FIELD FILE · ENFIELD-HORROROTHERLOCAL LEGEND
Enfield Horror
Also known as Enfield Monster, The Three-Legged Monster of Enfield
A gray, three-legged creature with pink eyes reported in Enfield, Illinois, in 1973 – later a sociology case study in how monster panics spread.
Enfield is a small farming town in White County, in the far southeast of Illinois. For a few weeks in the spring of 1973 it was the scene of one of the strangest monster stories of the decade – a creature with three legs, two stubby arms and glowing pink eyes, nicknamed the “Enfield Horror.”
It began on the night of April 25, 1973, when resident Henry McDaniel heard scratching at his front door. Outside, he said, stood something about four and a half feet tall and grayish, with a short body, two little arms, three legs and two pink eyes “as big as flashlights.” McDaniel fired four shots; he believed one hit, and the creature hissed like a wildcat before bounding toward a nearby railroad embankment, covering about 50 feet in three leaps. Deputies found odd, dog-like tracks in the soft ground and described McDaniel as sober and rational.
The story spread fast through Illinois newspapers and radio. On May 6 McDaniel reported seeing the creature again on the railroad tracks, and a search party including the news director of radio station WWKI, Rick Rainbow, said they saw something ape-like in an abandoned building, recorded its cries and fired at it. Two days later sheriff’s deputies arrested five out-of-town men who had come hunting the monster with guns; the sheriff said they were mostly “out drinking and raising hell.” Residents began to worry that monster hunters would end up shooting people or livestock.
The episode might have faded into local lore if sociologists from Western Illinois University had not studied it. In a paper in The Sociological Quarterly, David L. Miller and colleagues found there were no more than three firsthand reports, which newspaper stories and gossip had inflated into an apparent “epidemic” of sightings. A neighbor boy who said the creature had shredded his sneakers admitted he had made his story up. The researchers used Enfield to challenge the idea that crowds simply catch panic like a disease, arguing that people actively weighed different explanations – from bears and big dogs to escaped exotic pets.
- Type
- Other
- Status
- Local legend
- First reported
- 1973
- Best-known location
- Enfield, White County, Illinois
- Also called
- Enfield Monster, The Three-Legged Monster of Enfield
- Reported in
- Illinois
What witnesses describe
About 4½ feet tall and gray, with a short body, two small arms, three legs and large, glowing pink eyes. It was said to hiss like a wildcat, leave dog-like tracks with six toe pads, and move in huge bounding leaps.
Where and when it’s seen
Yards, fields and railroad embankments on the edge of Enfield, Illinois, and an abandoned building near the tracks; reported at night in late April and early May.
Notable sightings
- April 25, 1973Henry McDaniel’s encounter Enfield, Illinois
McDaniel saw a three-legged, pink-eyed creature outside his home and fired four shots at it. It hissed and leaped away toward the railroad, and deputies found unusual tracks.
- May 6, 1973The radio search party Railroad tracks near Enfield, Illinois
After McDaniel reported a second sighting, a search party including WWKI news director Rick Rainbow said they saw an ape-like creature in an abandoned building and recorded its cries.
- May 1973Monster hunters arrested White County, Illinois
Deputies answering reports of gunfire arrested five young men from out of town who said they had come to photograph the monster; they were charged with hunting violations.
- 1978The sociologists’ verdict Western Illinois University
David L. Miller, Kenneth Mietus and Richard Mathers published their study of the Enfield scare, finding only a handful of firsthand reports magnified by media coverage and rumor.
What could explain it?
- Sociologists who studied the case found only two or three firsthand reports, one admitted to be a hoax, amplified by press coverage and gossip.
- An escaped kangaroo or wallaby was suggested, since a kangaroo’s tail can look like a third leg; McDaniel, who said he had kept a kangaroo while serving in Australia, rejected the idea.
- Locals interviewed by researchers thought the witnesses might have seen a large dog, bear, deer, wildcat or escaped exotic pet in the dark.
- Night-time fear, flashlights and expectation can easily distort the size and shape of an animal glimpsed for a moment.
Legend, culture and tourism
The Enfield Horror is a staple of Midwestern monster lore, featured in cryptozoology books by Loren Coleman, podcasts such as Astonishing Legends and the PBS Digital series Monstrum. Among sociologists it is a classic case study in collective behavior and the spread of rumor.
Where it’s reported
Enfield Horror in the news
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Sources
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