Happy Monday, Missians!
I hope you all had an awesome weekend. Mine was good, but with the time change to Daylight Savings Time, it seems like yesterday flew by in a flash; and the latter part of the day was spent going on a scavenger hunt to find rubbing alcohol, (with the Corona Virus scaring everybody, everyone's been buying up all the alcohol and sanitizer). So stay healthy everyone, and be careful. Wash your hands and stay home if you're sick! Okay, soapbox moment over...
Welcome to our second week of Monsters of March. This week's monster is known as The Van Meter Visitor. Never heard of him? Well, don't feel bad--I hadn't either, until I started doing research for this year's monsters. For those of you living in Iowa however, this monster might not sound so unfamiliar; that's because this monster made its terrifying debut in the small Iowa village of Van Meter in 1903.
Van Meter is along the Raccoon River in Dallas County, Iowa and boasts a population of about 1,119 residents, as of 2016. While their terrifying creature isn't as well know as The Mothman, it's still highly fascinating and worth having its story told, just as much. The horror begins when a local business man was out walking in the wee hours of the morning (around 1am), when he noticed a strange figure giving off a bright light, moving about on the rooftops. The way the thing was sprinting about from roof to roof made the man doubt his first mind, (that it was a burglar), and go on to believe this was something not human at all.
The next night, around the same time, the town doctor was awoken because an extremely bright light was coming through the window, shining in his face. Just like town folk are depicted as doing in the movies, the doctor jumped out of bed and grabbed his gun to go investigate. When he gets outside, he's in for a horrifying sight. He encounters a humanoid creature with large, bat-like wings and the same strange bright light emanating from its head, that the business man had just seen the night before.
The doctor fired several shots, but the creature seemed unaffected. The doctor, scared out of his mind, retreated back inside, (the only sane thing to do). The next day, however, he informed the rest of the towns people of what he'd seen. Though the business man didn't get as good of a look at the beast as the doctor, he also came forward and told everyone what he'd seen as well.
Out of concern for his own business, a local bank owner then decided to spend the night at his bank, (bad idea). Around the same time of morning as the business man and doctor experienced the creature, the banker started hearing mysterious noises; but before he could even go outside to see what was going on, the same piercing, bright light the other men had seen, started coming through the windows of his bank, blinding him. The light would stay on for a while, and then cut off and then back on. The banker stated that he felt as though the creature was scanning the building or something. After the banker regained his vision during a period where the light was off, he grabbed his gun and fired right through the window at the beast.
The banker was unharmed; but the next day, he did tell everyone what happened. Some of the town's people found three-toed tracks in the area and even made casts of them. Later that night, (or close thereafter, the owner of the town hardware store also experienced what would later be known as the Van Meter Visitor. He was also awakened by similar strange noises that the banker had heard. So, like the doctor and banker before him, he grabbed a gun and ran to the window.
What he saw was super strange, to say the least. He witnessed a half-human, half bat-looking creature perched atop the telephone pole. Mr. White, the hardware store owner, fired a shot and hit the beast (according to his account). Just as when the doctor hit it, the bullets had no effect on the creature--but what it did do was wake it up. Upon being awakened and shot, no doubt, the creature emitted an awful stench that was so bad, it caused Mr. White to pass out.
Luckily for Mr. White, his neighbor heard the gunshot and ran outside. He witnessed the beast still sitting on the telephone pole; but unluckily for him the beast jumped down and stood on the ground, where it looked to be nearly eight feet tall. The neighbor reported that the creature had a bright light coming from what looked like a horn on the creature's head, and it started scanning the area, (just like the banker had reported). Then it took off in the direction of the coal mines. The town's people started hearing horrific noises coming from the mines, which caused even more fear, (that must've been terrifying in such a small town, especially back in those days).
People were getting fed up at this point, and decided it was time for them to take matters into their own hands. The website 3X Strange goes on to tell what happened next after the towns folk formed a posse the next night after what Mr. White and his neighbor had encountered:
I hope you all had an awesome weekend. Mine was good, but with the time change to Daylight Savings Time, it seems like yesterday flew by in a flash; and the latter part of the day was spent going on a scavenger hunt to find rubbing alcohol, (with the Corona Virus scaring everybody, everyone's been buying up all the alcohol and sanitizer). So stay healthy everyone, and be careful. Wash your hands and stay home if you're sick! Okay, soapbox moment over...
Welcome to our second week of Monsters of March. This week's monster is known as The Van Meter Visitor. Never heard of him? Well, don't feel bad--I hadn't either, until I started doing research for this year's monsters. For those of you living in Iowa however, this monster might not sound so unfamiliar; that's because this monster made its terrifying debut in the small Iowa village of Van Meter in 1903.
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| Picture courtesy of theunexplainedmysteries.com |
Van Meter is along the Raccoon River in Dallas County, Iowa and boasts a population of about 1,119 residents, as of 2016. While their terrifying creature isn't as well know as The Mothman, it's still highly fascinating and worth having its story told, just as much. The horror begins when a local business man was out walking in the wee hours of the morning (around 1am), when he noticed a strange figure giving off a bright light, moving about on the rooftops. The way the thing was sprinting about from roof to roof made the man doubt his first mind, (that it was a burglar), and go on to believe this was something not human at all.
 |
Picture courtesy of cryptidz.fandom.com
(but looks to originally have come from thevanmetervisitor.com)
|
The next night, around the same time, the town doctor was awoken because an extremely bright light was coming through the window, shining in his face. Just like town folk are depicted as doing in the movies, the doctor jumped out of bed and grabbed his gun to go investigate. When he gets outside, he's in for a horrifying sight. He encounters a humanoid creature with large, bat-like wings and the same strange bright light emanating from its head, that the business man had just seen the night before.
The doctor fired several shots, but the creature seemed unaffected. The doctor, scared out of his mind, retreated back inside, (the only sane thing to do). The next day, however, he informed the rest of the towns people of what he'd seen. Though the business man didn't get as good of a look at the beast as the doctor, he also came forward and told everyone what he'd seen as well.
Out of concern for his own business, a local bank owner then decided to spend the night at his bank, (bad idea). Around the same time of morning as the business man and doctor experienced the creature, the banker started hearing mysterious noises; but before he could even go outside to see what was going on, the same piercing, bright light the other men had seen, started coming through the windows of his bank, blinding him. The light would stay on for a while, and then cut off and then back on. The banker stated that he felt as though the creature was scanning the building or something. After the banker regained his vision during a period where the light was off, he grabbed his gun and fired right through the window at the beast.
The banker was unharmed; but the next day, he did tell everyone what happened. Some of the town's people found three-toed tracks in the area and even made casts of them. Later that night, (or close thereafter, the owner of the town hardware store also experienced what would later be known as the Van Meter Visitor. He was also awakened by similar strange noises that the banker had heard. So, like the doctor and banker before him, he grabbed a gun and ran to the window.
What he saw was super strange, to say the least. He witnessed a half-human, half bat-looking creature perched atop the telephone pole. Mr. White, the hardware store owner, fired a shot and hit the beast (according to his account). Just as when the doctor hit it, the bullets had no effect on the creature--but what it did do was wake it up. Upon being awakened and shot, no doubt, the creature emitted an awful stench that was so bad, it caused Mr. White to pass out.
 |
Standing pic of Van Meter Visitor, from cryptidz.fandom.com
(but looks to originally have come from thevanmetervisitor.com)
|
Luckily for Mr. White, his neighbor heard the gunshot and ran outside. He witnessed the beast still sitting on the telephone pole; but unluckily for him the beast jumped down and stood on the ground, where it looked to be nearly eight feet tall. The neighbor reported that the creature had a bright light coming from what looked like a horn on the creature's head, and it started scanning the area, (just like the banker had reported). Then it took off in the direction of the coal mines. The town's people started hearing horrific noises coming from the mines, which caused even more fear, (that must've been terrifying in such a small town, especially back in those days).
 |
Picture of the beast scanning the area with its "light horn"
Image courtesy of cryptidz.fandom.com
(originally have come from thevanmetervisitor.com)
|
People were getting fed up at this point, and decided it was time for them to take matters into their own hands. The website 3X Strange goes on to tell what happened next after the towns folk formed a posse the next night after what Mr. White and his neighbor had encountered:
The next day the townsfolk were trying to understand what was going on when that same night eerie sounds came from the abandoned coal mine.
The mine located at the edge of town, the sound as “though Satan and a regiment of imps were coming forth for a battle” described by the Des Moines Daily News from Oct. 3, 1903.
They saw Visitor, now, accompanied by a second creature, emerging from the mine and taking off into the night.
The mine was about 257 ft. deep , so big that have underground stables for mules.
In that October night, a mob with enough firepower to “have sunk the Spanish fleet”, to ambush the creatures when it returned to the mine.
Right before dawn, the creatures were welcomed by countless bullets fired at their direction.
One more time the firearms didn’t appear to have any effect on the creatures, releasing a noxious odor as a defense mechanism and crawling back deep into the mine.
The next day, on October 3rd, 1903 it that “a force of men has been set to work to barricade the mouth of the mine” sealing the creatures inside.
The Van Meter Visitors have never seen again.
So what was it? Or since there was another, smaller creature with it at the mine, what were they?
Some type of left over prehistoric creatures? Something demonic? Extraterrestrials? Creatures from another dimension?
Some of the theories are talked about on the website link above. One thing's for sure, I do believe that it was not some type of mass delusion. It was reported in local papers, and the people who saw the creature(s) were all respectable townspeople. I don't know if the creature I saw when I was around 13 could've been this creature or something similar to it.
On one of our past Pet Spooktacular episodes, (I'm being too lazy to look it up right now), I tell D about how me and some of my friends saw this huge prehistoric-looking bird creature flying over our neighborhood. Luckily for us, it was broad daylight, (probably some time in the afternoon like about 1pm). It was too high in the sky to tell whether it was humanoid and more bat-like or not--plus, the prospect of that sounds way more terrifying than it just being an impossibly huge bird.
From the distance it was above us, it just looked like how one would picture a pterodactyl. At the time I couldn't speak I was so shocked, and then eventually my friends looked up and saw it too. We only saw it once. We weren't afraid; we were just more in shock and awe. I wish I could see it again (in the daytime of course), or be hypnotized to remember the event in more detail. It happened so quickly, and it flew so high above our neighborhood, there was no time to really analyze it. But then again...I think I'm good with not seeing it again too. LOL
As far as the Van Meter Visitor goes, here's another site you may want to check out too:
At any rate, I believe these people did see what they say they saw. What do you guys think?
Well, that's it for now. I'll see you all back here next Monday for our next "Monster of March."
Until then,
This is your host J,
signing off...
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