The Deadliest Man Eaters to Ever Exist

[0:00]Let's start with the most horrifying man-eaters on the list and slowly work our way towards the stuff of nightmares. Number 8, the Spotted Devil of Guma Lapour. The Spotted Devil was the nickname given to one of the most feared leopards to have ever lived. In the 1940s, in the state of Tamil Nadu, India, the leopard would claim 250 miles of jungle as its personal hunting grounds. But the reason this leopard was so feared was for its proficiency in hunting humans. Now, if this isn't terrifying enough, leopards are nocturnal hunters, so any attack that would be carried out would be in the darkness of night, where you would never see it coming. And 42 people across multiple villages would meet this horrifying fate. The Spotted Devil became so feared that after a while, people in the villages began to barricade their doors after sunset and refused to step foot outside, including to use the restroom, causing a health crisis in many villages. And in its frustration, then the leopard would begin to enter homes through windows, roofs, or by any means necessary. Snatching people in the dead of night and dragging them into the forest to be devoured. It wouldn't be until the famous hunter Kenneth Anderson was called for help that the leopard would finally be challenged. Anderson was a notorious hunter that specialized in hunting big game animals, especially those that hunted humans. It would take him three nights to finally come face-to-face with the cat, where he would be woken up in the middle of the night by a stray dog that he'd befriended that night, when it began to violently shake with uncontrollable fear. And when Anderson looked up at the roof, he would catch a glimpse of the devil before losing it in the darkness. He then began to actively search for the cat, and after a few minutes had gone by, he would be alerted by a bark from the stray dog, causing Anderson to quickly turn around and seeing the leopard charging straight at him. And in that instant, he managed to let off three shots from his 405 caliber Winchester, killing the cat in its tracks. After examining the body, Anderson would discover porcupine quills lodged between the toes of the leopard's foot, an injury that prevented it from hunting its natural prey, resulting the animal to turn to human flesh. As for the stray dog that Anderson befriended during that hunt, he would actually go on to adopt him. Number 7, the Tigers of Chaowgud. This was a pair of Bengal tigers, consistent of an old tigress and her young adult cub, which over the course of 5 years, managed to accumulate 64 confirmed kills. This all took place in the Kumau division in India from 1925 through 1930. The pair of tigers would turn a 1,500 square mile mountain region into their own personal hunting grounds. This terrain would include multiple villages, which they actively hunted. They would alternate attacks from village to village, as this tactic allowed them to catch the villagers off guard. And after three years of pure hell, the locals began to reach out and seek the help of Jim Corbett. Jim Corbett was an Indian-born British hunter who specialized in hunting man-eating tigers and leopards. But to catch this pair of tigers, it would take Corbett three separate hunting trips that spanned over a period of two years. Eventually, on his third trip, on the 19th day, he would finally come face-to-face with the pair of tigers. He headed to the small village of Kala Agar, which was the last place the tigers were known to be. There, he began to hang buffalo meat as bait, in the hopes that it would lure out the cats. While on post, Corbett would be alerted by a companion that they had heard the lions nearby. And before he knew it, he would turn a corner and catch himself standing right in front of the tigress, at a distance of eight feet. She was sitting next to a large boulder, when Corbett would take the shot, killing her and putting an end to the attack. He would then kill the young adult cub shortly after. Upon further investigation, he would discover that the tigress claws and canine teeth were broken and her front teeth completely worn down, causing her to turn to humans as her primary source of food. Number 6, Osama the crocodile. This was the terrifying crocodile that lived on Lake Victoria in Africa from the years 1991 through 2005. It is believed that this one crocodile has eaten over 83 people. It's very difficult to confirm these numbers, since the crocodile would oftentimes attack people that were fishing alone and, of course, would consume them whole. There have been multiple instances where pieces of clothing would wash ashore from someone who had recently went missing. But sadly, ripped pieces of clothing were not the only thing to wash ashore, sometimes an arm or a leg would, too. The locals have even reported seeing children dragged from shore after attempting to fill their buckets. But the horrifying nightmare doesn't stop there. The crocodile would even develop the skill of capsizing boats by slamming the boat from underneath, sending the fishermen flying into the water, becoming easy lunch. This crocodile was such a menace that he would oftentimes just launch himself vertically out of the water and belly-flopping directly onto people's boats. Clamping onto fishermen's legs and dragging them into the water. And out of all the people this crocodile attacked, only 15 of them would survive to tell the tale. But thankfully, in 2005, the crocodile would finally be caught. Where he was then killed and made into luxury handbags. Number 5, the man-eating leopard of Rudrapryag. The first attack came in 1918 in Benji Village, in the Rudraprayag district of India. This would mark the start of a bloody and gruesome killing spree that would last eight long years, leaving 125 people dead. During this time period, very few people would even dare to step outside of their homes after sunset, fearing that the leopard would be waiting for them outside, as he often would. Since he preferred the taste of human flesh over anything else. And when people stopped going outside, the leopard began to adapt. He would begin to break down doors, leap through windows, and even come in from the roof, which were made from plants. And once inside, he would grab the person and drag them out to the dark forest where he would devour them. After hundreds of people met this fate, units of Gurka and British soldiers were sent in to track the animal down, but failed miserably. The British government even offered a handsome reward to anyone who could manage to kill the cat. And many well-known and famous hunters stepped up for the task, and failed as well. But on the 2nd of May, 1926, the legendary hunter Jim Corbett would personally take this task on for himself. This would lead him on a 10-week hunt through the jungle, where he would track the cat down and shooting it dead, completing a task that many thought was impossible. And after examining the body, Corbett would discover that there was nothing inherently wrong with the cat. Well, nothing that would prevent it from hunting its regular prey. Since it did have some bullet wounds from hunters who had recently missed its vital organs, but other than that, it was fine. Corbett came to the conclusion that the cat had developed a taste for human flesh when it was still very young. You see, a cholera outbreak occurred years prior, and many people who died from the disease would be taken to grave sites where they were left unburied. And to a young cat, this would have been easy food. But when the disease inevitably slowed down, the bodies did, too, causing the cat's food supply to dwindle down. So naturally, the cat began to hunt and consume the food that it had always eaten. Number 4, the man-eating lions of Sabo. If there was any man-eating animal on the list that you might have heard of, this would probably be the one. The Savo man-eaters were a pair of male lions in the Savo region of Kenya. These lions would target construction workers who were working on the Uganda and Kenya railway, between March and December of 1898. The pair of lions would stock the campsites and strike in the dead of night by grabbing workers from their tents and dragging them out to devour them. It's said that anywhere from 28 to 138 people met this fate. Around 30 Indian workers and an unknown amount of native African workers. For some reason, no one kept records of the African workers that went missing. That's why there's such an enormous disparity in the fatality count. And when the attacks first began, only one of the lions would enter the camp at night, taking one victim to be split among the pair. But as time went on, the pair of lions would become a lot more bold. With both of them going into camps and each of them claiming a victim for themselves. These attacks would be carried out on an almost daily basis. With all the workers personally knowing someone who had went missing, it wouldn't be until hundreds of workers abandoned the job site, which caused the entire project to come to a complete stop, that the officials were finally forced to find a solution. Sending in around 20 Indian soldiers to hunt the pair of lions down, where they would go on to completely fail. But on December 9th, 1898, Colonel John Henry Patterson would catch one of these lions approaching camp. He would go on to tag it with a high caliber rifle on the back leg and scaring it off, just for it to return back the same night, where Patterson would tag it once more, piercing its heart. The second lion, on the other hand, was an absolute tank. He managed to survive getting shot nine times with three different guns across an 11-day period. And it wouldn't be until Colonel Patterson yet again placed the final shot on its head that the lion would finally be stopped. Today, these lions are proudly displayed at the Field Museum in Chicago. Number 3, Gustav. Gustav is a large Nile crocodile from Burundi, Africa. He is rumored to have killed anywhere from 200 to 300 people on the banks of the Ruzizi River and in the connecting lake of Tanganyika. All the locals in Burundi claim to know someone that has been taken by Gustav, or someone who has simply vanished without a trace. A few locals have even been attacked by him and were lucky enough to live to tell the tale, their bodies left covered in scars from the encounter. But here's the terrifying part. Not only is Gustav a man-eater who takes every opportunity he can to devour humans, he is also not a typical size for a Nile crocodile. In fact, he is much, much bigger, being the largest Nile crocodile to have ever been recorded. Here's an image of your average size Nile crocodiles, and here is Gustav. Scientists have speculated that his unusually large size prevents him from hunting his regular prey, so he had to resort to other means. Gustav is easily identified by the scars across his body, the scars that were left after being shot multiple times with an AK-47. After multiple attempts on his life, the locals are now convinced that his height is so thick that it actually makes him bulletproof. To this day, there have been multiple attempts to capture him, but have all ended in failure. And as far as we know, he still roams the river to this day. Number 2, the Panar man-eater. The Panar man-eater was a male leopard who was responsible for over 400 fatal attacks, which were all carried out in the darkness of night. This leopard single-handedly terrorized the villagers in the Panar region in Almora district of India during the early 20th century. Years would go by with the leopard having his way and picking villagers off with ease. The locals, gripped with fear, refused to even step outside of their homes after sunset. The leopard would eventually adapt to this and began to snatch the villagers from inside of their homes, dragging them into the jungle to devour them. The leopard was so efficient in hunting humans that the government eventually had to step in and offer some assistance, the best way that they knew how. They called upon Jim Corbett, the legendary hunter who had a reputation for killing man-eaters, as we already covered some of his stories on this list. But to kill this elusive animal, it would take Corbett multiple hunting trips before he would ever even get a glimpse of the cat. Corbett would travel for days on foot through the dense Indian forest to reach an area where the leopard was known to hunt. And on his journey, he would even contract malaria, and that was still not enough to stop him. Once he finally reached the village where the leopard was last seen, he would set up a base on top of a tree, but not before tying up a small goat 30 yards away, to hopefully lure out the cat. Hours would go by while he waited at his post, and as it began to get dark, the birds would be the first to give him a sign, as they would begin to act out in complete fear. And soon after, he began to hear something brushing against the bushes right next to him, and all he could do was sit and wait. And this would go on for a few minutes. But eventually, whatever was in the bushes slowly worked its way towards the small goat and killing it. And in the complete darkness, Corbett was forced to guess where the monster could be, taking a shot towards the direction of the goat, followed by an angry grunt. And for a second, the scenery lit up from the shot, seeing the cat falling backwards and hearing it run back into the forest. The villagers were persistent and convinced Corbett to track the animal down that night instead of waiting for the morning like he wanted. He told them that the only way he would do it is if they promised to hold their ground if they came across the beast, as they would be the only source of light that he would have. They agreed and promised. They would then begin to track the blood trail left from the cat, following the trail through the jungle. When out of the darkness, the cat would emerge, charging straight at them. With the local villagers running for their lives, and in their panic, they began to trip over one another, dropping the torches to the jungle floor. And in the chaos, Corbett would take multiple shots at the leopard and killing it. He would go on to write in his book that if the locals had not fallen down and tripped over each other, he would have been left standing there in the complete darkness, and the cat might have been the one walking away instead of him. Number 1, the Devil of India. This is the single deadliest animal to have ever lived and would make one hunter an absolute legend. The Devil of India was a Bengal tigress responsible for an estimated 436 deaths, which she acquired in Nepal and the Kumal division in India from the late 19th and early 20th century. The tigress was even entered into the Guinness Book of World Records for holding the largest number of fatalities by a single animal. The killings first began in Western Nepal, where the villagers were tormented and eaten for three long years. Hunters would eventually be sent in to track the animal down, but she would prove to be too elusive. Eventually, the Nepali army was called in, and they would succeed in scaring her away, forcing her across the border and into India, where she would continue to hunt for humans in the Kumau District, rotating her kills between multiple villages, picking anyone off who would venture into the woods. And since all the kills were done in broad daylight, this would leave the villagers completely paralyzed with fear, preventing them from working and leaving their homes. This nightmare would last for a dreadfully long four years. But eventually, a handsome reward would be offered to any man who can manage to kill the beast. Many well-known and famous hunters would attempt this task, but would all return home with a taste of defeat. But in 1907, a young and unknown 31-year-old hunter would take this challenge on for himself. And surprisingly, he would refuse the money, as he accepted the task simply to help. He would begin this hunt with a four-day trip on foot through the dense jungle before reaching the town where the animal was last seen. On arrival, he would be shocked to discover a ghost town, since everyone was locked inside of their homes, with the locals claiming that the animal had been roaring in the nearby jungle for the last few days. The young hunter would then proceed to the site where the last victim was taken, discovering nothing but a few of the victim's bones. While investigating, word of a new attack reached the village, it was from the neighboring town. The hunter quickly set out on foot once again, but by the time he reached the town, he would discover that a newer attack had just taken place. He would reach the new attack site and began to follow the trail of blood, seeing nothing but a small glimpse of the tigress on the horizon. But he was forced to abandon the pursuit, since nightfall was but moments away. The following morning, the hunter came up with a plan. He instructed the villagers to make loud noises by screaming and banging pots. As he began to walk through the dense jungle and working his way to the grasslands at the edge of the forest, the villagers would begin to make noise too soon. The hunter was left with no choice but to run as fast as he could through the dense jungle, slipping and falling on rocks and roots, trying his best to get to the edge of the forest before the beast. Once he finally arrived, and out of breath, he feared that he might have missed her. He waited for a moment, catching his breath, and she appeared, walking out of the forest like he predicted. He would ready his rifle and take the shot, wounding the animal on the back leg. As the giant cat began to climb over a rock, the hunter took his second shot and missed. With the cat over the rock and out of sight, the only option left was to track her down. Once he climbed over the rock to see where the animal had gone, she would instantly appear standing on top of another rock, where she would begin to charge him head-on. And in that instant, the hunter would let off his third shot, sending the animal from a complete charge to collapsing onto the floor. Laying on the grass, she would take her last and final breath. Upon inspecting the body, the hunter found that the tigress' top and bottom jaw were completely broken. A hunter long ago, before she was ever a man-eater, attempted to kill her for sport, permanently injuring her, preventing the animal from hunting and eating her natural prey, resulting in her having to resort to eating humans as a means of survival. But after seven long years and devouring over 430 people, the nightmare would now come to an end. The people from countless villages would finally have true peace, and their normal lives returned to them. And for the young hunter who killed the beast, he would go down in history as one of the most prolific hunters to have ever lived. He would be remembered for generations, and would even have the first national park in India named in his honor. This 31-year-old unknown hunter was no one other than Jim Corbett.