The Monkey Man of Delhi
In 2001 residents of New Delhi reported a monkey-like attacker roaming at night. Wikipedia counts over 350 reported sightings and about 60 injuries.
In 2001 people in New Delhi reported a creature that looked half man and half monkey, roaming the streets and attacking people. The Quint says some witnesses described a helmet and others metal claws.
Wikipedia counts over 350 reported sightings, around 60 of them involving injuries. Police released artists' sketches based on eyewitness accounts. Two people, or three by some reports, died after falling from roofs or stairwells in a panic over what they took for an attack.
Salon, writing in 2001, reported that police found many of the injuries inconsistent with witnesses' accounts of the attacker, and suggested that bandits were behind the incidents. It noted that one newspaper saw the panic fading while another said it was spreading, and that people in Rajasthan, 200 miles away, had begun reporting a creature of their own, described as part giant monkey and part computerised robot. Salon also notes that the city, short of power, began supplying its suburbs with current through the night.
"Over 350 sightings of the Monkey-man were reported, including around 60 which resulted in injuries.[7] Police released artist's sketches of eyewitness accounts in an attempt to catch the creature. Two (by some reports, three) people reportedly died when they fell from the tops of buildings or down stairwells in a panic caused when they thought they were under attack.[5]"
- Monkey man, Salon (2001)
- Choti Cutting or Monkey Man, India has a history of mass hysteria, The Quint