Dover Demon
72Dover Demon Sightings in North America
1977 Dover Massachusetts USA: On April 21 and 22 there were sightings of a strange creature that could not be easily explained or likened to any other known animal in the Massachusetts region.
The first sighting occurred after dark and a creature was seen by 3 teenaged boys. The trio of seventeen-year-olds was driving near Dover, Massachusetts, when the headlights of their car shone on something animal-like. At first guess, the animal might have been a dog or cat, but as the youngsters gazed longer, the animal seemed to have an unfamiliar shape and appeared to be crawling on a stone wall, along Farm Street.
Bill Bartlett was the teen who was driving the car on this night, and he later said the animal had a watermelon-shaped head, orange eyes that were like glassy marbles.
Other sightings were reported soon after the three teens saw the creature.
Unfortunately, reports of the creature deemed Dover Demon have been largely discredited because the witnesses of this strange form have all been teenagers.
Not long after Bartlett allegedly saw the creature, another teen had a brief encounter with it, right on the same night. Technically the sighting occurred on April 22, because a youth, John Baxter saw the creature at half past midnight.
Baxter had been visiting his girlfriend on the evening of April 21. The 15-year old was going home when a small figure approached from some distance away. Assuming that the figure was a friend of his who was of short stature, young John Baxter called out the friend's name, but received no verbal response. The two continued to get closer to each other, but then the unknown figure stopped, so Baxter also stood still. After a moment, Baxter choose to investigate and get a better look at whoever this was exhibiting sort of secretive behavior, and he started to walk again, toward the figure. At this, the creature bolted, ran down into a gully, then back up onto the other side of the bank of the gully, but it stopped on this other side and stood still.
Baxter observed these actions and continued to peer into the shadows where the figure had paused. Baxter tried to get a better look at the figure that had just fled, and he concluded that from what he could see, that he'd never heard of or seen anything like this creature before. The creature remained in the shadows at a distance of about 30 feet away and its feet seemed molded around the rock on which it stood, while its hands were molded around the trunk of a tree. The fingers appeared greatly elongated. Baxter left the area and returned home.
The rest of Baxter's description of the creature matched the details that Bill Bartlett reported, but it appears that Baxter's experience with the creature may have been of longer duration than Bartlett's. Baxter was on foot and actually remained paused for a while in attempting to see what the unknown figure was in the dark outdoors. Bartlett had been in a moving vehicle earlier in the evening when he saw the creature.
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Dover Demon Sketch
William Bartlett Interviewed Nearly 30 Years Later by The Boston Globe
When William Bartlett was contacted and interviewed by Boston Globe correspondent, Mark Sullivan (2006), Bartlett maintained that what he saw 29 years earlier was no hoax and that he didn't fabricate the incident.
In fact, Bartlett said that the whole event had become somewhat of an embarrassment in his life - and event that followed him around and brought people forth from time to time, only to question his credibility.
Read the Boston Globe Interview with Bill Bartlett, 2006:
Decades Later, The Dover Demon Still Haunts
In this 2006 interview, Bartlett recounts that, although he never saw the creature dubbed as the "Dover Demon" again, a strange thing happened to him one year after his initial sighting of this creature.
Bartlett says that about a year after seeing the Dover Demon, he was with his girlfriend in his car. They were parked on Farm Street and suddenly heard a thump on the car. He looked outward and saw some small figure leaving the area. He found he couldn't explain this and never figured out who or what had banged on the car that night. He just wondered if he had been visited by the Dover Demon once more.
Pics and Sketches
What Do You Think?
The Dover Demon Is:
See results without votingLost Tapes (Fictional Re-creation), Topic: Dover Demon
Loren Coleman Material
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Investigator: Loren Coleman
One of the most high-profile individuals to investigate accounts involving the elusive "Dover Demon" is a man named Loren Coleman.
Mr. Coleman is not just an avid fan of unexplained events and creature sightings. He is trained in an impressive list of educational fields, including study of zoology and anthropology (through the Southern Illinois University at Carbondale Illinois), psychiatric social work (schooled in Boston), and sociological studies at the University of New Hampshire. Additionally, he undertook more training in the field of anthropology at Brandeis University in Waltham Massachusetts. He was a teacher (in New England) for over two decades, starting in the early 1980's, but is now retired from the teaching profession. He is still an active writer, lecturer, and consultant.
An excerpt of a book written by Loren Coleman and Jerome Clark and more information about Coleman can be found through following the link below:
Link: Cryptozoology A-Z by Loren Coleman and Jerome Clark
Loren Coleman is the editor of a magazine called Skeptical Inquirer which can be viewed at the following link: The Skeptical Inquirer homepage
The Skeptical Inquirer is called one of the few "antifruitcake" journals by author of The Straight Dope, Mr. Cecil Adams. If you're interested in accessing the Straight Dope online, it can be found here: The Straight Dope
Coleman still writes on the topics of folklore and popular culture, animal mysteries, cryptozoology, and on various Fortean (supernatural, occult, paranormal, psychic) subjects.
Loren and other investigators said, after doing interviews and investigations, that the Dover Demon accounts may have been - but were UNLIKELY TO HAVE BEEN products of a hoax.
That is - they couldn't rule out a hoax entirely - but felt that the teenagers who offered their stories seemed to be telling the truth and were unlikely to have been able to perform an elaborate hoax of the sort that would produce the effects of and accounts of The Dover Demon that were recorded.
This means that the mystery of The Dover Demon (what it was, how and why it showed itself) is unsolved to this day.
Loren Coleman Comments About The Dover Demon
CommentsLoading...
Curious stuff, but would love to know more :)
Very interesting story MythBuster... before actually reading your Hub, I thought it was going to be a Jersey Devil-like story. Thank you, for passing along an incounter that I am not familiar with.
Raven King - the creature in the sketch does, indeed, look a little top-heavy. He doesn't look very scary, either, according to the sketch. Maybe that is why you have called him a 'poor fella.' He doesn't LOOK like what we would expect a demon to look like.
St. James, I also thought I'd be researching about a Jersey-Devil-like entity when a friend first suggested that I build a hub around the Dover Demon. I'm still doing more research on this topic and honestly do not know what to make of things yet - but the Dover Demon is VERY interesting, indeed.
Good can't wait to read more.
can b true coz the one who has never faced the unexplained would never believe in this kinda of thing....98%true...i do believe...
Hello my name is Tatum and i am 10 years old i just saw this dover demon on animal planet.
Tatum,
Can you email me and let me know how the Animal Planet show was, where it dealt with the Dover Demon? Was there any new news about this creature? Did Animal Planet find out it's a real animal or something? This is really cool that you saw this creature on a TV show.
it wasnt a documentary it was a show called lost tapes thats where the kid tatum probably saw dover demon
the dover demon is wicked, mythbuster you gave great info helped a lot whith a report in school i did about the demon
I've been thinking of the dover demon, because one of my friends told me about it. So I looked it up and it freaked me out! So today I looked up this article about the dover demon, as it turns out, is not that scary. When I voted, I put that it's an alien. My mom agreed. I want to find out more dude!!!!! :]
Oh my gosh! What next...finding new creatures in the sea and on land all over the world. We have so much to learn still about life's creatures. Tell me more.
J Machine and K Curious, on a site/blog called "Cryptomundo" there are a few more details about the Dover Demon. One of the Cryptomundo authors is Loren Coleman, mentioned above in the hub.
COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i saw the dover demon on this show called lost tapes and when i saw it i want to learn more
Yo t-dog! Hey mythbuster! thanks for the info. I'll tell K curious. The dover demon rocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yo mythbuster!! I checked out the cryptomundo site and it's not too bad. Still thanks for the info!!!
Tatum,
I'm 10 years old too! My birthday is April 9th. Hope you all wish me a happy 11th birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Of 70 people so far to answer the poll, most think the Dover Demon was some sort of alien (34%). Thanks for participating, people!
Mythbuster,
I really think that the dover demon is like, a deformed monkey who put fur remover on. That would look really funny!
J Machine - do you really think the Dover Demon is a deformed monkey or are you just saying what you think it looks like? I hope Dover Demon wasn't using a fur remover - it was spotted a long, long time ago (over 30 years ago) and fur remover couldn't have been all that good 30 years ago!
Yes! I think that's just the way I look at the pic!
hi mythbusters i am a huge fan but do you think the dover demon is real
late last night i saw the dover demon on a show called lost tapes
Hi peeps!!!!! Hey mythbuster! how you doing? I hope you send me more info!!!!!!!!!!!
J Machine, what info, in particular are you looking for? Why aren't you signed up at Hubpages? If you were, I could send you info directly, from time to time.
If you'd like to sign up, J Machine, use the following link: http://hubpages.com/_doverdemon/hub/Dover-Demon
Or go to the top of this hub, beside the 'help' link on the farmost right and use the 'join' link.
Thanks for the link mythbuster!
Mythbuster, I know that the Dover demon might not of used hair remover, and cut of it's own tail, but that's what it looks like. t-dog said something kind of gross, when he put ''I am a one of J Machine'', when I look at that, it sounds like he's my kid, but he is totally not, he's actually 5 months younger than me. He'sin my computer class.
Mythbuster,
Can you give me more info?
J Machine, what info are you looking for? There's limited info on Dover Demon if that's what you're looking for. This "thing" was spotted only by a couple of people during the late 1970's - btw you peeps - are you reading about Dover Demon when you're supposed to be doing your computer class lessons hmmmmmmm?
Anyway - the time for researching on Dover Demon may have already come and gone because "poor research" and records seem to have been a problem back in the late 1970's when this phenomena/creature was spotted. The fact that it was seen by teenagers really sucks as far as researching goes because the teens weren't taken seriously about their sighting reports...that's the worst part of all this. These young guys may have seen something cool and extraordinary and nobody much believed them about what they saw. Check on a guy named Loren Coleman - he's done the most clean and notable research on Dover Demon, in my opinion. "Clean" because he uses good research methodology and is, well, an expert in cryptozoology and in related matters.
I hope that helps.
We don't have any computer class lessons right now. Duhhh!
Mythbuster,
sorry I said duhhhhh. I was just trying to make a point. Again, sorry!
Another interesting in depth hub!
Thank you Mythbuster!
Yep, magnoliazz, Dover Demon is a really interesting crypto-case. Do follow up, if you're interested, and check out cryptomundo .com where Loren Coleman writes. He's probably done the most (valid, methodological)investigation on Dover Demon of any investigator I've looked up. Coleman is entirely awesome.
Hey Mythbusters I read about a simular sighting in Riverside Ca. In a book called Weird Californinia, Charles Wetzel was driving home and to stop because the road was washed out, when a creature jumped out in front of the car, saw him and began clawing at the windsheild and hood,he hit the gas and ran over it and reported it to police who documented the scatches on the windsheild and hood. But when they went out to the sight were it had happened the creature was no where to be found!
What's up people on hubpages. I just found out that some guy in dover just got killed by the dover demon
Whoa, t-dog - tell us more! You're kidding - where's this info? I'm interested...
Damon1 - thanks for commenting. There are 2 Charles Wetzels who have recorded/reported strange experiences that are, as yet, unexplained.
Both experiences explained here:
yo Mythbuster it said on lost tapes that some guy got killed in dover you should watch it
yo T-dog, Lost Tapes television shows are "re-creations" of stories, findings, legends which have a writer that often embelleshes the stories. Lost Tapes are meant to be viewed as "very losely based on" whatever legend/encounter is being showcased. I will watch again but I am sure that Dover Demon crypto-find did not kill anybody.
Often, in the Lost Tapes storytelling, at least one person dies in the film but this is almost always a fabrication by the writers and show producers. ie: a "bigfoot" episode shows a female wildlife enforcement officer camped at work who has many encounters and sightings of a bigfoot. In the show, some person shows up and harrasses her - some man scares her at her camp. She kicks him out of her camp-wildlife station office and he keeps harrassing her. Suddenly, bigfoot shows up and kills him...
It LOOKS like real events due to the 'documentary flavour/style' but bigfoot did NOT save a female wildlife official... that part was made up - although I'm sure some female wildlife preservation personnel has had an encounter with or spotted, at a distance, a bigfoot creature in real life...
I have to admit, T-dog - I do watch and enjoy Lost Tapes! You have good taste in spooky television shows, in my humble opinion - however - try to check out the stories you see on Lost Tapes, okay? There is a lot of "artistic liberty" and creative writing and film-making going on with that show.
I'm watching the episode "Don't go in the Basement" right now... verraverraspooky.
yo Mythbuster it said online that the dover demon is more likely a horrible misshape animal what do you think and my cousin ask me is the dover demon is real
Hello mythbuster were are you and thanks for saying I have A spooky taste
t-dog - about the idea that Dover Demon is an animal messed up in shape...could be true but it seems really likely that back in the 1970's someone might have lost an exotic pet that nobody was used to seeing in the Massachusetts area. This might explain the very limited sightings of the creature. If exotic, a pet let loose in a strange environment probably would expire very quickly - thus - no more sightings of the creature called "Dover Demon."
Hay mythbuster do you think it is some type of dog cat what
Mythbuster if the Dover demon could fight any monster who would it be
T-dog, I don't really think Dover Demon was a dog or cat. Descriptions don't tell of anything that resembles a domestic animaal.
I think it would be cool for Dover Demon to fight a leprechaun lol Probably the leprechaun wouldn't hurt it but would just scare Dover Demon away. Dover Demon has never been reported to have attacked anything or anyone. I'm not sure Dover Demon would fight monsters, so I picked a leprechaun lol
Yo mythbuster what lerechan the one in horrer films or a cute one looking for gold
T-dog... a cute leprechaun looking for a pot of gold. :)
I thought you mentthe one from the horrer movie. What about clucky
I ment chucky
Hello anyone there
Hey T-dog! I think Chucky would kick DDemon's butt.
But what if he gangs up with a chupacabra
Well, T-dog, there ya might have an idea! Dover Demon would make a cool decoy/distraction partner if teamed up with chupacabra... I think chupacabra would be the kick-butt half of the pair and then they may have a chance against another monster. I just don't think Dover Demon is a really good fighter.
What other partner do you think should gang up with
T-dog, I think it would be cool if Dover Demon teamed up with INDRID COLD!!
godzilla vs the dover demon who wood win
I have just recently moved to Mass from NC and caught the program on Animal Planet this week about the Dover Demon. I found it to be interesting and I am trying to find more information about this
I happen to be a public servant near Dover, and after watching the lost tapes, I can safely confirm that the individuals in that tape are probably not dead. Seeing as their are no police reports documenting any homicides, or missing persons report within dover, or evidence found of anything happening in the woods that night. Besides if their was, i prob would have been looking for the bodies.
FD, thanks for stopping by to read and comment. I know I watched the Lost Tapes Dover Demon episode quite a while ago but I will go review it again to refresh my memory.
I find that Lost Tapes is one of the more confusing shows around. Pairing fictional found-footage/docu-drama style film-making with interviews from experts in the sciences or authors of science-fiction books causes a lot of people to believe the "found footage" is real.
I have never read anything by cryptozoologist, Loren Coleman, or anyone else that says anyone was ever hurt by Dover Demon.
Raven King 3 years ago
The Dover Demon would have to walk very carefully since his head probably weighs more than the rest of his body. Poor fella.