MONOLITH

it said "One woman lost her mouth and nose. " how can anyone lose their mouth? Was it torn open?

Maybe it ripped her lower jaw off?

That thing about a lizard in 1932 sounds like a crocodile. Just saying.

It's possible. Remember that guy that got his face and testicles torn off by Chimpanzees a while ago? A chimp bit into his mouth and actually ripped his teeth out! Fuck!!! imagine getting your teeth bitten off. That shit freaks me out just thinking about it. http://www.abc.net.au/cgi-bin/common/printfriendly.pl?http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200503/s1316735.htm

Anyway, This Hyena story sort of reminds me of all those Were-Wolf murders in Europe during the Late Middle ages. Those are still unsolved, although many people were burned at the stake under suspicion of being a Were-Wolf.

The victims share some similarities. Attacked as if by an animal, but horribly mutilated beyond recognition (not in a way an animal normally eats it's prey)

The Suspects share some similarities. Seen as an animal, but perhaps larger. Constantly eluding capture or positive identification.

It's also a fact that most cultures have there own "Were-Creatures" always taking on the characteristics of a common, local predictor. Were-Bears, Were-Jaguars, Were-Crocodiles, etc.
(I can't find a good article about it, but Ive read this somewhere.)

Could be a Were-Hyena????

werewolves were a medieval way of describing a particular phenomenon today referred to as the psychotic break. it was also used to explain what are today referred to as disorganized serial killers. additionally, werewolf, like witch, was a handy accusation to sling when you wanted someone dead so you could take their stuff.

if this story is real, it's probably either a person or a really nasty wild animal or two.

Also as a way to explain why one might suffer from Hypertrichosis- where the face and body are covered in thick, dark hair.
There is also a sort of mental illness which makes people believe they have taken the form of a wolf. The sufferers are called Lycanthropes. There was one in 1589 called Peter Stump.

yea, there's a Mexican guy who has it too
http://exposureroom.com/members/raprimar/639af98303ae4e599b60c505fce3ab76/

There was this string of "werewolf" murders from 1764 to 1767 in southern France attributed to the "Beast of Gévaudan". The story has a lot of similarities, severed heads, missing limbs torn at the bone, disemboweling, etc. I had to come back to this thread after I saw this documentary last week. I guess because of the new wolf-man movie, they have to ride it's coat-tails to get ratings. I hate it when they do that. Anyway, according to the documentary after uncovering old data and witness reports they came two the conclusion that the "Were-Wolf" was possibly a serial killer who used a trained African Hyena to kill his victims. I can't find a link anywhere. It was on discovery or animal planet. Anyway the Malawi beast is starting to look like just a hyena with rabies

The Beast of Gevaudan... *shivers* that thing used to give me nightmares when I was younger. Still one of the creepiest unsolved mysteries out there, though I do lean towards the idea that it was a hyena myself. There was a recent movie loosely inspired by it released in France some years back (Le Pacte de Loups) which was pretty awesome, as well as a recent History Channel documentary featuring American Cryptozoologist Ken Gerhard.

Anyway, as for this 'mystery critter' in Malawi, its probably just a spotted hyena. Africa - and Malawi in particular for some reason - has a long history of hyena attacks, and hyenas are associated with witches and/or were-hyenas in many African religions.

Even though hyenas are generally thought of as scavengers in the west, they are in fact top level predators. The spotted hyena hunts big game, directly competing with lions for crying out loud, and has jaws that can literally crush bone. Although they generally hunt in clans, the males are much more periphreal, generally being driven out by the dominant female. A rabid male could explain such attacks.

Interestingly, Africa has no shortage of mystery beasts... most pertinent to this particular case being the Chemosit, or 'Nandi Bear' as the British called it. It was a large, bear-like creature that hunted in British East Africa (now Kenya) and killed its prey by breaking open the skull and eating the brains.

The descriptions sound fairly hyena like, but its the eating the brain that really fascinates me....