The Cryptid Zoo: The Dover Demon

The Dover demon is a small humanoid reported from Massachusetts. It was the subject of an intensive scare during the 1970s, when multiple witnesses came forward with their sightings. The Dover demon is described as looking sort of like the "gray" variety of alien, except that it has skin of a rosy orange instead of sickly gray. The Dover demon has a large head on a small, stick-like body. It can be bipedal, but it often travels on all fours or switches back and forth between the two modes of locomotion. It has eyes that glow, sometimes orange, sometimes green. It does not seem to wear any clothing, unless the clothing fits tightly and is the same color as its body. Unlike the grays, the Dover demon does not seem to be associated with UFOs. It just wanders around on its own.

Cryptozoologists seldom show interest in the Dover demon. First of all, mainstream cryptozoologists are rarely willing to seriously investigate humanoids other than hairy humanoids. Also, it seems that sightings only happened during a short time period, with most claiming that sightings have now ceased, so the Dover demon does not seem to be a pressing matter.

The Dover demon is, however, a preoccupation of fringe cryptozoologists. Believers are likely to try to classify it in the same alien/angel/fairy complex that is a popular destination for all unexplained extra-weird non-hairy humanoids.

Skeptics usually claim that the Dover demon was simply a lost baby moose glimpsed under unusual conditions that made it seem like a bizarre humanoid that sometimes went on four legs. People who don't believe that explanation point out that all sightings happened during the wrong time of year for a moose that small to exist, and they also point out that Massachusetts is far from normal moose habitat. Even if such an orphan moose had been wandering around so close to populated areas, it seems as if it would have been easily captured. If the explanatory power of the baby moose explanation appeals to you, then you could get around the worst objection by substituting a creature that does actually exist in the area and can be born any time of year: a baby calf. An orange-furred orphan calf would be a more likely candidate for such a proposal than a baby moose.

You can find out more about the Dover Demon from the following sources:

Benjamin, R. W. Dover Demon

Blackman, W. Haden. The Field Guide to North American Monsters. New York: Three Rivers Press, 1998. Pages 106-108

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Clark, Jerome. Unexplained!. Detroit: Visible Ink Press, 1999. Pages 413-415

Coleman, Loren. Mysterious America: The Revised Edition. New York: Paraview Press, 2001. Pages 42-61

Corrales, Scott. Chile: An Alleged Non-Human Caught On Film

The Dover Demon

Dover Demon

Massachusetts UFO Resource Site. The Demon of Dover

Night Stalker. Strange New England: The Dover Demon

Ron's World. Dover Demon

Unexplained Mysteries. The Story of the Dover Demon

What Exactly was the Dover Demon?

Wikipedia, The. Dover Demon