Strange Cases of Simian Mystery Monsters

Cryptids come in all shapes and sizes, from lake monsters to flying beasts, to prehistoric beasts, to lumbering hairy ape-men. There are many categories for these mysterious creatures and even some that are difficult to categorize at all. Among all the types of cryptid reports, one intriguing type is that of what can only be described as mysterious, monkey-like creatures, and here we will look at a few of these cases.

One very bizarre monkey-like cryptid allegedly brings us back to the very beginnings of European settlement in America, at a place called the Saco River, which flows down from the White Mountains of New Hampshire, in the United States. Since the time of the first early European explorers, the river has been home to many dark stories, including that it was cursed. In this particular piece of folklore, three sailors apparently went about kidnapping an Indian baby, believing the superstition that these babies could perfectly swim from birth. These sailors threw the baby into the water expecting them to survive and swim, but the child of course drowned in quick fashion. The horrified mother of the infant jumped in after her child and she died as well. When the local shaman heard about this tragic story, he is said to have angrily summoned a malevolent demon called Memeqwasi from the waterfall, which was then tasked with gruesomely killing three men per year in bloody retribution. It is a grim story to be sure, and since then the river was said to be the source of many inexplicable drownings it was widely believed by many of the suspicious populace to be true. What is perhaps even more bizarre is the aquatic, monkey-like beast said to inhabit these waters. 

The monster in this case is said to be human-like in appearance and aquatic in nature, with webbed hands and a tail, and bearing the nickname of the “White Monkey.” Described as a “white salamander” in his journal, even the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints founder, Joseph Smith had a sighting of this otherworldly creature when he was 12 years old, describing it as a “white salamander” and a “white-haired gnome or faerie.”
. There were numerous reports of this pale, simian creature, and one early account of this reads;

“Throughout the years there have been thousands of sightings here on York Hill, of a tiny white-skinned man with webbed hands. He is known by locals as "The White Monkey" or as the French locals call him "le'Etiole" (man from the stars). Sightings have occurred up and down the coast of Maine and Massachusetts, with a few occurring in Hew Hampshire, Vermont, New York, and Quebec. While some speculate that there are many creatures being seen, other suggest that the times, dates, and places suggest that only one creature is in fact being seen, and being seen as he travels from one river to the next. Sightings in multiple places have never occurred simultaneously.

There have been many sightings of "strange white man-beasts" in the swamps and forests along the river. Sightings describe seeing "a white monkey man", "a white salamander man", a "white frog man", lots of "little grey aliens"...the stories vary in many ways but are consistent in one thing: he's small, barely 5 feet tall, has rubbery slimy frog-like stark-snow-white skin, and abnormally large blue eyes rimmed with wide bands of black rings, has teeth like a piranha which he shows if cornered, and he runs away like a scared deer as soon as he's seen, often disappearing into the water - this description remains consistent with every sighting.”

Sightings and mentions of the strange creature dropped off the face of the earth over the years, and now it remains merely a curious historical oddity. What was this creature, and was there anything to this tale? We will probably never know for sure. In 1914 there is a rather odd report of an apparent monkey-like creature captured in the wilds of India. According to a report from the Auckland Star, Volume XLV, Issue 242, 10 October 1914:

“Her appearance is more like that of a monkey than a human being. There is evidence to show that she has always walked upright, but her sitting posture and all her actions are those of a monkey. She was very frightened when first caught, and cried and whimpered. She would eat only grass and raw potatoes, but later was induced to bread and milk. She is, of course, unable to talk. The creature, who has thin and bony hands and nails of extreme length and thickness, has been tied up by the authorities to the pillar of a porch. Her capture is attributed to the fact that the was suffering from an ulcerated foot. She had also deep scars on her head and knees. The capture is much discussed from many aspects, and It is hoped that the head SBd brain measurements may yield results or value to the science of biology and to the students of psychology.”

There is no further mention of this “Monkey Girl,” and is unclear as to what exactly happened to her or if she ever even existed. Just as strange is a curious article in the Cromwell Argus, Volume LVI, Issue 2911, 2 March 1925, talking about “forked tail monkeys” in China. The article reads;

“Monkeys with forked tails will be one of the objectives of an exploring expedition which will start shortly for the province of Kweichow, China. Much doubt exists as to the possibility of finding a forked-tailed monkey, although such a creature has been described in Chinese literature as inhabiting this region, but a species of monkey believed to be the largest species in the world is understood to dwell there, the skin of one having been brought home by an explorer. Few white men have ever this remote region, which is as inaccessible as Tibet. It lies at the back of the great mountain ranges which bound the western watershed of the Yangtze River.”

What in the world? In another report of a captured monkey-like beast, we have a report from the Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26611, 22 December 1951, which reads:

“A letter from Prince Peter of Greece to the “Statesman” to-day told of the capture and escape of a monkey answering ihe description of the legendary Himalayan "abominable snowman.” The Prince, who has been studying anthropology in India, said the Tibetans substituted local barlejl beer for water in a trough from which the monkey drank. After the monkey drank the beer, it fell down drunk and the Tibetans strapped it tightly to a pole, but while they were taking the “snowman” to Kapimpong for exhibition the creature broke its bonds with enormous strength and escaped. The letter said that the monkey was captured in Sikhim. on India's northeastern frontier. It resembled the creature whose footprints were recently photographed bv the British mountaineer, Mr Eric Shipton.”

What was going on here? Who knows? Interestingly, there was a similar case reported from 1987 in the same publication, concerning a “monkey-man” captured in the wilds of China. The report reads”:

“A Chinese “monkeyman” known as a Maogong committed suicide by hanging himself during a show last month, the Shanghai daily “Xinmin Evening News” said in a report received in Peking yesterday. The Maogong, literally “hairy man”, was found hung in his cage in eastern Zhejiang province on November 23 during a nationwide tour organised by the Association for Research into Wild Man, the newspaper said. It said he had been suffering from a stomach complaint, refusing to eat for three days. “The Maogong could not bear his illness or his age. He felt depressed and hanged himself,” the newspaper said. The monkey-man, about 30 years old, was descended from a rare, short-tailed Macaque monkey about 1.06 m tall and totally covered with hair. He often walked upright and “got angry or laughed and fought with animals or men with sticks or stones,” the newspaper said. The Maogong had sparked a flood of speculation in the press on the existence of a “wild man” — the Chinese version of an abominable snowman. He was first captured on October 24, 1984, by peasants from Xinning who had been worried about a “monster” roaming their village and chasing two young girls. The peasants put him on show for three months, reaping 100 yuan (about $4O) a day until the research association confiscated the animal. Chinese scientists discovered a year later that it was a monkey, provoking charges in the Chinese press that the “irresponsible” leaders of the association knew “nothing about anthropology”. The Chinese press frequently carries stories about “monsters” which often turn out to be newly-born babies with congenital defects.”

Odd, indeed. Moving on to other cases of mysterious monkey monsters, for decades there have been sighted strange, ape-like creatures very different from their Bigfoot brethren and more animalistic, which stalk the wilds all over the United States and have remained unexplained. The creatures that have come to be known as Devil Monkeys are generally quite different from typical Sasquatch, to the point that these creatures are considered to be some other type of primate entirely. 

The creature is usually said to stand between 3 to 5 feet in height and is covered with reddish, dark brown, or black shaggy hair that is noticeably thicker around the neck and shoulders. Depending on the report the creature can be tailless or conversely have a prominent bushy tail. The general shape is more like an ape or other large primate than the Sasquatch’s more human-type build, and indeed Devil Monkeys are often described as moving about on all fours rather than biped ally, although they are also said to have powerful legs that enable them to hop about reminiscent of a kangaroo, able to make amazing leaps of distances of up to 20 feet or more. The hands are tipped with wicked claws and the face is typically reported as being muzzled and dog-like or similar to that of a baboon, with a large mouth that is said to hold an imposing array of sharp teeth and oversized canines. Devil Monkeys are most often claimed as being able to produce a variety of very loud whoops, whistles, wails, screams, barks, and various other vocalizations, and are rather known for being extremely aggressive, attacking with little or no provocation.

The sightings that began the whole tale of these bizarre Devil Monkeys allegedly occurred in the area of South Pittsburgh, Tennessee, in 1934. In this year there was a spate of reports by witnesses claiming that they had seen baboon-like creatures leaping, bounding, and dashing across fields and roads with great speed. At the time it was speculated that people may have been seeing escaped kangaroos since they were apparently very good jumpers, but since the reports dried up as suddenly as they started no one knows for sure.

While this is all intriguing, the sighting that put Devil Monkeys on the map didn’t happen until 1959, when a couple by the name of Boyd were driving along a dark and secluded rural road near Saltville, Virginia, along with their daughter, Pauline. At some point during their drive, the monotony of the trees passing by was interrupted by an ape-like beast that barreled out of the wilderness to chase and attack the car without any discernible provocation. Pauline claimed to have gotten a good look at the aggressive creature, saying it looked like a monkey and that “It had light, taffy colored hair, with a white blaze down its neck and underbelly… it stood on two, large well-muscled back legs and had shorter front legs or arms.” Whatever it was apparently left deep scratches and gouges in the vehicle, although none of the occupants were harmed.

Just a few days after this rather frightening incident two nurses were allegedly driving along in the same area near Saltville when they were also attacked by the same creature or something very similar to it. According to the witnesses it viciously clawed and tore at their convertible, actually managing to rip the top clear off the vehicle. They said that they had then begun to scream wildly and that this had frightened the ape-like thing away.

Incidents with these strange creatures continued into the 1970s when something like a large, bushy-tailed ape with a face like a dog was reported as slaughtering and maiming cattle in Albany, Kentucky. So many sightings of this mysterious beast came in that famed cryptozoologist Loren Coleman traveled to the area in 1973 to investigate. While Coleman found no hard evidence of the alleged creature, he came away fairly convinced that something weird was going on, saying, “I interviewed the people, who were very sincere. In the whole context of Devil Monkey reports, it seemed extremely sincere. You have these reports of hairy, monkey-like creatures with tails, very different from Bigfoot.” Something very similar was reported from the backwater areas of rural Georgia in 1979 when a simian entity was sighted several times that was described as having a muzzled snout and a tail “like a beaver’s, but it’s bushy.”

These are far from the last sightings of the Devil Monkey, and such reports have continued well into later years. In 1994 a woman in Roanoke, Virginia, was driving down a dark road at around 2 AM when she was confronted by a very scary creature like "a cross between an ape and a wolf," which materialized out of the night to leap right in front of her. The woman would say it was around 6 feet tall, had a wiry and thin frame and cat-like legs, and was covered in sleek dark fur. US Game & Wildlife officials dismissed the report as merely a wolf or feral dog.

Interestingly, also in 1996, a woman by the name of Barbara Mullins was driving along Louisiana’s Highway 12 when she purportedly noticed a large mass sprawled out on the side of the road. She pulled her vehicle over and got out to investigate, but rather than the dead dog she had been expecting to see, she saw that it was in fact a creature similar in appearance to a baboon, which was about the size of a large dog and had thick shaggy hair, pointed ears, and ape-like arms and legs. Mullins managed to get photographs of the mysterious carcass, which have gone on to stir much debate and controversy as to what they actually show. Do the photos show a dead Devil Monkey, a dog, or what? It remains unknown.

In 1997 a simian creature around 5 feet tall, with pointy ears, a short tail, disproportionately long arms, and a face like a baboon was seen in Dunkinsville, Ohio. Yet another incident happened as recently as 2001, in Danville, New Hampshire, where residents were alarmed by unearthly howls and shrieks in the middle of the night unlike those of any known animal in the area. People who claimed to have seen the creature responsible for the eerie sounds reported that it was a large primate of some sort with a dog-like muzzle, prominent claws, sharp teeth, and a dark reddish brown coat of shaggy hair. Danville’s fire chief even apparently saw the beast, and the creature was purportedly seen at least 9 times over a 2-week period, to the point that it caused a minor mass hysteria. Then the reports just stopped.

Even the bustling city of Chicago, Illinois, had its own sighting in January 2006. On January 12, 2006, one unnamed witness claimed that he had come home to find a “devil-like creature” attacking his family pet, a labrador dog. It was described as “an unusual combination of a monkey, wolf, and devil with long fangs, a monkey-like tail and extremely bright glowing eyes,” and he even claimed to have photographed the incident. Indeed, it was apparently the light of the camera flash that scared the thing off, although the results have left much to be desired, and have proven to be controversial to say the least, with many crying hoax.

In 2009 we have a report from an unnamed wildlife biologist who claimed to have seen a Devil Monkey in rural Louisiana. The witness said that he had seen the creature running through an open field and that he had at first taken it to be a dog, but he would soon realize that he was wrong. The witness would explain his encounter:

“At first I guess I kinda thought it may be a dog, but as it got closer I realized I was wrong. The thing, whatever it was, ran on all fours to a spot in the fence were the trees were about thirty feet apart, and leapt over the five-foot fence in one hop. Once on my side of the fence, this thing stood up on two legs! It was only thirty feet from me at that point, and I got a really good look at it. It was about four feet tall, maybe a little bigger. It had really big, yellowish eyes, large pointed ears, and a sparse coat of shaggy fur. It stood on its tiptoes, and had a long, somewhat bushy tail, kinda like a squirrel, but not nearly as thickly furred. The snout was very cat-like… I was close enough to make out thick hairs on the face. I’m inclined to believe that these may have been whiskers. Once it stood, it kept its arms to its sides, much like a human, but slightly bent at the elbows. Its hands had identifiable fingers with noticeable claws. I know I saw something that day that I could not explain, and I am hard pressed to ask others to blindly accept what I say at face value. I am not trying to convince anyone, but rather find answers for myself… in any case, after considering the evidence, I firmly believe that what I saw was indeed a so-called devil monkey.”

Of course as usual there have been plenty of ideas of what the Devil Monkeys could be. For some, they are an undiscovered species of primate inhabiting the isolated wildernesses of America. For others, they are just misidentified dogs, wolves, coyotes, or even escaped kangaroos. Then there is the idea that these sightings could be the result of exotic escaped monkeys or apes. More out in the realm of the bizarre is that they are mutated experiments, aliens, the Chupacabras, or inter-dimensional beasts. Or maybe this is just all a hoax and an urban legend in the end. No one knows for sure, and Devil Monkey reports still sporadically come in. Whatever they are, it certainly shows that Bigfoot is not the only mysterious ape-like creature to call North America home.

Moving over to the sun-soaked beaches of Japan’s Ryukyu Islands, which include Okinawa island, we have reports of something that seems almost akin to a type of unknown primate. One of the weirdest mystery creatures said to inhabit the Ryukyu Islands is a type of alleged small, hairy ape-like creature called the Kenmun, also known as the Kijinuma in more southern areas. The stories originate from Amami Ōshima, which is the largest island in the Amami chain of islands, in the Northern part of the Ryukyu archipelago. The Kenmun, also variously known as the Kenmon, Kunmon, Kunmu, and Nebuzawa, is said to be around 1 to 1.3 meters tall, about the size of a 5 or 6-year-old child, but with a stocky, muscular build and covered in kinky, reddish or black hair, that looks mussed, matted and dirty. The Kenmun has a face that is most often described as being like that of an ape or monkey, but also sometimes as dog-like. It is a nocturnal animal, with eyes that supposedly glow red in the dark when light catches them. The creature’s arms are disproportionately long compared to the legs, and it is said to be an agile and powerful climber.

The Kenmun is said to be highly arboreal, making its home primarily in banyan trees near the beach, yet it is also supposedly a good swimmer and is thought to prefer habitats near water, such as rivers, lakes or the sea. Its favorite foods are said to be fish, crab, and octopus, as well as shellfish and snails, and indeed it is thought that a sure sign of a Kenmun’s tree is the shellfish and snail shells littering the area under it. The creature is said to be particularly fond of fish eyes, which it will pop out and eat with relish. They are said to be mostly harmless, although the mostly nocturnal creatures are said to spook people at night with their eyes, which supposedly reflect light like a cat’s.

A prominent feature of the Kenmun is its powerful stench, variously described as smelling like goat, horse, and rotting yams. The smell is believed to instill great fear in animals that come into contact with it, and there have been modern accounts of this. For instance, in 1973, a rancher reported that as he moved his cows to pasture, they suddenly became spooked and refused to move. It was strange since they had never acted this way before. The curious rancher took a look around and didn’t see anything unusual, but he became aware of a thick, pungent stench in the air. It was not until the smell passed that the cows finally regained their composure. Similar effects have often been reported on horses and dogs.

Although mostly considered harmless, the Kenmun has a somewhat bad reputation nevertheless. In folklore, it was thought to be a trickster as well as a bit headstrong, known to challenge travelers to wrestling matches. In more modern reports, the creatures are said to steal fish or bait from fishermen, and indeed Kenmun are most often seen by fishermen fishing at night. There have even been cases where the Kenmun has reportedly aggressively tried to scare fishermen away from their catches. Some more violent behaviors include shrieking at passersby and hurling rocks or stones. There have even been accounts of homes being besieged by rock-throwing Kenmun. One man told of seeing a small, dark form sitting alone on the beach one evening, which he at first took to be a child. When he called out to it, the figure suddenly whirled around in surprise and the man was astonished to see that it was a hairy creature like a small ape. This creature proceeded to start throwing rocks at the terrified man, even chasing him to his nearby home, where it continued to pelt the dwelling with rocks for some time before leaving the area.

Although the Kenmun has long been sighted by islanders, physical evidence has mostly taken the form of trees with a disproportionate amount of discarded shells under them, and footprints that turn up from time to time. In November 1986, a man named Isamu Satoyama photographed a series of strange tracks in the sand on a secluded beach. The tracks went on for 500 meters and measured 10 cm by 30 cm in diameter. Similar trackways have been found from time to time in areas the Kenmun are said to inhabit, most often in sand but not always. There was even a plaster cast made of one such print, although it proved to be inconclusive. In more recent years, very few tracks have been found and eyewitness reports are rare.

The Kenmun is not the only type of creature like this to be found in the Ryukyu islands. It is very similar to another mysterious creature known as the Kijimuna, which is said to live in the more Southern Okinawa prefecture and which also prowls the shoreline. What could the Kenmun possibly be? A new type of primate? A hominid or proto-pygmy of some sort? Is this some sort of subspecies of yet another cryptid, the Kappa? Are they just a figment of the imagination? The lack of any new sightings or evidence suggests that if these things ever existed at all, then they may well have already gone extinct or are close to it. If that is the case, then perhaps we will never know what they were or are.

One of the strangest and most violent series of reports concerning a monkey-man of some type began in Delhi, India, in 2001. In May of that year, reports began to pour in of some type of bizarre simian humanoid terrifying the urban populace, described as being about four feet (120 cm) tall, covered in thick black hair, with a metal helmet, metal claws, glowing red eyes and three buttons on its chest. In some of the more outrageous reports it was even seen scooting about on roller skates, and it could reportedly display superhuman jumping abilities, leaping from building to building with ease. This creature was said to attack people at night, causing injuries such as bites, scratches and bruises, to the point that people were afraid to leave their homes at night.

Over 350 sightings of the Delhi Monkey-man were reported, as well as around 60 of these that resulted in a myriad of injuries, with even a few deaths even reported of people falling from great heights in a mad dash to escape from the monster, all while police desperately scattered sketches of the perpetrator and tried to get to the bottom of it all. Suresh Roy, Delhi's joint police commissioner at the time, said:

“We contacted Delhi zoo authorities and the experts say that no simian would ever attack without provocation. We have conducted medical examinations of the victims and nothing concrete has been found. Doctors say the bites are animal bites and not of a human. But then there are some people who have also said that the person uses iron claws and teeth.”

The hysteria got so bad that soon vigilante mobs were roaming the streets at night, seeking justice where they thought the police could not. Overnight vigils and stakeouts were not uncommon, and some people were attacked by these mobs after being mistaken for the mysterious simian specter. In some cases, there were also dozens of serious accidental injuries caused by mobs of people careening off into the night trying to desperately escape from the monster. Throughout this all there was very little evidence that there was any sort of phantom attacker at all. Outside of eyewitness accounts, there were no footprints, no hair samples, and no photographic evidence was provided whatsoever. It did not help matters that there were increasingly hoaxers and copycat attackers running about, making it all very difficult to untangle possible fact from fiction. In the end, the sightings petered out and it has mostly been written off as mass hysteria. Skeptic Benjamin Radford has said of it:

“Social panics do not occur in a vacuum. In the climate of fear that swept New Delhi, people interpreted anything as a threat: Any sound in darkness or cry in the night could be interpreted as an imminent attack. It’s also important to remember the physical environment: crowded, poorly lit sweltering rooftops during rolling blackouts. In a city of 14 million people during a heat wave of over 110 degrees Fahrenheit, the situation was ripe for misperceptions.

There was also the socioeconomic factors of illiteracy and poor education. In a situation reminiscent of the panic and fears surrounding the chupacabra in 1996-1998 Puerto Rico, most of the rumors spread among poor. New Delhi’s wealthiest residents were not sweating and exposed on dark, crowded rooftops but were at home under air conditioning—using portable generators during the blackouts. The religious aspect may also be relevant; the fact that the creature was said to be half (or more) monkey—and not some other wild animal—may be significant. Many people noted that the Monkey Man was reminiscent of Hanuman, a Hindu warrior god depicted as a monkey (or half-monkey) that leads an army…of monkeys. There are also many monkeys in and around the city, so the creature would be a familiar one to New Delhi residents.

Some took the descriptions at face value and thought it was some sort of actual half-human creature, though other explanations included an evil spirit, a robot, “a computerized creature who someone is operating with remote control”; and a terrorist who was using the panic, confusion, and police reaction as a cover for some assassination—possibly by the Pakistani intelligence services, India’s neighbor and arch-enemy. In the final analysis the Monkey Man panic has all the hallmarks of mass sociogenic illness (MSI), or mass hysteria. Mass hysteria is often misunderstood as being an illness that sufferers are making up. In fact the symptoms are verifiable and not imaginary. The issue is instead what is causing the symptoms—whether some external environmental contaminant or instead a form of suggestion-driven social contagion.

Social contagion can easily spread from person to person in tight quarters, and especially during times of high stress and anxiety. Cases of MSI can vary widely in context and manifestation, but typically include the sudden onset of dramatic (yet clinically minor) symptoms. There are underlying psychological and/or environmental stressors, ranging from workplace discipline to boredom (in this case a heat wave). There is usually some trigger, such as an ambiguous smell, sight, or sound. A hallmark is that the phenomenon is socially contagious—that is, it is spread from person to person like a virus, usually people with whom the victim has come in close contact, such as a friend, family member, co-worker, or classmate. Mass hysterias often affect people who have a real or perceived lack of social support, such as those in poverty or subjected to regimented routine and authority (such as in schools, factories, and so on). Many cases of MSI are recognized only after the fact (and sometimes not even then), with victims often vigorously rejecting the diagnosis, assuming incorrectly that it implied that they were mentally ill or making it all up.”

What was the Delhi Monkey Man? Was it a cryptid, an alien, some person dressed up in a costume, or was it really all just mass hysteria conjured up by addled imaginations? In the end, we can ask such questions about all of the cases we have looked at here. Could they all have been the product of hoaxes, mass hysteria, or overactive imaginations? Or is there something more to them? The truth remains elusive.