Sasquatch Chronicles Blog

The Dover Demon is a cryptid, first reported in Dover, Massachusetts, in 1977. The sightings occurred over the course of a few nights in April 1977, primarily by teenagers who reported seeing the creature on bridges and along roadsides. It seemed to move awkwardly, almost like it was climbing or hopping.

No physical evidence, like footprints or photos, was ever definitively linked to it, though sketches were made based on witness descriptions.

It’s described as a small, humanoid creature with some very distinctive features:

• Height: About 3–4 feet tall
• Head: Large, bulbous, and almost glowing in appearance
• Eyes: Huge, glowing or reflective, often described as orange or amber
• Skin: Smooth, hairless, and usually light orange or peach-colored
• Limbs: Long, thin arms and fingers, giving it a spindly, alien-like look

The First Sighting – April 21, 1977

It’s just after 10:30 PM on a chilly spring night in Dover, Massachusetts. Seventeen-year-old Bill Bartlett is driving along Farm Street with two friends. The headlights sweep across a crumbling stone wall on the side of the road, then something catches his eye.

At first he thinks it’s a dog or maybe a cat, but then his stomach drops.
Perched on the wall is a pale, spindly creature, no bigger than a child but with a huge, round head—almost out of proportion to its body. Its eyes glow orange in the headlights. The thing’s skin is hairless and peach-colored, almost like wet sandpaper.

It turns its head slowly toward the car, staring right at him. Bartlett later said the look on its face wasn’t aggressive, but alien—utterly unlike anything he’d ever seen. In a flash, the creature scrambled down the wall on long fingers and vanished into the trees.

The Second Sighting – Just Hours Later

Around midnight, about a mile away, fifteen-year-old John Baxter is walking home from his girlfriend’s house. He notices a small figure walking toward him in the dark. Assuming it’s a kid from town, he calls out but the figure doesn’t answer.

As it comes closer, Baxter realizes it isn’t a person. The creature stops, staring, then scurries down into a gully by a brook. Trying to be brave, Baxter follows, but at the edge of the ravine he stops. In the dim light he can see it clearly now: a spindly-bodied creature crouched on a rock, its long fingers gripping like a spider, its large head tilted. He backs away, his heart racing, and runs.

The Third Sighting – The Next Night

The following evening, seventeen-year-old Abby Brabham is riding in a car with her boyfriend on Springdale Avenue when she sees a strange figure crouched on the roadside. She describes it later as “monkey-like but with no nose, just huge glowing eyes” and a strange orange-tan color.

Aftermath

All three groups of witnesses give very similar descriptions independently. Bartlett, a skilled artist, sketches what he saw immediately after the incident. His drawing has since become the iconic image of the Dover Demon—a thin, child-sized creature with a massive, featureless head and glowing eyes.

No one ever reports seeing it again after those two nights. No tracks or fur are found. To this day, no one knows if it was a misidentified animal, an escaped exotic pet, an alien visitor, or something stranger.