In the autumn of 1903, the quiet farming town of Van Meter, Iowa, found itself gripped by a series of encounters so strange that they were recorded in sworn statements by some of the town’s most respected citizens. For several nights in late September and early October, townspeople reported seeing a towering, winged creature gliding above rooftops, leaving behind an acrid odor and beams of light that pierced the darkness. The thing moved with a speed and silence no one could explain. In a community grounded in routine, early mornings, lantern-lit evenings, predictable rhythms, the sudden intrusion of something airborne and unknown shook Van Meter to its core.
The first sighting came from a local traveling salesman, U.G. Griffith, who arrived in town late at night on September 29. As he passed along the main street, he saw what he described as a figure perched atop a building, something too large and too still to be a person. When the creature turned toward him, a bright beam of light shot from a horn-like structure on its forehead. Startled, Griffith fled, believing at first he had encountered a prank or hallucination. But the next morning, more witnesses stepped forward with similar accounts.
Over the following nights, the creature appeared repeatedly. Clarence Dunn, a local bank cashier, claimed he saw it land near the bank’s entrance. Alarmed by reports of attempted break-ins in nearby towns, he opened fire with his revolver. According to Dunn, the bullets struck the creature but had no effect. Instead, it emitted an overpowering stench, a smell described in later retellings as sulfurous and nauseating, and soared effortlessly into the night sky. Newspaper accounts from the period noted that Dunn was known as a sober, reliable man, unlikely to exaggerate.
The sightings escalated when several townsmen reported seeing the creature perched atop the local schoolhouse. It was said to be enormous, with batlike wings folding and unfolding as though stretching before flight. Again, witnesses described the same flashlight-like beam projecting from its head, sweeping the ground as it moved. A physician, Dr. Alcott, claimed to have observed it from just yards away, insisting that what he saw could not be attributed to an owl, crane, or any native species.
The final and most dramatic confrontation occurred at the abandoned mine shaft on the edge of town. Awakened by strange noises, a group of armed residents gathered as the creature, now reportedly accompanied by a smaller, similar figure, swooped toward the entrance of the mine. The men opened fire, a volley of gunshots echoing through the darkness. Instead of falling, the winged beings retreated calmly into the shaft, disappearing into the depths. When daylight came, the townspeople explored the mine but found nothing unusual: no bodies, no tracks, no feathers, no evidence that anything living had been there at all.
The Van Meter Visitor was never seen again after that night. With no physical evidence uncovered and no additional reports from nearby towns, the incident slipped into regional folklore. But the sworn testimonies remained. In statements collected by local papers and archived in town records, multiple witnesses insisted they had seen the same creature, a large, winged being with a strange beam of light and a smell that lingered in the air long after it passed. Their consistency puzzled skeptics then and now, raising questions about what exactly the citizens encountered during that week.
Modern interpretations of the Van Meter Visitor vary widely. Some cryptozoologists suggest a previously undocumented species of large bird or bat, though none known to science fits the descriptions or behavior. Others point to mass misidentification triggered by late-night conditions and widespread curiosity about unexplained phenomena at the turn of the century. A smaller group suggests atmospheric or geological explanations, gas emissions from old mine shafts can cause strange lights and odors, though these do little to account for the creature’s reported size and mobility.
Still, the story has endured for more than a century because it emerged not from rumor but from a town’s leading citizens, bankers, doctors, merchants, each describing a bizarre, nocturnal visitor with strikingly similar details. In a place where daily life was defined by predictability, the 1903 encounters introduced a moment of collective bewilderment that has never been fully resolved.
Today, Van Meter honors the mystery with an annual festival, celebrating the strange visitor that once cast shadows over its rooftops. Whether a misidentified animal, a fleeting natural phenomenon, or something stranger still, the legend remains a reminder that even the most ordinary places can hold moments of the extraordinary, moments that echo long after the creature, whatever it was, vanished into the night.
Sources & Further Reading:
– Van Meter town archives: 1903 sworn eyewitness statements
– Des Moines Register (1903): Regional newspaper reports on the sightings
– “The Van Meter Visitor” by Chad Lewis, Kevin Nelson, and Noah Voss (historical investigation)
– Iowa Geological Survey: Records on abandoned mine conditions in early 1900s
– Iowa Folklore Society: Oral histories collected from Van Meter residents
(One of many stories shared by Headcount Coffee — where mystery, history, and late-night reading meet.)
