The Enfield Horror has been nightmare fuel of the southern Illinois woods for decades. The first reports of this unknown creature began on April 25th, 1973 near the village of Enfield, southeast of McLeansboro.

It wasn't a sasquatch or a deranged gorilla but the descriptions are equally if not more terrifying.

The First Sighting of the Enfield Horror

The first reported encounter involved a young boy, 10 years old at the time, who claimed to be attacked by an odd creature. On the same night, another family would report a situation involving a creature with nearly the same description.

the being as having at least three legs, slimy grey skin, claws, and red eyes

The child told local police the creature used its feet to claw at his sneakers, which were torn to shreds.

Not long after the first report, another came in from a man who claims he heard scratching on the front door of his home. When he opened the door out of curiosity he saw a creature which he described almost verbatim with that of the child's, adding

about five feet tall, with a flat body, grayish in color, with a strange disappearing head at least twelve inches across.

He added that it appeared to have three legs and glowing pink eyes.

What is more frightening is when happened when he opened fire on the creature, according to AstonishingLegends.com.

Henry, no doubt shocked at what was before him, fired a pistol which caused the being to hiss and then bound away from the house. He watched it cross the railroad tracks.

There were more reports, one of which claims someone saw this same creature casually walking a set of train tracks.

In late May/early June of the same year, there were no more reports of sightings and encounters with the unknown thing.

Another cryptozoologist shared his conclusion.

I am of the opinion that it was neither alien nor demon, but some sort of bizzare, unknown, but entirely corporeal creature, possibly even a genetic mutation of some sort.

In a related note, the Enfield Horror occurred in an area of southern Illinois known as "Devil's Kitchen."

a designation left behind by the Native Americans and the early settlers to explain strange sights and sounds like unexplained balls of light, apparitions, screams in the night and various other unsettling types of phenomena.

I'll leave you to decide if the Enfield Horror is real or completely fabricated.

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