Monkeylike Enti
ty of the Indian subcontinent.
Variant name: Bear man.
Physical description: Variously reported as a
monkey, a man with a monkey face, a man with
a mask and helmet, or even an alien or robot.
Height, 4 feet 6 inches–6 feet. Glowing red
eyes. Said to have flashing green and red lights
on its chest. Metallic claws.
Behavior: Can jump 20 feet into the air from
a crouching position. Bites people while they are
sleeping. Sometimes dressed in white, black, or
silver. Said to speak the Bhojpuri language.
Distribution: Around New Delhi, Noida, and
Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh State, India; Nalbari,
Assam State, India; Ahmadabad, Gujarat State,
India.
Significant sightings: Reports of a belligerent
monkey or a masked man began in early April
2001 in the suburbs of Ghaziabad, India. People
went to the police with what appeared to be
deep scratches or bites. By May 16, the panic
had spread to Noida and New Delhi; there had
been hundreds of reports and many injuries,
three panic deaths had occurred, several people
were mistaken for the entity and beaten, and
more than 3,000 policemen on motorcycles,
armed with rifles, were patrolling east Delhi to
calm down residents. Typical reports were
vague and varied: On May 10, a masked man
struck the stomach of Saroj Sharma in
Chhaprola; the next night, residents saw a shadowy
figure that jumped like a monkey and had
glowing red eyes. On May 13, an intruder
dressed in white bandages attacked the wife and
sister of M. P. Singh in Noida.
Bearlike or wolflike humanoids were reported
in late May 2001 in the Nalbari District, Assam
State. The Assam Science Society interviewed
sixteen witnesses, who admitted they were half
asleep when they felt something with sharp nails
trying to grab them.
Another Monkey man was reported in the
Khanpur suburb of Ahmadabad in early February
2002. The creature was dressed in black, had
curly hair, wore a mask, and hopped from roof
to roof.
Possible explanations:
(1) The police at first suspected many of the
attacks were made by a man wearing a
monkey mask.
(2) The final report by the New Delhi police,
issued on June 19, 2001, concluded that fear
and panic were behind all the sightings, ruled
out a conspiracy by pranksters, and said there
was no evidence for any bizarre creature that
could have caused the attacks. Forensic
specialists noted that most of the injuries
were superficial and self-inflicted accidentally
during panic attacks.
The Monkey Man of New Delhi is a monster which was reported roaming Delhi in mid-2001.
In May 2001, reports began to circulate in the Indian capital New Delhi of a strange monkey-like creature that was appearing at night and attacking people.[1] Eyewitness accounts were often inconsistent, but tended to describe the creature as about four feet (120 cm) tall,[2]covered in thick black hair, with a metal helmet, metal claws, glowing red eyes and three buttons on its chest; others, however, described the Monkey-man as having a more vulpine snout, and being up to eight feet tall, and muscular; it would leap from building to building like a parcour enthusiast. Still others have described it as a bandaged figure or as a helmeted thing. Theories on the nature of the Monkey Man ranged from an Avatar of the Hindu god Hanuman, to an Indian version of Bigfoot.[3]
Many people reported being scratched, and two[2] (by some reports, three) people even died when they leapt from the tops of buildings or fell down stairwells in a panic caused by what they thought was the attacker. At one point, exasperated police even issued artist's impression drawings in an attempt to catch the creature.
The entire incident has been described as an example of mass hysteria.
- On 13 May 2001, 15 people suffered injuries ranging from bruises to bites and scratches.[3]
- On 15 May 2001, a pregnant woman fell down some stairs fleeing after neighbors shouted that they had seen the Monkey Man.
- A 4-foot-tall (1.2 m) wandering Hindu sadhu was beaten up by an angry mob who mistook him for the Monkey Man.
- A men fell down from a building in fear of the Monkey Man in Noida.
- On 18 May 2001, a van driver was set upon and sustained multiple fractures in another case of mistaken identification as Monkey Man.
- Further sightings were reported in Kanpur in February 2002 and New Delhi in July 2002, the latter describing a monkey-like machine that sparkled red and blue lights.[3]