Boston.com
28 September 2015
A distinctly Boston urban legend
By Perry Eaton
[…] According to a May 1998 Boston Globe article, construction workers encountered something
peculiar in the Garden about halfway through the building’s demolition.
“Add another bit of myth and mystery to the old Boston
Garden now being slowly consigned to history by demolition crews,” Judy
Rakowsky wrote for the Globe.
“Workers said they found the remains of a monkey in the rafters Thursday, and
were even moved to pause for a moment of silence, hard hats in hand.” […]
Joe Bearak, senior vice president of Morse Diesel at
the time and project executive in charge of both the demolition of the old
Garden and construction of the FleetCenter, recalls no such thing.
“Absolutely not,” he said. “I was in charge of the
project, and believe me, I would have known. It’s an urban legend. There were
pigeons, there were rats, there were other things, but no monkeys.” […]
Boston.com
6 November 2015
The saga continues—with some (fair warning: slightly
gross) photos.
By Perry Eaton
Late in September, in honor of the 20th anniversary of
the closing of the Boston Garden, we told the story of the Boston Garden
monkey: In 1998, while taking down the historic arena, building wreckers were
said to have come across the corpse of a monkey.
Despite our research, many parts of the story remained
nothing more than urban legend. Where did this monkey come from? Where did it
go? Was the monkey even real at all?
Thanks to Richard Bagen Sr., a building wrecker from
East Weymouth who helped demolish the Garden, and his wife, Kathy Bagen, we may
have some clarity. […]
Boston.com
9 November 2015
A (warning: slightly gross) final chapter to the
monkey tale.
By Perry Eaton