From UFO ROUNDUP
Volume 7, Number 32
August 6, 2002
Editor: Joseph Trainor....
HANUMAN GOES ON RAMPAGE
IN PATNA, INDIA
He's back! The creature called Hanuman, also known as "the Monkey Man" or "the Monkey Monster" popped up in northern India last week.
"Almost a year after residents in the Indian capital" of New Delhi "were terrorized by the alleged attacks of an elusive monkey-like creature, the eastern city of Patna says it too is facing similar attacks from an ape-like animal."
Patna is a large city on the south bank of the river Ganges, in Bihar state, located about 600 kilometers (360 miles) east-southeast of New Delhi.
"Local newspapers here" in Bihar state "are full of reports of 'mysterious monkey attacks,' but police have scotched the stories and warned of strict (legal) action against those spreading rumors."
"'There are rumors of a monkey-like machine (cyborg- -J.T.), referred to as Monkey-Man, that attacks those sleeping on rooftops and in open places at night,' said O.N. Bhaskar, Patna's police chief. 'But it is pure rumor, as no one has actually lodged a case in any police station. There have not been any recognized cases of injury. We have warned the public at large to be on guard against any rumors and to help police arrest those who spread such rumors.'"
"Residents of Patna were not reassured, with local newspapers headlining quotes from eyewitnesses and victims of the 'monkey-man.'"
"'The monkey-man attacked and injured my son-in-law, Joginder Singh, on Friday night (July 19, 2002) while he was sleeping on the rooftop of my house,' a newspaper quoted Bhagwat Sharan Singh of Patna's Mainpura colony (district) as saying, 'He (the attacker--J.T.) looked like a monkey.'" "Some even alleged the creature 'jumps and sparkles with red and blue lights.'"
"Other described it as resembling a machine, operated by remote control and 'handled by anti-social elements to terrorize people.'"
"Police chief Bhaskar said hospitals and doctors had been told to report any case of injury attributed to the mysterious creature."
"Meanwhile, fear of 'the monkey-man' took an ugly turn when a group of people beat up a Hindu sadhu (itinerant holy man--J.T.) with a flowing beard, on suspicion that he was the creature."
"The incidents in Patna seemed almost identical to the attacks reported in the Indian capital last May (2001) when, for more than a month, a 'mysterious monkey- like creature' besieged New Delhi."
(Editor's Note: For the full story of last year's Hanuman flap, see UFO Roundup, volume 6, number 20 for May 17, 2001, "Weird new 'manimal' appears in India," page 1, and UFO Roundup, volume 6, number 21 for May 24, 2001, "India cites Hanuman for two murders," page 1; "Hanuman goes on a rampage in India's Trans-Yumana," page 2; and "Hindu avatar or FEMA cyborg?" page 3.)
"Descriptions agreed that the creature was 'black' and 'ape-like, with sharp claws,' but varied on its height with some reporting it as over 1.8 meters (6 feet) tall while others said it was about 0.7 meters (2 feet) tall."
"At least two people, including a pregnant woman, were killed in a crush when hysterical people tried to escape into their homes when hearing that the monkey-man was near."
"A number of others were treated for scratches and bite wounds in hospital but a special police enquiry dismissed the 'monkey-man scare' as a figment of imagination and a product of mass hysteria."
(See the Hindustan Times for July 22, 2002. Many thanks to Jim Hickman and Gerry Lovell for this newspaper article.) |
