POPOBAWA

Background (from Fortean Times Online): "The Popobawa first appeared on Pemba, the smaller of Zanzibar's two main islands, in 1972. The Popobawa instructed its victims that unless they told others of its ordeal, it would be back. The island was in uproar as men went about announcing that they had been sodomized. After a few weeks, the Popobawa departed. There was another period of attacks in the 1980s, but nothing more until April 1995 when the winged beast swooped on Zanzibar's largest island.

Last year, there was widespread fear in Zanzibar concerning the return of the Popobawa. The name is derived from the Swahili words for bat and wing.

Description: A dwarf-like creature with a single forehead centered eye, small pointed ears, bat wings and talons.

Encounter: "Mjaka Hamad was one of its earliest victims. He knew it was not a dream because when he woke his whole house was in uproar. 'I couldn't see it. I could only feel it. But some people in my house could see it. Those who've got the spirits in their heads could see it. Everybody was terrified. They were outside screaming Huyo! It means the Popobawa is there. I had this bad pain in my ribs where it crushed me. I don't believe in spirits so maybe that's why it attacked me. Maybe it will attack anybody who doesn't believe,' he warned."

THE DOVER DEMON

Background: Dover, Massachusetts was the location of the sighting of a bizarre creature for a few days beginning on April 21, 1977. The first sighting was made by 17-year-old Bill Bartlett as he and three friends were driving north near the small New England town at around 10:30 at night.

Through the darkness, Bartlett claimed to have seen an unusual creature creeping along a low stone wall on the side of the road - something he had never seen before and could not identify. he told his father about his experience and sketched a drawing of the creature. A few hours after Bartlett's sighting, at 12:30 a.m., John Baxter swore that he saw the same creature while walking home from his girlfriend's house. The 15-year-old boy said its arms were wrapped around the trunk of a tree, and his description of the thing matched Bartlett's exactly. The final sighting was reported the next day by another 15-year-old, Abby Brabham, a friend of one of Bill Bartlett's friends, who said it appeared briefly in the car's headlights while she and her friend were driving.

Description: The eyewitnesses described it as being about four feet tall on two legs with a hairless body and rough-textured skin, long, spindly peach-colored limbs, a large watermelon-shaped head that was nearly as big as its body, and large glowing orange eyes.