470 | The Demon of Dover Massachusetts

• Only In Your State - https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/massachusetts/dover-demon-ma/

• The Register Citizen - https://www.registercitizen.com/news/article/TWISTED-HISTORY-The-Dover-Demon-12106167.php

• Milford Daily News - https://www.milforddailynews.com/story/news/2005/05/08/what-exactly-was-dover-demon/41187738007/

• Chowdaheadz - https://www.chowdaheadz.com/blogs/news/new-england-myths-legends-the-dover-demon

• All That’s Interesting - https://allthatsinteresting.com/dover-demon

• Exemplore - https://exemplore.com/cryptids/The-Mystery-of-the-Dover-Demon

• Loren Coleman - http://www.lorencoleman.com/books.html

• MUFON - https://mufon.com/

• NEUFOR - https://www.neufor.com/

• APRO - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerial_Phenomena_Research_Organization

Almost five decades ago, a small Massachusetts town was thrust into the paranormal spotlight when several of its residents encountered a terrifying creature they couldn’t comprehend. It’s a story that has captured people’s imaginations ever since, and spurred numerous researchers and news outlets to investigate the bizarre reports. But was it merely a hoax, or was it in fact a sinister creature that we have yet to explain? A creature most famously known as, The Dover Demon.

The State of Massachusetts has a rich history of unexplained phenomena, which involves sightings of Sasquatch, Dogman, and Fae Folk. Some eyewitnesses have even told stories of seeing giant prehistoric birds gliding high above the trees. But for many folks, these tales pale in comparison to a string of encounters that took place during the 1970s, and brought notoriety to a small and unsuspecting location within the Commonwealth.

Incorporated in 1836, and located just 25 miles southwest of downtown Boston, sits the small, idyllic town of Dover, Massachusetts. Nestled on the banks of the Charles River, Dover provides a safe, and serene escape from the hustle and bustle of city life. The town offers its residents numerous recreational options, as well as some of the most majestic landscapes the East Coast has to offer.

In many ways, Dover is the quintessential small New England town, however its excellent schools, and low crime rate, aren’t exactly what put it on the map. In fact, many would agree that it was actually a young man by the name of William Bartlett who, in the Spring of 1977, would have a first hand encounter with the unknown. An encounter that made him question everything he thought he knew. This would be the catalyst that brought Dover into the public eye, and turned this quiet Boston suburb into a world wide icon for enthusiasts of the unexplained.

April 21^st, 1977. 10:30pm. A gentle southwesterly breeze envelopes the Dover countryside, bringing the already mild Spring night down to a comfortable 65 degrees. William is driving his Volkswagen north on Farm Street, a four mile stretch of country road on the outskirts of Dover. William is accompanied by his friends Andy Brodie, and Mike Mazzocca, who he is giving a ride back to their homes. This particular stretch of roadway, like most others in the area, is surrounded by beautiful rolling hills, and dense, dark woodlands.

The three seventeen year-olds are enjoying their evening drive, and reminiscing about their day, but as the boys continue on to their destinations, they approach a bend in the road, and William sees something. Initially he believes it to be a dog or maybe a cat off to the left-hand side of the road. However, something about the way it moves along a low rock wall makes William uncomfortable, and causes him to look closer. This is when his headlights begin to more fully illuminate the bizarre entity, revealing several disturbing features.

At this point it becomes all too clear that this is not a normal animal, or at least nothing that William has ever seen before. Whatever this thing is, it has a body structure that doesn’t make sense. It looks humanoid, but appears to only be about three to three and a half feet tall, and seems to be completely devoid of hair.

It’s arms, torso, and legs are extremely thin, and William describes the creature’s skin as being light peach in color, and looking similar to the texture of wet sand paper. He also describes it has having “a baby’s body with long arms and legs”. Even stranger is it’s large misshapen head which clumsily sits upon it’s bony shoulders, and houses two massive orange eyes, which William says looks like “two orange marbles”.

Captivated by what he saw, William continues driving around the curve, trying to focus his attention back on the road. It’s at this point that he loses sight of the mysterious creature, and nervously mentions it to his friends, only to learn that neither Andy or Mike had seen it. William would later say this regarding his brief, yet terrifying, experience:

"I really flew after I saw it. I took that corner at 45, which is pretty fast. I said to my friends, 'Did you see that?' And they said, 'Nah, describe it.' I did and they said, 'Go back. Go back!' And I said, 'No way. No way.' When you see something like that, you don't want to stand around and see what it's going to do. They finally got me to go back, and Mike was leaning out of the window yelling, 'Come on, creature!' And I was saying, 'Will you cut that out!'. Andy was yelling, 'I want to see you!'"

Despite Andy and Mike’s best, and somewhat audacious efforts, the strange miniature humanoid doesn’t make a second appearance, and the three boys eventually continue back into town. After dropping his friends off, William decides to head home, but can’t shake the unsettling image of what he saw. Moments later he arrives at his house, and immediately his father knows that something isn’t quite right. This is when William decides to tell his father exactly what he encountered, and later produces a drawing of the odd creature that he witnessed.

Now you might say that William Bartlett’s encounter is easily explained as a misidentification or even a hoax, but this is where the story gets even stranger. Enter 15 year old Dover resident, John Baxter.

Later that same night, at around 12am, and approximately 2 miles southwest of downtown Dover, John Baxter was getting ready to head home after visiting his girlfriend, Cathy Cronin. John was already a bit apprehensive, as he should have been home a couple of hours earlier, and wasn’t looking forward to the reprimanding that he would undoubtedly receive. Not to mention the dark empty streets that he would have to travel at such a late hour of the night.

Reluctantly, the young couple say their goodbyes, and John makes his way to the end of Cathy’s driveway, eventually stepping out onto the south end of Miller Hill Road, to begin his lonely walk home. Miller Hill is a quiet, heavily forested residential street that dead ends to the North at Farm Street. This was a familiar route that John had taken many times before, but on this particular night, his journey would prove to be anything but ordinary.

Heading North on Miller Hill, he makes his way down the dark and desolate road, with only the occasional street lamp to guide his way, as the cloudy sky is now covering the moonlight. Although hesitant to get home, John knows that he needs to hurry, so for the next thirty minutes or so, he anxiously travels down the narrow lane, quietly passing the occasional houses nearby.

But then, John notices something coming toward him in the darkness, and walking from the direction in which he is traveling. It appears to be another person, but he can’t make out the details. As it continues to draw closer though, John can tell that the silhouette is smaller than an average adult, so he assumes it’s a small child. Unfortunately though, the closest street lamp is a good distance away, and offers little help in illuminating this unknown figure.

As the two continue to approach one another, their paces slow, and it’s then that John believes this could be one of his friends, named M.G., who also lives on Miller Hill Rd. As this thought enters John’s mind, he calls out, “M.G. is that you?” But the figure doesn’t respond. It simply stops walking, and remains motionless. Unsettled by the entities reaction, John stops walking as well, trying desperately to make out the slightest detail. He then nervously asks, “Who is that?”, while simultaneously taking a step forward in the hopes of seeing the shadowy figure more clearly.

It’s at this very moment, and without warning, that the mysterious entity abruptly turns to its right, John’s left, and runs down into a heavily wooded gully, and up the other side. John can clearly hear the sound of frantic footsteps, as the being runs through the dry leaves.

Both confused and curious, John decides to investigate further, and immediately follows the entity into the woods, sprinting down the shallow gully, up the embankment, and heading deeper into the treeline. Hearing twigs snapping in the nearby brush, he pauses to inspect the dark forest in front of him. But although the woodlands had now gone silent, John knows that he is most definitely not alone.

Straining to make out anything in the inky blackness, Baxter’s eyes eventually begin to adjust, and he then notices an odd silhouette looming approximately 30 yards away. As his mind races, the clouds above him begin to part, gradually illuminating the forest floor, and revealing more details of the small humanoid. John can now clearly see that this is definitely not his friend, in fact, it’s not even human, and it has unnatural features that chill Baxter to his core.

This bizarre creature stands motionless with its feet molded upon a large rock. It’s body appearing thin, emaciated, and in many ways resembling that of a primate. However, John would later describe its head as looking like a figure eight, that was dark in color, and much too large for its body. As he stands frozen, trying to make sense of what he’s seeing, the creature silently stares back at John with large emotionless eyes that seem to emit, or reflect, some type of light.

At this point, the curiosity that initially filled Baxter’s mind begins to fade, and in its place, an unimaginable fear takes hold. The creature’s stare begins to feel menacing, and without thinking, John starts to slowly back away out of the wood line, and up the slope leading to the edge of the road. With no sign of the creature following him, John quickly walks North toward the intersection of Miller Hill Rd and Farm Street, and eventually encounters two local residents who happen to be driving by.

As the couple approach John, they come to a stop, and ask if he needs help. John begins to answer them, but his distress, and confusion, becomes obvious, and they offer him a ride home. John gladly accepts, eager to put as much distance as possible between himself, and this bizarre encounter.

In the hours that followed his terrifying experience, John Baxter would draw a picture of the small humanoid that he witnessed. And although neither of the two boys had spoken about their ordeals, John’s sketch would depict a hideous creature that was almost identical to the entity that William Bartlett had drawn that very same night.

The following evening, at around Midnight, a friend of William Bartlett, 18 year-old Will Taintor, was driving his girlfriend, Abby Brabham, back to her house. Their route took them through the country down Springdale Avenue, a quiet road that runs between downtown Dover to the East, and connects with Farm St about ¾ of a mile to the West. The couple had just left a nearby party, and were still upset over an argument they had a few minutes earlier. Neither of them knew exactly what to say, which caused an awkward silence to fill the car, and leave both of them on edge.

As the events of the evening continue to replay in her mind, Abby quietly stares off into the distance, and this is when something pulls her attention to the side of the road. It looks like some type of animal that’s hunched over or squatting, but something about it captivates her, and as they draw closer, Abby realizes that it appears to be watching them approach. At this point, Will hasn’t noticed the odd shape that’s drawing Abby’s attention, as he too, was still distracted by their earlier disagreement.

As their headlights begin to more fully illuminate the roadside ahead, and this unknown shape gets closer, Abby shrieks in horror, snapping Will out of his daze. At this moment it becomes clear that what she initially thought was an animal, is something altogether different, and as they pass it, she points toward the side of the road, and yells at Will to look.

Confused, Will’s first reaction is to step on the brakes, and with Abby now frantically screaming and pointing toward the rear of the car, he looks at his driver side mirror, and sees something small standing on two legs. With the only light source coming from the cars brake lights, it’s difficult to tell what he’s looking at, but he knows it’s definitely not an animal, and he would later describe the strange creature as having tan colored skin, and an over sized head. It all happened so fast that he wasn’t able to see any additional details, but Abby on the other hand had seen enough to know that whatever it was, they needed to get as far away from it as possible.

For a moment, they pause to observe the odd creature as it lingers motionless in the road behind them, knowing full well they should leave. And for several seconds it appears to be just as interested in them, but without warning, it abruptly dashes across the road and out of sight. This, understandably, startles the young couple, and Abby, still hysterical, yells at Will to get them out of there, to which he happily obliges. They continue driving the rest of there way home without incident, forgetting all about their initial quarrel, and eager to put this terrifying night behind them.

Eventually, all three sightings were reported to the police, and during the investigation, all four witnesses were asked separately to draw the creature they saw. Every drawing showed similarities, with the most major exception being that Abby Brabham insisted that the creature’s eyes were green. William Bartlett however, noted on his drawing that the creature’s eyes were orange, and said that he would swear on a stack of Bibles that this was the creature he saw.

On April 28, prominent Cryptozoologist, Loren Coleman, who was living in the neighboring town of Needham, visits the Dover Country Store where a store employee, Melody Fryer, tells him about Bartlett's sighting and sketch. She promises to get Coleman a copy, and two days later provides him with two drawings. The next day Coleman interviews Bartlett. On May 3 he questions Baxter and Brabham, and on the 5^th he talks with Taintor.

After the interviews, Coleman asks Walter Webb of the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization, Joseph Nyman of the Mutual UFO Network, and Ed Fogg of the New England UFO Study Group to join the investigation. Although none of the witnesses had reported seeing a UFO in connection with the Dover Demon, the ufologists were struck by the creature's apparent resemblance to humanoid beings sometimes associated with UFOs.

After an extensive investigation, all four of the investigators concluded that while it was possible that it could have been a hoax, they didn’t believe this was the case. There was nothing in the witnesses' backgrounds to suggest they might be pranksters, and much to suggest that they were honest, upright individuals. This sentiment was also shared by many other Dover residents who knew the teens well.

Walter Webb would also go on to say this, "None of the four was on drugs or drinking at the time of his or her sighting so far as we were able to determine.... None of the principals in this affair made any attempt to go To The Newspapers or police to publicize their claims. Instead, the sightings gradually leaked out. Finally, the teenagers' own parents, the high school principal, the science instructor and other adults in Dover whose comments were solicited didn't believe the Dover Demon was a fabrication, implying the youths did indeed see 'something.'”

Loren Coleman would also add that the area in which the Dover Demon was sighted already had a history of unexplained activity. “In the same area, you had three major legends going on, including a sighting of the devil on horseback in the 1600s, stories of buried treasure, and then the Dover Demon. I think it certainly says something. It’s almost as if there are certain areas that ‘collect’ sightings, almost in a magnetic way.”

In 2006, William Bartlett was interviewed by Mark Sullivan of the Boston Globe in an article titled “Decades later, the Dover Demon still haunts.” In it, Bartlett describes how he continues to stick to his story, even to his own detriment. He is quoted as saying, “In a lot of ways it’s kind of embarrassing to me. I definitely saw something. It was definitely weird. I didn’t make it up. Sometimes I wish I had.”

During the interview, Bartlett also described another incident that happened a year later. He said that while sitting in a parked car with his girlfriend, the two heard a thump. When Bartlett looked to see if he could find the cause of the noise, he saw a small figure leaving. He said it was possibly a prank, but he didn’t know for sure.

In the same article, Sullivan also mentioned that in 1972, just five years before Bartlett’s sighting, a man by the name of Mark Sennott swore that he saw a creature with glowing or reflective eyes lurking in the woods near Springdale Avenue. The very same road where Abby Brabham and Will Taintor had their encounter. “We saw a small figure, deep in the woods, moving at the edge of the pond. We could see it moving in the headlights, but we didn’t know what it was.”

So, what was the Dover Demon? Well, we really don’t know. Many skeptics actually believe that it was a baby moose. However, many disagree with this theory, and point out that it was the wrong time of year for a moose that small to be wandering around, not to mention that Massachusetts isn’t typically a moose’s natural habitat. In response to this, it has alternatively been suggested that the Dover Demon could have been an orange-furred orphan calf, a foal, a monkey, or even a dog.

Alternatively, some believers say that the Dover Demon was some type of mutated animal or an escaped experiment, though where this animal might have escaped from is generally not expanded upon. Then there’s the obvious E.T. explanation, no doubt due to the fact that the Dover Demon is generally described as looking similar to a gray alien. However, many have pointed out that there were no reported UFO sightings in the area at the time, but whether or not this invalidates the whole alien theory, is yet to be determined.

This coming April will mark 49 years since the Dover Demon stalked the forests and country roads surrounding Dover Massachusetts, and it would seem that we’re no closer to solving this mystery today than we were almost 5 decades ago. Maybe it’s because it was just a well coordinated hoax, orchestrated by four teenagers that were looking to bring a little excitement to an otherwise quiet town. Or maybe there truly was something unexplainable lurking on the outskirts of Dover, and if so, where did it go, or is it possibly still dwelling somewhere in the commonwealth. If it is, perhaps someone listening has more information regarding the Demon of Dover Massachusetts.

Perhaps that someone is you.

I hope you enjoyed tonight’s episode, and if you’d like to submit your experience, or learn more about supporting what I do, you can find all my contact, and support information in the show notes, and at paranormalmysteriespodcast.com.

Until next time, thank you so much for listening, and please remember:

Don’t wait for the unknown to come to you… Get out there and find it.