The Ghost and the Darkness are the titular main villains of the 1996 historical adventure film of the same name. The two lions are responsible for the numerous deaths in Tsavo, Kenya during the construction of the Uganda Railway. They are based on the Tsavo Man-Eaters. They were portrayed by animal actors Ceasar and Bongo, while their vocal sound effects were provided by Martin Lopez.
Description[]
They are a pair of man-eating lions from the Tsavo region, which were responsible for the deaths of a number of construction workers on the Kenya-Uganda railway from March through December 1898. The lions were unusual both for the number of victims that they claimed and in the manner in which they carried out their attacks.
They were dubbed "The Ghost and the Darkness" by the people of Tsavo, Kenya, because of their hunting and murderous methods. Unlike other lions, they were shown to kill their prey and lick up their victim's skin, and drank their blood when it reached the surface. Unlike other male lions, they would hunt together. They were not killing for sustenance, as they often did not consume their victims. The locals believed them to have been demons in lion's body. The total number of their victims may have been about eighty people or more.
As a result of the lion attacks, the construction of the bridge was halted. John Henry Patterson, who had some experience in hunting lions, was appointed to kill the pair. Joining him was a native African named Samuel and a hunter named Charles Remington who was appointed by Sir Robert Beaumont when the construction of the bridge was slowing. After a few failed attempts, Remington sets up a trap by using Patterson, with a baboon as a bait, and thereby manages to kill one of the lions. The following day the remaining lion is revealed to have dragged Remington out of the camp overnight and killed him in cold blood. Seeking vengeance, Patterson burns the grass surrounding the grass in order to lure the last lion out. This results in them ending up on the unfinished bridge, where Patterson successfully kills the surviving lion in revenge. The bridge construction is then completed. Samuel, who had been narrating the movie, says that the carnivorous man-eaters can be found at the Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois.