All language subtitles for Expedition.Unknown.S15E02

The number that I've read of
people that were killed here

is set at 135.

[ominous chord strike]

[sinister music plays]

These attacks continued
night after night.

[screaming]

Two different lions.

-[roar]
-[ominous chord strike]

[man]

Right.

Oh, my word.
Look at this.

[ominous chord strikes]

Could these lions be
around here right now?

-[Daniel] Yes.
-Scary.

-[Daniel] You see the lion?
-[Josh] Oh, oh, lion.

Oh, there's two.

[suspenseful music builds]

Where's the other one?

[roaring]

[suspenseful music plays]

[epic music plays]

Welcome to
Chicago's Field Museum,

one of the world's greatest
and largest institutions

devoted to natural history.

Within these walls is
the visual story of life itself,

told through 40 million
artifacts and specimens.

Let's go.

There are dinosaur skeletons,
like ferocious Sue, the T. rex,

the world's coolest knife
drawer, and oceans of

precious gems, not to mention
some flying reptiles

from Michael Crichton's
left over nightmares.

But among the crown jewels
of the collection is something

even more terrifying, a pair of
serial killers who have been

fascinating museum goers
for more than a century.

[ominous chord strike]

Deep in the hall of mammals,
I come face to face with

the infamous
Man-eaters of Tsavo.

The cute and cuddly stars of
"The Lion King," they are not.

Back in the 1890s,
when the British were trying

to build a train line
across East Africa,

these two Hannibal Lecters
of the animal kingdom

terrorized a camp
of railway workers,

reportedly killing and consuming
a staggering 135 men.

The two beasts eluded capture
for nine bloody months,

until finally, British Colonel
John Henry Patterson managed to

track them down and kill them.

[gunshot blast]

He then famously claimed
to locate their den,

a cave filled with human bones.

Patterson eventually sold
the lions' pelts and skulls

to the field museum
here in Chicago,

where they became a sensation.

The thrilling and macabre story
of their rampage rose to nearly

mythic proportions and was
even immortalized on film

in "The Ghost And The Darkness"
with Michael Douglas

and Val Kilmer.

Today, these once lethal cats
are still shrouded in mystery.

Why did the lions begin
become man-eaters,

and how did they get away
with murder for so long?

Also, how much of this
incredible tale is even true?

Starting with their legendary
den, which for nearly 100 years,

no one was able
to rediscover.

Now, though, one researcher
believes he's finally found

the lion's den.

And in the remote Kenyan bush,
state-of-the-art technology is

being used to track down
a new pair of elusive lions

to prevent a modern sequel
to this terrifying tale.

And, incredibly, the remains of
the Tsavo lions themselves are

still revealing new evidence,
including what could be

the lions' grisly, final meal.

So join me
as we reveal the truth

behind these feline killers,
whose taste for flesh

has become the stuff
of terrifying legend.

[dramatic music plays]

[theme music plays]

[Josh]
The past is all around us.

Oh my god,
it goes on forever!

A world of mystery...

-[theme music plays]
-[ding]

Come on, look at that!

...danger...

-Hang on!
-[waves crashing]

...and adventure.

It's just straight down!

I gotta get a new job.

-[theme music plays]
-[bird caws]

[Josh]
I travel to the far corners
of the earth to uncover

where legends end...

We got it!
Yes!

...and history begins.

Whoo hoo!
Here we go!

I'm Josh Gates, and this is
"Expedition Unknown."

[cheerful music plays]

[as Patterson] It was towards
noon on March 1st, 1898,

that I first found myself
entering the harbor of Mombasa.

I was much struck with
the strange beauty of the view.

Everything looked fresh
and green, and an enchantment

seemed to hang over the island.

So begins
"The Man-eaters of Tsavo,"
a memoir published in 1907

by Colonel John Henry Patterson,
a British engineer

sent here to Africa to oversee
the construction of a railway.

His account of the reign
of terror by a pair of

bloodthirsty lions begins,
innocently enough,

here on the shores of Mombasa.

[singing in foreign language]

[Josh]
Mombasa in Kenya has been
a vital East African port

since at least
the year 900.

As a result, it has,
over the centuries,

passed through the control
of powerful Arab sultanates,

the Portuguese,
and even Germany.

But in the late 19th century,
it was the British Empire

that ran things around here,
along with what is today

all of Kenya and Uganda,
a huge area through which

they needed to
move men and goods.

When Patterson arrives here,
Mombasa is the capital

of British East Africa,
and the Brits have started

construction on
the Uganda Railway,

linking this rich, coastal port
with the African interior

and the distant shores
of Lake Victoria.

The plan is to connect the port
of Mombasa with a long distance

rail line all the way
to Lake Victoria.

Why?
Well, Lake Victoria is

one of the sources
of the Nile River,

which would allow them
to ship goods

along that great
natural highway

across Africa all
the way to the Mediterranean,

giving them the keys
to the continent.

But this audacious project
will require laying 660 miles

of track, secured by more than
four million riveted bolts.

The labor was performed
by local Africans from

the Maasai tribe, but primarily
by 36,000 Indian workers

brought in by the British.

The project was plagued
by sweltering conditions,

tribal attacks, outbreaks of
malaria, and, as we'll see,

two bloodthirsty lions.

And if I'm going to continue
in the footsteps of

Colonel Patterson, who was sent
to supervise this project...

Hey, how are you?

...I've got a train to catch.

-To the train station.
-[driver] OK.

Patterson describes getting
across town in what's called

a gharri, a small trolley
set under a little canopy

and running on narrow rails.

Today, locals prefer to get
around in these -- tuk-tuks,

which are slightly faster.
All right, let's step on it.

-[driver] OK.
-[upbeat music plays]

Whoo!

[beep]

There are no rules.

My ride is even on-brand.

I got lions!

[upbeat music plays]

-[beep]
-That's a pedestrian,
That's fine.

They're gonna be fine.

And I might need nine lives
to survive the trip.

I can't look.

-[laughter]
-[upbeat music plays]

[two beeps]

[Josh] In a few more
nail-biting miles...

[panicked yelling]

...we arrive at my next stop.

-Hey, thanks for the lift, man.
-[driver] OK, OK.

-Asante.
-[driver] Karibu.

[suspenseful music plays]

[Josh] All right, this is us.

Kenya Railway's
train to Nairobi.

It takes about six hours to get
all the way there, but we'll be

getting off long before that
as we try to get to Tsavo,

where Patterson was stationed.
Come on.

Jambo.

Hi.

-Karibu.
-Asante.

[suspenseful music plays]

Made it.

[train horn bellows]

[Josh]
The train wheels start
turning, and we slowly exit

Mombasa, headed north.

In moments, the city recedes
from view, and we find ourselves

in the great wilderness
of Africa.

[inspirational music plays]

To get to Tsavo today, I'm
following Patterson's tracks,

or rather,
running alongside them.

Today, the modern train line
runs parallel to the original

narrow-gauge steam engine
tracks from Patterson's day.

When Patterson made
this journey in 1898,

the Uganda Railway was
three years into construction,

and in that time, they had
laid down 132 miles of track.

The colonel's first mission was
to supervise the building of

a bridge over a remote crossing
at the Tsavo River.

Building a railroad across
600 miles of untamed wilderness

was a daunting task.

It cost the equivalent of
a billion dollars today.

Some British considered it
a waste of taxpayer money,

laying tracks across jungles,
deserts, and swamps.

The public even began referring
to this as "the lunatic line."

Africans had their own name
for the project...

"The Iron Snake."

The local people,
called the Maasai,

had a prophecy which warned
of an iron snake that would

one day cross their land
as a portent of doom.

And as predictions go,
they nailed it.

The British would go on to push
most of the Maasai people

off their land, only to market
East Africa as a destination

for wealthy, big game hunters.

[bell ringing]

Today, the train doesn't go
all the way to Tsavo,

so I'm jumping off here
at the nearby town of Voi.

This is our stop.

[exciting music plays]

-Asante.
-Karibu.

[Josh]
The train got me the hundred
miles from Mombasa to Voi,

but I need to grab a car
for the remaining 32 miles

to the bridge.

Five hundred years ago, this was
the site of a fierce battle

between the Maasai
and Kamba tribes, earning it

the name, "Tsavo,"
or, "slaughter."

But the real carnage began
when Patterson arrived.

And I'm headed to
the scene of the crime.

[roar]

[suspenseful music plays]

Here we are,
the old tracks.

[Josh]
I've traveled
8,000 miles to this,

the notorious Tsavo Bridge.

This is where, in 1898,
a pair of man-eating lions

went on a killing spree,
never equaled before or since.

Spooky, spooky place.

A sensational book
about the event has been

the main source of information
about the slaughter.

Here to help me discover
how much of it is true is one of

the foremost experts
on the Tsavo man-eaters

and a curator at
Chicago's renowned Field Museum,

Julian Kerbis Peterhans.
-[Julian] Greetings, Josh.

Welcome to Tsavo
and the infamous Tsavo bridge.

What an amazing place to meet.

I've read about this place
for so many years.

Question one, should I be
worried about getting eaten

by a lion?
-Yes.

-[Josh] Really?
-You should always be wary.

We have a good lion population.

I mean, we don't
mess around at night.

In addition to lions,
we've got other things

to be concerned with.
This is the Tsavo River.

It's full of
crocodiles, hippos...

cape buffaloes.
Why don't we head down below?

-Toward the crocodiles?
-Yeah.

Let's do it.

[Josh]
We hike down to the Tsavo River.

In this spot,
over a century ago, the men

building the bridge faced off
against an unseen terror.

It is a gripping story,
detailed in Patterson's memoir.

So tell me what happens
in this book, in this spot.

Patterson arrived here
in March of 1898.

There had been an encampment
of up to 3,000 workers.

They brought many workers,
over 1,000 from India,

especially the stonemasons,
but also Africans.

They were in tents.

They surrounded
their little encampments

with thorn thickets, which was
meant to keep out lions.

So how long before things
start to go bad?

Almost immediately
after Patterson's arrival,

two workers just vanished
in the middle of the night.

-Poof?
-[Julian] Poof.

[suspenseful chord strike]

Patterson did not take that
disappearance too seriously.

He thought they might have
been killed over money,

or perhaps they just
abandoned ship

and decided they didn't
want to work anymore.

Right, but this is not the end
of the disappearances.

Well, not long after, one of
Patterson's prized officers,

named Ungan Singh,
was dragged from his tent.

And the description of this
in the book is harrowing.

[sinister music plays]

[as Patterson] At about
midnight, the lion suddenly

put its head in
at the open tent door...

[roar]

...and seized Ungan Singh
by the throat.

The next moment,
he was gone,

and his panic-stricken
companions lay helpless,

forced to listen to
the terrible struggle

which took place outside.

[scream echoes]

And Patterson calls the scene
where they found the remains,

"a dreadful spectacle."

This is a really
gruesome thing.

[as Patterson] The ground
all around was covered

with blood and morsels
of flesh and bones,

but the unfortunate head
had been left intact.

The eyes staring wide open

with a startled,
horrified look in them.

When Patterson was examining
the corpse of Ungan Singh,

he noticed there was tracks
from two different lions.

There's no evidence that
there was a pride, so we think

they might have been nomad,
a nomad pair.

[Josh] A pair of
rogue lions hunting together
and hunting humans

was something Patterson
had never heard of before.

Lions normally stalk
local game --

things like cape buffalo,

zebras, impala, or gazelle.

And even worse, these lions
were both male, the larger of

the species, each one
weighing up to 350 pounds

of pure, predatory muscle.

So he knows he's got
a major problem.

And so after this event, these
attacks just continue, right?

-These attacks continued
night after night.
-[growling]

[Josh] Patterson and his men now
know who their adversaries are,

but can do nothing
to stop them.

Once the sun goes down,
the carnage continues,

with the body count
rising like a fever.

-[suspenseful chord strike]
-[roaring]

Workers flee Tsavo
in a stampede, shutting down

construction for three weeks.

Colonel Patterson calls in
the district officer in charge

of the region, who brings
20 soldiers to hunt the lions.

The officer is barely off
the train

when he himself
is attacked.

His back is ripped open
by the lion's claws.

His assistant is
dragged off and killed.

It must have been terrifying
for everybody that was here.

Yeah.

The locals thought these lions
had supernatural powers,

and so they were almost
mystical animals.

They were named
"the ghost and the darkness."

"Ghost and the darkness,"
something invisible that would

come and strike in the night.
-Right.

And look, if you were
in this camp night after night,

people being murdered,
you could see why you'd start

to believe that.
-[Julian] Yeah.

[Josh]
Some of the African workers
see the lions as a retribution

for the railway, the iron snake,
that scarred their land.

Supernatural curse or not,
the lions' reign of terror

lasts nine bloody months with
the massive cats brazen enough

to enter the workers' tents
together and dragging off

two victims at a time.

But patterson finally finds
a way to turn the tables.

He sets out a donkey carcass
as bait, hoping it will prove

an irresistible meal
for a hungry carnivore.

Patterson then climbs
into an elevated blind

with his rifle and waits.

It takes nine days of patience,
but on December 9th, 1898,

he spies one of the lions
crouched in the undergrowth,

aims...
-[gunshot blast]

...and the first of the Tsavo
man-eaters is dead.

Three weeks later, using goats
as bait, the colonel guns down

the second man-eater.

-[gunshot blast]
-[roar]

The Ghost and the Darkness
are no more.

We have a photo here
in the book after he shoots

the first lion.

And the first thing that jumps
out at me looking at this photo

is it's enormous.
-These were huge lions.

They would look even bigger
if they had manes.

[Josh] You might think of
male lions as having thick,

lustrous manes, but that's
not always the case.

Because Tsavo is so hot,
the lions here don't have them.

But don't mane shame them,
they're still big enough

to kill in the triple digits.

The first man-eater Patterson
shot measured over nine feet

from nose to tail.

Patterson's story and his book
captivated the world

and led to some
fundamental questions.

So, all of this raises some
very compelling mysteries.

The first of which is, why?

Why did these lions attack
and kill so many people?

It's an unprecedented event.
Number two, how?

How did they successfully hunt
humans for so many months

without being shot and killed?

And number three,
is it all true?

You know, critics over
the years have questioned
this memoir.

It's so sensational,
it's so macabre, could it

really be true?

Yes, there are these
really compelling mysteries.

[Josh] For starters,
there's the body count.

The number that I've read of
people that were killed here

is set at 135.
Is that accurate?

So Patterson documented
28 killed Indian workers.

[Josh] That number has
led some to believe that

the total body count
must be lower.

And Patterson's own accounting
in his writing and interviews

also changed over time.

The numbers
started escalating.

[Josh] Eventually, Patterson
settled on the figure of 135.

And as Julian points out,
there's a reason for that.

The number of African workers
killed or disappeared

is never kept
as an official statistic.

Right, so we don't know how
many African workers died here.

In his writings,
Patterson describes

their losses as being in
the scores, meaning dozens,

which means his final number
might just be reasonable,

not to mention terrifying.

Yes, that many people
in a relatively short period

of time, coming in sometimes
nightly, is pretty horrific.

[Josh] Patterson's book
describes something else

that shocked the world.

He claims to stumble upon
a grisly discovery, evidence of

what happened to the victims
the man-eaters dragged away.

In his book,
he describes finding the den

of the man-eating lions.

It is the most visual,
gripping moment in this book,

and it just underscores
the violence of this --

of this entire episode.

[as Patterson]
Inside the cavern, I was
thunderstruck to find a number

of human bones, with here
and there a copper bangle

such as the natives wear.

Beyond all doubt,
the man-eaters' den.

[Josh] There's just one snag.

Even though the memoir includes
a photo of the supposed den,

after the book was published,
nobody could find it.

If it could be rediscovered,
it would prove Patterson wasn't

spinning tall tales.

[Julian] This cave full of human
bones had been searched for

for 100 years unsuccessfully.
-Yeah.

And our team undertook
three searches for it.

And if you're interested,
we could take a hike.

Am I interested to see the den
of the man-eaters?

Yes, very.
Lead on.

Julian leads me to rediscover
the so-called "man-eaters' Den."

but this is no trip to the zoo.

To get there, we'll need to
hike through wilderness

without any fences
to keep us safe.

-[suspenseful chord strike]
-[growling]

[anticipatory music plays]

Look at this place.

This is just like,
incredible wilderness.

I'm in Kenya,
searching for evidence

of the Ghost
and the Darkness,

two legendary man-eating lions.

[dramatic chord strike]

To confirm the only firsthand
account of their grisly

killing spree, I'm searching
for the lions' den,

which was first found by the man
who shot them in 1898,

and was never seen since.

People looked for this cave
for a long time, right?

Yeah, the photograph
he took of this cave

during the reign of terror
was taken in about 1898.

So people have been looking
for about 120 years.

[Josh] And this is
the photo, right?

[Julian] And this is
the original photo.

[Josh] Now, Patterson gives us
some clues as to where this cave

should be, right?

He says he sets out toward
these rocky-looking hills lying

to the southwest of Tsavo.

Patterson's description of
his path to the cave included

dry stream beds and dune,
or palm trees, to the southwest

of the bridge.

I assume that you and others
went to the southwest.

-Right.
-And what did you find there?

[Julian] We found zip to
the southwest, but by shifting

90 degrees to the northwest,
we're still following the same

stream beds with the same
landmarks, the same dune palms.

-[Josh] Right, maybe he just
wrote the direction down wrong.
-[Julian] Right.

-And we're headed northwest now?
-[Julian] We're headed
northwest.

[Josh] Let's see it.
Come on.

[anticipatory music plays]

[Josh] This...
this is legit.

Hiking down the riverbed
is a beautiful trip,

but then we get a reminder that
beautiful does not mean safe.

Oh, look at the size
of this print.

That is huge.

This is a fresh hippo print.

Hippos are actually
one of the deadliest animals

in Africa, killing upwards
of 500 people a year.

So this footprint will
keep us on our toes.

All right, eyes peeled.

[suspenseful music plays]

It's a long hike
under the African sun,

but eventually,
a small hill appears,

and behind it, history.

Oh, my god.

And Josh, welcome to
the Man-eaters' Cave.

That's it.

[suspenseful music plays]

-There's no question that's it.
-That's it, Josh.

Lost for over 100 years.

And we've got
Patterson's iconic photo here.

-[Josh] And look at that.
-[Julian] Yep.

[Josh] Look at that!

[Julian] You can see
how these cracks line up.

Diagonal cracks on the right.

[Josh] Yes, that little step up
right there is exactly the same.

And then we have this
horizontal fracture on that

rock above.
-[Josh] No question.

[Julian] Yep.
This is the man-eaters' Den.

[Josh] And we're standing
right now, very close to where

Patterson himself was standing,
taking that photo.

Can we get over
and take a closer look?

Yeah, we can
come down the other side.

Let's see what's going on
over there.

[suspenseful music plays]

Look at this place.
Wow.

That's it.
That's the cave.

To ask whatmight be
a stupid question,

how do we know something's
not living in there?

Yeah, we don't.

But first thing we can do,
look for tracks.

[Julian] There are
no big footprints.

-[Josh] Right.
-Let's check it out.

-[suspenseful music plays]
-[thud]

Whoa!

A bat literally just
shot out of the cave.

-[suspenseful music plays]
-[thud]

Wow.
This is spooky.

I mean, anything could be
lurking back here.

Let me get a light.

OK, let's see
how far back this goes.

-[Josh] Want a light?
-[Julian] Oh, thank you.

[Josh, whispers] There you go.
[normally] So, what do you see?

[Julian] So we're full up
with sand, and there's certainly

a lot of room back here.

[Josh] I can kind of see it
from this side, too.

I mean, it looks like
it goes back 15, 20 feet.

Definitely large enough
for some big predators

to hang out in, yeah?
-[Julian] Any predator would be

very happy living back here.

But you don't hear anything
growling back there, do you?

Not now.

All right, let's pull
ourselves out of here

before a snake slithers out.

Julian and his team have
no doubt discovered the cave

and verified at least
part of Patterson's story,

but there is something missing.

Let's talk about
what we're not seeing.

Bones.

If this is Patterson's Cave,
where are the bones?

[Julian] This happened
120 years ago.

You can see we are in a flowing
stream that the next time it

rained heavily here,
those bones got washed out

downstream somewhere.

[Josh] So no bones were
found here, but do you think

Patterson's account
is accurate?

Do you think that when
he came here to this cave,

he really saw human bones
and bracelets and things

like that?
-[Julian] Yes, absolutely.

So much of what Patterson wrote
has borne out.

We've been able to verify
so many small details, so I have

no doubt his discovery
of this cave

full of human bones
was accurate.

[Josh] As we step
outside the cave though,
Julian informs me that

while this is certainly
the right place, there is

one major issue
with Patterson's story.

Joshua, I have some news
that might really shock you.

Lions do not use dens.

But wait, this is, like,
a famous expression,

"the lion's den."

It's not based
in current observation.

Current science
has not documented that.

[Josh] But wait, I thought we
said that we think Patterson did

find this place
filled with bones.

Right, I have no reason
to not believe that.

But if lions weren't living
in that den, because you've

totally shattered my worldview
about lions' dens...

-[Julian] Yep.
-...how did those
bones get there?

[ominous chord strike]

[suspenseful music plays]

[Josh] I'm outside the infamous
den that reportedly belonged to

the man-eating lions of Tsavo...

-[roar]
-[screams]

...where Colonel
John Henry Patterson discovered

the remains of dozens
of human victims.

Joshua, I have some news
that might really shock you --

lions do not use dens.
-[Josh] But Dr. Julian
Kerbis Peterhans

is convinced the bones
got here another way.

But if lions weren't living
in that den, because you've

totally shattered my worldview
about lions' dens...

-[Julian] Yep.
-...how did those
bones get there?

Hyenas accumulated the bones.

Hyena den?

Lions eat out in the open.

They don't bring their food
to a secondary location,

but hyenas do.

As scavengers, hyenas take
the long bones left over from,

well, the lions' share,
and bring them back to a den

where they can break them open
and feed on the marrow.

Julian believes this cave
indeed held the human remains

of the Tsavo victims.

And the reason copper bangles
were found is because they were

dangling from their limbs,
the exact body parts that

hyenas would have
carried back here.

They got there from hyenas
scavenging the humans that were

killed by these two
Tsavo man-eaters.

Right.

Having laid eyes on Patterson's
rediscovered den, we now know

that aside from his layman's
error about which predators

used the cave, his story
is undoubtedly true.

And while the exact
human death toll will never be

fully determined, the lions
were certainly as lethal

as Patterson claimed.

Other questions,
though, remain.

Like, how did this pair of
lions managed to kill

for so long before
being stopped?

And why did they turn
to people for prey?

The answers to these questions
may help protect people today

who still share land
with these apex hunters.

[suspenseful chord strike]

To get a behavioral profile on
the Tsavo lions, I say goodbye

to Julian and drive to meet
wildlife rangers who monitor

dangerous big cats,
hoping that none of them

turn into man-eaters themselves.

The route takes me
80 dusty miles west

into pristine
African wilderness.

[anticipatory music plays]

This place is gorgeous.

Whoo!

Tsavo's largest national park
is a stunner.

And at 5.5 million acres,
it's more than five times

the size of the Grand Canyon.

The park is also home
to Africa's famous

Big Five game animals.

That would be elephants,
rhinos, cape buffalo,

leopards, and, of course,
the king of the jungle,

lions, even though lions
don't really live in jungles.

And despite the Wizard of Oz,
they're also not cowardly.

And despite the song,
"The Lion Sleeps Tonight,"

they're nocturnal.

Basically, everything you've
been told about lions is a lie.

But the point is,
it's dangerous out there,

and we're not getting
out of the car.

Can I get some knock-off
"Lion King" music in here

that narrowly avoids
a copyright issue?

["knock-off 'Lion King'
music" plays]

Perfect.

[inspirational music continues]

[scared grunt]

[inspirational music continues]

Oh, elephant, elephant.
Oh, look at that.

[trumpets]

Elephants.
Big Five, one down.

That was a buffalo.
Let's be honest, though.

There's really only one
that we're here to see.

[growls]

[cheerful music plays]

I'm just about to feel
the love tonight when I arrive

at the headquarters of
the Big Life Foundation.

Jambo.

Greeting me is the head
coordinator for Big Life's
Predator Protection Program,

Maasai Warrior and Elder,
Daniel Ole Sambu.

-Daniel.
-[Daniel] Hi, Josh.

Nice to meet you.

[Josh] Founded in 2010, Big Life
protects over 1.6 million acres

here in East Africa.

Their programs include
anti-rhino poaching and efforts

to mitigate elephant-human
conflict, but one of

the main focuses is their
Predator Protection Program,

established because Kenya's
growing population

is expanding into
lions' natural territory,

which can have
deadly consequences.

The program protects
human and lion alike,

compensating Maasai farmers
for livestock killed by lions

if they agree to
not retaliate.

[Josh] In fact, this is one of
the few lion populations

in all of Africa
that's actually growing.

-That's incredible.
-Yep.

[Josh] Big Life uses patrol
vehicles, aerial surveillance,

and satellite collars that ping
the location of various lions.

They then track these animals
to determine which could be

problematic before they attack.

So this is Osunash?

And so, why is
Osunash collared?

[Josh] Walking literally
right through a homestead.

They tried to kill him?

Wow.

Thanks to Big Life, Osunash is
still alive and on their radar.

This is a lion
to keep an eye on?

OK, along with these
satellite collars,

how do you know when
there have been attacks?

An animal's
been killed, though?
OK.

I'm very interested, I would
love to see this process.

[Josh] OK, let's do it.

[Josh]
The fact that livestock has
been killed may mean that lions

are edging
close to this settlement.

Quick action is needed to
make sure human and animal

are protected.
So we pile into our 4x4s

and drive 30 miles
to the site of the attack.

[suspenseful music plays]

Got some cattle here.
Be careful.

There's a killer out there.

It's late in the day,
a dangerous time to head

into the bush, as this is when
lions tend to go on the prowl.

OK, this is us.

OK, here we go.

[suspenseful music plays]

[Josh] The livestock owner,
Ntawuasa Meeli, is a member of

the Maasai tribe who have
survived for centuries

tending to grazing animals,
primarily cattle,

but also goats and sheep.

-[speaking foreign language]
-[Josh] Hi, I'm Josh.

And so, where did
the kill take place?

[speaking foreign language]

Please?

We know we're in the problem
lion Osunash's territory,

so every step here
is fraught with danger.

It's so overgrown in here,
you could totally understand

how a predator could be
lurking in here.

[suspenseful music plays]

Oh, my word.

Look at this.

[ominous chord strike]

-[suspenseful music plays]
-Oh my word.

Look at this.

So this is a sheep that has
just been ripped open.

[Josh]
I'm in Kenya, working with
the Big Life Foundation.

A predator is killing livestock
here in the territory of

an aggressive lion
named Osunash.

Their goal is to find whether
he is responsible for this

latest kill and to discover
his current whereabouts.

I'm hoping that by tracking
this sheep's killer,

it will shed light
on the 1898 slaughter...

[roaring]

...of 135 people
by a pair of lions

known as the Ghost
and the Darkness.

[Daniel speaking]

-Oh, these puncture marks.
-[Daniel] Yes.

Oh, my word.
It's like a vampire attack.

[Josh] We have reports from
Patterson with the Tsavo lions

that it would take workers
by the throat.

So no question in your mind,
this is a lion attack?

[Josh] Lions want
a meal, not a fight.

They will often incapacitate
their prey by the throat,

in the case of humans,
killing nearly instantly,

which explains why attacks
on the railway workers at Tsavo

encountered little resistance.

[roaring]

Did you see the attack?

[speaking foreign language]

Two lions?

Do you know if they were
male or female?

[speaking foreign language]

-Two male lions?
-[Daniel] Yes.

Just like Tsavo,
two male lions.

And is this the first time
these lions have

come down here?

Wow.

Wow.
This is, like...

Tsavo part two.

Could these two lions
that he's describing be

around here right now?

Scary.

[Josh]
This community is now at risk,
as are the lions,

since the Maasai will defend
themselves if necessary.

So we need to find
these two killer cats.

As night falls,
we begin the search by turning

to the most likely suspect,
the aggressive lion named

Osunash that Big Life has
already been tracking.

It's possible that he has taken
on a partner and is attacking

the local livestock.

[suspenseful music plays]

To help us locate
Osunash, we pick up
Jeremiah Somita Purka,

assistant biologist
for the Lion Guardians,

a Maasai conservation group
that works with Big Life.

All right, so, Daniel,
walk me through this.

What's he using?

[Josh] OK.

The device is essentially
an antenna, which picks up

electromagnetic radio signals
pinging from

the animal's transmitter.

And how far can you be
from the collared lion?

So you point it
toward the signal?

-Yeah.
-[Josh] Got it.

-We're listening for beeps?
-[Daniel] Yeah.

Jeremiah, let us know
if you get a signal.

Yeah.

[suspenseful music plays]

-[Josh] Super overgrown in here.
-[Daniel] Yeah.

This is barely meeting
the definition of a road.

[laughter]

[two beeps]

-Do you have a signal?
-[Jeremiah] Yeah.

Where?

[Josh] My heart is racing.

Being behind the wheel
of a safari Jeep

on the African veldt is
a dream come true.

But what's out here waiting for
us could also be a nightmare.

-[suspenseful music plays]
-[beeping]

[Josh] We pull over to try
and detect the direction

the signal is coming from.

My cameraman switches over
to low light night vision

to follow the action.

-[beeping]
-[suspenseful music plays]

[Josh] Stronger now?

[Josh]
Our team is outfitted with
state-of-the-art night vision

scopes and thermal cameras.

It's essential tech if we want
to find Osunash

before Osunash finds us...

something Colonel Patterson
could never have dreamed of

when he hunted
the Tsavo man-eaters.

[Josh] Have nothing
on the night vision.

[quiet growl]

What the hell was that?
What was that?

[Josh] Elephant?

Oh, right there.

There is an elephant.

Super close.

[suspenseful music plays]

I got no lion.

[quiet roar]

[distant groan]

[whispers] That's a lion?

[Josh, whispers] No question.

-Yeah.
-Oh, my god.

[Josh] Where are they?

[animals grumbling]

I'm gonna try to
get it on the thermal.

[Daniel] Yeah.

[Josh] In the East African bush,
our team is on the hunt

for a lion that could be
responsible for a series of

recent livestock attacks.

We're hoping that an aggressor
lion can show us how

the infamous Man-eaters of Tsavo
were able to run rampant

for nine agonizing months
in 1898.

[suspenseful music plays]

[groan]

I don't see anything
moving around back there.

No heat signatures.

That lion sounded so close.

I don't see it
on here, though.

[suspenseful music plays]

I see our elephant for sure.
He's moving off.

[trumpet]

Whoa, what's that?

Another elephant.
We got two elephants now.

[Josh] But no lions.

Let's try the tracker
one more time.

You still hear them?

[Josh] Signal's gone?

[Daniel] Yeah.

Signal's coming from
inside the Jeep.

[Daniel laughing]

We should relocate
or stay here?

OK, let's do it.

Let's go, guys.

-[engine purring]
-[ominous music plays]

[beeping]

-[Jeremiah]
-Left somewhere, OK.

[suspenseful music plays]

OK, we're off-roading it now.

[Josh] Straight ahead, OK.

It's pretty disconcerting to be
driving toward a lion

in the dark.

Signal's good?

[Jeremiah] Yeah.

[beeping continues]

We've got an opening here.
Anybody see them?

Anybody see them?

-[Daniel] See the lion?
-Oh, lion!

-[Jeremiah] Yeah, see the lion?
-Oh, there's two.

-[Josh] Two lions right there.
-[Daniel] Two.

-Oh, my word.
-[Daniel] Look at them --
two, two.

Two lions.
Oh, my god.

[suspenseful music plays]

Turn these lights off.
We have two lions right here.

-Yes.
-One of these is Osunash?

[Josh] So that lion's
collared, there.

And this is...another male lion.
We have two males here.

Incredible.

Right there.

And no sign of, like,

a pride anywhere,
just the two of them.

[Josh] So they're rogues
right now.

[Josh]
It appears that we've found
the pair of lions that could be

responsible for
the livestock attacks.

[Josh] And will they
share kills?

Wow, and this is like
our famous Tsavo Lions.

They were, it seems,
working as a pair.

Mm-hmm.

Just because
they're disinterested,

that doesn't mean
they're not aware of us, right?

Wow, and so, if they do
get interested,

how fast could that lion get
from over there to here?

-Sorry, 50 miles an hour?
-Yeah.

And am I safe standing up
in this open-air Jeep?

-They have an 18-foot vertical?
-[Daniel] Yep.

Holy [bleep].

[Josh]
This explains why so many of
the human victims at Tsavo

simply vanished
from their tents.

[roar]

With lions having such keen
senses, lightning speed,

and the ability to target
their prey's throat,

the railway workers
didn't stand a chance.

Oh, he's up.

[Josh] Oh, he's moving.
He's moving.

Osunash is still sleeping,
but the other lion's now up.

[roar]

[roaring continues]

That is terrifying.

Imagine being a worker at this
railway camp in a tent

and hearing this.

Totally.

That noise, it sounds
like it's amplified.

-[Daniel] Yes.
-I mean, it sounds like
it's bigger than that animal.

-[roaring]
-[suspenseful chord strike]

Oh, he's walking this way.
He's walking this way.

I mean, he's really
coming this way.

Oh, they're moving.

[suspenseful music plays]

OK, all right,
they're on the move.

Here we go.

[suspenseful music plays]

The Big Life team wants to
make additional observations,

so it's crucial for us
to keep them in our sights.

-See them?
-[Daniel] Yeah.

[Josh] Only one of them
has a tracking collar...

...and the last thing you want
with these apex predators

is a surprise.

You see them, where?

[Josh] Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,
I see.

-Only one?
-Yeah.

Yeah, I've seen a vision.

So where the hell's
the other one?

I don't see.

Where's the other one?

[suspenseful chords playing]

Where's the other one?

Brian?
Can I see that thermal?

[Brian] Yeah.

[suspenseful music plays]

[Josh]
We're tracking a pair of rogue
lions whose profile closely

matches the infamous Tsavo
man-eaters that ate

up to 135 people at the end
of the 19th century.

The hope is that
this modern pair can show us

how they did it.
The only problem is,

we seem to have
misplaced one of them.

Let's see if we can
get it on the thermal.

OK, I got a heat signature
on one of them

in the grass over there.

And two.
I got both of them.

20 feet apart,
straight ahead.

Wow, the minute they walk away,
it's like they're gone.

[Daniel] Yeah.

So they've moved a little
to kind of obscure themselves

more in the brush,
it looks like.
-[Daniel] Yeah.

[Josh] So, what do you think
they're doing?

To hunt us?

Oh, sorry.

You know, I keep thinking
about, like, using this

technology, a night scope
or thermal images, we can see

these lions at night,
what it must have been like

for Patterson and these guys
trying to hunt lions, you know,

in the dark...

without the benefit of any of
this technology --

must have been
hugely challenging and scary.

They're really good at hiding.

[Josh]
Not to mention that 120 years
ago, Patterson couldn't exactly

take shelter in a safari truck.

At least here we have
this very open landscape.

[Josh] Right.

Ah...so with no elephants to
knock down all of this foliage,

it was even harder
to see these lions.

[Josh] Wow.

[Josh]
This, it turns out,
is one of the keys to why

the Tsavo man-eaters
were able to kill for so long.

The area around the bridge
was overgrown,

a perfect and preferred
camouflage for these

straw-colored killers
who become, well, invisible

inside the tall,
overgrown brush.

The workers saw these lions
as ghosts, as demons,

something that just vanished
into the darkness,

the Ghost and the Darkness.

But when you come out here,
you realize that's just

their natural state.
They are elusive.

They are able to slip off
into the night.

[Josh] Much like
the Velociraptors testing
the fences in "Jurassic Park,"

the Tsavo lions likely
took advantage of

the spread out workers' tents
to strike in different places,

minimizing their chances
of detection.

Clever boys.

[Josh] In time, the lions
move off into brush so deep

our 4x4 can't follow.

But Daniel and Big Life now
know that Osunash is prowling

with a partner.

They will continue to observe
and, if necessary,

even relocate these lions if
they continue to get too close

to local homesteads.

As for me, I now have a sense
of how the Man-eaters of Tsavo

eluded Patterson for so long,
but one final mystery remains.

Why did these lions
become man-eaters?

An ultra-rare occurrence for
predators that prefer buffalo,

zebra, and other
large herbivores.

It's a question that has
baffled scientists

since the killings,
but that may be about to change.

Julian is part of a team that's
examining the lion's remains.

And now, they've found
possible new evidence

in this century-old
investigation.

So, I fly half a world away...

back to the Windy City.

Julian.

-Hey, good to see you, man.
-[Julian] Josh.

Welcome back to
The Field Museum.

-Always happy to be here.
-Great to have you here.

-This is Tom Gnoske.
-Awesome to meet you.

-Welcome to Chicago.
-Hey, thank you very much.

-Pleased to meet you.
-[Josh] Pleasure.

Tom Gnoske, Chief Preparator at
the museum, is a leading expert

on the Tsavo man-eaters and has
been studying the killings

with Julian for years.

So, I understand there's
new discoveries at hand here.

Right, so this isn't just
an exhibit and a display.

These are research specimens.

[Josh] The skulls have been
housed here for decades,

but now modern testing
has yielded

new and sensational discoveries.

First, that this was
a family affair.

That's right.

The Tsavo man-eaters were
brothers who were

eight years old at the time
of the massacre.

That's middle age
for an African lion,

who generally live to be
about 10-to-15 years old.

And in recent days,
even, we've learned some things

that we'd really like to
share with you if you want to

come upstairs with us.
-I'd love to see it.

Yeah, let's go.

As we head upstairs,
museum experts remove

the skulls from the display
and carefully ferry them

to the imaging lab,
where I get an up-close look

at history itself.

So Josh, here are the skulls
of the man-eating lions

of Tsavo.
-Come on.

These are the actual skulls
of the lions?

Yes, in fact, this is the lion
downstairs in the case

that's standing.
-[Josh] Uh-huh.

[Tom] And the other one is
the one that's crouching.

Wow.
May I?

-Yes.
-[Josh] Oh.

Oh, my word.
Look at that.

And this is where he was
shot in the face.

-This is where Patterson
actually shot him?
-[Julian] Right.

There's something about being
up close and personal

with these teeth that really
brings this home, right?

I mean, these are
incredible predators.

But it is these very teeth
that have Tom so excited.

All is not what it seems.

Josh, let's take a look
at this skull,

especially on this side.
Do you see anything unusual?

-I see a broken tooth.
-Yes, a badly broken tooth.

And in fact, both of these
lions have damaged teeth.

OK, so they may have had
some serious toothaches.

So, Josh, if you had a damaged
tooth like this and you were

in pain, what would you
choose to eat?

I would probably be eating
very soft foods, I take it.

I would be on an applesauce,
mashed potatoes diet, probably.

So, in the case of lions, humans
are an easier prey source.

[Josh] Here we have it.

One possible cause
for the lions' behavior.

Bad teeth, perhaps hereditary,
that sent them in search of

soft food that wouldn't
fight back, AKA...us.

Wow.

We are the applesauce
of the animal kingdom.

I think so.
Definitely so.

Incredible.

And it's their poor dental
state that's also responsible

for the team's
latest revelations.

So, one of the really exciting
discoveries that we found is

that we noticed the teeth were
broken, and we looked inside.

Oh, right, because
this is hollowed out.

[Tom] That's right.

And we found kind of a hard
plug of some kind in a debris.

We started rooting around
to remove it.

And this is what we found.

After we were able to pry it
out and get it out of the way,

we found beneath that
was a core

of compacted hairs.
-Hairs of what?

-Well, let me show you.
-OK, sure.

They lead me over to
meet Collection Specialist
Jessica Wadleigh,

who's here to help uncover
additional revelations

about how humans ended up
on the lions' menu.

Well, right in front of you,
you have a bunch of the samples

from the hair collection.

Wait, all of this was found
in this tooth?

Yeah, there were over
a thousand hair samples found

in the tooth.
-[Josh] That's all hair?

[Jessica] That's just
one sample.

-That's one sample
out of a thousand?
-[Jessica] Yep.

[Josh] The samples are made up
of tiny, broken pieces

from individual hairs.

So this was really
compacted material.

It had the consistency
of wood.

So a thousand different
samples must be giving you just

an incredible amount of data
as to what they were eating.

-It definitely is.
-Wow.

To examine the hair samples,
Jessica places them into

a polarized light microscope
that creates a sharp,

high contrast image.

Several register as non-human,

but the species
can't yet be identified.

One sample that can, though,
is a crucial find.

This is one of our samples
that we think could be buffalo.

One of the things that's
surprising is that in all of

these samples, there's only two
suspected buffalo hairs that

we were able to find.

So that seems weird,
because buffalo is one of

the preferred prey animals
for lions.

So why so few buffalo
in their diet?

Well, the reason is that
around 1890, there was

a disease that swept through
East Africa called rinderpest,

or the great cattle plague that
wiped out 80 to 90% of

the buffalo in
the entire region.

[Josh] Wow --
80 to 90%,

so the primary food
source of these lions suddenly

just goes away.

It was wiped out, and they had
to find an alternative.

With the buffalo gone,
we noticed there was a change

in their diet based on
the layers we found

in the teeth, and we see that
there's a transition from

wildlife to domestic animals.

And that probably indicates
the arrival of

the railroad crews.
-That's right.

And based on what we found
in the samples, animals are not

the only thing that they ate.

Let's take a look here.

-Oh, and what is this?
-This is a human hair.

This is human?

♪ I'm a lion ♪

♪ I'm chilling
and I'm proud ♪

♪ I'm winning
and I'm loud ♪

[Josh]
While cruising through Tsavo
National Park, I may have been

looking for the Big Five,
but I found so much more.

[safari music plays]

Zebras.

Zebras, check.

Giraffes, check.

What the hell are those things
called again?

Those things, check.
I don't know.

Hakuna matata.

Little bumpy.
OK, everybody hang on.

It's just me.

[trumpets]

-This is a human hair.
-This is human?

[Jessica] Mm-hmm.

[Josh] In the imaging lab of
Chicago's Field Museum,

scientists have made
a potential breakthrough in

their examination of the lions
of Tsavo, the discovery of

a human hair in one of
the lion's teeth,

which definitively puts
the man in man-eating.

This is just really astonishing
because it's probably all that

remains of an individual,
of a person that was killed

by this lion.
-Yeah, very powerful.

It is very powerful, yeah.
Wow.

I just cannot believe that
this kind of evidence has just

been sitting trapped in this
tooth all this time right here

in the museum.

It was just sitting there,
kind of hidden in plain sight.

[Josh] And just a few days ago,
the team discovered something

remarkable by examining
the plug that held the hairs

in the lion's tooth.

Oh, my god.
Are these hairs?

[Tom] Yeah, they're hairs.

-And are these human hairs?
-Some of them, certainly.

-Really?
-We can tell based on
the structure of them,

and you can see when you
zoom in here, some of these...

are a little bit more flat,
which is indicative of

a human hair.
-This is astounding.

The other thing that really
surprised us about this

structure is all these pores
in which the hairs are

embedded into, and that is
kind of indicative of bone.

-Oh, this might be bone?
-Yeah, it might be.

It's a very strong possibility
that it's bone.

-Wow, so,
could that be human then?
-Absolutely.

We just aren't 100% certain
until we do further analysis.

And, because it's the plug,
it could represent the very

last thing that this lion ate.
-Incredible.

Just astounding.

This is historic.

We have found a piece of a bone
from the Tsavo man-eaters'

last meal.

And there's a distinct
possibility that it came from

a human being.

So putting it all together
as to why these lions became

man-eaters, it does seem like
there's something of

a perfect storm here, right?

We have these two apex predators
that had damaged teeth,

so they may have been looking
for a more vulnerable
food source.

We also have this plague hit,
taking out their primary food

source of the buffalo.

And we have all of these
railway workers arriving at

this moment with their own
domesticated animals to build

a construction project right
in the middle of their habitat.

Putting all that together,
you really get a picture of how

these lions were driven
into this activity.

I think that there was really
no alternative for the lions.

It was either that
or starve to death.

It's so crazy, you know,
126 years later, you're making

new discoveries here.
-This is a big revelation.

More discoveries to be made
with the lions of Tsavo.

Incredible.
Well, thank you so much
for your time.

I appreciate it.
Tom, thank you so much.

-Julian.
-[Julian] Good to see you again.

[Josh] A pleasure.

[Josh] The Man-eaters of Tsavo
spent nine months

on their killing spree.

The consequences, however,
have endured for over 120 years.

They became the physical
embodiment of a nightmare,

the Ghost and the Darkness,
which has made them into

monsters in the eyes
of popular culture.

The truth, as it tends to be,
is much more complicated.

The lion's behavior, it seems,
can be ascribed not to

supernatural malice,
but to a unique mix of primal

desperation and opportunity.

The first draft of
the man-eaters' story

was written by their killer,
Colonel Patterson,

whose account we now know
was largely accurate.

But while the dots he connects
are in the right place,

the picture he paints uses
only one color, that of blood.

Instead, it is the lions'
current custodians,

the scientists in Chicago,
who will fill in the nuance,

one hair and tooth at a time,
helping museum goers appreciate

these powerful and majestic
animals in the context of

their national world.

And the conservationists
in Africa will continue to apply

the lessons from the deadly
history of Tsavo to ensure that

the intersection of man
and lion is one of coexistence

and not of slaughter.

The Ghost and the Darkness
finally brought into the light.