Winged monkeys seizing Dorothy and her companions, in one of
W.W. Denslow's exquisite illustrations from the first edition of L. Frank
Baum's classic children's novel The
Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) (public domain)
Following yesterday's ShukerNature blog
article regarding a lost Chinese gibbon, here's another one dealing with a
simian, but not a Sinian simian, not even a similar simian – far from it! I
always enjoy documenting unusual, unexpected mystery beasts – and they don't
come more unusual or unexpected than this one!
Among the many memorable spectacles on view
in MGM's immortal 1939 fantasy musical film 'The Wizard of Oz' (based upon L.
Frank Baum's classic children's novel The
Wonderful Wizard of Oz, first published in 1900) was a flock of malevolent
flying monkeys that did the Wicked Witch of the West's evil bidding. According
to various decidedly bizarre claims and sightings emanating from California's
Napa Valley, however, these monstrous things with wings may not be entirely confined
to the movies (or novels).
The winged
monkeys snaring the Cowardly Lion for the Wicked Witch of the West in another
of Denslow's illustrations from Baum's The
Wonderful Wizard of Oz (public domain)
In September 2018, mysterious entities with
bat-like wings, red eyes, long fangs and claws, black fur, and said to bear a
striking overall resemblance to said flying monkeys were reported from around
Partrick Road, which is just outside the town of Napa. Apparently, they would
traditionally lurk amid the shadowy trees fringing this particular stretch of
secluded back-road, winding out of Napa and through a dense forest, in order to
accost the young amorous couples who parked here for some private sessions of
passion. Nowadays, however, presumably because fewer such sessions occur as
reports of these uncanny beasts have intensified, the volant voyeurs have taken
instead to pursuing any car that drives along Partrick Road, regardless of
whether or not it stops. At the far end of this lonely road is the blocked
entrance to a forsaken, long-abandoned cemetery once owned by the Partrick
family after whom the road is named, where the flying monkeys supposedly dwell
when not pursuing the neighbouring populace.
As if all of this isn't surreal enough,
however, it is popularly believed among the Napa locals that the flying monkeys
were artificially created by some shadowy government scientist(s) either to
detract attention from more serious events of the classic X-Files variety, such
as covert surveillance by mysterious black helicopters and Doomsday trials, or
even as an attempt to create a futuristic type of soldier, and that they are
part-monkey and part-robot. Hence they are commonly dubbed Rebobs locally.
Interestingly, however, the First Nation people of Napa have supposedly been
long familiar with these entities, considering them to be an ancient race of
beings, and they refer to this particular area as the Valley of Fairies.
A third example
of W.W. Denslow's winged monkey illustrations from Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (public domain)
I used to live in napa and my take on the rebobs is that the are from the nearby town of sonoma. During the middle years of the 20th century a spa/resort there that catered to some of the Hollywood elite of the day featured monkeys that freely roamed the trellis work as a unique attraction of that particular establishment.
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