Meet “The Ghost And The Darkness!”
They may not look it, but these are two of the most ravenous Lions in history!
When I lived in Chicago, we’d go to see them – what a fascinating story!
The two Lions are on display at Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History.
It’s easy to find The Field Museum, thanks to all of the signs:
The main entryway inside the building is stuffed with lots of cool stuff, like dinosaurs!
The Tsavo Killers!
I was fascinated to see this exhibit: two lions that may not seem that big, but boy, did they terrorize railroad workers!
Their names were “The Ghost” and “The Darkness,” and 119 years ago, these two massive, maneless, man-eating lions hunted railway workers in the Tsavo region of Kenya. During a nine-month period in 1898, the lions killed at least 35 people and as many as 135, according to different accounts.
Tucked within an arresting collection of taxidermied mammals of Africa in the Rice Gallery, the man-eating lions of Tsavo are two of the Field Museum’s most famous residents—and also the most infamous.
The 1996 film “The Ghost And The Darkness” told the story of the Hunters who tracked these kilelrs down. Michael Douglas and Val Kilmer starred, and it a pretty good film!
Check out the trailer:
It’s a well done thriller with a great cast…
Of course, after leaving the Museum, it’s just a few steps to this incredible view of Lake Michigan and downtown Chicago:
There are so many things to see in Chicago, like the great “Riverwalk”, which takes you from Lake Michigan west along the Chicago River – right through Chicago’s downtown area:
Due to the pandemic, the riverwalk has been closed, but is no reopen again – here is a look at what you see when you wander along it – just click to see how often I wandered this great trail:
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Categories: Africa, Books / Media, chicago, Cult Movies, Great Films, Movies, nature, Talent/Celebrities
johnrieber 
I worked full-time and year-round with the Asian Lions, (among other animals including Siberian Tigers, 2 species of Baboons, 7 or 8 species of bears, and an assortment of herbivores) for over 3 years as a caretaker and patrol ranger for the first drive-through exotic wildlife park in the US: Warner Brothers Jungle Habitat.
It was the best job I ever had, (if not one of the lowest paying). I learned a lot from the field vets and my two immediate, expert, managers. It’s a part of my life from about 1973 to mid-1976.
In those 3+ years there was a full 30-minute long event where I was face to face with a furious 280 pound female Siberian Tiger while feed her and her cubs in the area called the “Tiger Nursery”.
She had broken through the cinderblock enclosure that she and her 4 cubs were in when my assistant forgot to follow my instruction not to look at her through the small, barred window as he pushed the block of food through the bars.
It’s a long story but even though she was less than 24 inches away from the two of us as we stood very still with our backs pressed against the cyclone perimeter fence, she decided not to harm us.
However, her fierce posture when she charged directly at me with that very angry expression and loud roars as she scolded us both was something no one could’ve ever forgotten.
To this day, I’m grateful that neither she, nor the two of us were harmed and the event ended peacefully with a tranquilizer dart. I’ve always wondered and never understood why she didn’t kill us… This was not a ‘tame’ tiger and her cubs had only gained their vision a few days earlier.
In fact, they came stumbling out over the cinderblock debris and I was praying that they didn’t come toward us as their mother had us pinned to that fence! If they had, that may have drastically changed the way this ended!
FWIW,
Rich
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WOW! Great for sharing that great story!
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It’s a great movie to watch Love Michael Douglas an Val Kilmer. Would love to come see them sometimes my husband has seen them. Thank u
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Yes, a really good movie!
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Scary..Have downloaded the film to watch later I am sure hubby will love it…:)
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Cool museum. I think we visited on one of our trips to Chicago but I don’t remember the lions. I think that calls for another trip when the world opens safely again. Chicago has so much to see and is especially rich in museums!
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It is! thanks for commenting!
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Michael Douglas and Val Kilmer is a recipe for a great movie. What a scary, horrible experience for the train workers.
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Great to hear from you! Yes, the movie captures just how awful it was for those workers, who had no say in how dangerous the work was!
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How crazy- I’ll never heard about this!
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It’s an interesting exhibit, with a short film and other stuff to tell the story!
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I believe that when wild cats like lions get a taste for human flesh, they never stop hunting humans. The entrance of that museum looks a lot like the one in Night at the Museum.
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It may have been, Robbie! Thanks for the “cat” info!
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Yikes, these were some badass lions! As usual, infamy is found in death as is often the way, then to be memorialised in film. I love their names. What I don’t love is taxidermy. Taxidermy animals give me the creeps! xx
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Well then, you’d freak out at the Field because they have a whole area with stuffed animals! From bears to mountain lions and everything in between! Thanks for commenting, glad you are staying safe!
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I went to Kenya in 1983. Staying at a safari lodge near Mt Kilimanjaro, we were told to stay close to the buildings, as a cleaning lady had been killed by a lion the night before, on her way home from work!
Best wishes, Pete.
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Pete, they don’t even look that big up close, but they were monsters! Thanks for sharing that story! I told my wife that my friend Pete had a comment and without missing a beat she said: “BEETLEY PETE?”
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