Monkey On The Loose In Plano Spirit Halloween Store

(Plano, Texas) It’s no surprise that shoppers at Spirit Halloween stores can be frightened by the animatronics. There are so many of them scattered everywhere. The motion-activated ones scare people by far the most, jumping out at them or screaming. What they’re not used to are monkeys swinging overhead from the building rafters, trying to escape the madness of the animatronics.

A Real-Life Scare at Spirit Halloween

While shopping at a Spirit Halloween store in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex this week, customers were frightened and in awe of a monkey wearing a diaper swinging from store displays and the ceiling rafters. No, it wasn’t a store animatronic display; it was a live pet monkey causing the chaos.

Download the KTYL Mobile App NowHow the Monkey Got Loose

A customer brought their pet monkey into the store, and while they were shopping, some of the store’s animatronic displays spooked the pet monkey, causing it to leap from the owner’s control and break free. The monkey ran around the store and was hanging precariously from the store rafters for approximately 30 minutes. Arlene Pinkston tells NBCDFW it was like a scene from Animal Kingdom.

Caught on Camera: Monkey Swings from the Rafters

Pinkston’s daughter first caught a glimpse of the monkey, thinking it was a store display, but when she noticed it was wearing a diaper and it was moving naturally, they knew it was a real monkey. Pinkston started recording video of the rogue monkey inside the Plano Spirit Halloween store.

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Plano Police Called to the Scene

Store employees called the Plano Police Department for assistance. Upon arrival, officers witnessed the monkey swinging from the rafters, too. The owner was eventually able to coax the monkey back down with a simple cookie treat.

A Halloween Story No One Will Forget

This will be one costume shopping experience that these Spirit Halloween customers will not soon forget.

Happy Halloween, everyone!

LOOK: 14 Things That Will Make You Nostalgic for Halloween in the ’80s1980s-era Halloween had its own vibe, from the waxy candy bags to the widespread fear of razor blades in apples. Think you can handle the nostalgia? Keep scrolling if you dare! Gallery Credit: Stephen Lenz transylvania90210 via eBayOff-the-Shelf “I Can’t Breathe!” Halloween CostumesOne of the most defining relics of Halloweens past were those “character” plastic costumes — big on toy and movie merchandising, but not so big on quality, comfort, or letting you breathe and see. Even as a kid, I remember thinking how strange it was that the costume wasn’t really a costume, but more of a walking ad for whatever you were trying to be.
Looking back at these photos, those costumes were actually more terrifying than a high-end werewolf or zombie getup. [Costume photos: transylvania90210, Pontiac Exchange, StarWarsDan.] Canva / Getty ImagesTerrible Homemade CostumesMom and Dad meant well, but homemade costumes usually involved a paper bag, some toilet paper, and Mom’s expired makeup that smelled a little off. The costume in this photo is actually pretty solid, but let’s be real — when you’re a kid, they could’ve hired a Hollywood special effects team, and you’d still be embarrassed. Video Dotti via YouTubeIncredibly Awkward School Hallway Halloween Costume ParadesCheck out this incredible social psychology artifact posted on the Video Dotti YouTube channel: a bona fide elementary school Halloween costume parade from the ’80s.
Rarely did a kid actually enjoy participating. You were either mortified if your costume drew too much attention or even more horrified if you didn’t have one and still had to march. Video Dotti notes that today’s parades come with plenty of guidelines, but in the 1980s, there were no rules. It wasn’t unusual to see both gory and cute costumes parading down the halls at the same time. Watch for the kid dressed as a priest.
Getty ImagesWatching Actual Scary Movies Like ‘Basket Case’ on a School Night Halloween might’ve fallen on a random Tuesday, but that didn’t stop your dad from renting the most terrifying, nightmare-inducing horror movies for you and your siblings to watch until midnight. I vividly remember watching Basket Case year after year, and just the sight of the VHS case still haunts me. United Feature Syndicate, Inc. / AppleWatching the ‘Great Pumpkin’ Peanuts Special: It’s No ‘Charlie Brown Christmas’Before you graduated to watching Basket Case and not sleeping for a week, there was good ol’ Chuck and his Great Pumpkin special. It was definitely inferior to A Charlie Brown Christmas, but it was something to have on in the background while you stared in disappointment at the pile of apples you pulled from your treat bag.
CherryMoonFactor via EtsyThese Paper Decorations That Had That Certain Look About ThemStrangely, Halloween decorations haven’t changed much since the ’50s. At some point, someone declared, “This is the Halloween screaming cat face,” and it just stuck. Made of only slightly laminated paper, it’s amazing how many years these things lasted.
The slightly suped-up versions had metal brads that let the decorations have moving appendages, perfect for putting on a little puppet show as you hung them up. [Photo: CherryMoonFactor via Etsy] McDonald’s McDonald’s Halloween Gift CertificatesWhether they were for free cookies, cones, fries, or a sundae, these vouchers were absolute gold — and perfect for trading with younger siblings who wanted their treats NOW instead of later. Kids today have no idea how valuable these were. Darrin KlimekTricks, Treats and a Little Toilet Paper and Shaving Cream VandalismOnce the little kids had their fun, there was always that moment when the “big kids” headed out — and it was almost expected that at least one house in the neighborhood would end up TPed or sprayed with shaving cream. Getty ImagesNo Parents AllowedIt might be hard to believe, but ’80s Halloween was kind of like The Goonies. You waited for dark and ventured out on your own into the unknown. I distinctly remember trading candy with other roaming groups of kids under the glow of a streetlight — with not a parent in sight. Getty Images/CanvaThat Plastic Jack-o’-Lantern Bucket Every Family HadYou might still have that plastic pumpkin stashed in your basement or garage. Back in the day, nothing made you cooler than popping a flashlight inside it while roaming the dark streets in search of the house handing out full-sized candy bars and bags of chips.
And of course, there was always that one kid who tried to wear it as an upside-down mask. Getty Images / CanvaThese Waxy Treat BagsMuch like Halloween decorations, these stayed the same year after year. Inevitably, they ended up on the ground, covering the neighborhood in a thick layer of mini paper bags. At some point, a kid figured out you could blow into one and pop it, and suddenly, Halloween night sounded like an all-out gang fight! UNICEFThat UNICEF Donation BoxHalloween was already a lot to think about as a kid, but then one year they decided to give us a job — collecting cash donations. I’m pretty sure not all of that money made it to the actual charity, but what do you expect when you hand a kid a box of cash while they’re also out begging for candy?
[NOTE: They still do this! Check out UNICEF’s website, where they say you can add “Some Meaning to Your Halloweening” which is pretty genius.] Getty ImagesRazor Blades in ApplesSpeaking of apples… while our parents stayed home as we roamed the streets like candy-hungry wild dogs, they were more than happy to warn us that every 10th house might try to maim us with a razor blade hidden in an apple. Not that we cared — getting apples was already a bummer (unless they were candy or caramel apples, but who’d go through that much trouble, anyway?). Getty ImagesThe Tragedy That Was Heavy Coats Over CostumesThis one is for those cold climate kids: That utter sense of disappointment when it was freezing cold on Halloween and you had to wear your stupid winter coat over your Freddy Krueger costume. Totally lame.
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