Jump to content
Join the Unexplained Mysteries community today! It's free and setting up an account only takes a moment.
- Sign In or Create Account -

What was the Dover Demon?


Dover Demon

Recommended Posts

For those unfamiliar with it, here is a link.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dover_Demon

The Dover Demon has always fascinated me because I have never heard any indication that the witnesses knew each other, at least not well enough to let the other in on a hoax; and if it was a hoax, why make it something so unlike any other urban legend out there? Also, the Cree Indians have had a creature in their folklore for centuries called the Mannegishi, which are said to live near the water, climb over rock ledges and tip over canoes. They were said to be humanoid with lanky limbs, big heads, and to lack a nose and mouth. I cannot help but feel something is amiss.

Edited by Dover Demon
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 
  • 2 weeks later...

I did some research into this topic myself.

Despite the creature's similarities to "Grey aliens" that alien abductees often describe, there were no UFO sightings anywhere in the vicinity directly before, during, or after the creature was sighted. What's more, the Bridgewater triangle area that Loren Coleman came up with to describe a large section of Massachusetts that is plagued by UFO, Bigfoot, giant snake, thunderbird, black helicopter, and ghost sightings is south of Dover. The two witnesses of the creature (William Bartlett and John Baxter) only saw it for a couple of seconds. Bartlett saw it on the side of the road as he drove past, an encounter that couldn't have lasted for more than 3 seconds. Baxter only saw the creature's silhouette coming towards him before it ran to some trees and stood upright. This encounter was the longest of the three, and it took place in the middle of the night. The last sighting of the creature was the next night. Will Taintor was driving a friend home when she spotted the creature. The girl, Abby Brabham, reported that the creature's eyes shone green when the car's headlights hit it. Even when she found out that Bartlett, the witness from the night before, had reported that the creature's eyes shoen orange, not green, she still stuck to her story. She described the creature as being on all fours and hairless.The encounter only lasted a couple of seconds.

Skeptics of the Dover Demon sightings often cite a baby moose as the explanation for the creature. Here's a picture of a baby moose illustrating how it could have been the Dover Demon:

moose.jpg

There is a problem with this theory however. Here's a quote from the Massachusetts.gov website concerning the state's moose population: " Moose have been absent from the state from the early 1700's. As recently as the 1970's a moose sighting was considered a rare sight." Female moose become pregnant in late September or October, and give birth in spring. The Dover Demon sightings occurred on April 21 and April 22, 1977. There is a page on theheartofnewengland.com about how to avoid hitting moose while on the road. It says that moose, "are also unafraid of headlights and unlike deer, won’t run from an approaching vehicle, even if you honk the horn because moose rarely respond to danger by fleeing, but prefer to stand their ground -- even in the face of a fast- approaching vehicle." That explains why the "Demon" was simply standing on the side of the road in the first and last sightings. In Baxter's sighting, the creature stood upright and gripped a tree. Since Baxter only saw the creature's silhouette, he never actually saw "fingers" gripping the tree trunk. He could have just as easily seen a baby moose leaning against a tree. Maybe it was feeding on the leaves up above it.

In conclusion, while moose were rare during the time the sightings took place, it is still possible that the Dover Demon was just a baby moose. The behavior of the animal and the time of year both verify this. In my opinion, the creature was just a baby moose that was either orphaned or separated from its parents.

 

 

Edited by SilverWendigo
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Moose are real d**** and cause all kinds of problems. I would blame this on a moose simply because that's something a durned moose would do.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

First thing that comes to my mind is mange. Maybe a very starved mangy bear.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Calm down folks it was just a mass hallucination caused by swamp gas reflecting off of Venus. Now if you would please look here at this light 

 

men-in-black-neuralyzer.jpg

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

So, the Dover demon could be nothing more than some kind of a moose or deer! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 weeks later...

I've always thought it must be something alien or inter-dimensional. I guess I could get behind a mid-identification theory if it wasn't for how the witnesses described it having hands with fingers, which no wild animal aside from an ape would have. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, fae-sidhe said:

I've always thought it must be something alien or inter-dimensional. I guess I could get behind a mid-identification theory if it wasn't for how the witnesses described it having hands with fingers, which no wild animal aside from an ape would have. 

Except they were all scared, it was dark, they were in moving vehicles, and all admit that they didn't see it clearly. A baby moose is still the best explanation, since it matches every other description beyond the "hands."

Edited by Podo
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Agreed none of them saw it clearly, but they did all mention hand-like appendages, which can't be explained by the baby moose theory. I would suggest ape, but the hairless factor seems to throw doubt on that, and indeed any kind of mammal with fur. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

36 minutes ago, fae-sidhe said:

Agreed none of them saw it clearly, but they did all mention hand-like appendages, which can't be explained by the baby moose theory. I would suggest ape, but the hairless factor seems to throw doubt on that, and indeed any kind of mammal with fur. 

Except, again, you're ignoring that they were in moving vehicles, didn't get a good look at the thing, and were all in elevated levels of fear and stress. Those factors mess with memories and perceptions. The baby moose theory explains everything BUT the hand reports, which can easily be attributed to a compromised mental state brought on by the aforementioned elevated stress levels. Or, there could have been vines or roots on the ground at the moose's feet that looked like fingers in dim light to a scared individual. You can continue to fight it, but the dover demon being a moose or another form of misidentified wildlife is still the most logical explanation. But, by all means continue trying to squeeze juice from a rock.

Edited by Podo
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.