Do you believe that there are animals out there that are yet to be classified by science?
Every year people report strange encounters with unknown creatures. Many of these reports
are debunked as simple misidentifications or hoaxes, but some cases, especially those
involving multiple witnesses, are more intriguing.
In the late 1970s, a slew of sightings of a mysterious humanoid caused an uproar in
the small town of Dover, Massachusetts. Several teenagers came forward with a strange tale
of an encounter with an unidentified being unlike anything that exists on Earth.
The strange creature struck fear into everyone who witnessed it, but what exactly was The
Dover Demon?
On the night of April 21st, 1977, just outside the town of Dover, Massachusetts, 17
year old Billy Bartlett and two friends were driving down a dark road when he spotted a
small figure moving near a stone wall. As the car's headlights illuminated the figure,
Billy noticed that the creature staring back at him didn't resemble any animal he had ever
seen before. He described it as having a baby's body, with long arms and legs as well as a
large head. It had two large orange eyes but no other discernible facial features.
Bartlett returned home and made a drawing of the creature that he showed to his father.
They decided not to go public with the story of his encounter, fearing that he would be
ridiculed.
15 year old John Baxter was walking home from his girlfriend’s house when he noticed the
silhouette of a small person slowly walking toward him as he neared the intersection of
Miller Hill Rd. and Farm St.
When the dark shape was about 15 feet away from Baxter, it stopped in its tracks and
they stared at each other.
Baxter called out to the creature.
“Who is that? Who goes there?”
Baxter stepped forward and the creature fled into the forest. He followed it until he became
too tired to continue. Just as he was about to head back, he looked up and across a small
brook he noticed the creature staring back at him as it leaned against a tree. He could
now see its large eyes glowing faintly in the darkness.
Baxter ran back out if the forest in a panic.
When he got home, he sketched the creature. His sketch closely resembled Bartlett's drawing
but unlike Bartlett, Baxter showed his drawing to authorities.
18 year old Will Taintor and his girlfriend, 15 year old Abby Brabham were driving down
Springdale Ave. when they noticed a small creature near a bridge. At first they thought
it was an ape, until they noticed it had glowing green eyes. They described it as being hairless
with a large head.
Brabham's sketch and description of the creature was remarkably similar to the drawings made
by the other witnesses, except for the eye color.
Billy Bartlett eventually came forward with his story and the encounter drew national
attention. Many people derided the story as a hoax, while others believed that the teenagers
really saw something unusual. Because of the creature's resemblance to the popular depiction
of grey aliens, many UFO investigators have claimed that it could have been an extraterrestrial.
It's worth noting that there were no reports of lights in the sky during the three days
the creature was encountered.
A common theory is that what the witnesses really saw was a moose calf whose eyes were
illuminated by the car's headlights. Moose calves have a similar anatomy to what the
witnesses described, however moose didn't exist in Massachusetts at the time.
In 2006, William Bartlett gave an interview to The Boston Globe in which he claimed that
the sighting was never a hoax, that he really did see something unexplainable that night.
Other people have come forward in the years after the initial sightings claiming to have
had encounters with the Dover Demon, but whether the creature really was something out of this
world or just a local urban legend will remain a mystery for now.
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