The Dover Demon story and possible previously unrecorded sighting

The so called Dover Demon encounters began at 10:30 p.m. on April 21, 1977, in Dover, Massachusetts. Three teenagers, aged seventeen years old were driving along, when one of them, Bill Bartlett, spotted "something" slinking next to a wall of stones on the west side of the street. The thing turned it's head and looked directly into the headlights of the car. Bartlett swore he saw two large, shiny eyes glowing brightly "like orange marbles." Its large oval head, which was easily as large as the rest of it's body sat atop a spindly neck. The body was lanky and long limbed and had large hands and feet. The skin was hairless and seemed to have a rough texture, not unlike sandpaper. It was about four feet tall, and seemed surprised by the cars head lights as it made its way next to the wall. None of the others in the car saw the creature, which was only visible for a few seconds. They did testify later that their companion seemed genuinely distraught. When Bartlett arrived home his father noted how distressed he was. Bartlett then drew a sketch of the being.

Then at approximately 12:30 a.m. John Baxter, aged fifteen, was walking home from his girlfriends house when he noticed a short figure walking toward him. Baxter thought it was a small friend of his, and called out this friends name, but he received no answer. As they neared one another the creature stopped, and so did Baxter, who then decided to get a better look and began once again to approach the creature. This sent the being running down a shallow gully and up the opposite bank. At the bottom of the slope he looked more closely at it. It looked unlike anything he had ever seen or heard of before in his young life. It stood in shadows about thirty feet away, its feet "molded" around some rocks upon which it was perched, a few feet from a tree. Both hands were wrapped around the trunk of the tree with very long fingers. He left the scene after that, and his description of the entity was exactly the same as Bartlett's.

The following evening, eighteen year old Will Taintor was driving fifteen year old Abby Brabham home, when Brabham said she spotted something in the vehicles headlights. On the left side of the roadway was a creature, with no hair and down on all fours, facing the vehicle. Its body was thin and monkeylike, and she also described a large, oversized oval head. She did say the eyes glowed green, and stuck to that point even when she was informed that Bartlett had said the eyes were orange. Taintor said he had only gotten a short glimpse.
Bartlett, Baxter, Brabham, and Traintor all drew sketches of the monstrous sight shortly after their sightings. On the piece of paper that includes Bartlett's sketch, he wrote "I, Bill Bartlett, swear on a stack of Bibles that I saw this creature."

The witnesses have stood by their testimony ever since. "It's a thing that's been following me for years," Bartlett said in a 2006 interview. "Not the creature - the story. I wish it was seen again so everyone would know it was true."

It should be noted that for centuries the Cree tribe of the indigenous people of the area talked about a race of creatures called: 'Mannegishi'. They describe the mannegishi as semi-humanoid, with very thin and lanky arms and legs and big heads minus a nose and mouth, similar to the description of the 'Dover Demon'.

There is an interesting article here about the sightings written long after :

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/04/22/demon_bewitches_still_30_years_later/

There is a blog here with links to the photos of what is claimed to be a similar creature seen more recently.

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread121391/pg1 picture of similar creature 2004

And then I came across this posting in a forum:

http://www.topix.com/forum/city/needham-ma/T5S496B39SAV3FDP1

I grew up in Dover and I have seen the Demon. I can't say what it was but I can only tell you that it was nothing I have ever seen before. I was driving home from a friend's house in Holliston at about 11:00 PM after hanging out, talking about school and the girls we wanted to hook up with. There were no drugs or alcohol in my system. As I turned onto Woodland Rd. off of Rte. 16 I was shocked and startled by 3 black crows that flew right in front of my windshield, pretty odd for 11:00. I composed myself and continued driving. I took back roads to Bridge St. in Sherborn to get to Farm St. in Dover. After I went around the hairpin turn (anyone from the area knows the turn) and began to go over the bridge to cross the Charles River I noticed a dark shadowy object move swiftly from the woods to the center of the road where it stopped. It turned its large round head towards me slowly and glared at me with giant round eyes about the size of tennis balls. It stood on 4 legs and was completely hairless. It had no tail either and was the size of a huge dog i.e. Great Dane but much stockier. It had triangle shaped ears and a snickered snout that reminded me of some drawings I have seen in history books on the devil. I came to a stop and starred it down for a good 5 seconds before it slowly turned its head and swiftly disappeared into the woods to my right. I have no idea what it was but I do know it was not a dog or coyote or anything I have ever seen before.

Evan Walsh July 30^th. Dover, MA

So what did they see? There have been suggestions from a baby moose to a calf , but what ever it was has stayed a part of the areas folklore now for over 30 years.