It was April 21, 1977 and three 17-year-olds discovered a frightening creature alongside a road as they were traveling north through a suburb of Boston: Dover, Massachusetts. It was about 10:30 at night and one of the boys exclaimed that there was something odd that was located close to a low wall comprised of loose stones, which was on the left side of the road.
The main witness, Bill Bartlett, stated that the creature turned its head, meeting the glare of the car’s headlights. He then claimed to have seen two, large, round, lidless eyes with a glassy appearance. He described them as “shining brightly” and resembling “orange marbles.” He went on to give details of the creature including that:
It had a large head that was shaped like a watermelon, which was connected to a thin neck.
The creature’s body was thin.
It had large hands and large feet.
It had long, thin arms and legs.
It was hairless with peach-colored skin, which looked as if it was as rough as sandpaper.
It stood at four-feet tall.
Bartlett stated that when he saw the creature, it was slowly moving about the wall, gripping the rocks with its long fingers. It was the lights from the cars that gave it a scare. He claimed that the creature was only visible for a few seconds and neither one of his friends caught sight of it. When Bartlett reached his home, he confided in his father what he had saw, where he then created a sketch of the creature from the boy’s description.
Another sighting involved a pedestrian returning home from his girlfriend’s house. Jon Baxter, 15, reported that a weird, short individual was walking towards him at about 12:30 am. At first, he thought it was one of his friends, so he called out his name. Nothing was said in return. The figure kept inching its way towards him, stopping some distance in front of Baxter. Baxter ceased walking, then after some time, took a step forward to see what was in front of him. This is when he reports that the creature took off running, disappearing into a wooded gully.
Down the slope, Baxter was in hot pursuit, stopping to catch a glance of it across the gully. This is when he caught sight of the creature, which he described as being something he had never seen before in his life. Its silhouette could be seen at about 30 feet away from him. He then described the creature as standing on top of a rock, clutching to the side of a tree with his fingers wrapped around it. Baxter’s description would turn out to be the exact same as Bartlett’s.
The creature was also spotted by one of Bartlett’s friends who was driving a friend home. The creature was once again sighted by the headlights of a car. The passenger in the car claimed to have seen a creature crouched on all fours. It was facing the car and was hairless with a large head. It was described as resembling a monkey of some sort. The difference between the passenger’s descriptions was that she insisted that the eyes of the creature glowed green. When investigators told her that another witness claimed that the eyes were orange, she stuck to her story that the eyes were green and glowing.
Many researchers conducted various interviews regarding the witnesses, including school officials and police officers. They were trying to establish the credibility of those involved and concluded that there was no evidence dealing with an attempted hoax. The creature was later named by the newspaper, as the Dover Demon.