Hook Island Sea Serpent

 Hook Island Sea Serpent

By Cole Herrold

There are very few pieces of Cryptozoological evidence out there that have lasted the test of time. Often many of them are debunked, proved to be misidentified, or are examples of pareidolia. While we cannot expect clear photos for every cryptid encounter like the Sandra Mansi Champ photo or the Patterson Gimlin Film, there are some photos that just seem to be too good, and this leads into controversy. One of perhaps the most famous and controversial pieces of evidence of all time was a series of photos that were taken off Hook Island by Robert Le Serrec. These photos are stone-cold classics in the world of cryptozoology and are a toss-up as while many researchers feel the photos are hoaxes; others continue to think that there is something real and tangible just below the surface.

On December 12, 1964, Breton Photographer Robert Le Serrec might have captured one of the best pieces of evidence for the existence of an aquatic cryptid we would call a sea serpent. Le Serrec, his family, and his Australian friend Henk De Jong were shipwrecked on the Great Barrier Reef and decided that during this time that, they would purchase a motorboat and spend about three months on Hook Island. While out one day near Stonehaven Bay, Le Serrec’s wife noticed a dark form seemingly resting on the bay floor and proceeded to bring the figure to the attention of the rest of the party. The group, upon coming close to the object which at the time they thought was a mere 30ft but as they came withing shocking closeness they noticed in utter horror that it was a strange unknown creature. The group having more courage than arguably they should, proceeded to take a series of photos, each more interesting than the last. They were shocked at what was below the waters for the creature they photographed in the waters of Stonehaven Bay around Hook Island in Queensland, Australia, had an appearance similar to a black tadpole or American eel. The creature had eyes located either on the top or near the sides of the head with slit-like pupils and had an incredibly long smooth serpentine body that was black in color with brown transverse stripes. The most incredible aspect of this is that the creature, however, is not arguably its appearance, but instead of its initial 30ft length, the creature turned out to be an astounding 70-80ft long. One member of the party or another individual had managed to take a boat out towards the tail of the creature, and this gave a sense of just how colossal the creature was. It was in this position that they noticed a large pale region which they thought was a wound that was visible on the right side of the tail. Le Serrec and Henk De Jong were completely perplexed by this creature and, thinking that the creature was dead, decided that they would film it underwater. The two had just started to film the creature when the creature, in a sudden change of pace, began to move. The two watched in utter horror as the creature opened its mouth, revealing a white mouth and throat, and proceeded to move towards them; half expecting that they would be consumed by the colossal monstrosity, they began to swim back to the assumed safety of the boat and began to clamor ashore, and as they turned to look back into the water to see if the creature was hot on their heels they were surprised and relieved that the creature had disappeared. As the group was rationalizing their thoughts, they felt that the creature was resting in the bay because of the wound to its tail, which they felt might have been caused by a ship's propeller.

In March of 1965, Le Serrec, in Australia's Everyone magazine, came forward with the photographs of the serpent and proceeded to tell the tale of how he caught it on camera. It was around this time that the claimed photos and story caught the attention of Cryptozoologists Ivan T. Sanderson and Bernard Heuvelmans. Ivan T. Sanderson heard about the case in February of that year as Le Serrec had initially attempted to sell the photos to several media outlets, yet these outlets would not give him the price he had wanted. Sanderson, however, would later write about the photos in an article for True Magazine. After this, the case was written about by both researchers as well as other cryptozoologists years later, such as Loren Coleman and Karl Shuker. The general consensus is that the photos are more than likely a hoax; however, some researchers to this day do think that there might be something more to the footage.

Now there is some controversy over this footage, as with just about any cryptozoological evidence, and this deals much less with the photos themselves and more around Robert Le Serrec. As time went on, when researchers Loren Coleman and Bernard Heuvelmans investigated Le Serrec and the Hook Island Photos, they had found some issues with Le Serrec’s character and the possibility of talks of creating a hoax. In their books In the Wake of the Sea Serpent and Field Guide to Lake Monsters, Sea Serpents, and Other Mystery Denizens of the Deep, the two-state Le Serrec was in great debt. In fact, during the time the photos were taken, Le Serrec had left France to go and avoid his creditors and that Le Serrec was even wanted by Interpol, and Heuvelmans, in general, felt that he was not very trustworthy. Heuvelmans would later discover as well that Le Serrec, in 1959, had allegedly told several friends in France that he was about to go away on an expedition and “another thing in reserve which will bring in a lot of money… it’s to do with the sea serpent”. Adding to these seemingly damning character traits and backstory, Heuvelmans, upon looking at the photos, felt that there were problems in regard to the anatomy of the creature since the eyes of the creature appear from what we can tell near the top of the head and not near the side or closer to the snout. Yet there are species out there with eye placements similar to the creature.

Ivan Sanderson felt that the photos were most likely hoaxed and felt that “the object was either a plastic bag used by the US Navy “for experiments in towing petrol” or a deflated skyhook balloon which had become covered in weed, or a roll of cloth which had been tied together in places." Heuvelmans had his own idea as to just what was the answer to the photos Heuvelmans thought that the creature in the photo was a carefully shaped expanse of plastic sheeting weighed down with sand into the form of a colossal serpent. When one looks at the close-up photos of the head, researchers like Darren Naish point out that one can see covering four certain portions of it as though someone had “placed handfuls of sand on top of the edge of the creature: exactly what you would do if trying to weight down a monster-shaped sheet of plastic." Yet Le Serrec would claim that this was because the creature had slightly buried itself in the sand. Other researchers later had pointed to a possible shoal of fish, yet there are several problems with this since there were close-up photos, as well as the fact that while fish shoals can form basic shapes, they do not stay in these shapes for long periods of time, and in such a complex shape, all of this tends to point to one of two possibilities either some sort of material shaped and placed as a hoax or a biological creature.

While Sanderson and Heuvelmans were very certain that the creature was a hoax, they both entertained as well the possibility that the creature may have been real. Sanderson, for example, later on, felt that "the creature might be a giant synbranchid or swamp eel. Synbranchids are long-bodied acanthomorph teleosts, mostly of freshwater and estuarine habitats, well known for their ability to breathe air and undertake terrestrial excursions”. Synbranchids, however, are exceptionally small, however, usually being about 60 cm long, so if the Hook Island photos are an example of this, it would be the largest example known. Heuvelmans, however, was arguably more certain than Sanderson that the creature was a hoax and said should this creature be authentic, it could be "some kind of gigantic eel-like selachian." Paleontologist and Cryptid Enthusiast Darren Naish felt the reason he chose this possibility is due to a possible connection to sightings of an incredibly long-bodied shark. Another possibility often pointed to for another answer to the Hook Island Serpent is mastodonsauroid temnospondyls, a Triassic and Jurassic amphibian, yet the problem with this hypothesis would be the creature's lack of limbs.

One cannot help but mention that Heuvelmans created nine different categories in which different sea serpent and lake monster sightings could be categorized as. Loren Coleman and Patrick Huyghe would also utilize and update this for their own book, fixing some of the discrepancies and problems with Heuvelmans original model. Of the original 9, however, there was one category of a sea serpent which curiously is very similar in shape to the Hook Island Sea Serpent but is described as the Yellow Belly. Essentially it is, as the name suggests, a yellow-bellied tadpole-shaped creature with brown stripes along the back and a tannish-green colored body. Some researchers feel that Le Serrec, if he hoaxed the serpent chose the design of the creature from this entry, yet this is not possible, seeing as how the publication of Heuvelmans book was four years after Le Serrec took the photos. Other researchers felt that Heuvelmans included this entry solely because of the Le Serrec photos, but obviously, this was not to be the case since the appearance does not match really. Heuvelmans based the Yellow-Bellied type of Sea Serpent on a sighting aboard the ship Nestor in 1876, which took place in-between the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Now I must say I have problems with the hoax aspect of the Hook Island Sea Serpent case. For one thing, to pull off a hoax of a creature this size, it would take a great deal of time and energy. With a hoax of this caliber, one would think that someone would have seen them creating it. Now granted, Hook Island is basically uninhabited with some exceptions and is a national park, so perhaps if this was a hoax, it was done in a much more secluded area to avoid notice, but by creating a creature in the water as large as the sea serpent, it would stand to reason that someone would have seen them stretching out the balloon or bag and packing it in the sand. Also, as with other famous pieces of footage like the Patterson Gimlin Film, there are always people who come from the woodwork to claim that they were involved or that they caused the footage, and with this set of photos, nobody, as far as I’m aware came forward, and Le Serrec continued to state the film and footage’s authenticity. We can add this even to Le Serrec’s family, who was with him during the filming; when infamous hoaxer Ray Wallace passed away, his family immediately released a statement saying that they hoaxed countless footprints and videos, yet in Le Serrec’s case, if he has passed away there’s been none of that adding to the overall strangeness of the story. Now again, Coleman and Heuvelmans stated that Le Serrec was a rather untrustworthy individual, and there are two ways to interpret this one can look at his claims and automatically dismiss them or that everything he experienced did, in fact, happen. The point of it truly is the following is that if a phenomenon is real, people of all sorts of merit can still encounter the unknown it just makes it more difficult to accept their claims.

In 2003 Le Serrec was said to still be living and currently residing in Asia. Once this was revealed, there was a sudden rush in attempting to interview him about the sea serpent, yet no interview currently has been conducted. I would love to hear his thoughts now since it's some 60 years later if he is still alive. Or if any of the others who were around with him during the photographing of the creature. While there’s currently no further investigation into this case, and for most researchers, the case seems to be closed, I think that there's enough ambiguity that would warrant a follow-up. Yet as with most older cases, chances are this will not be the case, but until then, we are left to ponder just whether or not this series of photos is authentic or not and it's a mystery that will last for countless years until an example is either captured or that other members of Serrec’s family finally come forward and claim either that it really is a hoax or that it’s the real deal.

Quick Facts:

Species/Potential Species:

Location: Pacific Ocean, Stonehaven Bay, Hook Island, Whitsunday Islands, Queensland, Australia

Sighted: December 12, 1964

Works Cited:

Encyclopedia of Cryptozoology By Michael Newton

Field Guide to Lake Monsters, Sea Serpents, and Other Mystery Denizens of the Deep By Loren Coleman and Patrick Huyghe By Loren Coleman and Patrick Huyghe

Hunting Monsters: Cryptozoology and the Reality Behind the Myths By Darren Naish

In the Wake of the Sea Serpent By Bernard Heuvelmans

Mysterious Creatures: A Guide to Cryptozoology Volume 2 By George Eberhart

Darren Naish "The amazing Hook Island sea monster photos, revisited" Scientific American November 23, 2013. https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/tetrapod-zoology/the-amazing-hook-island-sea-monster-photos-revisited/. Accessed June 26, 2022.

Laura Rowton "5 Lake and Sea Monsters Supposedly Caught on Camera" The Paranormal Scholar. February 9, 2018. https://www.paranormalscholar.com/5-lake-sea-monsters/. Accessed July 8, 2022.

London Flood Troll

 London Flood Troll

By Cole Herrold

In February of 2014, London was starting to prepare itself for the oncoming deluge from Storm Ruth. During this time, the city was hit with a massive onslaught of rainclouds that, on several occasions, seemed to overtake the city. On one of these days, the rain hit hard and resulted in excessive flooding in London as well as the rest of the Southern portion of the country. During this time, many people were active in preparing not to be dislocated during the storm. Apparently, all were not so lucky as a 25-year-old student would find as the storm seemed to of not only affected the people in the area but at least one Fortean beast that had made itself seen during the deluge.

An unnamed 25-year-old student was visiting his parents in a rural area and assumedly was helping in any way to stop any damage to his parent's property or simply to make sure that they were safe and prepared for the incoming storm. He had initially planned to stay with them for a little bit but realizing the possibility of the trains to London being stopped due to the weather decided against it and upon finishing his visit with his parents. Proceeded to head towards the train station to book a train to get back to his home in London. This trip home was a long one, and during the ride, he proceeded to fall asleep several times; and on one occasion of waking from deep sleep, he happened to look out the window and had an almost Twilight Zone-esque surprise that would shock him for the rest of his life. It was getting dark out, and as he began to gather his bearings from waking up once more from a restful nap, he, upon looking out the window to his left, saw a strange dark figure running next to the train at a rather close distance. He at first thought that this figure was a person, but as he stared at the strange runner in the flooded landscape that the train slowly trudged through, he soon realized that this was not the case. As the figure came exceptionally close to the train, he was able to note that the being was an astounding 9-10ft tall and that it was running in a strange erratic fashion, not like how a person normally would. He also noted that the figure was exceedingly large and notably "fat" in form, and the man noticed that the water from the flood barely touched the being’s knees. This, however, was not the strangest part of the creature's appearance; as the man peered closer at the figure, he could see that the creature bore no clothes but was covered in long shaggy hair all over its body with the exception of its face and chest. As he stared at the figure's head, he noted that its eyes reminded him of a gorillas, but this would be the end of any similarity to a primate as the creature also bore two short white horns and had large and long wolf ears. As he stared at this anomalous apparition, he had wondered whether he actually was awake and whether this whole scenario was not some dream within a dream. Yet as he looked over to his fellow passengers, he noted that others had seemingly noted the strange being yet were hesitant to openly draw attention to the being running alongside the train. Even if those who did see the creature spoke up, however, it would be for naught as there was barely anyone on the train, and so it was a secret they all must share.

The 25-year-old witness would, during the event, talk to two other witnesses who were in the same car, a young boy and his mother, but just what they discussed went unreported. As they sat, however, the train started to speed up, and they could tell that this new acceleration was too fast for the creature to keep up with, and so he watched as the creature was left behind to waddle in the flooded mire. When asked about his encounter further and asked why there were no photos, the witness said the following “No, I wasn’t dreaming, mate. I also know what a bear looks like, and it looked more like a troll. Remember, from the Lord of the Rings?...” Well mate, I was quite surprised, like I said. You just don’t have got any time to reach your phone and take a picture. Things happen fast, that’s what people don’t get. So, unless you are a trained journalist or similar…and you are expecting something to happen, you’ve got nothing,… “Friends and other people say it’s rubbish, but I know what I saw,”.

As far as this case goes, this is all we have. None of the others on the train seemed to of come forward with their sighting. There were no photos or any other follow up outside of the initial report, which the anonymous witness had that was later uploaded onto Cryptozoology News. Yet the encounter at least has enough information for us to attempt to break down his sighting. Obviously, starting off skeptically, it could be possible that this was some internet hoax. This is fairly common with creature reports of all kinds, and we see more of this now arguably than ever before. Another reason one might point to the hoax angle is even the description of the creature. The witness said that the creature reminded him of a troll and that it specifically would be reminiscent of one from the Lord of the Rings. Now clearly, as a Tolkien fan, I would at first venture and say that this depiction makes no sense as being compared to trolls or any of really the other creatures in Tolkien's World. The Trolls in the book are more or less giant humanoid creatures that, much like the folklore they’re based on, turn to stone when in contact with sunlight. Other than that, there's not much of an official description, yet early artwork in Tolkien books tends to show them as giant human-like creatures with sharp facial features. In the Peter Jackson films, trolls are hairless, colossal, and have unique, almost pug-like faces. This is very different from the gorilla-furred horned creature reported, and while this could lend credence to an actual sighting, I offer this other option the witness might have gotten the wrong Tolkien creature to describe it as. In the animated sequel to both Rankin Bass's The Hobbit and Ralph Bakshi’s Lord of the Rings, Rankin Bass once more returned to the helm and directed The Return of the King. In this animated classic, as well as the original Rankin Bass Hobbit, even though the presence of them is not as prevalent in that one, there are creatures that bear a strong resemblance to the creature seen by the witness; these are the Orcs and Goblins. In the film, they had large bulky gorilla-like forms, they were incredibly fast, they had no hair on their faces with some exception on the top and sides of their heads, and also they had large protruding horns. The only major difference between these creatures and the troll reported in this case is the excessive amount of hair reported, which could have been an extra detail placed to remove the overall fantasy appearance of the creature that it could have been based on.

Top image Orcs From the 1980 Rankin Bass Return of the King

Bottom Image Goblins From the 1977 Rankin Bass The Hobbit

Now while I've really gotten into how this case is possibly a hoax inspired by the classic film adaptations of Tolkien’s work, there is always the chance that what was actually reported in the account did occur. If this is to be the case and not the ramblings of an animated Tolkien fan, then what are we to make of this account. My first thought would be that this creature would be a cryptid as the timing of the sighting and the storm would seem to indicate that this creature might have been displaced by the storm or that the overall storm would increase the creature's activity as it searches for food. Horned sasquatch-type creatures, which would be the closest type of creature that would match the entity reported, do occur, yet oftentimes they are lumped in or misinterpreted as other cryptids. One of the most famous horned cryptids I covered, which gets lumped into the bigfoot category, for example, is the Wood Eating Amish Country Goose Grabber, which is more of a horned Were-lion as opposed to a bigfoot. Yet let's say for argument sake that Sasquatch can get the same or a similar disease as the Shope papilloma virus (SPV). This disease creates growths that one could compare to as horns and is primarily found in certain types of rabbits, and is most likely the inspiration for the lore of Jackalopes. Now we do know that Bigfoot-type creatures are reported in England; there have been several interesting cases and findings primarily in the area of Cannock Chase, so perhaps if SPV is applicable to other species in the same way that Rabies is, then its possible that reports of Goatmen and other horned humanoid cryptids could be examples of bigfoot with SPV. Yet, of course, this is also speculation.

Another possibility in the Cryptid department is that this could be an example of a Goatman with mange or old age. Now Goatmen are a highly debated cryptid, and the phenomena, in general, sits at the tri corners of both the cryptid, Faerie, and Demon categories as there are reports that are reminiscent of each different category. Now when one looks at how a witness describes any phenomenon, it is always important to remember that the witness is putting their encounter together in their words the best way they can, and that does not always mean that what they are describing is 100% accurate hence why we have some issues with descriptions with even famous cases like the Flatwoods Monster where multiple witnesses described the creature as mechanical whereas others felt it was a completely flesh and blood being. So perhaps, in this case, the witness humanized the creature more than it actually was, or perhaps the creature was seemingly more primate-like or human-like, but that this was caused by a disease like mange. This could explain the ultimate lack of hair on the face or chest and the bizarre behavior of chasing a train. Now granted, if that's the case, then this would be the first case, at least to my knowledge, of a Goatman with mange as unlike Sasquatch, where we do have reports with mange, there has never been a Goatman one, so if that's accurate, this is a revolutionary report in the annals of Goatman research.

Now other options for this creature are seemingly lessened as opposed to other cases as this does appear to be a very physical creature, at least from the description. If this is the case, one could always entertain extraterrestrial, but this case does not have a UFO, or any other element that one could point to that would indicate that this entity comes from off-world. There is no history, at least to my current knowledge, of this entity or a similar one being reported with UFO or alien cases, so it's safe to say it does not match that category. I would argue the same for some sort of paranormal entity in the way of a demon or ghost; the fact that this being seemed physical and that it interacted with its environment in a very tangible way does not seem to imply something supernatural in the way that we associate ghosts or spirits with.

With that said, though, there are some other options; the first and, to me, most important is the Faerie category. Now I’ve covered the Fae extensively in other articles, and they are something that constantly keeps coming up with these stranger cases hence why I feel its an option we as researchers need to focus more on but let's say that the witness was not using the word troll as semantics but that the witness either had some insight or knowledge that what he was seeing was from beyond the hidden veil. Now I've covered countless Troll cases from all over the world, and I will say this entity has many features reported in other troll cases, but the horns are new. Trolls typically are described as humanoids of varying sizes and shapes, and they are excessively hairy and are connected to people of a certain pagan origin or the landscapes they are connected with. They have many abilities that involve growth, weather-controlling, disappearing, and that is simply from what has been reported over the years with other cases. Now, as stated, I’ve over the years only found one official case of a Troll with horns, and that involved, interestingly enough, another case where the creature was seen in water, this time in America. So perhaps River or water trolls have this feature; yet again, I will say I have never come across any reference to this outside of modern artwork of Trolls from individuals like Brian Froud or other artists.

Another possibility is that this creature could be from another dimension, Ultraterrestrial or tulpa, as they are sort of the answers which function as the ultimate answer for how any phenomenon could occur. Now, needless to say, there are problems with all of these topics, especially since they are also the most difficult to gather evidence or data of. Also, of them all, the only one that would make sense would be an interdimensional being since on another world or plane of existence, there are countless evolutionary possibilities that are out there, and therefore, it is almost impossible to claim that at least in one of these worlds that one did not create a creature like this. If this is an Ultraterrestrial, it really did not seem to do what the traditional Ultraterrestrial is known for, as the entity did not exactly attempt to generate fear in a more aggressive manner or attempt to confuse or make the witness out to be ridiculous in some insane scenario as how some felt Woodrow Derenberger was made out to in his encounters with Indrid Cold. It just seems that this encounter is purely random and bears no true significance, and that, of course, would be if this entity is an Ultraterrestrial.

This case is interesting on multiple levels, both in not only the analysis of witness testimony but also in general data regarding other Fortean phenomena. Just what this entity is and whether this is a true case or not is obviously debatable. I tend to lean more towards the skeptical on this case simply due to just how the creature was described and the mention and focus of Tolkien in the original testimony, yet that does not obviously mean it's a hoax by any means. The world we live in is stranger than fiction, and so it's very possible that this witness had access to a once-in-a-lifetime experience with the unknown yet just what that being might have been is truly anyone’s speculation.

Quick Facts:

Species/Potential Species: Mammal. Faerie, Paranormal Entity

Location: Outside London, England

Sighted: February 2014

Works Cited:

Humanoid Encounters 2010-2015 By Albert S. Rosales

“British student comes forward with close-range account of troll-like creature chasing train” Altered Dimension. February 12, 2014. https://www.altereddimensions.net/2014/british-student-reports-troll-creature-chasing-train. Accessed March 22, 2022.

"The Troll of London" UFOlogy and More. April 7, 2014. https://ufohotspot.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-troll-of-london.html. Accessed May 24, 2022.

"Troll Runs After Train in Flooded London" Before Its News. February 13, 2014. https://beforeitsnews.com/paranormal/2014/02/troll-runs-after-train-in-flooded-england-2464210.html. Accessed May 24, 2022.

“Troll Runs Train Flooded England” Cryptozoology News. February 2014. http://cryptozoologynews.com/troll-runs-train-flooded-england/. Accessed March 22, 2022.

“Strange creatures that people report seeing.”. MissionQuest. February 12, 2014. https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/missionquestfpb/strange-creatures-that-people-report-seeing-t1176-s220.html. Accessed March 22, 2022. 

Hoboken Monkey Man

 Hoboken Monkey Man

By Cole Herrold

There are tons of cases out there that are extremely bizarre and seem to be either straight out lies or cases of mass hysteria. The case of the Hoboken Monkey Man is one such case. It's a case that appeared several times online and only in a few book and magazine sources and has been said by many to be a case that has absolutely no merit in the annals of actual cryptozoological study. However, upon closer inspection of this case, there are some particularly bizarre encounters that did make their way into some sources that seem to indicate that there were some kernels of truth to an outright hoax.

Hoboken was in a state of panic in October of 1982. School children were terrified by the whispers of their classmates. Those whispers were not only of the malevolent mirror spirit Bloody Mary or the deranged lunatics Cropsy and Hookman but a new boogeyman-like entity that seemed to of popped out of nowhere to terrorize the schools and streets of Hoboken. They would describe the horrendous actions of this figure known as Monkey Man, whose appearance was that of a mixture of the two in varying gruesome details. The creature was said to of lurked in the school hallways during the day and night and would leave the confines of the school grounds only to attack children on their way home from class. Rumors would go even further and into a more violent path as the creature was reported to of been seen throwing students out of the school’s windows and that the creature even allegedly killed a teacher.

The hysteria and panic swept through the halls and homes of Hoboken for two weeks before finally, word reached the Hoboken Police Department and the Public Safety Council. The officers and Council proceeded in going from home to home and to the schools attempting to find anyone who had claimed to of seen the creature or to see if there were any missing persons who could have perished at the paw of the Monkey Man. They scoured the streets at night, searching for anyone who bore the description of the person or creature said to be terrorizing the city. As the weeks and nights crept on, their inquires eventually came to a dead end. No members of any of the schools' faculties were missing, and no children in the area were reported missing either. As they talked to most of the students, they discovered that none had officially claimed to of seen the creature, and most said that they heard it from a friend who knew someone who claimed to of encountered the beast. The police and Public Safety Department irritated for they realized that this was some sort of urban legend gone out of hand, eventually came out with the following statement "There is no Monkey Man. No students or children missing. We went looking for him, he wasn't even in the streets. How do you stop a rumor that's growing like wildfire?”.

While this statement seems to be true for most of the rumors surrounding the creature, especially those in an urban surrounding like the schools. However, over the years, some potentially real sightings did take place; some cases seem to be in the same vein as Bigfoot sightings, and some are bizarre Fortean cases that seem to be similar to other nontypical animal phenomena. The earliest account comes from an individual named Jack D. Jack would describe an encounter he and his girlfriend would encounter one year before the mass hysteria outbreak in 82'. Jack and his girlfriend were out driving their car on Sinatra Drive; during that time, it was River Road. Jack, while staring out at the darkened road, noticed something moving in through the trees. The dark form soon stopped in one particularly large one, and as he looked through the windshield, he noticed it was something eerily bizarre. Jack pulled off to the side of the road, surprising his girlfriend as she did not yet see the arboreal abomination. Jack, still looking through the window, pointed up to the tree and there, dangling from a hefty branch, was the creature staring right back at them. The creature was monkey-like and proceeded to grunt and make all sorts of awful noises at the parked pedestrians. Jack, not following better judgement, proceeded to leave his car and girlfriend to get a closer look at this bizarre beast. As he got closer, he noticed that while it was monkey-like, it had eerily more human qualities as its hair was long and matted with what appeared to be more of a neanderthal like face. The creatures' arms were long and seemed to sway as it hung from the branch. The creature's body was covered in hair, but this was obscured by what appeared to be animal skins that were fashioned as a kind of clothing. Jack was shocked at this entity but not too shocked to be quiet, for Jack then proceeded to threateningly yell at the creature. The creature seemed to take offense and grunted right back at Jack. Jack backed away slowly and watched as the creature brachiated through the trees until it got to the deeper sections of the woods, ultimately disappearing into the darkness.

While Jack would never see the creature ever again, it would not be the last time this kind of primate Monkey Man would be seen. Two park rangers who worked for the Atlantic County Park in Route 50 while driving down the road noticed a strange figure moving across the road. The figure was an "anthropoid, ape-like" creature and seemed to be walking upright. Neither ranger reported their sighting at the time because it was "so strange and bizarre". This creature would reportedly have other sightings in the area, and much like the rumors of the creature in Hoboken was said to live in a building most of the time. The building was an old tin cow barn that was on the Belcoville Munitions Plant. During this flap of sightings, it was claimed that "no animals would go near the old barn and that the floor of the cow barn and the cowbarn itself were always clean".  This adds a new patina to a case already bizarre for this, if not just some homeless individual who was mistaken for the entity, implies that the monkey man is a clean freak and not a creature that wallows in filth. However, sightings in the area today are no longer reported.

While the animal skin wearing monkey man and the nude version are bizarre enough, encounters with an even more sophisticated Monkey Man would arise and this time leaving the woods and returning back to the city. These are some of the even weirder Monkey Man cases, and the first shows he might have an occupation. A woman named Evelyn would recall her encounter with the Monkey Man when she was 10 in the book Weird NJ. Evelyn was in her bedroom reading; it was late, and she was trying to get the last couple pages of her book in before finally conking out for the night. As she was flipping and scanning the pages of her book, she suddenly had a bizarre feeling that she couldn't shake as she continued to focus in on the page. That feeling resonated to the point that eventually, she felt that she had to put down her book and investigate. She looked up and felt inclined to look out the window that faced another apartment. She peered into the apartment, and there appeared to be a man sweeping in a janitor's outfit. She continued to stare at the figure she felt uneased by him, but she couldn't place it, that is, until he turned around. There as she watched, what she assumed was just heavy sideburns, and a beard was actually a monkey-faced man. This proved too much for Evelyn, and she ran out of the room and jumped on her father's bed to wake him up. Her father, exhausted and irritated, followed Evelyn to her room, and the two peered out the window into the next apartment complex, but to her surprise and her father's further irritation, there was nothing there.

While this creature seemed to be hard at work, this does not seem to always be the case as sometimes it is reported to be either off for the day or on vacation. The next clothed creature account came from Mary A., whose children would report to encounter the creature as well as know where the creature lives. Mary and her children, when they first moved to 9^th St in Bayonne, noticed how bizarre their street was; the street at the end of the block drops off into Newark Bay; this goes into a dead-end that was covered in No Trespassing Signs and fenced in areas. There in this drop off was the Old PT Boat Factory, and that is where the neighbors and ultimately her children would go on to tell her the Monkey Man lives. The rumors around town were that the Monkey Man was abandoned by his parents as a kid and now lives in the Old Boat Factory to this day; he is said to run around the wooded paths and trails along Newark Bay. She laughed at the accounts and dismissed them as pure urban legends, that is until her kids would claim to see him not once but twice. The first time her kids would encounter the Monkey Man, he was walking an old trail not too far off from their home. Her kid would describe him as having long brown hair on his arms and a monkey-like face, but he bizarrely wore a ragged green shirt and pants. The kids ran away from the figure to tell their mom, who saw the seriousness in their faces, realized that they had seen something. Then not too later, her younger son would also see the Monkey Man on the same trail that his siblings had. This time the Monkey Man was wearing the same ragged shirt that the siblings had seen him wear, and he was not alone, for he had a dog walking alongside him.

While detailed sightings of the Monkey Man seem to of faded away, there are rumors still to this day that the Monkey Man can be seen in Hoboken's Washington Street. These accounts are very different and are reminiscent of another phenomenon that occurred in 2001. This phenomenon was the Monkey Man of Delhi, India; it was an extremely famous case when it occurred and has many parallels to the Hoboken case. Both cases are believed to of been caused by mass hysteria as well as the sightings started out as being urban encounters of essentially bigfoot like creatures that then turned into encounters of bizarre suited humanoid cases. The accounts also both had alleged violence and death associated with them.

When breaking down this case, the 1982 Hoboken sightings seem to definitely be a case of mass hysteria. However, the sighting of a creature in 1981 definitely seems to be of some actual encounter. The creature is definitely a hominid of some variety. There is a possibility it could be some Tarzan enthusiast who had incredible gymnastic abilities, but this does seem to be unlikely. The creature appears to be some kind of hairy hominid, possibly a tree swinging sasquatch. While bigfoot are not exactly known for a tree lifestyle, there have been a few cases of young bigfoot swinging in the trees or an adult standing on some heftier branches. The animal pelts seen in this case is not exactly unheard of either in the history of bigfoot. Accounts of clothing or pelt wearing bigfoot are rare and appear more often in tales of native tribes, but they do occur, so it's possible that is what was reported.

As for the clothing wearing accounts, part of me automatically wants to say this is kids misidentifying some overly hairy individual while out working or some person with a birth defect of some kind. However, what if what they were reporting was actually something else? What could it be? Could it be some escaped mutant like the infamous Melonheads or the cabaret of cryptids said to of escaped from circuses or government labs? It seems very unlikely, but there are countless sightings of such entities. Could it be that these individuals might have Hypertrichosis, a disorder that causes extreme hair growth? This is more possible but also unlikely as this disorder as only 50 official cases have ever been reported.

While this case seems to be a mixture of mass hysteria and some possibly legitimate accounts. It is so uninvestigated, even with the police involvement, that getting more specifics are frustrating. There are plenty of bizarre flaps out there and plenty of cases that seem way too impossible to have anything real to them, but as with most legends, myths, and mass hysteria, there is some kernel of truth to it; the question with this case is how much is fact, how much is fiction, and how much went unaccounted for or reported? We perhaps will never truly know.

Quick Facts:

Species/Potential Species: Hominid or Hoax

Location: Hoboken, New Jersey

Sighted: 1981-1982/ unspecified latter accounts

Works Cited:

Monsters of New Jersey: Mysterious Creatures in the Garden State By Loren Coleman and Bruce G. Hallenbeck

Weird N.J. By Mark Scuerman and Mark Moran

Lois, Mary “Is the Monkey Man Real?”. Finding Myself in Hoboken. August 30, 2008. http://myselfinhoboken.blogspot.com/2008/08/is-monkey-man-real.html. Accessed July 11, 2021.

Alana Biggers, M.D., MPH “Hypertrichosis (Werewolf Syndrome)” Healthline. August 28, 2018 https://www.healthline.com/health/hypertrichosis#causes. Accessed July 16, 2021.