James Jameson, heir to the Jameson Irish Whiskey fortune, was a would-be adventurer who joined one of the last European exploration trips into central Africa in 1888. The expedition, led by famed explorer Henry M. Stanley, was allegedly a rescue mission to save an endangered colonial governor, but their plans were likely more devious.
Having a famous leader didn’t save the group from endless problems, though. They faced danger from the local people, animals, diseases, and isolation from the outside world. They also had many reports of mistreatment on the trip, and it became an infamous expedition for the number of casualties that occurred along the way.
One of the most disturbing accounts from that fateful trip is the story of when Jameson decided to buy an enslaved girl and watch her be killed and eaten because he was “curious” about cannibalism. This may sound like an unbelievably gruesome thing for someone to do, but amazingly, Jameson’s journal and multiple accounts of that day from other crew members confirm its veracity – as can the watercolors Jameson painted, which depict the event in gruesome detail.