Have you heard about this one? A town in India is terrorized by a mythical creature that can't be described well but so far, somehow, has caused 2 deaths and 15 injuries - all from panic.

A pregnant woman died after falling down stairs at her East Delhi home as her family fled from the creature.

Officers in Ghaziabad are offering to pay $100 to anyone who can capture Monkey Man on film. Around 1,000 officers are involved in the search.

Vigilantes are taking to the streets frustrated at the police's failure to catch him.

In Noida, a mechanic wearing a black outfit and fitting a description of the Monkey Man was beaten up. A second man was attacked for apparently performing "mystical formulations".

Some witnesses say the failure the capture the Monkey Man is explained by his ability to make himself invisible.

Deepali Kumari, from Noida, said: "It has three buttons on its chest. One makes it turn into a monkey, the second gives it extra strength, the third makes it invisible.

"He touches a lock and it breaks. But he is afraid of the light."

Some people think it is a person in a costume. Others think it might be a robot.

I think someone's been watching too much Pokemon, Power Rangers, etc. and sniffing some glue.

Maybe if two of the three buttons are pressed together he becomes invisible AND gets a BFG9000 with some extra plasma.

Alex

This is just...wow.

My mother thinks it is some sort of hermit that was living cut off from society. I do not know what to think.

...could be a result of India's nuclear experimentations.

~Mike

Here's a victim, who says that the bruises were caused when the monkey man tried to bite him.

More on the story:

The death, along with pictures in the local dailies of victims with scratch marks on their upper torsos, have shaken Delhites - many of whom initially dismissed the occurrences as "superstitious mumbo-jumbo."

The weather only added to concerns. Power outages in summer are common in Delhi, forcing residents of congested lower-income housing projects to sleep on rooftops to beat the heat.

The panic only seems to be spreading. Residents of the area talk of sleepless nights spent waiting for cries of "bandar aaya hai" ("the monkey is here").

"There's certainly mass hysteria here," said Ashok Nagpal, associate professor at the University of Delhi's Department of Psychology, "But there's definitely something more to it. It's too early to reach a conclusion though and until I probe further into the matter I can't see where to pitch my views."

Man or superman, ape or super-ape, the Delhi police are taking no chances. Police officers have "shoot at sight" orders.

(That last bit sounds like a bad Star Trek-TOS plot. "Kill the alien! Kill it now!" "No Captain. We must study the creature and learn from it.")

Btw, it was not jsut 'some town' it was New Deli, the capital =)

I'm more afraid of...

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