Police artist's impression of the Monkey Man of New Delhi

The Monkey Man of New Delhi was a phenomenon that surfaced in New Delhi in 2001.

Overview

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. Eyewitness accounts were often inconsistent, but tended to describe the creature as about four feet tall, covered in thick black hair, with a metal helmet, metal claws, glowing red eyes and three buttons on its chest.

Many people reported being scratched, and two people even died when they leapt from the tops of buildings 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.

Incidents

• On May the 15th, a pregnant woman fell down some stairs fleeing after neighbours shouted that they had seen the Monkey Man.
• A four foot tall wandering Hindu mystic was beaten up by an angry mob who mistook him for the Monkey Man.
• On May the 18th, a van driver was set upon and sustained multiple fractures in another case of mistaken identification as Monkey Man.

Verdict

No "Monkey Man" was ever photographed or captured, and the furor eventually died down and was forgotten. The scratches sustained by victims were considered most likely to have been caused by cats, rats or small monkeys.

Illiterate rural immigrants, a high level of superstition, and the fact that much of the population slept in the streets and on roofs well within the reach of real monkeys probably all contributed to what was most likely an example of collective hysteria.

Cynics commented that New Delhi was suffering from power shortages at the time and that the street lights were often turned off at night - but that when the police needed to investigate something (such as an attack by a half-man, half-monkey creature) they made sure that the street lights were turned on.

See also

• Collective hysteria
• Magical thinking
• Superstition

External links

• Strangemag.com (http://www.strangemag.com/monkeyman.html)
• Ananova.com (http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_294723.html?menu=news.latestheadlines)
• Ananova.com (http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_293395.html)