The frightening events known as the Dover Demon encounters began at 10:30 p.m. on April 21, 1977, in Dover, Massachusetts, an upscale suburb of Boston. Three teenagers, aged seventeen years old each were driving along, when one of them, Bill Bartlett, spotted "something" slinking next to a wall of stones on the west side of the street.The thing turned it's head and looked directly into the headlights of the car. Bartlett swore he saw two large, shiny eyes glowing brightly "like orange marbles." Its large oval head, which was easily as large as the rest of it's body sat atop a spindly neck. The body was lanky and long limbed and had large hands and feet. The skin was hairless and seemed to have a rough texture, not unlike sandpaper.
It was less than four feet tall, and seemed surprised by the cars head lights as it made its way next to the wall. None of the others in the car saw the creature, which was only visible for a few seconds. They did testify later that their companion seemed genuinely distraught. When Bartlett arrived home his father noted how distressed he was. Bartlett then drew a sketch of the being. At approximately 12:30 a.m. John Baxter, aged fifteen, was walking home from his girlfriends house when he noticed a short figure walking toward him. Baxter thought it was a small friend of his, and called out this friends name, but he received no answer. As they neared one another the creature stopped, and so did Baxter, who then decided to get a better look and began once again to approach the creature. This sent the being running down a shallow gully and up the opposite bank.
At the bottom of the slope he looked more closely at it. It looked unlike anything he had ever seen or heard of before in his young life. It stood in shadows about thirty feet away, its feet "molded" around some rocks upon which it was perched, a few feet from a tree. Both hands were wrapped around the trunk of the tree with very long fingers. He left the scene after that, and his description of the entity was exactly the same as Bartlett's.
The following evening, eighteen year old Will Taintor was driving fifteen year old Abby Brabham home, when Brabham said she spotted something in the vehicles headlights. On the left side of the roadway was a creature, with no hair and down on all fours, facing the vehicle. Its body was thin and monkeylike, and she also described a large, oversized oval head. She did say the eyes glowed green, and stuck to that point even when she was informed that Bartlett had said the eyes were orange. Taintor said he had only gotten a short glimpse.
Paranormal investigator Loren Coleman, who lived in the area, heard about the Bartletts experience through a mutual acquaintance. As a result, he was interviewed, along with the other witnesses by ufologists Walter Webb and Ed Fogg. They also interviewed the parents, friends, teachers, school officials and police. They found nothing to indicate a hoax, to the contrary, those who knew the witnesses considered them as credible. A local paper dubbed the creature the "Dover Demon."
It should be pointed out that Martin Kottmeyer claims that the young men and lady saw a baby moose and misidentified it. While misperception may have played a role in what they saw, it is hard to imagine mistaking a moose for the creature that they described.