Slippery Serpentine Monster Haunting the Town of Enfield, Illinois
When books about paranormal phenomena mention the “Enfield case,” they most often refer to the famous poltergeist in a suburb of London. However, in the American state of Illinois, there is its own Enfield, which also became famous in history for a rather strange creature.
It all began around nine o’clock in the evening on April 25, 1973, near the home of the Garrett family, where their 10-year-old son Greg Garrett was trying to catch a few fireflies in a jar. That’s when he noticed another firefly, sneaked up to it, and… suddenly saw right next to him “a real monster,” as the boy later described the creature to his parents.
It was nearly his height, standing vertically on three legs, with two tiny arms ending in sharp claws like razors. The creature was naked, with gray skin that seemed to be covered in a disgusting slime. Its eyes were red and glowed brightly in the darkness. For a few moments, the boy and the creature stared at each other, and then it quickly struck Greg with its claws on his cheek, leaving a deep scratch. Only then did Greg snap out of it, and he ran home screaming. He burst into the living room, where his parents were sitting on the couch in front of the TV.
They immediately believed his frantic story because Greg was not the type to make up such wild tales. The parents called the police, who soon arrived and searched the house and the surrounding area. However, they found nothing suspicious and left shortly afterward.
But the story didn’t end there. That same evening, the Garretts’ neighbors—the McDaniel family—encountered what seemed to be the same creature. This time, it was not adults, but children who first saw it. When Henry McDaniel and his wife returned home from work, their children rushed to them, saying that someone was trying to break into their house through the front door, and some terrifying creature was attempting to climb through a window. At that very moment, as Henry was listening to their story, he heard a horrible screech, like sharp claws scraping against metal, coming from the porch. He opened the door and immediately saw a strange monster, exactly as described by the children. Henry quickly slammed the door shut and rushed to find his .22 caliber pistol and a flashlight.
When he found them, he decided to check the back door. When he opened it, the creature was sitting right there. Henry immediately fired at the monster with his pistol. He was a good shot and knew he hadn’t missed, but the bullet seemed to have no effect on the creature. After being shot at, the creature let out a loud hiss, like a cat, and then crawled off to hide in the shadows of some bushes. A few moments later, Henry saw that the creature was moving quickly away, leaping great distances with each jump.
According to Henry, the creature was gray, had three legs, a small body with two tiny arms, and pink eyes, and it was about the size of a large flashlight, standing between 120 and 150 cm tall. It was exactly the same creature that Greg had seen earlier. When the creature had disappeared, Henry called the police and reported that he had just encountered “a monster from outer space.” Soon, two officers arrived and thoroughly searched the area.
This time, they found strange tracks near the door—similar to dog tracks but with six toes instead of four. The tracks were uneven, as if the creature actually had three legs. The police also found deep, fresh scratches near the door and windows, indicating attempts by the creature to break into the house.
In the following days, things quieted down in the neighborhood, and no one reported anything unusual. However, a week later, the monster returned to the McDaniel home. On May 6, 1973, at three o’clock in the morning, Henry McDaniel woke up to the loud barking of neighboring dogs and immediately realized that something strange was happening.
He grabbed his pistol and cautiously peeked out the window. Again, he saw the same gray creature, but this time it was not by the door; it was moving near his house, along the embankment by the railroad tracks. He considered shooting at it again but remembered that his bullets hadn’t done any harm, so he just stood there, watching as the creature eventually disappeared into the distance.
The McDaniels and Garretts never saw the creature again, but the second phase of the story began—news and rumors quickly spread through the area, and journalists, cryptozoologists, and just curious people started pouring into the town. Even several serious scientists arrived to search for the “alien monster.” They searched the entire town and some of them reported seeing something strange. The most credible report came from a news reporter, Rick Rainbow of WWKI Radio, who spotted the creature near the McDaniel home. According to him, the creature was gray, ape-like, and about 1.5 meters tall. It made terrifying wailing sounds.
When he played the recording of the wails for the people of Enfield, many claimed to have heard similar sounds. Then, suddenly, everything stopped. No more reports of sightings or strange sounds came in. It was as though the creature disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared
