THE LEGEND OF THE CAT MONKEY
Cat Monkey Photo, Upstate NY, Cryptid legend, Herkimer, NY 1925
It’s a story passed often passed down in whispers around campfires across upstate New York. I remember first hearing this one when building igloos in the winter at Camp Russell as a Boy Scout in the 70’s. It all started back in 1924, when two lab monkeys escaped from a research facility in Albany. No one knows exactly how it happened—some say a careless lab assistant left their cage unlocked; others claim the monkeys were smarter than anyone realized and broke out on their own in true planet of the apes fashion.
— Albany Times Union, Article published on Oct. 30, 1924 about the escaped Primates.
“Five South American monkeys escaped from the state laboratory building in Albany and invaded the Pine Hills neighborhood, with bacteriologists and other scientific specialists, as well as residents of the area, trying to chase them down. The primates skittered along Morris Street, Dana Avenue and South Lake Avenue, running along house porches and into backyards, before they eluded their pursuers by climbing on rooftops and up telephone poles and trees.
A new shipment of the animals had recently arrived at the laboratory for testing purposes. On this day, as they were being fed, the door of their cage was left open and five of them fled. They broke a window in the room and quickly made it to the street level where they avoided capture for several hours. The last one was retaken into custody only after a chase that led lab workers and Albany citizens around a city block several times. “
But the legend goes that for months after, there were sightings of strange, shadowy figures in the forests of the Catskills. Hikers reported hearing eerie screeches at night, and farmers started losing livestock. That’s when the real rumors began—people claimed the monkeys had done the unthinkable: mated with mountain lions native to the area. The offspring? Grotesque hybrids—creatures with the wiry agility of monkeys and the raw power of big cats.
They called them Cat Monkeys.
By the summer of 1925, the Cat Monkeys had supposedly spread across several counties, terrorizing farmers fields and livestock, attacking hunting dogs, and even stalking hikers on the trails. Some swore they saw glowing eyes in the woods; others claimed the creatures could leap impossible distances, chattering like monkeys but growling low, like a predator about to strike. The legend reaches its climax near Herkimer, where an old trapper supposedly killed the last of the Cat Monkeys in a brutal standoff. The story goes that the trapper lured them into a gorge with fresh meat, then ambushed them with a shotgun. But when people went to find the bodies, they were gone, leaving only claw marks and fur behind. Attempts to locate photos taken of the supposed claw marks have turned up empty.
But to this day, some locals say the Cat Monkeys never truly died out. On quiet nights in the woods near Herkimer, if you listen closely, you might hear the chilling mix of a monkey’s screech and a mountain lion’s growl—and pray it doesn’t come from behind you.
THE CATMONKEY
(An image by Artist Hal Hefner, born in the Mohawk Valley and calls his company CATMONKEY named after the fabled beast of our childhood)
