be like, "We're not doing this." >> Well, many of them didn't even bother
00:41:53
with the ultimatum. They just waited for the next train to pass, hopped aboard, and said, "Bye."
00:41:58
>> That would be me. >> "Somewhere else is better than here. I'm leaving." >> To his credit, Patterson did take this
00:42:03
ultimatum very seriously, and in the weeks after this, all work on the railroad ceased while they focused on
00:42:10
lion-proofing the camps. So, he just stopped the work. He was like, "Well, figure We're going to figure this out."
00:42:16
So, Patterson's persistence over the previous year finally paid off in December.
00:42:21
On the morning of December 9th, he was leaving his camp when he saw one of the men running towards him frantically
00:42:27
shouting, "Simba! Simba!" which means lion. >> Yeah, I know. >> Uh so, he was saying, "Lion! Lion!" and
00:42:33
waving his arms above his head frantically. When he reached the camp, he told Patterson that the lions had attempted
00:42:39
to grab one of the workmen down by the river. And when he escaped, they killed the donkey instead and were currently
00:42:45
eating it. >> Okay. >> So, knowing he might not have a better opportunity, he grabbed his rifle and
00:42:49
followed this man back to the river. When they reached the banks of the river, he saw that one of the lions was
00:42:55
eating a donkey by the water. Unfortunately, as he approached quietly, one of his guides stepped on a branch
00:43:02
and caused it to snap. >> Uh like horror movie no-no. >> Literally. So, the noise alerted the
00:43:06
lion who looked up in their direction, growled, and then dragged the carcass of the donkey into deep underbrush.
00:43:13
>> Like just with like, "Fuck y'all." >> literally said, "Fuck y'all." That's exactly what I was going to say.
00:43:17
>> Like you know that um Homer Simpson gif where he just backs into the bushes? That's what that lion did. He's like,
00:43:23
"You saw nothing." No. So, of course, Patterson is ter- He's like, "I'm going to lose this animal and it's
00:43:29
right there. Like I could end this." Um so, he instructed the man to return to the camp, gather up the other men, and
00:43:35
all the cans, pots, and pans they could find. And he said, "This plan is to have
00:43:40
the men surround the area and simultaneously cause incredible noise that would send the animal running in
00:43:46
his direction." Which was pretty smart. Pretty smart and very brave. >> Yeah. >> So, Patterson crouched down behind a
00:43:52
large anthill not far from where they had seen the lion. And when all the men were in position, he gave the signal.
00:43:57
The signal. And he wrote, "Soon a tremendous noise was raised by the advancing line of men.
00:44:03
And to my great joy, out into the open path stepped a huge maneless lion. After tracking the animals for nearly a
00:44:11
year, and he was really only catching glimpses of them in the darkness at this point.
00:44:15
>> Right. >> He said seeing one of these in daylight was like >> un- incredible. Like it was terrifying.
00:44:21
>> Uh when the lion got within 15 yd, he emerged from his hiding place and took aim.
00:44:27
And his sudden appearance startled the lion, obviously, who dug in its claws and crouched back on its haunches, and
00:44:32
he was ready to leap at him. Uh Patterson pulled the trigger, but to his absolute horror,
00:44:39
he heard that dull thud a rifle makes when it misfires. >> Oh, no. >> Just He said, "I was so disconcerted at this
00:44:48
untoward accident that I forgot all about firing the left barrel, and with the intention of reloading, I lowered
00:44:55
the rifle from my shoulder." Thinking the animal would use the opportunity to attack Patterson, he was
00:45:01
surprised when it instead ran into the bush. So, he's like, "Fuck, I'm going to lose
00:45:06
this thing for good." So, he raised his rifle again and just pointed into the direction that it had run and just
00:45:11
blindly fired. And he said he heard an angry growl that said that he he did hit him.
00:45:18
But he said, "But when he went to check the area, the lion had escaped." But he's like, "I think I hit him."
00:45:23
Now, determined to end the terror, he went back to where the donkey lay in the brush by the river and took up a
00:45:28
position in one of the trees, hoping the lions would come back for that. Several hours later, after the sun went
00:45:34
down, he heard the sound of snapping twigs and realized one of them had come back. But
00:45:40
rather than go back to the carcass as Patterson thought he would, the lion sniffed the air for a few moments, then
00:45:47
emitted a low growl, and that was indicating that he sensed his presence. >> Yeah.
00:45:53
>> So, he literally sniffed him out in the air and was like, "I'mma [ __ ] you up."
00:45:57
So, to Patterson's surprise, the lion ignored the donkey carcass. >> Totally ignored it.
00:46:03
>> Available food. >> Right there, and instead began searching the area for him.
00:46:08
>> And they can climb trees. >> Uh-huh. And he said, "For about 2 hours, he horrified me by slowly creeping round
00:46:16
and round my crazy structure, gradually drawing closer." >> Oh my god. >> For hours, he sat silently in the
00:46:24
street, desperately trying not to make even a sound. >> Literally move a muscle.
00:46:29
>> His trance-like state was finally broken when sometime after midnight, he was
00:46:34
struck in the back of the head by something large. And at first, cuz he had kind of zoned out, cuz he was trying
00:46:39
to just like really zone, he thought the lion had come up and had actually found
00:46:44
him. But then he realized he had been struck by a large owl. >> I love owls. >> What the [ __ ] are the odds of that?
00:46:52
>> They're working together, baby. >> I'm like, mother nature is just like doing its damn thing.
00:46:57
>> Mother nature is like, "Get out of here." >> Like, what the [ __ ] So, a large owl
00:47:01
just [ __ ] >> Just beat him. >> in the head. The jolt caused him to look around frantically, and he realized the
00:47:07
lion was crouched down in the brush just a few yards away. He could see his yellow eyes staring directly at him.
00:47:13
>> Oh, [ __ ] >> Certain this was going to be his absolute last chance. He fired the
00:47:19
rifle. And he hit the lion directly in the chest. Patterson wrote he gave a most terrific
00:47:25
roar and leaped and sprang about in all directions. The lion had retreated into the brush
00:47:30
and was likely trying to escape. So, he did fire again in his direction, and finally a few moments later, he heard
00:47:37
the last of the lion's breaths, and it was over. >> men, but I'm going to actually cry right
00:47:42
now. >> really sad. I really [ __ ] hate it. It's really sad. >> That's the part that I don't like about
00:47:46
these stories, is that we always kill the animal for doing what animals do. >> I know.
00:47:51
>> Like, I know this is a very extreme >> Yeah. >> case, and again, I don't like that
00:47:56
>> all over here. People were killed, but I'm really [ __ ] sad right now. >> of sadness. So,
00:48:01
>> when Patterson finally got a good look at the lion, he was truly impressed. He
00:48:06
said it was nearly 10 ft long. >> Holy [ __ ] >> 4 ft high, larger than an average lion.
00:48:12
>> Yeah. >> And aside from the obvious scars from the thorn brushes, he was unblemished,
00:48:17
like a beautiful lion. And as Patterson had assumed, the first shot struck him in the heart, and one of
00:48:24
the subsequent shots had hit him in the thigh. >> Oh my god, you're actually going to make
00:48:27
me cry right now. >> When the news of the deaths reached the camp, several men arrived at the site,
00:48:32
and they brought the animal back to the camp. So, a few days later, Patterson set out
00:48:36
a trap for the second lion, tying three, and this is sad, three goats to a 250-lb
00:48:42
rail. >> What are you trying to do to me, bro? I love goats. >> hours later, the lion appeared and
00:48:48
grabbed one of the goats, and that gave Patterson a chance to fire. Unfortunately, when he fired, the shot
00:48:54
hit the lion in the shoulder, not the head. And the shot barely managed to slow him down, and he took off into the
00:49:00
brush. And he dragged all three goats and the rail with him. He said, "Fuck your [ __ ] I'm taking it all."
00:49:07
>> of it." >> Don't piss off a lion. >> So, the shot might not have done its job, but it did seem to drive him off,
00:49:12
and it wasn't seen again for more than a week. >> Okay. >> On the evening of December 26th,
00:49:17
the lion appeared again at one of the camps, and it managed to get through the thorny fencing and into the camp, where
00:49:23
it tore through several tents and destroyed much of the site, but it failed to attack any of the men.
00:49:29
>> Okay. >> Believing the injured animal might make a return to the same camp, he set up
00:49:34
Patterson set up a blind in one of the trees near the camp and waited. A few hours later, the lion appeared, and he
00:49:41
shot the animal, killing it instantly. Which is really sad. >> It is really sad.
00:49:46
>> In the years that followed the attacks, the legend of the Tsavo man-eaters continued to spread and grow. By the
00:49:53
time the story reached its peak popularity, it was said that the lions killed and devoured hundreds of men.
00:49:58
A worker on the railway wrote, "Hundreds of men fell victim to these savage creatures whose very jaws were steeped
00:50:04
in blood. Bones, flesh, skin, and blood, they devoured it all and left not a trace behind them."
00:50:10
>> Damn. >> In reality, attacks on humans by large predators are extremely rare.
00:50:15
>> Right. >> Because we are not part of any predator's diet. >> Uh-huh. >> And we
00:50:20
pose a massive threat to every other species. >> them. >> Um and Ross Barnett, a paleogeneticist
00:50:28
at the University of Copenhagen, said, "What strikes me about the Tsavo story is that it is almost incomprehensible to
00:50:34
a 21st century Western mindset. >> Yeah. >> The terror that the night must have brought is unimaginable."
00:50:40
>> really is. >> It really is. So, if humans are not part of a lion's diet, and we're actually
00:50:45
pretty hard to catch, like you have to go through a lot, why the [ __ ] did they
00:50:49
hunt and kill so many men? >> Was there some kind of shortage going on? So, like wildebeest?
00:50:55
>> It turns out, like most repeated large cat attacks on humans, the explanation
00:51:00
for these attacks were found in the animals' mouths. In a recent scientific study of the
00:51:05
Tsavo lions' skeletons, which by the way are on display at the Field Museum of Natural History
00:51:11
in Chicago. >> Tsavo, like S A V O? >> T S A V O. Zoologists discovered that both lions
00:51:20
had damaged teeth. >> Oh. >> Even without causing illness from infection, which was likely, broken and
00:51:26
damaged teeth can make it difficult or extremely painful for an animal to consume its regular diet.
00:51:32
>> Oh, wow. >> to something it can catch and eat. So, the theory, and this is also
00:51:39
interesting, the theory was supported by a DNA analysis of the lions' hair, which
00:51:44
found the animals had not consumed any wildebeest, which is its favorite prey, and had otherwise been eating slower,
00:51:53
softer animals. Um so, Riley Black from Smithsonian Magazine in 2017 wrote, "Humans were a
00:52:00
food of last resort, and the lions were primarily focused on the soft parts." >> Okay.
00:52:05
>> These were not devilish skeleton crunchers, but injured cats doing what they could to survive.
00:52:11
>> Oh, that makes it even sadder. >> Additional information, this is really This made me sad, cuz I was like
00:52:17
>> Oh, no. >> Additional information from the study revealed that these two lions were
00:52:21
likely brothers. >> I need you to shut up. >> Quote >> Shut the [ __ ] >> they had each other's DNA in their teeth
00:52:30
suggests that the lions were closely bonded and spent time grooming one another.
00:52:35
>> actually not built for this. I'm not built for this. I'm going to cry. >> died
00:52:39
It makes me so sad for that second one, cuz he was just without his brother. >> can't I can't do that. I can't do that.
00:52:44
>> Now, as for how many victims the lions took, according to zoologist Bruce Patterson, one lion ate 10 people and
00:52:51
the other 24. >> It's a lot of people. >> of people. As for John Henry Patterson,
00:52:57
his killing of the man-eating lions did make him a local hero and somewhat of a legend.
00:53:02
With the threat removed, the crews were able to go back to work, and the railroad bridge was completed in
00:53:08
February 1899. And when the project was finished, Patterson served tours of duty
00:53:13
in the Second Boer War and World War I among other conflicts. >> Oh, wow. >> He also found time to begin a writing
00:53:20
career, and he started with his account of the Tsavo man-eater attacks, followed
00:53:25
by several other adventure novels. >> Wow. >> like badass. Following his retirement
00:53:30
from the military, he focused really on writing, and he also traveled the world giving lectures about wildlife and big
00:53:36
game. >> Okay. >> On June 18th, 1949, James Patterson died of natural causes in Bel Air, California
00:53:44
at the age of 79. >> Wow, what a life. And that's he did protect his crew. >> He did.
00:53:51
>> So there's that. >> I know. I feel bad for the lions. I feel bad for obviously the men that had to go
00:53:56
through. It's the same thing as the shark attack. You feel bad for everybody involved.
00:54:00
>> It's the same thing. I just >> I know. >> Something in me like I can't hear about
00:54:06
animal death. Like I literally >> are innocent. >> They are. Exactly. >> the gnarly, you know, unless it's an
00:54:12
orca whale. I feel like orcas have straight-up >> But you know what? You know what? Did we like wrong them
00:54:19
though somehow? >> probably did. >> Like we probably made them that way. >> I'm not saying orca whales are like
00:54:24
wrong. I'm just saying they have >> homicidal. >> They have They have instincts that we are not that
00:54:31
they're not supposed to have. Like they have they plan and plot. >> No, they do. It's like I say the ocean's
00:54:36
not for us. >> No, it's not. >> And they're trying to they're trying to stand there.
00:54:39
>> I need to know I need some more [ __ ] terrifying ocean stories. >> Yeah, I like the ocean ones.
00:54:45
>> Because I love cats. >> I know. >> And like I love lions. >> Lions are just like big cats.
00:54:50
>> One of my kids loves lions. >> I know. She always has. >> her so mad. She'd be like, "Let them
00:54:55
go." >> I know. That one was That was a tough one for me. >> Yeah. >> I We got to space these out cuz God.
00:55:02
>> Yeah. >> Very interesting. >> It's very interesting though especially like the the issue with their teeth and
00:55:06
that's how they were going after. >> And the just the fact that these men were just yanked out
00:55:12
of tents in the middle of the night. It's like that's horrible. >> up. Like that I don't want to take away
00:55:16
Like I know I've been harping a lot on the animals, but that is incredibly [ __ ] up.
00:55:21
>> And again, they're sleeping like they they exhausted after an exhausting day of manual labor. It's like [ __ ] That
00:55:28
sounds like hell on earth. >> It's also good to remind yourself too that there weren't like a [ __ ] ton of
00:55:32
jobs back then. >> No, that's the other thing. They were desperate for work. >> Money for their families. The ones who
00:55:37
are leaving are the ones who literally can't handle it. Like that that must have broken down. You know how bad it
00:55:42
was for some of them to be like, "Fuck that. Anywhere else is better than this."
00:55:46
>> faced with the possibility of being eaten by a lion in the middle of the night.
00:55:50
>> That's rough. >> If you're willing to stick that out. That's pretty [ __ ] brutal. That's
00:55:53
Well, then you think of how many men did stick it out. >> Exactly. And with that being the
00:55:58
>> a billion degrees where they are in Africa and like that night they were just trying to sleep in a cool area cuz
00:56:05
it's like a billion degrees and you're sitting duck. >> [ __ ] Yeah. >> What a story. That was very fascinating.
00:56:11
>> I also didn't know about maneless lions. >> I didn't know about maneless lions.
00:56:14
That's interesting. >> They're beautiful. >> I was just looking at pictures. >> Oh, lions are gorgeous. When I say I
00:56:20
just want to go ah I just want to snuggle. >> I know, but they would but don't. >> Don't.
00:56:26
>> I'm not going to >> Don't do that. >> I won't. >> Remember when we went to Disney together
00:56:30
and we heard the lion roar on the um safari. >> gnarly. >> That was the craziest thing I ever
00:56:35
experienced. >> Lion roars are life-changing. Cuz they're just damn. Like when that
00:56:42
movie starts. >> Yeah. >> You know like those movies that >> Yeah, that movie. That one movie.
00:56:46
>> I don't know why I said that movie. What are those What What production is that?
00:56:50
>> Um it's the uh >> The [ __ ] >> I'm just looking at it in my head over here. >> I'm watching it in my head. What is the
00:57:00
production company that has the lion? >> Is it MGM? >> Is it MGM? I think it is MGM. I I can
00:57:05
see it in my head and I'm like >> you're exactly right. Yeah. Hi Karen in Georgia.
00:57:10
>> Yeah, it is MGM. >> Yeah, I thought so. >> Did you say hi Karen in Georgia? >> Yeah, cuz I said you're exactly right.
00:57:16
>> Oh, okay. I thought you were thinking MFM. >> Oh, no. >> like it's MGM. And I was like you're exactly right and
00:57:21
then I said hi Karen in Georgia. >> Hey. >> Um that was insane. >> Yeah, that was wow. I have a fun fact.
00:57:28
>> I love fun facts. >> It's kind of a morbid fact to be honest with you. mean, this is what this show
00:57:32
is. I got this from Cosmopolitan. Chainsaws were first invented >> this. >> I I had a feeling you might know this.
00:57:40
for childbirth. >> Yeah. >> They were developed in Scotland in the late 18th century to help aid and speed
00:57:47
up the process of symphysiotomy, which is widening the pubic cartilage and the removal of disease-laden bone
00:57:56
during childbirth. That's horrifying. >> What the [ __ ] >> You knew that? I had a Why did I know
00:58:02
you were going to know that? >> You thought You said that ahead of time, too. >> I did. I was like, "I probably know
00:58:07
this." >> You might know this. >> Yeah. >> That is a crazy ass fact. I want to know
00:58:12
a lot more about that, but like also nothing else about it at all. >> time. >> Yeah.
00:58:17
>> Chainsaws, man. >> What would you Can you imagine Like I've never given birth. You've done it twice.
00:58:21
>> Mhm. >> Like three times, technically, I guess. Uh what would you do if you were just
00:58:25
like laying there and they're like No, it's the sound of a chainsaw is >> terrifying.
00:58:30
>> Yeah, that's the end of every haunted house ever. >> it's like my least favorite part of the
00:58:35
haunted house. >> Oh my god, I hate it. >> of that coming anywhere near your situation, your downstairs mix-up.
00:58:40
>> Your That's going to become a downstairs mix-up at that point. >> to become a downstairs
00:58:45
>> catastrophe. >> catastrophe, period. A downstairs I'm trying to think of a >> downstairs ugh
00:58:51
>> I'm trying to think of a D word. >> A downstairs disaster. >> Yes, there you go.
00:58:56
>> And with that, we leave you. >> Look at that unhinged beginning, middle and end.
00:59:00
>> Lord. >> Well, we hope you keep listening. >> And we hope you keep it >> But not so weird they use a chainsaw
00:59:06
during childbirth because holy [ __ ] >> And don't boop a lion. >> Yeah. >> I know it's hard.
00:59:13
>> I I want to find a lion right now just to boop it. >> Lions are beautiful. >> Simba, Simba.
00:59:19
>> Simba, Simba. >> I love them. >> Mhm.