Mental illness is off the charts these days. Covid caused a lot of folks to just break, mentally.
Before, everyone in a small town knew who the town crazy person was. Now, they have access to the internet so the whole world knows who the crazy person is. Pretty sure the OP is well known to his neighbors as the crazy person.
I suspect that they are so totally inconsequential in their own lives that getting any acknowledgment, even as a pest to strangers on the internet, provides them with some short-lived feelings of relevance. A genuinely sad existence.
It seems like a better idea to consider the reports from thousands of people who will look you straight in the eye and tell you that they have seem them than to ridicule the ‘fake monkey man’.
And to realize the fear in their eyes and the strain in their voices which is very real. They say it is life-changing. Most witnesses hope that they never encounter them again which would probably be far better than underestimating what might be lurking in the shadows.