In 1935, 175 rhesus monkeys escaped from a Long Island 'Jungle Camp'; they stopped a train, caused a power outage and raided fruit stands. Locals put out whiskey to catch them for cash bounties

In 1935, approximately 175 rhesus monkeys escaped from Frank Buck’s Jungle Camp in Massapequa, New York, setting off a chaotic search that lasted for weeks. The monkeys stopped commuter trains, raided fruit stands, frightened motorists and even caused a power outage. Locals joined the hunt, lured by cash rewards offered for capturing the fugitives. Some reportedly left saucers of whiskey in the woods, hoping intoxicated monkeys would be easier to catch.

Frank Buck, a renowned animal collector, author and adventurer, operated the Jungle Camp, which featured attractions such as Monkey Mountain. Buck was famous for capturing and shipping wild animals to the United States for zoos, circuses and his own attractions. His expeditions later became the subject of films including Bring ’Em Back Alive and Wild Cargo.

Buck's Jungle Camp had previously been a major attraction at the 1933–1934 Chicago World's Fair, where about 500 rhesus macaques were housed on a structure known as Monkey Mountain. After the fair ended, Buck relocated his menagerie to Massapequa, establishing a Jungle Camp that became a popular tourist attraction.


On August 21, 1935, about 175 rhesus monkeys escaped after a worker allegedly left a wooden plank across the moat intended to keep them contained. The breakout was not entirely unprecedented: Buck's monkeys had escaped before, including an incident at the Chicago World's Fair, while another research facility in South Carolina had also experienced a major rhesus macaque escape.

The Massapequa escape quickly became a local spectacle. The monkeys scattered through the surrounding area, climbing trees, crossing roads and disrupting railway operations. Newspapers identified one particularly cunning monkey as Capone, who emerged as the apparent leader of the fugitives.

The New York Daily News described the scene in dramatic terms, reporting that “monkeys were everywhere—chattering, scampering, leaping from tree to tree.” At one point, the animals swarmed toward about 100 laborers working along the Long Island Rail Road right-of-way, sending the frightened workers fleeing and abandoning their tools.

Capone and the other monkeys even blocked a train track for about five minutes before crew members managed to lure them away with bananas. Elsewhere, a motorist swerved to avoid a roadblock formed by at least 35 monkeys, crashed into a ditch and killed one of the animals.

The Massapequa Fire Department joined the effort to recapture the escapees. Firefighters reportedly erected a 65-foot ladder to retrieve monkeys perched on flagpoles. The most dramatic incident occurred when two monkeys climbed a high-voltage transmission tower near Hicksville. Their presence caused a 30-minute power outage, and both animals died.

The Jungle Camp offered $10 for each captured monkey, worth more than $200 today after adjusting for inflation. The bounty encouraged residents to join the hunt. Some reports even claimed that people attempted to collect rewards by turning in monkeys they already owned.

Others tried more unconventional tactics. Residents reportedly placed saucers of whiskey in the woods, reasoning that a drunken monkey would be easier to capture. According to contemporary reports, the unusual strategy worked in at least some cases.

As the days passed, newspapers regularly published updates on the number of monkeys still at large. Eventually, only five remained: Capone and four females. The females were captured with traps baited with bananas and sweet potatoes, but Capone continued to evade his pursuers.

A $50 bounty was eventually placed on Capone, making him the most valuable fugitive in the group. Yet nearly three weeks after the original escape, on September 9, he was still at large. By then, public interest in the monkey hunt had begun to fade.

The bizarre episode also generated enormous publicity for Buck's Jungle Camp. On August 29, a local newspaper reported that more than 10,000 people had visited the attraction the previous Sunday, hoping to see the zoo and perhaps catch a glimpse of one of the escaped monkeys.

Not everyone believed the breakout was accidental. Variety jokingly suggested in its initial coverage that the monkeys had “either eloped or were turned loose by the press agent.” Other commentators also questioned whether the incident had been deliberately engineered to generate publicity.

Incidentally, a year before the Massapequa escape, at least two of his monkeys escaped from the Chicago World's Fair. The incident received newspaper coverage and even resulted in a lawsuit from a pottery company after its exhibit was damaged.

Another monkey escape occurred at the 1939–1940 New York World's Fair, when six animals got loose. One syndicated columnist questioned whether the 1935 Massapequa episode had been staged but conceded that, if it was a publicity stunt, it had been remarkably effective. The escape generated headlines across the country while coinciding with Buck's return to the public eye after an extended absence in the jungles of Asia.

Coincidentally, Buck himself was not in New York when the 1935 escape occurred. He arrived in San Francisco from Asia about a week later and told reporters that he planned to return to New York to supervise the recapture effort. His latest shipment from Asia included what he described as “another fine collection of monkeys from all over southern Asia—15 varieties.”

Buck had built a particular reputation for collecting rhesus macaques in large numbers. He once advertised bulk sales at prices of 100 monkeys for $850 to $1,000. Describing their behavior, he characterized monkeys as being “completely imbued with mischievousness” and as “the personifications of perpetual motion.”

His Jungle Camp offered plenty of other attractions, including what Buck promoted as the “biggest orangutan in the world,” the “two biggest pythons in captivity” and a pair of “giant dragon lizards.” Yet it was the mischievous rhesus macaques that ultimately provided the attraction with some of its most memorable publicity.

By the time of his death in 1950, Buck estimated that he had captured more than 100,000 birds, over 50 elephants, scores of pythons, 65 tigers and hundreds of other wild animals. He died of lung cancer at age 66.

The 1935 monkey escape remains one of the strangest episodes associated with Buck's career: hundreds of monkeys on the loose across Long Island, trains brought to a standstill, a neighborhood plunged into darkness, and residents using everything from bananas to whiskey in an attempt to bring the fugitives home.