Places

Africa

• TaleUasin Gishu and the Nandi forest, Kenya, 1909 to 1927

  The Nandi bear and the devil called Chemosit

  The first detailed account of the Nandi bear, printed in 1912, gives no year for the sighting. A 1909 book on the Nandi calls Chemosit a one-legged devil.

  

• CaseAntananarivo, Madagascar, 1863 to 1864

  Ramanenjana, the dancing sickness of Madagascar, 1863

  In 1863 the court physician called the dancers of Antananarivo a real illness; the missionary beside the king called it pure deception.

  

• TaleLikouala, Republic of the Congo, 1776 to 1997

  Mokele-mbembe, report by report, since 1776

  The oldest text behind Mokele-mbembe is a 1776 note on claw prints. The name reached print in 1929, in a report that kept the animal out of the Likuala rivers.

  

• CaseTsavo River, Kenya, 1898

  The Tsavo man-eaters: 28 counted in 1907, 135 by 1925

  In 1907 Patterson wrote that the Tsavo lions ate 28 Indian workers. In 1925, when they went on show in Chicago, his figure was 135.