I first heard of the Virginia Devil Monkey while reading the book “Monsters of Virginia: Mysterious Creatures in The Old Dominion” by L.B. Taylor Jr. It caught my attention because a lot of the incidents occurred very close to where I spent the first few years of my life growing up near Roanoke Virginia. 

There were several sightings of these creatures in South West Virginia, one of the more famous took place in 1994. A woman from Ohio was driving through South West Virginia and the Roanoke area one stormy night on her way to the Outer Banks in North Carolina. She was delayed a bit having to take a detour through a two lane road south of Roanoke Virginia. She described the area as being very dark and remote. The time was about 2:30 in the morning when suddenly a creature leapt across the road and in front of her car. The creature then walked off not seeming to notice the woman or her car.

She described the creature as a monkey-wolf hybrid type creature. It was covered with short sleek black fur. It stood on its hind legs at about 6 feet tall, and had pointy ears, a flat snout, and a long thin tail. She also noted that it was also very muscular and thin.

Shortly after this sighting stories of missing pets and livestock began, along with more sightings of the creature in the area. A few weeks after this incident a couple in nearby Shawsville reported seeing a creature on their property one night and noted their German Shepherd had gone missing after.

Overall this was an interesting find, I had never heard of this but I was not living in the area at this time. It’s also possible I may have been too young to remember even if I had heard of something. I looked into the Devil Monkeys a bit while writing this story and found reports of it spanning all over the US as well as British Columbia. Explanations for the creature include anything from an escaped zoo animal to a large thought-to-be-extinct form of baboon.

Let us know what you think of this cryptid! Remember if you have had a paranormal experience and would like to see it featured on this site be sure to send it into webmaster@spookyappalachia.com!

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