It seems when it comes to the paranormal, we look to the experiences of others with a sort of mythological mentality. The temporary shock and confusion of a few witnesses becomes almost envious for those of us who wish to ourselves better understand the strange nature of the universe we live in. We read over the experiences of others, hoping to glimpse some feeling of revelation – some semblance of expectation for when we inevitably ourselves face worlds beyond this one. And one of the most paranormal classic tales is that of the so called “Dover Demon.” The tale is a textbook example of a paranormal phenomena that is later corroborated by several witnesses.
It all began on the 21st of April in 1977 half past ten in Dover, Massachusetts when a group of teenagers were driving through an area of fields and trees sparsely populated here and there by houses. The boys were Bill Bartlett and his friends, Mike and Andy. The headlights of the vehicle illuminated something strange on the road, first thought to be a normal animal such as a stray dog or a cat. What they soon realized, however, was that this creature was simply beyond conventional classification.
Its head was massive, peach colored, and set with two orange eyes that glittered “like two orange marbles.” The creature’s skin was likewise a peach hue, and rough in texture from the look of it. It was somewhere between three and four feet tall, and hunched over as it clung to the nearby rocks. As they drove within 20 feet and suddenly passed the creature, Billy asked if any of the passengers had seen the creature, but they hadn’t. When Bill explained the creature he had just seen, the others wanted to investigate. But Bill was terrified of the mysterious figure and they drove off.
But that wasn’t the only encounter someone would have with the Dover Demon that night. John Baxter, a fifteen year old returning from his girlfriend’s house was walking down a street no more than a mile away from the previous encounter. Suddenly, he saw something walking on the other side of the road. It was a figure of the exact appearance as the creature seen by Bill Bartlett. The creature was walking toward him in the shadows, but something about it made John call out, demanding to know who it was. Suddenly it scuttled into the nearby woods. Shaken, John walked up to see where the creature was standing near a tree. It stood and looked at him clutching the side of the trunk and they stood there watching each other. The eyes glowed orange like two flashing marbles, but John could make out no further details of the creature. Frightened, John walked quickly away from the scene.
The sightings continued, and migrated to Pennsylvania where one eleven year old in the woods with his friends grabbed the creature after spotting it, only to drop it later as it made horrible screams. It quickly sprinted for a drainpipe and vanished. Since then Dover Demon sightings are less common, but the memories still haunt those who witnessed the creatures’ presence. Still others wonder what it could have possibly been.
Some have speculated that the creature could have been a diseased chimpanzee, others have said the only explanation that fit’s the description is a sort of extra-dimensional visitor. Still others claim aliens are a likely culprit. Regardless of its source, however, one can easily see that it soon found itself forever caught up in the mythology of the paranormal forever.