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Van Meter Visitor
For five nights, a winged creature with a glowing horn terrorized Van Meter. The town's most respected citizens saw it. Armed posses chased it. It descended into an abandoned mine. They sealed the entrance.
October 1903
Van Meter, Iowa, USA
20+ witnesses
The Van Meter Visitor remains one of cryptozoology’s strangest cases.
Night One
October 1903:
- U.G. Griffith
- Business owner
- Saw creature on roof
- Glowing horn on head
- Shot at it
The Witnesses
Town’s elite:
- Bank cashier
- Doctor
- Hardware store owner
- All reliable
- All consistent
The Description
Strange creature:
- Winged
- Human-sized
- Glowing horn
- Terrible smell
- Left footprints
The Chase
Town mobilized:
- Armed posses formed
- Tracked creature
- Cornered at old mine
- Shot at repeatedly
- Seemed impervious
The Mine
Final confrontation:
- Creature entered mine
- Second creature emerged
- Both retreated inside
- Mine sealed
- Never seen again
Legacy
Remembered:
- Town festival
- Book published
- Documentary made
- Mystery endures
- What were they?