Films: The Ghost and the Darkness (1996)

Alias: None

Type: Natural

Location: Forest/Civilized Area

Height/Weight: That of average lions.

Affiliation: Neutral, leaning on Evil

Summary: Out there in the African savannah, the king of beasts awaits. Anyone stupid enough to wander into his territory is bound for either a big scare or a vicious mauling. In this case though, it is a tale of two kings, and the madness they wrought.

History: The year is 1898. A massive railroad is being constructed in Kenya by many of slave. The project is rather behind schedule, and no one can tell why. But the truth is more horrific than anyone could imagine. Two dark-maned lions are attacking the site over and over again, rarely ever stopping to eat their kills. They are labeled the Ghost and the Darkness, respectively, and now only Colonel John Henry Patterson and company are the only ones standing between life and death for the people...who they enslaved. Hrmm...

Notable Kills: Again, they don't eat their kills most of the time. It's all for funsies, apparently.

Final Fate: After countless failed traps and attempts at their lives, the Ghost and the Darkness are brought down in almost rapid sucession, the first through bait and the other through burning most of the tall grass. At least the bridge gets done on time.

Powers/Abilities: None

Weakness: Anything conventional.

Scariness Factor: 4-They are regular lions at heart, so they can be killed. But good luck trying that. These maneaters are almost perfectly in synch with each other, killing swathes of unsuspecting people in the dead of night, or even earlier than that. How many lions do you know that live in caves decorated with the bones of their victims?

Trivia: -The ACTUAL story of what happened at the railroad was a lot wilder than the movie, ironically. For one, the male lions, known as the Tsavo Maneaters, were maneless, and killed three times more people than seen in the film. They also were repeatedly stabbed and shot at, and it still took a while to bring them down. One of them even threw off a net being held down by many people. Their taxidermies can be found at the Chicago Field Museum of Natural History, and their old killing fields are now known as Man-Eater's Camp.

-There is a good explanation for why the movie lions had extremely dark manes. For in nature, the darker the lion's mane, the more likely he is to attract mates and dominate the rest of the pride.