The Ghost and The Darkness - two questions

[cash_tx]

No doubt much has been discussed about the Tsavo lions on this forum, but let's have some fun with these two questions:

1. Who has actually visited the Field Museum in Chicago to view these two mounts on display?

2. What, if anything, would you have done differently than was depicted in the movie or the book in order to deal with these two?

 

[freefall]

I'd have probably poisoned the bassets.
Distinctly non-sporting, but we have a railroad to run here!

 

[nomspc]

I saw them in 1982. Apparently, the skins were in bad shape after Patterson used them as rugs for 25 years. They looked pretty beat up, but it was interesting to see the skulls.

 

[Wheels]

I have seen the lions at the Field. They are less than impressive. Evidently they were originally rugs and when they made full mounts out of them the skins had to be trimmed back making the lions much smaller than real life. It is unfortunate that someone like Carl Akeley didn't do the mounts. His work in NY Museum of Natural History is outstanding for the period.

Michael Douglas and Val Kilmer speak in American English as I recall. Daniel Day Lewis and Gary Oldman or others like them would be preferable in my opinion.

 

[Fixfire]

I literally just purchased the DVD last week for camp entertainment (no WI-FI, cable, or satellite)! Love that movie, has a cool vibe, music, etc.
freefall nailed it - poison.

 

[Doug3006]

I’ve seen them several times. I always visited the Field Museum whenever I went to Chicago. Alas, I‘ll never see it or them again! Nothing is worth being in Chicago.

They're maneless, which I understand is not that unusual. Their depredations were what made them different. The were reportedly in fine health and were not old. How they came to be such prolific man eaters is unknown. The apparently just developed a taste for railway workers.

 

[375er]

Was it the 9.3 x 74r that eventually did them in??

 

[Red Leg]

I have seen the lions at the Field. They are less than impressive. Evidently they were originally rugs and when they made full mounts out of them the skins had to be trimmed back making the lions much smaller than real life. It is unfortunate that someone like Carl Akeley didn't do the mounts. His work in NY Museum of Natural History is outstanding for the period.

Michael Douglas and Val Kilmer speak in American English as I recall. Daniel Day Lewis and Gary Oldman or others like them would be preferable in my opinion.

Kilmer at least does a facsimile of an Irish accent. Remington, of course, is made up from whole cloth as an émigré from the American War Between the States. He doesn't sound very "Suthren," but the character is an American.

 

[JimP]

Without doing any research,are there any pictures of the two loins after they were killed?

I have always wanted to visit the museum for the main purpose to see the pair, but after seeing the photo of them above I don't think that I'll ever go.

I also agree that poison would of been the way to do away with them. They may of tried it without them taking the bait, but who knows?

 

[meigsbucks]

Around 2005, my wife and I took my parents to Chicago. One of the places we went was the Field Museum. After having read several accounts of the lions and seeing the movie, the lions were a must see for me. While viewing the lions, I was telling the story to my wife and parents. A number of people thought I was a docent and began asking me questions.
I agree that poison wold have been a suitable method of sorting them out.

 

[WebleyGreene455]

(This applies purely to the way the movie portrays things.)

Well for one thing, I don't think I would've let King Theoden hand me a gun at the last minute and decide to use it instead of one I was 100% sure would work correctly. Because it didn't work, did it? Nearly got Patterson killed, didn't it?

Should've done a function check and made sure the ammo was good before they went out.

 

[cash_tx]

(This applies purely to the way the movie portrays things.)

Well for one thing, I don't think I would've let King Theoden hand me a gun at the last minute and decide to use it instead of one I was 100% sure would work correctly. Because it didn't work, did it? Nearly got Patterson killed, didn't it?

Should've done a function check and made sure the ammo was good before they went out.

Yeah, I've always laughed at that part where he didn't bother to function check a borrowed rifle. Can you imagine?

 

[Brent in Az]

With man eating Lions prowling the perimeter of the camp, I would be sleeping in the train car at night, and not a canvas tent.

 

[Shako Badhan]

One of my favorite movies growing up. I had the opportunity to run around Tsavo East bush a few years back and saw the bridge, something of the childhood dream come true.

 

[Fixfire]

One of my favorite movies growing up. I had the opportunity to run around Tsavo East bush a few years back and saw the bridge, something of the childhood dream come true.

View attachment 537051

Cool!!

 

[nomspc]

Without doing any research,are there any pictures of the two loins after they were killed?

I have always wanted to visit the museum for the main purpose to see the pair, but after seeing the photo of them above I don't think that I'll ever go.

I also agree that poison would of been the way to do away with them. They may of tried it without them taking the bait, but who knows?

 

[leslie hetrick]

they look well fed.

 

[baxterb]

I saw them in about 1996 or so. I was on my way to Michigan for a wedding and took a detour through Gary Indiana first, where, out of sheer boredom and because he was nosy, I bullshitted a guy for two hours that I was a professional hunter on my way to the Field Museum to give a speech on the current state of elephant in Kenya (why he believed someone like that would end up at an Applebees in Gary, Indiana, I don't know) - in any case, as is said above, they aren't exactly impressive, but then again few things actually live up to hype.

I did enjoy seeing them in person though, to have read the book, seen the movie, and then to be standing 5 feet from them was neat. The way I look at it is: those are the skins and skulls that made the lions that ate the men, that stopped the train, that terrorized a town, that made history in a far off place and time that is awfully interesting. That's good enough for me.

 

[Josh P]

The only thing I'd change about that movie is making is it even truer to reality...and inspiring a reproduction of Lee Speed rifles.

My dad actually suggested I watch the movie, years and years ago, and he was correct about it being to my liking, even before I had developed a taste for the greater genre. While it obviously contains some violence, it sits firmly in my personal category of wholesome entertainment.

 

[steve white]

Alexander Lake belabors the point that Patterson didn't know what he was doing with lions! Mistakes galore in the movie. Scene of Patterson swiveling incessantly atop a too low machan was ridiculous. Throwing a fine double rifle from one tree to another makes me cringe for the firearm. Enjoyed it, though, as a better than usual example of what we get from Hollywood.