Summary
An unsolved mystery from our members-only podcast, Overunderstood.
Related episodes
Show notes
- [Unfriendly Chimp Stolen From Cage In Central Park (NYT)] - March 6, 1970
- Thief Says A Rare Bird Needed Love (NYT) — July 14, 1999 and Rare Bird Is Back in Hand, and So Is a Suspect (NYT) — January 28. 1999
- History of Central Park Zoos. There are no chimps today.
- Found a relevant crime, with a very different ending, while uploading these show notes: Chimps Stolen From Zoo Found Happy in Brooklyn Phone Booth (NYT) — October 25, 1966. Except apparently the Prospect Park zookeepers missed their chimps, who were “like babies to us” and started a ransom fund before they were found. The same kidnapper?? This story also notes that the chimps cost about $600.
- What the park zoo looked like in the 1970s. The zoo is also mentioned in here around 8:58.
- AWFUL CALAMITY. The Wild Animals Escape from Central Park. TERRIBLE SCENES OF MUTILATION. This was a hoax by the New York Herald in 1874.
- 60,000 for a chimp in 2009 and 600 for a chimp in the first half of the century
- Chimpanzees in Central Park Zoo, New York City, 1970. (Photo by Jill Freedman/Getty Images)
- Jill Freedman on Instagram. The photo of her with a beer was taken down, but you can see some of her work.
- This version of the photo has a caption and more specific date: “A chimpanzee wearing a tuxedo and roller skates sits on a chair at a photographic gallery opening.” New York City, 1974. (Photo by Jill Freedman/Getty Images).
- The Wildlife Conservation Society told me they had no records, but stuff like this and this seems promising.
- CORRECTION: I said University of North Carolina in the episode, but I meant North Carolina State University. Ugh.
- Angry Keeper Stages Monkey House Lock‐In
- And more stuff here.