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to try and get a closer look at the hostile plane. Then he noticed that the other "plane" was flapping its wings. It wasn't a plane at all; it was a gigantic bird. The pilot had seen enough. He flew off in a hurry.
    There are frequent tales of planes crashing because of encounters with giant birds. There is no real evidence to support any of these romors, but the stories continue to exist.
    Probably the most celebrated case took place in November, 1962. A United Airlines jet crashed in a wooded area of Maryland near Washington, D.C. There were no survivors in the crash. However, there were traces of blood and feathers found in the wreckage. Investigators decided that the plane must have run into a flock of birds shortly before it crashed. Perhaps the birds were even in some way responsible for the crash. Collisions with birds have been blamed for other plane crashes.
    But some monster hunters noticed that scratches and gouges had been found on the tail assembly of the plane. They suggested that the plane had run into a Thunderbird. That angered the monster bird, which then turned and attacked the plane, sending it to its doom.
    Why had the pilot not radioed information about his collision with a giant bird before the crash? Why had a bird of that size not been tracked on radar? Where is the monster bird hiding now? Questions like that have no answers.

CHAPTER 8

    THE DOVER DEMON

    Some monsters are reported frequently. They become legends. Other are seen only a few times. Then they seem to disappear. The Dover Demon was that sort of creature. But it certainly created enough excitement when it was reported.
    The time was April 21 and 22, 1977. The place was the pretty town of Dover, Massachusetts, about fifteen miles southwest of Boston.
    At about 10:30 in the evening of April 21, three seventeen-year-olds were out for a ride. Bill Bartlett was driving. Bill saw something creeping along a low wall at the side of the road. At first, he thought it was a cat. Then the headlights hit it and he got a good look.
    The thing had a huge head with shining orange eyes. The rest of the body was small and skinny in comparison. It had long fingers and toes. The creature appeared to be hairless with a rough, peach-colored skin. He estimated that it would stand about four feet tall.
    Bartlett only saw it for an instant, as the car lights flashed on it.
    "Did you see that?" he yelled to the two passengers. The other two boys had been talking, and not looking out the window, so they didn't see a thing. But they wanted to. Bill was frightened, but the others persuaded him to drive back to the place where he had seen the thing. If it had ever been there, it was gone by the time they got back.
    A little less than two hours later a fifteen-year-old named John Baxter was walking home. He saw a small figure coming down the street. He thought it was a friend of his who was quite short. He called out to the figure, but got no answer.
    When he tried to get close to it, the figure took off and ran into a wooded area. John tried to follow it. It stopped about thirty feet away from him. In the darkness he could only make out a shadowy form.
    He said the figure had a body like a monkey, but a big "figure eight"-shaped head. He could see its eyes, but no other features. It was staring at him. This made John feel very uneasy. He backed away carefully and then he ran.

    Bill Bartlett drew this picture of the Dover Demon.
    Both Bill Bartlett and John Baxter made drawings of what they saw—or what they said they saw. The drawings looked like they were of the same creature. Both boys also said that they had not heard the other's story before they made the drawings.
    The next evening two other teenagers, Will Taintor and Abby Brabham, said they got a glimpse of the creature. They were driving along and picked up something in the headlights on the side of the road. The thing was crouched on all fours. Abby described it as having a very large head and a thin,