Jim Corbett - Temple Tiger. Jim Corbett - Kumaon cannibals The most famous cannibal hunter in India

Edward James "Jim" Corbett was an English hunter, conservationist, naturalist, and writer.

Known as a hunter of cannibals and the author of a number of stories about the nature of India.

Corbett held the rank of colonel in the British Indian Army and was repeatedly invited by the government of the United Provinces to exterminate man-eating tigers and leopards in the regions of Garhwal and Kumaon. For his success in saving the inhabitants of the region from cannibals, he earned the respect of the inhabitants, many of whom considered him a sadhu - a saint.

Jim Corbett was an avid photographer and film lover. After his retirement, he began to write books about the nature of India, the hunting of cannibals and the life of the common people of British India. Corbett also actively campaigned for the defense wildlife India. A national park was named in his honor in 1957.

Youth

Jim Corbett was born to an Irish family in Nainital, Kumaon, in the foothills of the Himalayas in northern India. He was the eighth of thirteen children in the family of Christopher and Mary Jane Corbett. The family also had a summer home in Kaladhungi, where Jim spent a lot of time.

Jim was fascinated by wildlife since childhood, he learned to distinguish between the voices of birds and animals. Over the years, he became a good hunter and tracker. Corbett attended Oak Openings, later renamed Philander Smith College, and St. Joseph's College with Nainital.

Before the age of 19, he left college and began working for the Bengal and North Western Railway, first as a fuel inspector in Manakpur, Punjab, and then as a reloading contractor at Mokameh Ghat station in Bihar.

Hunting for man-eating animals

Between 1907 and 1938, Corbett is documented to have hunted down and shot 19 tigers and 14 leopards officially documented as cannibals. These animals have been responsible for the deaths of more than 1200 people. The first tiger he killed, the Champawat man-eater, was the cause of the documented death of 436 people.

Corbett also shot a Panar leopard, which, after being wounded by a poacher, could no longer hunt its usual prey and, having become a cannibal, killed about 400 people. Other cannibals killed by Corbett include the Talladesh Ogre, the Mohan Tigress, the Tak Ogre, and the Chowgar Man-Eating Tigress.

The most notorious of the cannibals shot by Corbett was the Rudraprayag leopard, which terrorized the locals and pilgrims on their way to the Hindu shrines at Kedarnath and Badrinath for eight years. An analysis of the skull and teeth of this leopard showed the presence of gum disease and the presence of broken teeth, which did not allow him to hunt for his usual food and was the reason that the beast became a cannibal.

After flaying a man-eating tigress from Tuck, Jim Corbett discovered two old gunshot wounds in her body, one of which (in the shoulder) became septic, and, according to Corbett, was the reason for the transformation of the animal into a cannibal. Analysis of the skulls, bones, and skins of man-eating animals showed that many of them suffered from diseases and wounds, such as deeply pierced and broken porcupine quills or gunshot wounds that did not heal.

In the preface to The Kumaon Cannibals, Corbett wrote:

"The wound that forced the tiger to become a cannibal may be the result of an unsuccessful shot by a hunter who then did not pursue the wounded animal, or the result of a collision with a porcupine."

Since sport hunting of predatory animals was widespread among the upper classes of British India in the 1900s, this led to the regular appearance of man-eating animals.

In his own words, Corbett only once shot an innocent animal in the deaths of people, and he was very sorry about it. Corbett noted that man-eating animals themselves are capable of chasing the hunter. Therefore, he preferred to hunt alone and pursue the beast on foot. He often hunted with his dog, a spaniel named Robin, about which he wrote in detail in his first book, Kumaon Cannibals.

Corbett risked his life to save the lives of others, thus earning the respect of the population of the areas in which he hunted.

Participation in the First and Second World War

During World War I, Jim Corbett went to France at the head of a 500-man detachment he had formed and led the 70th Kumaon Labor Corps. His leadership was very successful, and of the people who arrived with him from India, only one person died during the whole time, and even then because of seasickness. In 1918, Corbett was promoted to the rank of major.

When did the second World War, Jim Corbett was already about 65 years old and was not subject to the draft. But he still offered his services to the government and was elected vice president of the district military assistance fund.

In February 1944, Corbett was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel and assigned as chief jungle warfare instructor. In March 1944, he was sent to Burma to study a potential theater of operations. Later, he was engaged in the training of fighters in the Chhindwara region of the Central Provinces and at various military bases. About a year later, due to an aggravation of malaria, Corbett was forced to leave the army and return home.

Retired in Kenya

In 1947, Jim Corbett and his sister Maggie moved to Nyeri, Kenya. Corbett continued to write books and work as a conservationist, speaking out against the deforestation of the jungle.

Jim Corbett was at the Tree Tops Hotel, built on the branches of a giant ficus, when Princess Elizabeth stayed there on February 5-6, 1952, on the day of the death of her father, King George VI. Corbett left an entry in the hotel register:

“For the first time in world history, a young girl, once climbing a tree as a princess, descended from it the next day as a queen - God bless her!”

Jim Corbett died of a heart attack on April 19, 1955 at the age of 79, days after completing his sixth book, Tree Tops. He is buried in the cemetery of St. Peter's Anglican Church in Nyeri, Kenya.

Heritage

Corbett's home in the Indian village of Kaladhungi, Nainital, has been turned into his museum. The 221-acre piece of land that Corbett bought in 1915 is still in its original state. Also preserved in the village are the house that Corbett built for his friend Moti Singh, and the Corbett Wall, a 7.2 km long stone wall that protects the village fields from wild animals.

In 1957, Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand, India, was renamed in honor of Jim Corbett. In the 1930s, Corbett played a key role in establishing this protected area.

In 1968, one of the surviving subspecies of the tiger, the lat, was named after Corbett. Panthera tigris corbetti, Indochinese tiger, also known as Corbett's tiger.

In 1994 and 2002, the long neglected graves of Jim Corbett and his sister were renovated by Jerry A. Jalil, founder and director of the Jim Corbett Foundation.

The most bloodthirsty of all man-eating tigers, which instilled fear in the environs of Nepal and India, the female Bengal tiger did not get her nickname for nothing. The Champawat tigress was included in the Guinness Book of Records due to the fact that over a certain period of time she killed more than 436 people.

background

It is not known for certain why the animal began to hunt people. The bloody feast began suddenly. Residents of the surrounding area adjacent to the wild jungle began to disappear en masse.

To neutralize the man-eating tigress, the government sent the most famous hunters and military personnel of the Nepalese army. However, they failed to destroy or catch the animal, the trappers could only change the habitat of the predator. The Champawat tigress, fleeing her pursuers, crossed the state border and hid in the jungle in India. There the animal continued its bloody feast.

The tigress became bolder and more aggressive, making forays even during the day. In the end, she simply wandered around the outskirts of the villages until she found another victim. As a result, people stopped leaving their homes, refused to go to work - the life of the region was paralyzed. The inhabitants fell into a stupor when they heard the growl of a tiger in the forest.

Let the savior come...

Finally, in 1907, the Champawat tigress was shot dead by the prominent British hunter of the time, Jim Corbett. He tracked down a predator in the vicinity of the Indian town of Champawat. The last victim of the man-eating animal was an unfortunate young girl who was collecting brushwood.

When Corbett examined his trophy, he discovered that something was wrong with the beast's mouth. The tigress had deformed right fangs on the lower and upper jaws. Moreover, on the upper jaw - half broken, and on the lower - completely, to the bone. According to the hunter, the cause of damage to the animal's jaw was a gunshot wound. Therefore, the predator was not able to kill its natural prey and turned into a cannibal.

In the town of Champawat, a "cement slab" was erected to mark the spot where the Champawat tigress was killed. Details about the beast and the peculiarities of hunting for it can be found in the autobiographical novel of the hunter Jim Corbett "Kumaon Cannibals".

The most famous cannibal hunter in India

By the way, the film about the Champawat tigress does not mention the personality of the legendary hunter and is a pure artistic interpretation of the events of the past, although the British Army Colonel Jim Corbett was repeatedly invited by the government of the United Provinces to eliminate cannibalistic predators in the Kumaon and Garhwal regions. For his outstanding courage and success in saving human lives, many locals not only respected him, but also considered him a saint (sadhu).

There is documentary evidence that between 1907 and 1938, Jim tracked down and destroyed 14 leopards and 19 tigers, which for one reason or another became cannibals. And the first animal on this list is the Champawat tigress. The hunter, in addition to damage to the jaws, noted a wound in the shoulder of the beast, which became septic, which, according to the professional, aggravated the reason for the transformation of the predator into a cannibal. Since sport hunting of predatory animals was the most popular pastime among the elite of British India at the beginning of the 20th century, the regular appearance of killer animals was inevitable.

"Legend of the Tigress"

In 2002, an adventure film produced in Thailand was released. The Champawat tigress became the prototype of the beast appearing in the television story.

The film was created by Bhandit Rittakol, who acted as a screenwriter and director at the same time. In the script real story was completely distorted, the action was transferred to 1786 and built on ancient legend, which says that once in a decisive battle in the wild jungle, the armies of two powerful Asian kingdoms met. When the battle ended and the screams of the dying fighters ceased, one young beauty went to the battlefield to find her lover. The guy was dead by that time, and the unfortunate bride fell victim to ruthless and vile marauders. Then a legend was born, according to which the soul of the girl moved into a ferocious tigress, killing everyone who meets her on the way.

100 years have passed. Ruthless hunters come to the wild jungle, driven by the greedy thirst for enrichment. They need the skins of rare animals and ivory. They intend to kill the tigress. Frightened local peasants are locked in their houses. The hunt begins, but it is not clear who is the prey and who is the deadly killer.

Jim Corbett

CUMAON MAN-EATERS

INSTEAD OF AN EPICGRAPH

“…shortly after moonrise, the tigress began to roar near Chuk and, having roared there for two hours, went in the direction of the workers’ camps near Kumaya-Chak. The workers, hearing the approach of the tigress, began to shout to scare her away. But the expected result did not follow: the tigress only became furious and did not leave until the people were silent.”

J. Corbett. "Kumaon Cannibals"

A man-eating tiger is a tiger that is forced, under the pressure of circumstances beyond its control, to switch to unusual food. The reason for this transition in nine cases out of ten is wounds, and in one case - old age. The wound that forced the tiger to become a cannibal may be the result of an unsuccessful shot by a hunter who then did not pursue the wounded animal, or the result of a collision with a porcupine. Humans do not represent natural prey for the tiger, and only when, due to injuries or old age, the animals become unable to continue their usual way of life, do they begin to eat human meat.

When a tiger kills its prey by sneaking up on it or from ambush, the success of the attack depends primarily on speed, as well as on the condition of its teeth and claws. If a tiger suffers from one or more painful wounds, if its teeth are damaged or its claws are worn out, as a result of which it can no longer hunt the animals that it has always eaten, it has to kill people. I think that the transformation of a tiger into a cannibal usually happens by accident.

To clarify what I mean by "accident", I will give an example. A relatively young Muktesar cannibal tigress lost an eye when she met a porcupine, about 50 needles from one to nine inches long stuck into her forearm and armpit of her right front paw.

Some of these needles, when they hit the bone, bent back in a U-shape, with the tip of the needle and its broken end coming together quite close. Festering wounds formed where the tigress tried to remove the needles with her teeth. While she was lying in the thick grass, licking her wounds and suffering from hunger, a woman decided to mow just this grass to feed her cow. At first, the tigress did not pay attention to her, but when the woman was very close to her, the beast jumped and struck - the blow fell on the woman's skull. Death came instantly; when the woman's corpse was found the next day, the dead woman held a sickle in one hand, and a bunch of grass in the other, which she cut at the time of the tigress's attack. Without touching the corpse, the tigress hobbled over a mile and hid in a small hole under a fallen tree. Two days later, a man came there to chop wood, and the tigress killed him too. He fell across the trunk, and as the tigress tore his back with her claws, the smell of blood, apparently for the first time, inspired her with the idea that she could satisfy her hunger with human meat. Whatever it was, but before leaving, she ate a small piece of meat from the back of the murdered. A day later, she "deliberately" and without any reason killed her third victim. Since that time, she has become a real cannibal and, before she was destroyed, she managed to kill 24 people.

A tiger with prey, a wounded tiger, or a tigress with small cubs can accidentally kill a person who disturbs them. But with all the desire, these tigers cannot be considered cannibals, although they are often called that. As for me personally, I consider it necessary to always carefully check all the circumstances before declaring this or that tiger (leopard) a cannibal. Examining the corpses of people who are believed to have been killed by tigers or leopards, or - on our plains - by wolves and hyenas, is very important.

I will not give examples, but I know of cases where the murder was quite erroneously attributed to predatory animals.

It is a common misconception that all man-eating tigers are old and itchy, as excess salt in human flesh supposedly causes itching. I am incompetent on the issue of the amount of salt in human and animal meat, but I argue that eating human meat not only does not spoil the hair of cannibals, but, on the contrary, gives the opposite result. All the cannibals I saw had excellent fur.

Many also believe that the cubs of man-eating animals themselves automatically become cannibals. This assumption at first glance sounds quite reasonable, but it is not supported by the facts. At the same time, the fact that humans are not natural prey for tigers or leopards suggests otherwise.

The cub eats what his mother brings him, and I even know cases when tiger cubs helped their mother in her attack on people. However, I do not know of a single case where a tiger, after its cannibal parents were killed or it became an adult and left their care, became a cannibal itself.

The question often arises, whose victim was the killed person: a tiger or a leopard. The general rule, to which I know of no exceptions, is that all daytime killings are done by the tiger, and all nighttime killings by the leopard. Both these inhabitants of the forests have many of the same habits, kill their victims in a similar way and are able to drag the people they kill over long distances. Therefore, it would be natural to assume that they hunt during the same hours. In fact, this is not so, because the tiger is bolder than the leopard. Having become a cannibal, the tiger loses all fear of man, and since people move much more during the day than at night, the man-eating tiger kills its prey in daylight, without resorting to attacking a person at night in his dwelling.

A leopard, even after killing dozens of people, never ceases to be afraid of a person. Avoiding meeting people during the day, he kills them at night, catching them on the way or even entering houses. Thanks to these features, the man-eating tiger is easier to shoot than the man-eating leopard. The number of kills committed by a man-eating tiger depends, firstly, on the presence of natural prey for him in the area where he lives, secondly, on the nature of the mutilations that turned the tiger into a man-eater, and, thirdly, on whether we are dealing with a male or a female with cubs.

When it is not possible to make our own judgment on any issue, we tend to rely on someone else's opinion. This is especially striking when it comes to tigers, and not only about man-eating tigers, but about tigers in general. The writer, who first used the expressions "cruel as a tiger" or "bloodthirsty as a tiger" to emphasize the disgusting properties of the villain he described in the play, not only showed regrettable ignorance about the beast he so stigmatized, but also created an incorrect image , which is the most widely used. It is these expressions that have contributed to the creation of the wrong opinion about tigers in most people, with the exception of a few who managed to form their own, independent judgment based on real facts.

, United Provinces, British India - April 19, Nyeri, Kenya) - English hunter, conservationist, naturalist, writer.

Known as a hunter of cannibals and the author of a number of stories about the nature of India.

Life and activities

Youth

Jim Corbett was born to an Irish family in Nainital, in Kumaon, in the foothills of the Himalayas in northern India. He was the eighth of thirteen children in the family of Christopher and Mary Jane Corbett. The family also had a summer home in Kaladhungi, where Jim spent a lot of time.

Jim was fascinated by wildlife since childhood, he learned to distinguish between the voices of birds and animals. Over the years, he became a good hunter and tracker. Corbett attended Oak Openings, later renamed Philander Smith College, and St. Joseph's College with Nainital.

Before the age of 19, he left college and began working for the Bengal and North Western Railway, first as a fuel inspector in Manakpur (Punjab) and then as a reloading contractor at Mokameh Ghat station in Bihar.

Hunting for man-eating animals

Between 1907 and 1938, Corbett is documented to have tracked down and shot 19 tigers and 14 leopards, officially documented as man-eaters. These animals have been responsible for the deaths of more than 1200 people. The first tiger he killed, the Champawat man-eater, was the cause of the documented death of 436 people.

Corbett also shot a Panar leopard, which, after being wounded by a poacher, could no longer hunt its usual prey and, having become a cannibal, killed about 400 people. Other cannibals killed by Corbett include the Talladesh Ogre, the Mohan Tigress, the Tak Ogre, and the Chowgar Man-Eating Tigress.

The most notorious of the cannibals shot by Corbett was the Rudraprayag leopard, which terrorized locals and pilgrims on their way to the Hindu shrines at Kedarnath and Badrinath for eight years. An analysis of the skull and teeth of this leopard showed the presence of gum disease and the presence of broken teeth, which did not allow him to hunt for his usual food and was the reason that the beast became a cannibal.

After flaying a man-eating tigress from Tuck, Jim Corbett discovered two old gunshot wounds in her body, one of which (in the shoulder) became septic, and, according to Corbett, was the reason for the transformation of the animal into a cannibal. Analysis of the skulls, bones, and skins of man-eating animals showed that many of them suffered from diseases and wounds, such as deeply pierced and broken porcupine quills or gunshot wounds that did not heal.

In the preface to The Kumaon Cannibals, Corbett wrote:

Corbett risked his life to save the lives of others, thus earning the respect of the population of the areas in which he hunted.

Participation in World War I

The hunter becomes a conservationist

In the late 1920s, Corbett bought his first movie camera and began making films about the life of tigers. Although he had excellent knowledge of the jungle, but to get good shots It was very difficult because of the secrecy of the animals.

Corbett was concerned about the fate of tigers and their habitat. He lectured to students about natural heritage and the need to conserve forests and their fauna, contributed to the creation of the Association for the Conservation of Wild Animals in the United Provinces, and the All India Conference for the Preservation of Wildlife (Eng. All-India Conference for the Preservation of Wildlife ). Together with F. W. Champion, he played a key role in the creation of the first national park in Kumaon, hailey national park, originally named for Lord Malcolm Hayley.

Involvement in World War II

Retired in Kenya

Jim Corbett died of a heart attack on April 19, 1955 at the age of 79, days after completing his sixth book. tree tops. He is buried in the graveyard of St. Peter's Anglican Church in Nyeri, Kenya.

Heritage

Corbett's home in the Indian village of Kaladhungi, Nainital, has been turned into his museum. The 221-acre piece of land that Corbett bought in 1915 is still in its original state. Also preserved in the village are the house that Corbett built for his friend Moti Singh, and the Corbett Wall, a 7.2 km long stone wall that protects the village fields from wild animals.

Literary activity

Jim Corbett's first book ("The Kumaon Cannibals") was a great success in India, the UK and the US. The first American edition was limited to 250,000 copies. Subsequently, the book "Kumaon Cannibals" was translated into 27 languages.

Corbett's fourth book (Jungle Science) is actually his autobiography.

Bibliography

Year	Name	Name variant	English Name	Synopsis
	"Kumaon Cannibals"		Man-eaters of Kumaon	Autobiographical notes on the hunting of cannibals in Kumaon, India.
	"Leopard of Rudraprayag"		The Man-eating Leopard of Rudraprayag	The story of the hunt for the man-eating leopard from Rudraprayag.
	"My India"		My India	Autobiographical Notes on Life in India in late XIX the first half of the XX century.
	"Jungle Science"		Jungle lore	Autobiographical notes on Corbett's youth.
	"Temple Tiger"		The Temple Tiger and more man-eaters of Kumaon	Autobiographical notes on the hunting of man-eating animals in Kumaon and on the nature of India.
	"Tris Tops"		tree tops	Notes on a visit by British Princess Elizabeth to a hunting lodge in Kenya.

Documentaries and feature films

• In 1986, the BBC released the docudrama Cannibals of India. Man-Eaters of India) with Fred Trevize as Corbett.
• In 2002, Corbett's books were based on the IMAX film India: Tiger Kingdom. India: Kingdom of the Tiger) with Christopher Heyerdahl as Corbett.
• In 2005, a television film based on the book The Leopard of Rudraprayag was released. The Man-Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag ) starring Jason Flemyng.

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Literature

• Martin Booth. Carpet Sahib: A Life of Jim Corbett. - Oxford University Press, USA, 1991. - 288 p. - ISBN 0192828592.

Links

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Notes

1. Dr. Shreenivaas Barge.(English) (unavailable link - story) . - short biography Jim Corbett - third edition. Retrieved July 21, 2010. .
2. Stephen Mills. tiger. - Firefly Books, 2004. - S. 99. - 168 p. - ISBN 978-1552979495.
3. Jim Corbett. Kumaon cannibals. - ARMADA-PRESS, 1999. - 396 p. - ISBN 5-7632-0825-0.
4. M. Rangarajan. India's Wildlife History: an Introduction. - Delhi: Permanent Black and Ranthambore Foundation, 2006. - S. 70. - ISBN 8178241404.
5. V. Tapar.. - Delhi: Permanent Black, 2001.
6. R.J. Prickett. Treetops: Story of a World Famous Hotel. - Nairn Scotland: David & Charles, 1998. - 200 p. - ISBN 0715390201.
7. G.K. Sharma.(English) . The Sunday Tribune (May 26, 2002). Retrieved July 20, 2010. .
8. Visitors" log book of 1954, Treetops hotel, Kenya
9. Jaleel, J.A.(English) (unavailable link - story) (2009). Retrieved 20 July 2010.

Excerpt characterizing Corbett, Jim

A French hussar non-commissioned officer, in a crimson uniform and a shaggy hat, shouted at Balashev, who was approaching, ordering him to stop. Balashev did not immediately stop, but continued to move along the road at a pace.
The non-commissioned officer, frowning and muttering some kind of curse, advanced with his horse's chest on Balashev, took up his saber and rudely shouted at the Russian general, asking him: is he deaf that he does not hear what they say to him. Balashev named himself. The non-commissioned officer sent a soldier to the officer.
Paying no attention to Balashev, the non-commissioned officer began to talk with his comrades about his regimental affairs and did not look at the Russian general.
It was extraordinarily strange for Balashev, after being close to the highest power and might, after a conversation three hours ago with the sovereign and generally accustomed to honors in his service, to see here, on Russian soil, this hostile and, most importantly, disrespectful attitude of brute force towards himself.
The sun was just beginning to rise from behind the clouds; the air was fresh and dewy. On the way, the herd was driven out of the village. In the fields, one by one, like bubbles in water, the larks burst up with a chuckle.
Balashev looked around him, waiting for the arrival of an officer from the village. The Russian Cossacks, and the trumpeter, and the French hussars silently looked at each other from time to time.
A French hussar colonel, apparently just out of bed, rode out of the village on a handsome, well-fed gray horse, accompanied by two hussars. On the officer, on the soldiers and on their horses there was a look of contentment and panache.
This was the first time of the campaign, when the troops were still in good order, almost equal to a lookout, peaceful activity, only with a touch of elegant militancy in clothes and with a moral touch of that fun and enterprise that always accompany the beginning of campaigns.
The French colonel could hardly hold back a yawn, but he was courteous and, apparently, understood the full significance of Balashev. He led him past his soldiers by the chain and informed him that his desire to be presented to the emperor would probably be immediately fulfilled, since the imperial apartment, as far as he knew, was not far away.
They passed the village of Rykonty, past the French hussar hitching posts, sentries and soldiers saluting their colonel and examining the Russian uniform with curiosity, and drove to the other side of the village. According to the colonel, the head of the division was two kilometers away, who would receive Balashev and escort him to his destination.
The sun had already risen and shone cheerfully on the bright greenery.
They had just left behind the tavern on the mountain, when a group of horsemen appeared to meet them from under the mountain, in front of which, on a black horse with a harness shining in the sun, rode a tall man in a hat with feathers and black hair curled to the shoulders, in a red mantle and with long legs sticking out forward, as the French ride. This man galloped towards Balashev, shining and fluttering in the bright June sun with his feathers, stones and gold galloons.
Balashev was already at a distance of two horses from the rider galloping towards him with a solemnly theatrical face in bracelets, feathers, necklaces and gold, when Yulner, a French colonel, respectfully whispered: "Le roi de Naples." [King of Naples.] Indeed, it was Murat, now called the Neapolitan king. Although it was completely incomprehensible why he was the Neapolitan king, he was called that, and he himself was convinced of this and therefore had a more solemn and important view than before. He was so sure that he was really the Neapolitan king that, on the eve of his departure from Naples, during his walk with his wife through the streets of Naples, several Italians shouted to him: “Viva il re!”, [Long live the king! (Italian)] he turned to his wife with a sad smile and said: “Les malheureux, ils ne savent pas que je les quitte demain! [Unfortunate, they don't know that I'm leaving them tomorrow!]
But despite the fact that he firmly believed that he was a Neapolitan king, and that he regretted the sorrow of his subjects who were leaving him, in recent times, after he was ordered to enter the service again, and especially after a meeting with Napoleon in Danzig, when the august brother-in-law said to him: “Je vous ai fait Roi pour regner a maniere, mais pas a la votre”, [I made you king in order to reign not according to my own, but according to mine.] - he cheerfully began for a business familiar to him and, like a horse that was fried, but not fat, fit for service, sensing himself in a harness, played in the shafts and, discharged as colorfully and expensively as possible, cheerful and contented, galloped, not knowing where and why, along the roads Poland.
Seeing the Russian general, he royally, solemnly, threw back his head with his hair curled to his shoulders and looked inquiringly at the French colonel. The colonel respectfully conveyed to His Majesty the meaning of Balashev, whose name he could not pronounce.
– De Bal macheve! - said the king (with his determination overcoming the difficulty presented to the colonel), - charme de faire votre connaissance, general, [it is very nice to meet you, general] - he added with a royally gracious gesture. As soon as the king began to speak loudly and quickly, all royal dignity instantly left him, and he, without noticing it himself, switched to his usual tone of good-natured familiarity. He put his hand on the withers of Balashev's horse.
- Eh, bien, general, tout est a la guerre, a ce qu "il parait, [Well, general, things seem to be going to war,] - he said, as if regretting a circumstance that he did not could judge.
- Sire, - answered Balashev. - l "Empereur mon maitre ne desire point la guerre, et comme Votre Majeste le voit," Balashev said, using Votre Majeste in all cases, [The Emperor of Russia does not want her, as your majesty please see ... your majesty.] with the inevitable an affectation of the increasing frequency of the title, referring to a person for whom this title is still news.
Murat's face shone with stupid contentment while he listened to monsieur de Balachoff. But royaute oblige: [royalty has its duties:] he felt the need to speak with Alexander's envoy about state affairs, as king and ally. He dismounted from his horse and, taking Balashev by the arm and moving a few steps away from the reverently waiting retinue, began to walk back and forth with him, trying to speak significantly. He mentioned that Emperor Napoleon was offended by the demands for the withdrawal of troops from Prussia, especially now that this demand had become known to everyone and that the dignity of France was offended by this. Balashev said that there was nothing offensive in this demand, because ... Murat interrupted him:
“So you don’t think Emperor Alexander was the instigator?” he said unexpectedly with a good-natured stupid smile.
Balashev said why he really believed that Napoleon was the instigator of the war.
- Eh, mon cher general, - Murat interrupted him again, - je desire de tout mon c?ur que les Empereurs s "arrangent entre eux, et que la guerre commencee malgre moi se termine le plutot possible, [Ah, my dear general, I wish with all my heart that the emperors end the matter between themselves and that the war started against my will end as soon as possible.] - he said in the tone of conversation of the servants who wish to remain good friends, despite the quarrel between the masters. And he went on to questions about the Grand Duke, about his health and about the memories of the fun and amusing time spent with him in Naples.Then, as if suddenly remembering his royal dignity, Murat solemnly straightened up, took the same position in which he had stood at the coronation, and waving right hand, said: - Je ne vous retiens plus, general; je souhaite le succes de vorte mission, [I will not detain you any longer, general; I wish success to your embassy,] - and, fluttering with a red embroidered robe and feathers and shining with jewels, he went to the retinue, respectfully waiting for him.
Balashev rode on, according to Murat, expecting to be presented to Napoleon himself very soon. But instead of an early meeting with Napoleon, sentries of the Davout infantry corps again detained him at the next village, as well as in the forward chain, and the adjutant of the corps commander called him to the village to Marshal Davout.

Davout was Arakcheev of Emperor Napoleon - Arakcheev is not a coward, but just as serviceable, cruel and incapable of expressing his devotion except by cruelty.
The mechanism of the state organism needs these people, just as wolves are needed in the organism of nature, and they always exist, always appear and hold on, no matter how incongruous their presence and proximity to the head of government may seem. Only this necessity can explain how the cruel, who personally tore out the mustaches of the grenadiers and who could not endure the danger due to weakness of the nerve, the uneducated, uncourt Arakcheev, could hold on to such strength with the knightly noble and gentle character of Alexander.
Balashev found Marshal Davout in the barn of a peasant's hut, sitting on a barrel and busy with written work (he checked the scores). The adjutant stood beside him. It was possible to find a better place, but Marshal Davout was one of those people who purposely put themselves in the most gloomy conditions of life in order to have the right to be gloomy. For the same reason they are always hastily and stubbornly busy. “Where is there to think about the happy side of human life when, you see, I’m sitting on a barrel in a dirty shed and working,” his expression said. The main pleasure and need of these people is that, having met the revival of life, to throw this revival into the eyes of my gloomy, stubborn activity. Davout gave himself this pleasure when Balashev was brought in. He went even deeper into his work when the Russian general entered, and, looking through his glasses at the lively face of Balashev, impressed by the beautiful morning and the conversation with Murat, did not get up, did not even move, but frowned even more and grinned maliciously.
Noticing the unpleasant impression made by this technique on Balashev's face, Davout raised his head and coldly asked what he needed.
Assuming that such a reception could be made to him only because Davout did not know that he was the adjutant general of Emperor Alexander and even his representative before Napoleon, Balashev hastened to announce his rank and appointment. Contrary to his expectations, Davout, after listening to Balashev, became even more severe and rude.
- Where is your package? - he said. - Donnez le moi, ije l "enverrai a l" Empereur. [Give it to me, I will send it to the emperor.]
Balashev said that he had an order to personally deliver the package to the emperor himself.
“The orders of your emperor are carried out in your army, but here,” Davout said, “you must do what you are told.
And as if to make the Russian general even more aware of his dependence on brute force, Davout sent an adjutant for the duty officer.
Balashev took out a package that concluded the letter of the sovereign, and put it on the table (a table consisting of a door on which torn-off hinges stuck out, laid on two barrels). Davout took the envelope and read the inscription.
“You have every right to respect me or not,” said Balashev. “But let me tell you that I have the honor of holding the rank of Adjutant General of His Majesty…”
Davout looked at him in silence, and some excitement and embarrassment, expressed on Balashev's face, apparently gave him pleasure.
“You will be given your due,” he said, and putting the envelope in his pocket, he left the shed.
A minute later, the adjutant of the marshal, Mr. de Castres, entered and led Balashev into the room prepared for him.
Balashev dined that day with the marshal in the same shed, on the same board on barrels.
The next day, Davout left early in the morning and, having invited Balashev to his place, told him impressively that he asked him to stay here, to move along with the luggage, if they had orders to do so, and not to talk to anyone except Monsieur de Castro.
After four days of solitude, boredom, a consciousness of subservience and insignificance, especially palpable after the environment of power in which he had so recently found himself, after several crossings together with the marshal's luggage, with French troops occupying the entire area, Balashev was brought to Vilna, now occupied by the French , to the same outpost on which he left four days ago.
The next day, the imperial chamberlain, monsieur de Turenne, came to Balashev and conveyed to him the desire of Emperor Napoleon to honor him with an audience.
Four days ago, guards from the Preobrazhensky Regiment stood at the house to which Balashev was brought, but now there were two French grenadiers in blue uniforms open on their chests and in shaggy hats, a convoy of hussars and lancers and a brilliant retinue of adjutants, pages and generals, waiting for the exit Napoleon around the riding horse standing at the porch and his mameluke Rustav. Napoleon received Balashev in the same house in Vilva from which Alexander sent him.

Despite Balashev's habit of court solemnity, the luxury and splendor of the court of Emperor Napoleon struck him.
Count Turen led him into a large waiting room, where many generals, chamberlains and Polish magnates were waiting, many of whom Balashev had seen at the court of the Russian emperor. Duroc said that Emperor Napoleon would receive the Russian general before his walk.
After several minutes of waiting, the chamberlain on duty went out into the large reception room and, bowing politely to Balashev, invited him to follow him.

Among other important nutrients, human flesh contains iron, vitamin B12, phosphorus, and zinc. In addition, our body is an interesting source of protein. If some predators could talk, they would say that these succulent and clumsy bipeds are surprisingly easy prey when hunting.

It was in the order of things millions of years ago, according to archaeologist Julia Lee-Thorpe and Nicholas Van der Merwe from the University of Cape Town and paleontologist Francis Thackeray Transvaal from the Museum in Pretoria (South Africa). According to experts in the journal "Journal of Human Evolution", when studying the carbon isotopic concentration of the tooth enamel of some prehistoric predators of the savannah, it was found that during two and a half million years ago leopards were at least ancient diverse hunters like hyena and, quite possibly, became extinct saber-toothed tigers, already sneaked up and devoured the primitive great apes.

Video. Notable man-eating animals

Paleontologist Charles Kimberlin Bryan, whose research disproved early suggestions that these primates were at the top the food chain, he writes about this in his book "Hunters or Pursued?" The predator Dinofelis was the unsurpassed killer of hominids (great apes). Brian says that this predator, whose appearance may remind us of a modern jaguar with large forelimbs, attacked hominids one by one, which he also practiced with baboons, and then dragged their bodies to his lair. Over time, people not only learned to deftly avoid ambushes, but also to kill the offender. However, this does not mean at all that we have ceased to be part of the predator's informal menu.

Lions have killed 563 people in Tanzania

Lion pride in Tanzania

In 1932, a town called Njombe became famous throughout the world. According to a legend retold from mouth to mouth, the lions then arranged a bloody feast, they were allegedly led by the local healer Matamula Mangera. Because his people rejected him, he decided to punish them by sending lions on them. Frightened by this news, people were afraid to even mention lions, so that fears would not be translated into reality. People turned to their leader to reinstate the medicine man in his position, but he refused. The lions again and again continued to attack the tribe, multiplying human casualties, according to estimates, a total of 1500 people died from the claws of lions (according to other sources - 2000 people). At the request of the leader of the tribe, the then-famous hunter George Rushby agreed to help the people. In total, he killed about 15 lions, the rest fled and left the land. However, local residents believed that the lions left them only because the leader nevertheless agreed to restore the healer to his previous position.

A study conducted by specialists from the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior at the University of Minnesota (USA) showed that in Tanzania alone, lions have killed 563 people and injured 308 over the past 15 years. The researchers point out that the most likely cause of the attacks was an increase in the number of people. Indeed, these attacks took place mainly in agricultural areas from March to May, when crops rise and ripen in these agricultural areas. According to biologist Craig Packer, who has studied animal attacks on humans, they typically occurred where the number of animals that feed on felines like zebras or impalas, as well as wild boars, has declined. These artiodactyls are also part of the lion's diet when other prey is scarce, and they are considered a general scourge among the local population, who often camp out to protect their crops from the voracious feral pig. This, of course, forces farmers to hunt lions. In addition, they plan to reduce the population of feral pigs, researchers warn that if this is not corrected, it could undermine all efforts to save and protect tigers.

Video. Investigation film about lion attacks in Tanzania

A tiger with a reputation as a cannibal: the Champawat tigress

Champawat tigress and the hunter who killed her

Very distant Indian national park The Sundarbans became one of the last strongholds of another mammal that has earned a reputation as a cannibal - the Bengal tiger. It is estimated that out of about 400 people who lived in the reserve and in the surrounding areas fell victim to it.

Of all the subspecies of tigers, the Bengal tiger has acquired the most worst reputation, the reputation of a cannibal. It was reported that "at the same time, in some parts of India, at the beginning of the 19th century, cannibals were so common that it seemed that the main question was whether a man or a tiger would survive." Every night, bonfires were lit, which surrounded the villages and the indigenous people. When traveled large groups, they were fully armed and they beat drums to scare away cats.

In the 1930s, tigers killed between 1,000 and 1,600 people every year, causing panic among the population. One famous tigress, known as the Champawat tigress, killed about 200 men and women, after which she was expelled from Nepal. She moved to another location, this time in India, and continued to kill, after she was tracked down and killed in 1937, the total number of victims rose to 436.

Jim Corbett, a famous hunter but also a passionate conservationist, is responsible for killing the Champawat man-eater and many other man-eating tigers and leopards, he hunted for thirty-five years.

Upon his arrival at the village where the tigress killed her last victim, he found a virtual ghost town with residents who locked their huts and no one dared to leave them for a week. The tigress wandered along the roads near the village, growling and terrifying the inhabitants.

Her last victim was a 16-year-old girl gathering wood. After searching for the tigress in the thorn bushes, Corbett came across the remains of a human leg. “In all the following years I hunted cannibals,” Corbett wrote, “I have never seen anything sadder than a young beautiful leg bitten off just below the knee, it was done so cleanly, as if it had been cut off with an axe.”

A later examination of the tigress showed that the upper and lower fangs on the right side of her jaw were broken: one upper half, one lower right down to the bone. Corbett claimed that these injuries "prevented her from killing her prey, which was the cause of cannibalism." Eventually, Corbett tracked down and killed the tigress.

As for the current situation, about 50 people become prey for tigers every year. According to some estimates, this number at the beginning of the last century was 16 times higher if these magnificent cats, 3 meters long and 300 kilograms in weight, were not so poor in food. However, everything indicates that tigers prey more on buffalo and deer, but not on people. Only 3% of people killed by tigers were eventually eaten. In any case, you should not joke with life in the Sundarbans. Among the non-lethal means used to prevent attacks from aggressive tigers is the use of bright masks with huge eyes that are placed on the back of the head. The idea is that tigers in this area tend to pounce on unsuspecting humans and plunge their claws into their backs unless they are wearing a similar mask. Tigers begin to fear that they will be noticed and will continue to watch the person.

But why do animals attack people? When it comes to big cats, sick, injured, or old cats are more likely to attack humans to eat them, according to experts. This is especially true among various species of tigers, which, unlike lions, are solitary predators. Loss of teeth is another reason that can lead to hunting easier prey than usual. However, a large number of attacks occur when the predator is defending its lair, when it is frightened, or while trying to hunt livestock (its owner is trying to stop it). However, there are cases when you can "praise" a predator for its amazing cunning and cruelty.

panar leopard

Panarian cannibal

This man-eating leopard was a male and is said to have killed and ate over 400 people in the Kumaon region of northern India for several years. In fact, in the 20th century, after being wounded by a poacher, he was in a state where he could no longer hunt normally. The Panar leopard was tracked down and killed in 1910 by big cat hunter and writer Jim Corbett.

He became the most famous of all man-eating leopards, followed by the Kahani man-eating leopard, which killed 200 people, the Rudraprayag man-eater, 125 people (also killed by Jim Corbett in 1925). According to Jim Corbett in his famous book The Temple Tiger, the Panar leopard operated in very remote areas, where most often the local police did not report the killings, and therefore some information about the victims was published by the government very late.

Jim Corbett managed to track down the leopard on his first attempt, but he returned a few months later and succeeded on his second attempt under very unfavorable and appalling circumstances. The leopard had to be shot in complete darkness, after the shot he was wounded. Corbett tracked him down at night under very unfortunate circumstances and he finally managed to kill this devil.

The murder of workers, which found its reflection in the cinema

Patterson next to one of the lions

In March 1898, in East Africa, a company commissioned by Chief Engineer Lieutenant Colonel John Henry Patterson began building a railway bridge over the Tsavo River in Uganda. The colonialists hoped that the railroad would encourage people to move deep into Africa and that it would be an excellent option for transporting trade products between Africa and Europe. Thousands of workers (called "coolies") were brought in from India to build the railway, which was planned to be stretched 580 miles, crossing several rivers and valleys.

For nine months, the attacks of two brave and bloodthirsty lions continued, which even at night penetrated the workers' tents, thereby threatening the progress of work. Indian workers erected protective fences around their camps, known as Boma, made from thorny acacia branches and fires burned all night, but the lions still found loopholes and made their way into the workers' camps. In one incident, one of the lions made his way into the tent and attacked a sleeping worker, but in the confusion, instead of the worker, dragged away his mattress, but when he realized his mistake, the lion threw the mattress and ran away.

Despite the efforts of workers who built lion protection around the camp, the lions found a way around them. The traps designed by Patterson proved useless. In the end, he was able to kill the first lion on December 9, and the second 3 weeks later. For all the time, 140 workers were killed and eaten by these lions. Patterson kept the skulls of both lions and used their skins as carpets. In 1924, the skins of lions were sold to the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago for $5,000, where they were stuffed, in 1928 they were put on public display and they are now reminiscent of those bloody times. Patterson himself in his book "Cannibals from Tsavo" described this case, and then a film was made. Bwana Devil(1952) and The Ghost and the Dark (1992), starring Michael Douglas and Val Kilmer.

In 2009, a team of biologists was able to chemically analyze hair and skin samples from samples taken from the museum, and they used isotope ratios to determine chemical composition proteins in the diet of lions recent months their lives. They came to the conclusion that one of the lions ate about 11 people, and the other about 24. This means that one of the lions mainly ate herbivores and only one third of his diet came from people, while the other, on the contrary, almost two thirds of his diet were people.

Although the reasons that made these animals cannibals are unknown, experts at the Field Museum of Natural History believe that two factors are the reason. On the one hand, an outbreak of rinderpest, which killed millions of zebras and gazelles shortly before. In addition, workers who died during construction were often poorly buried, which may have provided an accessible source of food for the lions.

However, the latest study of the remains of these lions reports that the lions preyed on humans because of dental problems and not because of hunger or other problems.

Meat grinder in the swamps of Ramri Island (Burma)

Massacre on Ramri Island

The felines have earned a sinister reputation for killing more people than any other predator, but this is not the case. It is estimated that for every person who dies due to a tiger attack, there are 100 deaths from snake bites. In fact, the most famous wild animal attack on humans isn't even related to mammals. It happened in February 1945 on a swampy island in Southeast Asia, in the habitat of the saltwater crocodile.

The Japanese troops that were at that time on Ramri Island were surrounded by British troops and it is not possible to imagine that the onslaught of the enemy was the least of the problems that existed on the island at that time. Naturalist Bruce Wright, who was in the area on board a motorboat, recalls with incredible horror the time after 19.20: large reptiles and a blurry terrible noise of their movements was heard. At dawn, we were able to watch the scavengers clean up the human remains left behind by the crocodiles." Of the approximately 1,000 Japanese soldiers who went into the swamps to try to escape the siege, only 20 survived. Today, combed crocodiles or saltwater crocodiles (Latin Crocodylus porosus) continue to be the most dangerous animals to humans. The fact is that adult males, which can exceed 5 meters in length, are able to catch with their huge jaws, armed with 66 teeth, even a buffalo weighing almost a ton.

Video. Crocodile Slaughter: Crocodile Attacks on Ramri Island

Shark feast in the Pacific

Shark attack in the Pacific

Five months after the massacre on the Ramri Islands, the sailors of the American ship "Indianapolis" faced a similar fate. On July 16, 1945, the US cruiser left San Francisco with several containers carrying some parts of the "Kid" bomb that would be dropped on Hiroshima on August 6. Leaving her cargo on Tinian (Northern Mariana Islands), the Indianapolis set sail, performing maneuvers. However, shortly after midnight on 30 July, she was hit by two torpedoes fired from a Japanese submarine. It sank in just 15 minutes.

Of the 1199 people on board, about 900 escaped, they were injured, severely burned. The shipwrecked began to group together to survive in the water. At dawn, the first tiger sharks appeared, some of the super predators of which can reach 5 meters in length. Although some witnesses claim that when there were at least two hundred sharks in the waters, dehydration was not as dangerous as sharks.

Captain Lewis Haynes, the ship's doctor, reported that "night things were shocking in the dark. In the report, I read that some destroyers sent 56 mutilated bodies." Further it was even worse, on August 2, the plane spotted the survivors. The seaplane crew, after splashing down, lifted the people who hung from the wings of the aircraft on parachute lines, they took as much as they could. After five days of constant attacks, rescuers found that only 317 men had survived.

This case with the crew "Indianapolis" found its reflection in the 2016 film The Cruiser.

Today means mass media shark attacks on people near beaches are periodically reported. And, although the threats of hunting hyenas and saber-toothed tigers are a distant past, there are still large predators that can awaken in us a primitive atavistic fear of being eaten.

Gustav - the largest crocodile in Africa

The only photo of Gustav

Gustav is the name of the Nile crocodile, a giant that lives in Burundi. For the past 20 years, Gustav has been terrorizing the people of Burundi, dodging hunters and escaping death in Lake Tanganyika. The crocodile was named Gustave by the Frenchman Patrice Faye, who lived in Burundi for about 20 years.

Presumably Gustav is 7 meters long and weighs about 1000 kg. It is believed that he is the largest crocodile in Africa and even in the world. His age is also difficult to establish, it is generally accepted that he is 70-100 years old. Gustav was hunted many times and tried to kill him, he is easily recognizable by the characteristic scars from bullets: one on his head and three on his right side.

Gustav is a wonderful cannibal and has more than 300 human victims on his account. Although this number is most likely an exaggeration, Gustav has acquired an almost mythical status and is greatly feared by many locals. Legend has it that he developed a taste for human flesh by feeding on corpses in the water killed during the civil war.

Faye has been trying to catch a crocodile for 11 years and has already become a local hero. He has now changed his strategy and no longer wants to kill Gustav, but he intends to attach a sensor to the animal in order to follow his tracks. At one point, Faye tried to trap Gustav with a trap used in Zimbabwe to hunt giant crocodiles. But he did not manage to deceive the animal. Despite the fact that Gustav approached the trap, he never fell into it, in the end, it became so heavy that it sank to the bottom of the river.

In the words of a Frenchman "we live in an era in which creatures like him are becoming increasingly rare". Faye says that when he followed the crocodile for three months, Gustav ate 17 people. Faye believes that if he has been killing people at the same rate for 20 years, he has already eaten more than 300 people. But the Frenchman says that Gustav has already spent longer periods without eating a single person.

According to Patrice Fayet, the huge size of the animal means that there is not enough food in the form of fish in the lake to satisfy its hunger. In addition, being so huge, he has become slow and therefore has no other choice but to hunt down easier prey. There is no easier prey in the water than humans. So perhaps it's not a matter of taste, but rather a question of what he can hunt down and kill.

Gustav is portrayed in the crocodile film Primal Evil (2007), where the giant crocodile is presented as an exaggerated version of Gustav the crocodile, as a predator that preys on humans even on land, among other things, which are pure fiction and exaggeration of the film.

First shark attack on humans, New Jersey

Photo. Captured 10 foot shark

This is considered one of the first and more famous stories of shark attacks on people, it happened in 1916. At that time, little was known about the nature of sharks and, in principle, they were considered safe for humans. During this incident, several sharks attacked people, usually their attacks were not coordinated in any way. It all started on the American coast in New Jersey, when the first attack took place in shallow water where 25-year-old Charles Vincent was swimming with his dog. Several people witnessed this attack, members of his family, as well as a lifeguard who rushed to help the man. The shark persisted and only swam away from its prey when rescuers arrived. The shark had severed the femoral artery with its sharp teeth, and there was literally no flesh left on the other leg. The guy died of blood loss before he was taken to the nearest hospital. It was an unheard of occurrence at the time.

Five days later, the same shark makes its second attack 45 miles north of the first site, with Charles Bruder as its victim. Witnesses of the tragedy at first thought that the red canoe capsized, but as it turned out, it was bloody water around the man. The shark completely bit off both legs, the man died before he was pulled out of the water to the shore. From what he saw, one woman fainted. Scientists at the time thought killer whales did it, but not sharks.

The next attack took place not at sea, but in a local stream that flows into the ocean, which is not far from the city of Matawan. Some people reported seeing a shark in the stream, but no one believed them. On July 12, an 11-year-old boy was dragged underwater by a shark. Local residents gathered near the stream, but no one dared to get the child, Stanley Fisher decided on this noble cause. He jumped into the water and was immediately attacked by a shark, he died from his injuries.

The latest victim was a teenager, it happened just 30 minutes after the attack on Fischer. And despite the serious injuries he received, the boy managed to survive, he was the only person who survived this series of murders. A female white shark was caught in Matavan Creek on July 14th with human remains (15 kilograms) still in her belly. Not everyone believed that it was the same shark. To date, scientists believe that White shark could only be responsible for the first two incidents, the last one in freshwater was most likely a bull shark, as it is adapted to survive in freshwater and is more aggressive than the white shark.

It was from this time that the reputation of the white shark turned into a number of "cannibals" and the so-called shark panic began. This incident was the catalyst for Peter Benchley's writing of the novel "Jaws", later Spielberg made the film "Jaws", based on the novel of the same name. Since then, people who have seen this film have been cautiously swimming in the open ocean, and this continues to this day.

Revenge of the Brown Bear Kesagake

Killer bear at one of the houses

It is generally accepted that in Japan the giant wasp is the most dangerous wild animal, even more than the brown bear, an average of 40 people die from a giant wasp per year. The year 1915 in Japan became really bloody, especially for the local population of the village of Sankebetsu, which is located on the island of Hokkaido. At that time, this settlement was small, brown bears lived nearby, and one of them was the largest male, like Kesagake.

This bear periodically came to the corn crops and ate it, which caused discontent among the Japanese. One day, two daredevils decided to kill him, but all they managed to do was to injure a wild animal that had hidden in the mountains. The residents decided that such actions would force the bear to stop and it would no longer disturb their crops, but they were wrong.

On December 9, 1915, the Kesagake bear returned to the village. He went into Farmer Ota's house and attacked the child first, and then chased the farmer's wife, who frantically fought him off with sticks. He took her to the forest anyway. When people entered the house, they saw nothing but blood there. 30 people went to the forest to find the bear and kill him, they tracked him down and wounded him again, they also managed to find the hidden body of a woman, which was found under the snow, apparently he hid the body to eat after.

The next time the bear had already gone to another house, where it was less expected to meet him, it was the house of the Miyuoke family. Not all people died, some managed to escape after all. As a result, two children were killed in this house, but also a pregnant woman who carried another child under her heart. At this time, the hunters were at the house of the farmer Ota and thought that the bear would return there, but even then they were mistaken. As a result, six people were killed in two days. The villagers were wildly horrified, many people lined up around the perimeter locality, did not want to remain at their posts and simply fled from them.

The famous hunter at that time was informed about the incident and at first he refused to help the residents of the village of Sankebetsu, but soon agreed and on December 14 he managed to track down the bear and kill it. The bear turned out to be very large, it reached a height of 3 meters and weighed 380 kg, and there were still human remains in the stomach. The deaths stopped, but some died from their wounds. The village never entered the modern region and became a ghost village. Even today, this incident is considered the most horrific of all wild animal attacks on humans in human history.

To date, history brown bear Kesagake is reflected in local folklore, his name can also be heard in numerous plays and novels, comics. In addition, everything in this village has remained since the attack of the bear, the situation in the affected houses has been preserved, even the wooden sculpture of the bear (pictured) can still be seen near one of the houses.

Mysore sloth

Mysore cannibal

Sloth bears (often called sloth bears because of their appearance) are quite outwardly charming. No one would have thought that these bears are capable of not only killing a person, but also eating him, albeit partially. They like to eat fruit more than meat. It's a pity that they see a predator in a man. This is possible because of the many generations when our ancestors hunted them. The sloth bear reacts to people in the same way that it reacts to tigers and leopards. It will growl loudly and then either retreat or become angry, and when a sloth bear attacks, it will use its large claws and the head and face of a person will be the first to suffer.

The Mysore sloth began attacking people in the Nagwara mountains, east of Arsikere, in the Indian state of Mysore. He settled in an area that was inhabited by people, and he lived there for a short time before he started attacking people. Those who survived the attack usually lost their eyes and parts of their nose, and those who were killed often had no face, it was torn off and partially eaten.

The bear became so bloodthirsty that it eventually caught the attention of renowned hunter Kenneth Anderson, who made it his personal mission to track down and kill the bear. Anderson had to organize a hunt for him three times in order to track down and successfully kill the cannibal. The beast has killed at least 12 people and another twenty have suffered from its claws.

Alligator-eater two-toed Tom

Alligator that killed a lot of people

It's hard to find real glimpses of the existence of this American alligator, nicknamed Two-Toed Tom. Many believe that this story is more fiction than truth. In the twenties, centuries passed in the swamps between Alabama and Florida, this alligator reigned. He received his nickname from the local population, after he once fell into a trap and lost all his fingers, only two fingers remained on his left paw, which is why he always left a characteristic mark on the ground. In length, it reached 4 meters, and in width - half a meter. The locals were afraid of him and compared him to the demon that came after them.

He earned his bloody fame by eating livestock like cows and mules, and of course people. Women suffered the most from him, because he liked to hunt them when they rinsed clothes in a pond. Of course, people tried to kill him, but even the bullets did not take him, as if they ricocheted from the skin of the beast. One day, a farmer who had been tracking him for 20 years tried to kill him with dynamite. He dropped as many as 15 buckets of dynamite into the pond and blew them up, everything in the pond died, but not Tom. It was only a few minutes when that farmer heard cliques nearby, he immediately rushed to the voice, but all he saw was Tom's sinister eyes plunging under the water. After some time, a half-eaten body was found there, it was the daughter of a farmer, apparently she was standing on the shore.

Rumors of Tom's bloody tricks haunted the immediate neighborhood for several more years. Even years later, in the eighties, they reported that they allegedly saw an alligator with two fingers. Many hunters have tried to kill that crocodile to decorate their trophies with Tom's two-toed paw. But Tom was never caught.

Photo. Gevaudan beast in art

From 1764 to June 1767, a huge wolf killed 80 people and injured 113 people (different sources give different numbers). The Beast of Gévaudan (French: La Bête du Gevaudan) is known to have attacked exclusively women and children living in isolated cottages and hamlets while tending animals and harvesting crops in the open fields. men and cattle were not to his liking. Although no, there were sheep and goats.

Witnesses told how the beast attacked unexpectedly, sometimes from above, usually in broad daylight. After he killed, he disappeared into dense patches of forest and hills covered with grass.

Just like the fictional dog of Conan Doyle, this creature was somewhat similar to ordinary dogs and wolves, but different from them and looked scarier. Eyewitnesses reported an animal with a smooth dark body, strong athletic legs, a long thin tail and a huge head studded with powerful teeth. Others recalled it as an animal with reddish-brown fur and stripes running down the back. Some said that the Zhevodan beast attacked quietly, while others spoke of a terrible high-pitched bark, like a horse neighing. His exploits quickly spread throughout the country, reaching even Ludwig XVI at Versailles, who instructed the hunters to kill the beast.

The Zhevodan beast remains a mystery to this day. Maybe it was a hyena that escaped from a menagerie? Or maybe it was a wild hybrid with the predatory instinct of a wolf, but which, like a dog, was not afraid of people? Or maybe it was just a big wolf? After all, the records mention a 79-kilogram monster, almost twice the average size of a dog. Some witnesses reported that the beast could "brush" bullets away - proof of the locals' superstition that it was a werewolf or an evil spirit sent by God to punish them for their sins. Such stories were more likely to be heard from incompetent hunters justifying their inability to stop the beast.

Sometimes the Zhevodan beast attacked several times during the day and in the following days often left its victim uneaten, which indicated that it did not starve. Some witnesses stated that he wore armored fur like a wild boar, which explained the bulletproof ability of this demon. One of the surviving victims even claimed that the beast walked on two legs. Or maybe it was a man who wore the skin of a wolf? Several witnesses said they saw a man with this beast.

On September 21, 1765, François-Antoine de Boternes, a professional wolf hunter, to the delight of the locals, shot and killed a large creature near Chaze Abbey. Then in December, another beast attacked and injured two children near Besser-Sainte-Marie. Was it a coincidence that the second beast appeared so soon in such a remote corner of France? Either way, several deaths followed.

A 2009 investigation uncovered the potential criminality of Jean Chastel, who killed a second beast in June of 1,767 people. Investigators wondered how Farmer Chastel shot the beast when the best wolf hunters couldn't. They concluded that the beast was somewhat familiar with Chastel before he was shot. Or maybe this person protected him?

Video. Beast of Gevaudan

As for motives, some believe that Chastel or one of his sons was serial killer, and the Zhevodan beast was the perfect way to cover up crimes. Others claim that Chastel's son had a hyena and a huge red mastiff in his menagerie, which gave rise to the desired monstrous offspring in the form of a female wolf. Chastel was a farmer, convincing people that a predatory beast was attacking their women and children, he easily tracked down real wolves that dragged sheep and goats from the farmer.

The body of the animal, shot by Chastel, was taken to Versailles. By the time the carcass reached the king, it was rotten and ordered to be destroyed.

Years later, the terror caused by the beast of Gevaudan was reflected in old stories about a predatory wolf that hunted girls near the forest. The story has also found its niche in local folklore. Jean Chastel is said to have killed the Gévaudan beast with a silver bullet made from a coin bearing the image of the Virgin Mary.