The Enfield Monster

The Enfield Monster refers to reports of an unidentified creature around Enfield, Illinois, United States in April 1973. The reports were covered by the news media at the time, with some suggesting they may have been caused by a wild ape or escaped kangaroo.

Used as a case study for a paper on social contagion in 1978, sociologists cite the episode as an example of collective behavior where a group or crowd can be affected by the spread of "group emotions" such as "panics, hysterias, collective visions, and extreme instances of suggestibility."