Never heard this one before!

[sestoppelman]

We were talking on another forum about the movie, Ghost and the Darkness which of course we have all seen, about Col John Patterson and the lions of Tsavo right?

A fellow posted that there was apparently much evidence to suggest that Patterson was in fact a contract hunter who later on became WDM Bell!!

I bet that was news to both of them.

Bell of course died in Scotland in 1954, Patterson in California in 1947.

Learn new stuff nearly everyday!

 

[meigsbucks]

As Artie Johnson used to say: “Very interesting”.

 

[R eight]

I think Teddy Roosevelt used to hunt rabbits with them both down in Antarctica. Probably after their lion hunting days had finished

 

[spike.t]

Sounds like a real muppet.... ...hope you sorted him out.......mind you probably not worth the effort.....

 

[fourfive8]

I think Teddy Roosevelt used to hunt rabbits with them both down in Antarctica. Probably after their lion hunting days had finished

Ya, I heard that somewhere also and I think that expedition also included Selous and Corbett.

 

[Marc Ret]

 

[PeteG]

I think Teddy Roosevelt used to hunt rabbits with them both down in Antarctica. Probably after their lion hunting days had finished

100%
I taught them everything they knew about hunting savanna walrus’ while they vacay’d in Zambia.

 

[Scott CWO]

100%
I taught them everything they knew about hunting savanna walrus’ while they vacay’d in Zambia.

I wish you would have brought them to Colorado for mountain walrus.

 

[Travis2282]

I wish you would have brought them to Colorado for mountain walrus.

Sounds like a fun hunt!

 

[Doug Hamilton]

I wish you would have brought them to Colorado for mountain walrus.

Yeah. I bought a walrus tag for Colorado from a private party. He told me it was a bargain at a thousand dollars. Never did find any mountain walrus though. Guess I should have hired PeteG as a guide!

 

[cajunchefray]

We were talking on another forum about the movie, Ghost and the Darkness which of course we have all seen, about Col John Patterson and the lions of Tsavo right?

A fellow posted that there was apparently much evidence to suggest that Patterson was in fact a contract hunter who later on became WDM Bell!!

I bet that was news to both of them.

Bell of course died in Scotland in 1954, Patterson in California in 1947.

Learn new stuff nearly everyday!

That's an interesting theory! (BS hypotheses).

My memories of The Ghost and the Darkness is unique.

I knew of the story from an old gun magazine story.

I first saw the movie, in Pretoria, RSA, in my hotel room on my 2nd overseas trip with a new job in the late 1990's.

My passion for Africa sprouted here. Of course, the grilled Eland tenderloin I had at the restaurant next to the American Embassy sealed the deal.

When I got home, I bought Colonel Patterson's book, and read the reality of his hunt, not the Hollywood version.

When I visited Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History, the taxidermized lions didn't look to impressive, but I was not the one hunting them, in the dark, for 6 months!

 

[Red Leg]

What is interesting about Patterson is that he is the model for the professional hunter in Hemingway's "Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber."

A couple of years after the Tsavo incident, Patterson was involved in a scandal concerning Audley Blyth and his spouse whom he was leading on a safari in East Africa. Audley died from a gunshot wound on the safari, and the talk at the time was that Patterson and the fetching but grieving Mrs. Aubrey were entirely too close - particularly on the long trip back where she apparently shared Patterson's tent. No charges were ever filed, but it became quite a scandal in both East Africa and in the UK. When they eventually returned, Mrs. Blyth was quickly whisked back to England by her family.

Hemingway heard the story on his first safari in the thirties from his PH Philip Hope Percival, and it became the inspiration for the Macomber story.

 

[Scott CWO]

What is interesting about Patterson is that he is the model for the professional hunter in Hemingway's "Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber."

A couple of years after the Tsavo incident, Patterson was involved in a scandal concerning Audley Blyth and his spouse whom he was leading on a safari in East Africa. Audley died from a gunshot wound on the safari, and the talk at the time was that Patterson and the fetching but grieving Mrs. Aubrey were entirely too close - particularly on the long trip back where she apparently shared Patterson's tent. No charges were ever filed, but it became quite a scandal in both East Africa and in the UK. When they eventually returned, Mrs. Blyth was quickly whisked back to England by her family.

Hemingway heard the story on his first safari in the thirties from his PH Philip Hope Percival, and it became the inspiration for the Macomber story.

Yes and sounds almost like the Larry R story lol.

 

[CoElkHunter]

Yeah. I bought a walrus tag for Colorado from a private party. He told me it was a bargain at a thousand dollars. Never did find any mountain walrus though. Guess I should have hired PeteG as a guide!

Well, if you had gone to the Pueblo Resevoir here in the summer, you would've seen MANY walruses sunning themselves on the beaches. Non huntable but at least you would have seen some.

 

[baxterb]

What is interesting about Patterson is that he is the model for the professional hunter in Hemingway's "Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber."

A couple of years after the Tsavo incident, Patterson was involved in a scandal concerning Audley Blyth and his spouse whom he was leading on a safari in East Africa. Audley died from a gunshot wound on the safari, and the talk at the time was that Patterson and the fetching but grieving Mrs. Aubrey were entirely too close - particularly on the long trip back where she apparently shared Patterson's tent. No charges were ever filed, but it became quite a scandal in both East Africa and in the UK. When they eventually returned, Mrs. Blyth was quickly whisked back to England by her family.

Hemingway heard the story on his first safari in the thirties from his PH Philip Hope Percival, and it became the inspiration for the Macomber story.

Yes indeed. I have copies of the court transcripts from the hearings. Interesting stuff. It's pretty clear that TSHLOFM was inspired by Patterson. Blayney Perceival (Phil's brother) was a cohort of Patterson's.

 

[Scott CWO]

Well, if you had gone to the Pueblo Resevoir here in the summer, you would've seen MANY walruses sunning themselves on the beaches. Non huntable but at least you would have seen some.

At most lakes in Colorado there are a lot of hotties but there definitely are some gold medal walruses at Pueblo Reservoir!

 

[flatwater bill]

LCol Patterson certainly had courage. Had he known just a bit about hunting lion, he could have brought his campaign to a conclusion much sooner. The woke Hollywood version of this adventure was fun but fanciful. Of course, Hollywood knows everything......so even on high budget movies (which this was not) the concept of hiring a consultant who knows the outdoors, never occurs to them. This is especially true in movies that involve hunting. I had never heard that the Col was Wally Bell......FWB