| “ | It had three legs on it, a short body, two little short arms coming out of its breast area and two pink eyes as big as flashlights. It stood four and a half feet tall and was grayish-colored… it was trying to get into the house! | „ |
| ~ Henry McDaniel's description of the creature. |
The Enfield Horror is a cryptid that allegedly terrorised the Illinois village of Enfield in 1973. It harassed a man named Henry McDaniel by repeatedly trying to break into his house, and attacked several other people including a young boy named Greg Garrett.
Biography[]
What would go on to be called the Enfield Horror first made its appearance in the small community of Enfield, Illinois, located in the south-eastern corner of the state. On April 25, 1975, ten-year-old Greg Garrett was attacked by a three-legged monster in his family's back garden. The monster actually got close enough to Greg to step on his foot, its claws ripping his shoe to pieces, before he ran away into his house. Police were called but were unable to find the beast.
Half an hour later, the Garrett's neighbour Henry McDaniel arrived home to find his children panicking that something had been scratching on the door trying to get in. Henry assured them that it was probably just a cat or dog. Shortly after, Henry himself heard a scratching noise at the door and went to investigate. He discovered a creature with two short arms, three legs and two huge pink eyes that stood almost five feet tall. He was so terrified that he slammed the door and ran to get his pistol. Henry shot the monster, which leaped away. Henry called the police and told them that he believed the creature was evil. Officers found scratch marks on the door and a series of footprints that measured four inches across and looked like those of a dog, only with six toe pads rather then the usual four.
On May 6, Henry was woken by dogs barking and saw the creature by the railroad tracks near his home. Instead of shooting, Henry simply watched for a few minutes until it went away. At this point, word got out that there was a monster roaming the village and posses of hunters went out to try and bag it. Over the next couple of months, many people claimed to have seen the so-called "Enfield Horror". Two hunters claimed to have seen a "gray monkey" in the undergrowth but failed to get a shot at it. In another incident, five men were arrested as dangers to the public for simultaneously shooting at what they claimed was the monster, which was unaffected by the bullets.
The final sighting of the monster was by Rick Rainbow, a radio presenter from Indiana. Rainbow claimed to have sighted the monster once again lingering near Henry McDaniel's house, moving "faster than a man could run" and letting out a blood-curdling screech that Rainbow was able to get on tape.
The story of the Enfield Horror bares some resemblance to that of the Mount Vernon Monster, as both creatures are said to have resembled each other and the two locations are only fourteen miles apart.
Trivia[]
- The existence of the Enfield Horror is more controversial than that of most cryptids, as it relies heavily on the testimony of one man and a bunch of drunken hunters. Greg Garrett is reported to have later retracted his claim and said he made the whole thing up after hearing of the sighting at the McDaniel house.
