Humans may have reached the top of the food chain, but the world is still teeming with apex predators who retain the advantage in their own environments, and sometimes venture into ours, especially when they have gained a taste for human blood. Survivors, hunters, and witnesses recall first-hand accounts of hair-raising, fatal encounters with massive and dangerous beasts of the wild, describing the often rapid and unstoppable series of events that result in devastation and serve to bolster the legends of the world’s flesh-hungry maneaters.

Relentless wolves and rogue elephants, swarms of fire ants and vicious sharks, ruthless panthers, grizzly bears, crocodiles, and even human cannibals—all have taken their toll on unsuspecting travelers.