Texas shoppers got a Halloween scare they never expected when a monkey in a diaper broke loose inside a Spirit Halloween and turned the store into a jungle gym.
The primate escaped its owner on the night of October 27 at a busy Spirit Halloween in Plano. According to witnesses, the animal panicked after being startled by a moving spooky animatronic display and then spent the next 30 minutes sprinting across shelves, knocking over objects, scaling pillars, and swinging from the rafters as stunned shoppers looked on.
“This was animal kingdom live,” customer Arlene Pinkston told NBC News. Pinkston said her daughter spotted the monkey first.
“My daughter looked up and she said, ‘What in the world?’ and she’s like, ‘Is that a real monkey?’ and I looked up and said, ‘Well, it’s got a diaper on, so I guess it is real,’” she said.
Viral footage shows the diapered monkey racing across the top of store displays and knocking over props while employees and customers tried to corral it. Some just stood back and watched the chaos unfold like it was a real-life horror movie.
Cookie ends chaos in Spirit Halloween after monkey startled by spooky display
Store worker Jimmy Harris called the moment “entertaining,” saying kids in the store even tried to help catch the runaway primate.
Plano police arrived to find the monkey still swinging overhead and confirmed the unusual sight, saying officers observed the animal “swinging from the rafters wearing a diaper.”
The chase finally came to an end in the most unexpected way: with a cookie. Spirit Halloween spokesperson Lisa Barr said the monkey’s owner eventually lured it down by offering a treat.
“Our team responded quickly and contacted local authorities, who arrived promptly on the scene. In a rather unexpected turn, the monkey was safely coaxed with a cookie,” Barr said. The animal was tagged with ID and returned to its owner without incident.
The discounted SwitchBot Bot can add smarts to your monitor and coffee maker for just $24