Obscure Occurrences : Sightings of The Dover Demon

 Situated on the banks of the Charles River, roughly fifteen miles to the southwest of Boston, the small town of Dover had historically led a quiet and unassuming existence. Having produced few notable personalities and holding a large catalogue of local historical documents at its repository, the town had made little impact on the national scene. But Dover saw itself in the middle of the limelight during the easter of 1977, when a string of local teens reported haunting encounters with a strange and unnatural figure, which appeared to be stalking the fields and farmlands bordering the town. 

 These incidents would turn out to be so traumatizing that great efforts were made to document them at the time they occurred, creating a vivid and lasting profile of the entity. One which has endured decades of re-examination and investigation, cementing both the creature and the sight of its appearance firmly in the history books.

Bill's Sighting

 The first documented encounter with this unusual entity took place on the evening of the 21st of April, 1977, as three teenagers were driving home across town in a Volkswagen. The vehicle’s owner, Bill Bartlett, was giving his two friends Mike Mazzocca and Andy Brodie a lift to their respective homes. The trio had been travelling northwards along farm street when Bartlett caught sight of something straddling a low-lying stone wall, which was situated not far from the left-hand side of the road. The youth initially assumed it to be a roaming pet such as a cat or dog, but as the car drew closer, he quickly realized that it was in fact nothing of the sort. As the light shining upon it began to intensify, Bartlett was able to make out a series of horrifying features.

 Standing about three and a half feet tall and distinctly humanoid in appearance, the creature bore no resemblance to a domesticated pet. Its emaciated torso seemed far too inadequate to support the huge head which sat on top of its shoulders. Apart from a pair of large orange eyes, its face was devoid of any features. There was no fur covering its naked body, the skin of which appeared to be rough like sandpaper and was coloured somewhat like a peach.

 The bizarre entity was slowly and methodically crabbing its way across the top of the wall, its scrawny fingers curling around the stones in order to gain a sufficient grip. As the car drove by, the entity quickly faded into the darkness. With eyes that glowed with excitement, Bartlett asked his passengers if they too had seen it only to be met with confused expressions.

 Immediately after returning home, Bartlett told his father what had taken place before drawing a detailed picture of what he had seen. Unbeknownst to him, this would not be the only sketch of the creature composed that evening.

(Source: Wikimedia)

John's Sighting

 Several hours later, on the other side of the town and at the southern end of Miller Hill Road, fifteen-year-old John Baxter had also been making his way home. He had just spent several hours at his girlfriend's house and was conscious of the lateness of the hour. As he darted through the empty streets towards his destination, John caught sight of another pedestrian walking towards him from the opposite direction. Initially assuming the traveller to be a younger child due to its short stature, he had slowed his pace to investigate before the figure in front of him immediately followed suit. Due to the overcast skies and a poorly positioned streetlight, John could read very little of the person in front of him.

 Catching John off guard, the figure had turned and scurried off to the left, disappearing into a wooded gully which happened to run alongside the road. Breaking into a sprint, the fifteen-year-old gave chase, hearing the sounds of rustling leaves and snapping twigs up ahead as he began to gain ground. Seconds later, the boy found himself standing at the bottom of the gully. Quietly surveying his surroundings, he noticed an unnatural shape standing on top of a large rock off to the side of a tree, about 30 meters away.

 In the dim light, John saw a bizarre-looking creature with a pale, thin body possessing a painfully thin neck which seemed to be struggling to support its notably oversized head. The face staring back at him across the short distance was completely blank and devoid of any features, except the two dark patches where the eyes should have been. 

 Terrified that this creature may have lured him away from the town in order to attack him, John turned and ran as fast as he could, finally emerging onto the main road. A few minutes later, a passing car had slowed down to investigate. It was driven by a young couple who, concerned by the boy's emotional state, offered him a lift home.

(Source: Animal Planet)

 The image of the alleged creature which John went on to draw would be eerily similar to the one produced by Bill.

Abby's Sighting

 The next evening, Will had been on his way to drop his girlfriend, Abby Brabham, home. The couple had had an argument in a party they had been attending, before storming their way home. It had only been five minutes since they had left, but as Will had still not said anything to Abby, those five minutes had seemed like an eternity.

 Eventually, the couple reached the vicinity of Abby’s home, leaving precious few minutes for her to try and resolve the situation before being dropped off. The fifteen-year-old was still frantically trying to think of a way to break the tension when a figure squatting at the side of the road caught her attention. As the car continued to move forwards, its beaming headlights picked out a strange humanoid shape sitting on its hind limbs, staring at the approaching vehicle with its disproportionately large, almond-shaped eyes which glowed bright green in the headlights. As its features were gradually revealed by the piercing light from the high beams, Abby gasped out loud.

 As the vehicle passed only meters away from the horror, Abby screamed in fear, her sudden outburst causing Will to slam the brakes. Heeding to his girlfriend’s cries, he peered into the wing mirror of his car before seeing the red hue of the brake lights reflecting off a short, spindly figure. The creature had now risen from the side of the road for a moment, seemingly studying him before swiftly making its way into the undergrowth on the opposite side and disappearing.

Mark Sennatt's Sighting

 In the aftermath of the incidents, a local resident named Mark Sennatt would later come forward, providing details of an even older encounter with the creature. He would describe an incident in which he had been driving through the town one evening during the summer of 1972 when he had been startled by something which had run across the road in front of him. This unknown creature was notably short in stature and was running upright on two legs, possessing a pair of brightly illuminated eyes. After Mark had brought his car to a stop, he had watched the running figure reach the nearby woods, before disappearing from sight at the edge of a large pond.

Theories

 The various sketches and interpretations of the creature which would in time become known as the Dover Demon, are perhaps the most significant reason the strange series of sightings remain such an enduring mystery. The fact that the entity made no effort to approach or communicate with any of the witnesses, instead choosing to evade them on every occasion, has led many to suggest that it may have been some form of cryptid. Massachusetts possesses many areas of rugged and inaccessible terrain, largely untouched by human beings. Thus, the state has played host to a high percentage of cryptid encounters.

 Anthropologists who have studied the case have pointed out that all three of the Dover Demon encounters took place in close proximity to local water sources. This suggests that whatever the creature may have been, it is possible that it was attempting to remain close to its natural habitat.

 It has been highlighted that all the sightings took place during the hours of darkness and when plotted on a map, they appear to track in a straight line which passes directly through or across the local area. This raises the argument that whatever the witnesses observed may have been migrating or travelling in a set direction, as if the town itself may not have been of any interest to the entity.

A Sceptical Point of View

 Rational explanations for the Dover Demon are numerous. There have been suggestions that the creature observed by the teenagers may have been an orphan moose cub in possession of a very pale pelt of fur. These animals have very long and spindly legs and it has been proposed that in poor light conditions, their gait could be mistaken for a taller creature walking or running with its upper torso bent forwards. That being said, Dover does not lie anywhere near any regional moose habitats. 

 Similar hypotheses have been put forward, suggesting that the Dover Demon could have been an albino calf or some other animal, which had escaped from a local collection.

Conclusion

 Without any evidence to back up the testimonies of those involved and without a convincing enough argument to logically explain what they saw, the events of that fateful weekend in Dover remain one of America's most intriguing mysteries. With the advancement in technology, we hope that the creature would one day be filmed and the mystery would finally see a closure.

References

• "Lost Tapes: Dover Demon" Animal Planet
• "Dover Demon" Cryptozoology Crytpids