April 21, 1977. Dover, Massachusetts, America. A quiet and rural community. 10:30 at night. Three 17-year-olds, Andy Brodie, Bill Bartlett and Mike Mazzocca are driving down Farm Street. Suddenly, Bartlett spots something silently creeping on two legs along a low wall running parallel to the road. Must be a cat. Or maybe a dog. But then his headlights glance over the creature and what he sees is unlike anything he’s ever seen before…
The creature, between three and four feet tall, turns its egg-shaped head slowly and stares at the young men with its two large, round, glassy, lidless eyes. They shine brightly like ‘two orange marbles’. It has a watermelon shaped head atop a thin neck. Its body also thin, with a bloated belly and long spindly arms and legs, plus large hands and feet. It has no hair on its peach coloured skin, skin that feels like ‘wet sandpaper’.
The creature fled. Bartlett sketched what he saw. He was the only one to see it. It frightened him. But only one and a half hours later, there was another sighting.
Midnight. 15-year-old John Baxter says goodbye to his girlfriend Cathy Cronin. Whilst walking home, he saw something approaching him. A short figure. Baxter called out but the creature did not respond. In the darkness, Baxter couldn’t see what the shadowy figure was. He took one step forward but the creature ran. Baxter gave chase, fearing the creature was a lost deformed local boy. He eventually sighted the creature leaning against a tree.
Baxter thought the body of the creature was akin to that of a monkey, except its head. It stared at Baxter, a gaze that made him feel uneasy. He decided to flee and draw what he had seen. What he drew closely resembled what Bartlett saw, including those big orange eyes.
The next day, again at midnight, 18-year-old Will Tiantor, a close friend of Bartlett, was driving 15-year-old Abby Brabham home when they saw the creature. They described it as ape-like, yet with a large head with no nose, ears or mouth. It was hairless and its skin was a light tan or beige colour. Frightened, the two drove off quickly…
This was the final encounter. Tiantor and Brabham drew what they saw and it closely resembled the two other sightings, except Tiantor was adamant the eyes were green, a discrepancy often explained by the reflection of light.
Investigators descended on Dover and concluded the sightings were not hoaxes. They agreed that there was something mysterious wandering the lands of Dover. Some think it’s a fox, a dog or even a baby moose or calf. Many locals agree the teenage witnesses are reliable, honest and upstanding citizens. They weren’t smoking or drinking. They are good people, who were not known for their pranks. And to this day, they stand by what they saw. The sightings may have only covered three separate incidents, but 38 years later, many locals still wonder what those sightings were. They still wonder if the mysterious creature is still around. The town of Dover has become famous for this demon. But whatever it is, or was, will probably forever remain a mystery.
So I’ll give this creature a 60 on my patented Cryptid-o-Meter, putting it third bottom in the list with the Lake Worth Monster still bottom and the Beast of Exmoor still holding top spot.
The Dover Demon. A fascinating cryptid indeed.
1) An artist’s impression of the Dover Demon (credit: cryptidz.wikia.com)
2) Another artist’s impression of the Dover Demon (credit: monster.wikia.com)
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