Monkey man of Delhi

History

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 (120 cm) tall, 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 parkour 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.

Many people reported being scratched, and two (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.

Specific incidents

In popular culture

The appearance of Monkey man in Old Delhi is the centre-point of the 2009 Bollywood Hindi film Delhi-6 directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra. In the film, the creature, called in Hindi as "Kala Bandar (Black Monkey)" is used as an allegory to represent the evil that resides inside every man alongside God (virtue). The monkey man has never actually been caught on tape.

In the 2011 graphic novel Munkeeman by Tere Bin Laden director Abhishek Sharma, the creature is interpreted as a misunderstood superhero, who is the result of a science experiment gone wrong. The first edition, Munkeeman Vol 1 chronicled the creatures brief appearance in Delhi, and the second edition will feature the creature in Kanpur, based on the incidents reported in February 2002.