April 28th Is Atlas Obscura Day
Posted by: Loren Coleman on April 27th, 2012
This year’s global celebration of odd places to visit, Atlas Obscura Day, is occurring on Saturday, April 28, 2012. The International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine, has been invited to be one of the spots.
Our special event is being headlined on the Atlas Obscura site as “The Dover Demon at the International Cryptozoology Museum” and “The Dover Demon: 35 Years Later.”
The museum will be open for regular hours with regular fees, from 11 am to 4 pm on that day. Then during the early evening, a special event will occur.
A figurine of the Dover Demon (created by Steve Goodwin) is displayed at the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland. The strange creature was spotted in Dover, Massachusetts, in 1977 and Loren Coleman coined the name after investigating the sightings. Photo Credit: Amber Waterman/Sun Journal.
Here is the AO’s site description:
11am-4pm: Obscura Day Orientation with Loren Coleman
Come to the International Cryptozoology Museum for a special expanded Obscura Day orientation with extra docents on duty to help with tours and questions. Loren Coleman, Cryptozoologist and founder of the Museum, will be there too, so all Obscura Day guests can chat with him, ask him questions, and get autographs, if they wish.
Beginning at 4pm: “The Dover Demon: 35 Years Later” – Night at the Museum
April 28th marks the 35th anniversary of Loren Coleman’s investigation and naming of the “Dover Demon”, a mysterious creature first sighted around Dover, Massachusetts in 1977. Everyone will get to tour the museum and the new special Dover Demon exhibition, and then at 5:30pm, Coleman will give a special presentation the “Dover Demon: 35 Years Later” full of unique slides and diagrams about the 1977 Massachusetts events.
For more information on tickets to the lecture, see “The Dover Demon: 35 Years Later.”
John Baxter shows his drawing of the Dover Demon (above) and Loren Coleman is photographed by Walt Webb at the exact site where Baxter last saw the Dover Demon (below).
The lecture will include rare photographs taken by Walter N. Webb, who at the time was the Charles Hayden Planetarium in Boston’s assistant director and senior lecturer. This group photograph by Walt was taken in front of the main house of the Walker School in Needham, just across the Charles River from Dover, Massachusetts. I was working there and meet the assembled team I invited into the investigation early in May 1977. I’m shown to the left; in the middle is (the late) Ed Fogg; and to the right Joe Nyman. They, along with the photographer Walt Webb, were highly qualified ufological investigators from various national organizations.
Perhaps for this anniversary event we should encourage all museum docents and visitors to wear clothes (head to toe) from the 1970s, like what I have on below? Of course, I’m not sure where I can find shoes like those!!
If the shirt didn’t get ’em, the disco era’s shoes were enough to scare away the Dover Demon!
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
Earth Shoes ! They still make em’
Man, wish I could be there for the Special Expanded Obscura Day! Don’t forget to display the “Myth or Real” Dover Demon collector cards.
Fingers crossed hoping to see a short video of the event!
P.S. I must admit, I’m diggin’ the shirt!
A blast from the past! I’m glad there were people like you guys to investigate this mysterious incident, btw.
For what it’s worth.
If it wasn’t all a hoax, then to my mind the most likely candidate for the Dover Demon is an escaped monkey.
The general appearance and more importantly the behavior exhibited fit. And Dover is not exactly in the middle of Wyoming. Dover is a suburb of Boston, only 16 miles away from the center of the city. And greater Boston has always been a major center for medical and biological research. Where rhesus macaques are used extensively.
Admittedly, a rhesus monkey might initially seem too small, but I think we all understand the unreliability of eyewitness testimony, especially when estimating size and distance. I know, the rhesus monkey has a tail which was not observed. Two superior candidates I would submit then are either the Barbary ape or Japanese macaque. No tails and match the physical descriptions and behavior almost exactly.
Let me put it this way. If it wasn’t a hoax, what is more likely? An escaped monkey or some unknown animal lurking in the suburbs of Boston?
Very interesting that the picture the kid drew looks little like the main picture at the top that was run in the paper. To my eye the witness’ picture doesn’t look much like a monkey. Also very interesting is that the large head was the most prominent feature.
Corrick, people are actually pretty good at size and distance estimation. A few years ago one of the skeptical inquirer schmoes did a test for monster quest. The people he polled were quite able to judge the size of different cut out black cats at various distances.
Hey Loren, we used have “Reuben Kincaid” parties back in college, just a thought for your 70s event!
mandors
Those pictures look the same because they were taken from the same drawing. And you might want to take a look at some photographs of the Barbary ape and Japanese macaque in particular..
Sorry, but numerous controlled scientific studies have been done as to human ability to estimate size and distances and they all show we aren’t very good at it..
Corrick,
I’m sorry, but the kid’s drawing looks NOTHING like a barbary ape:
or a macaque:
Your escaped monkey theory is interesting, but it is just as unproven as trying to claim the thing was an extraterrestrial (something to which I do not subscribe). You have just made up a plausible story, not even a hypothesis. Where are the nearest research centers? Do they even use monkeys? Did any escape? FYI: Dover was and is a posh, relatively rural suburb outside of Boston around which there are many large stretches of wooded conservation land. Back in the 70s, it was a long way from Boston.
I don’t know about “numerous” controlled studies, and based on the conduct and acumen of “soft” scientists over the past thirty years, I have little faith that any of them are free of significant scientific errors, and they do not show “we are very good at it.” We had to have been; it’s how we survived as a species.
Man, I would so totally wear that cowboy-funk shirt today! Throw in some pearl snaps and you got yourself a timeless classic, my friends. But I gotta say, it would go better with pointy-toed cowboy boots.