The Enfield Horror

On the night of April 25, 1973, something attacked Henry McDaniel’s home in rural Enfield, Illinois. He described it as a gray, three-legged creature with short arms and glowing pink eyes. He shot at it. It hissed and bounded away. Within days, the town was overrun with monster hunters, and the National Guard was called in to restore order. The Enfield Horror remains one of Illinois’ strangest cryptid cases.

The First Encounter

April 25, 1973: The McDaniel Incident

At approximately 9:30 PM:

• Henry McDaniel heard scratching at his front door
• He opened the door to confront what he thought was an animal
• He was face-to-face with a creature unlike anything he’d seen

What McDaniel Saw

He described the creature as:

• About 4.5 feet tall
• Gray, slimy-looking skin
• Short body with two small arms
• Three legs (two in front, one in back)
• Large, glowing pink eyes
• No visible ears or mouth

The Attack

The creature:

• Hissed at McDaniel
• Attempted to enter the home
• McDaniel grabbed a pistol and flashlight
• He fired at the creature, hitting it
• It hissed again and bounded away with incredible speed
• It covered 50 feet in three jumps

The Police Report

McDaniel called the police:

• Officers found scratch marks on the house
• Dog-like tracks with six toe pads were discovered
• McDaniel passed a polygraph test
• His account was taken seriously

Earlier That Night

The Greg Garrett Incident

Just 30 minutes before McDaniel’s encounter:

• Young Greg Garrett was playing in his backyard
• A creature matching McDaniel’s description attacked him
• It grabbed his feet, tearing his tennis shoes
• He fled inside, terrified
• His shoes were shredded

Connecting the Events

The two incidents:

• Occurred within half an hour
• Were a short distance apart
• Described the same creature
• Suggested the creature was moving through the area

The Monster Hunters

Media Attention

News of the sightings spread quickly:

• Radio stations broadcast the story
• Newspapers covered the “monster”
• The small town was overwhelmed

The Invasion

Within days:

• Monster hunters flooded into Enfield
• Armed groups patrolled the woods
• Some were drunk and dangerous
• Shots were fired randomly
• The situation became hazardous

The National Guard

The situation became so chaotic:

• Local law enforcement was overwhelmed
• The National Guard was alerted
• State police increased patrols
• The town pleaded for the hunters to leave

Additional Sightings

May 6, 1973: McDaniel Again

Henry McDaniel saw the creature again:

• It was walking along the railroad tracks
• It moved in a “hopping” motion
• It disappeared into the brush

Other Witnesses

Multiple people reported encounters:

• A young couple saw it near the railroad
• A motorist reported a creature crossing the road
• Various residents heard strange sounds

The Radio Announcer

A local radio news director:

• Recorded unusual sounds in the area
• Described them as “unearthly screaming”
• The recording was played on air

The Investigation

Physical Evidence

Investigators found:

• Unusual tracks with six toe pads
• Scratch marks on McDaniel’s home
• Damaged tennis shoes from the Garrett boy
• The shredded aluminum screen door

The Polygraphs

Henry McDaniel:

• Voluntarily took multiple lie detector tests
• Passed all of them
• Maintained his story until his death
• Was considered credible by investigators

No Resolution

Despite investigation:

• No creature was captured
• No additional evidence was found
• Sightings stopped after a few weeks
• The Enfield Horror was never explained

What Was It?

Theories

Escaped Exotic Animal

• An escaped zoo or circus animal
• A pet kangaroo or similar creature
• Doesn’t explain the three legs or pink eyes

Unknown Cryptid

• A genuinely unknown species
• Living in the rural Illinois wilderness
• Rarely encountered by humans

Hoax

• McDaniel and others fabricated the story
• But the polygraph and physical evidence argue against this
• Multiple independent witnesses

Mass Hysteria

• Initial sightings were misidentification
• Subsequent sightings were suggestion
• The monster hunters created additional chaos

Alien or Interdimensional Being

• The bizarre description suggests non-terrestrial origin
• Appeared briefly then vanished
• Otherworldly characteristics

The Creature Described

Unique Features

The Enfield Horror was unusual even for cryptids:

• Three legs (extremely rare in reports)
• Pink or red glowing eyes
• Very short arms
• Gray, moist-looking skin
• Incredible jumping ability
• Hissing vocalization

Comparisons

It doesn’t match:

• Bigfoot (bipedal, hairy)
• Standard aliens (different configuration)
• Known animals (nothing has three legs)
• Other Illinois cryptids

Enfield Today

The Legacy

The town has largely:

• Moved past the incident
• Occasional commemorations occur
• Local pride in the strange history
• Some tourism interest

The Memory

For those who lived through it:

• The chaos of the monster hunters was traumatic
• The sightings remain unexplained
• Some maintain they saw something real
• Others prefer not to discuss it

Analysis

What We Know

• Multiple witnesses described the same creature
• Physical evidence supported an encounter
• The primary witness passed polygraph tests
• Something unusual occurred in Enfield in 1973

What We Don’t Know

• What the creature actually was
• Where it came from
• Where it went
• Whether it still exists

Legacy

The Enfield Horror represents:

• A well-documented cryptid encounter
• The chaos that can follow such reports
• The difficulty of explaining the unexplainable
• A genuine mystery that persists

A three-legged creature with pink eyes attacked a family in rural Illinois. The father shot at it. It bounded away in huge leaps. It was seen again. Then it vanished.

Fifty years later, we’re no closer to understanding what visited Enfield in April 1973.

Henry McDaniel went to his grave insisting he told the truth. His son’s shredded shoes were real. The scratch marks on the door were real.

Something was there.

Something that shouldn’t exist.

Something with three legs and eyes that glowed in the dark.

The Enfield Horror. Real witnesses. Real evidence. No explanation.

Just another mystery, bounding away into the Illinois night.