Episode 330 - The Van Meter Visitor: Iowa’s Winged Cryptid

Summary

Podcast Summary: Two Girls One Ghost – Episode 330: The Van Meter Visitor: Iowa’s Winged Cryptid

Release Date: July 13, 2025

Introduction

In Episode 330 of Two Girls One Ghost, hosts Corinne Vien and Sabrina Deana-Roga delve into the eerie legend of the Van Meter Visitor, a mysterious winged cryptid reported in Van Meter, Iowa. This episode unpacks the historical accounts, examines modern sightings, and explores the town's enduring fascination with this supernatural entity.

---

The Legend of the Van Meter Visitor

[00:45] Corinne Vien
Corinne sets the stage by recounting the first known encounter in Van Meter, Iowa, in 1903. She describes a serene coal town abruptly disrupted by an unearthly light and a formidable winged creature:

"It started with a light. Not a flicker, not a glow. A beam, blinding, unrelenting, cutting through the dark, like a lighthouse in a sea of cornfields." [00:45]

The following night, [07:41] Corinne continues:

"...a creature that stands upright like a man, but it is not human. It has a huge wingspan, nearly 8 feet tall, muscular and hunched, with bat-like wings and a glowing horn protruding from its head."

This apparition, dubbed the Van Meter Visitor, became a source of terror as multiple residents reported sightings over a week, leading to widespread panic and attempts to confront the creature with firearms—all in vain, as the entity remained unharmed and elusive.

---

Subsequent Sightings and Town’s Response

[22:20] Jamie Deana-Roga
Jamie discusses how the initial sightings in 1903 led to ongoing folklore:

"There have been a handful of modern sightings that suggest these creatures were not just banished to the cave; perhaps they found another exit." [22:20]

Corinne adds that Van Meter now commemorates these events with an annual festival, blending fear with community celebration. They highlight that despite sealing the mines, sporadic sightings continue, suggesting the Van Meter Visitor's persistent presence.

---

Comparisons to Other Cryptids

The hosts draw parallels between the Van Meter Visitor and other regional cryptids like Mothman and the Flatwoods Monster, noting similarities in physical descriptions and the mysterious nature of their appearances. [43:42] Corinne mentions:

"Paranormal theorists say these entities appear during moments of change, uncertainty, or geological disturbances." [43:42]

---

Modern-Day Encounters and Theories

Several modern sightings are examined:

• 1980s: A new resident reports a five-foot wingspan creature near the old mine.
• 2006: A pastor mistakes the visitor for a dragon during daylight, later learning of the local lore.
• 2017: A man sees the creature with a bright light, dismissing it as a plane.

Corinne theorizes various explanations, from supernatural origins to scientific anomalies, including the possibility of time travelers or dimensional shifts.

---

Listener Story: Haley’s Haunting Encounters

In a poignant segment, the podcast features a listener named Haley who shares her unsettling experiences in the Appalachian region. Her stories include:

1. [47:22] First Encounter:
   Haley describes seeing a pale, gangly figure behind her house while waiting for the bus, leading to a lifetime of feeling watched.

2. [45:42] Screaming in the Woods:
   Recurring high-pitched screams emanate from the woods at night, causing ongoing fear and anxiety.

3. [53:18] Discovery of Human Bones:
   Haley's sisters uncover human remains in their backyard, deepening the mystery and fear surrounding their home.

These accounts echo the Van Meter Visitor’s legend, highlighting themes of seclusion, unexplained phenomena, and the thin veil between reality and the supernatural.

---

Discussion and Insights

[43:42] Corinne and [43:48] Jamie engage in a lively discussion comparing Van Meter to other cryptid hotspots. They ponder the reasons behind regional cryptid appearances and the sociocultural factors influencing these legends. Corinne emphasizes:

"Experts in psychology have said that this is textbook mass hysteria. But we say no, because why would respected community members fabricate such matching stories?" [43:01]

Jamie counters by exploring the psychological and environmental triggers that might lead to collective sightings, suggesting that underlying fears and societal changes could play a role.

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Conclusion

Two Girls One Ghost wraps up the episode by reinforcing the enduring mystery of the Van Meter Visitor. The hosts encourage listeners to attend the annual Van Meter festival and delve deeper into the town's cryptid lore through the book The Van Meter Visitor by Chad Lewis, Kevin Lee Nelson, and Noah Voss. They leave the audience pondering the nature of such creatures and the thin line between folklore and reality.

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Notable Quotes

• Corinne Vien, [00:45]:
  "It started with a light... like a lighthouse in a sea of cornfields."

• Corinne Vien, [07:41]:
  "...a creature that stands upright like a man, but it is not human."

• Jamie Deana-Roga, [43:42]:
  "Paranormal theorists say these entities appear during moments of change, uncertainty, or geological disturbances."

• Corinne Vien, [43:01]:
  "Experts in psychology have said that this is textbook mass hysteria. But we say no..."

---

Further Resources

Listeners interested in exploring the Van Meter Visitor further can refer to the book The Van Meter Visitor by Chad Lewis, Kevin Lee Nelson, and Noah Voss, which offers comprehensive investigations and real-life accounts.

Join the Conversation

For more ghostly tales and supernatural investigations, tune into Two Girls One Ghost and share your own encounters by emailing [e-mail].

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Stay tuned for more spine-chilling episodes as Corinne and Sabrina uncover the mysteries that lie beyond our understanding.

Transcript

[Corinne]

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[Sabrina]

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[Corinne]

It started with a light. Not a flicker, not a glow. A beam, blinding, unrelenting, cutting through the dark, like a lighthouse in a sea of cornfields. And then came the sound. Wings, massive but unnatural. And a smell like sulfur and decay that leaked throughout the town. Van Meter, Iowa, 1903. A quiet coal town that experienced one of the most terrifying encounters. So terrifying that by the end of one week, the residents would barricade their doors, arm themselves, and fire bullets into the night at something that they just couldn't quite explain. Something that couldn't be killed. Some called it a monster. Some said it was from another world. But everyone agreed to call it one thing. The Van Meter visitor.

[Jamie]

Very spooky.

[Corinne]

Hello. Sup?

[Jamie]

Howdy Doody.

[Corinne]

Howdy Doody. This is two girls, one ghost. Two girls, one ghost.

[Jamie]

And we are your ghostesses. That is Corinne.

[Corinne]

Hello.

[Jamie]

And I am Sabrina. And we're color coordinated right now.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Corinne]

The green and black.

[Jamie]

And we match our curtains, our aesthetic.

[Corinne]

Studio. I didn't tell you this because you weren't able to join Camperry Stories last week, but I told everyone else this. My Grammy who passed has had, like, so many signs to everyone.

[Jamie]

Well, you had told me that that morning.

[Corinne]

The butterfly stuff is.

[Jamie]

Yeah. Is there more?

[Corinne]

Yeah.

[Jamie]

Literally in that day, there was more.

[Corinne]

Yes. So at the time of her death.

[Jamie]

Yeah.

[Corinne]

So my dad and two of his siblings were all, like, with my Grammy when she passed. But the three spouses of the three siblings who were together were all woke up at the exact same time, which was the exact same Time as my grammy's death. And then my brother was flying home that day to Houston.

[Jamie]

Yeah.

[Corinne]

His plane was super delayed. There were a bunch of thunderstorms. Like, just, like, weird weather stuff. So he didn't get in until much, much later than he was supposed to. And when he was on the plane, he smelled. And this wasn't. My grammy hadn't passed yet. It was, like, maybe an hour before she did. He smelled the massage bar, which is, like, an extremely specific smell. It's the Lush massage bar with, like, the. What's it called? Like, coffee beans or whatever in it that my mom brought. She would bring it, like, to my grammy and massage her every time she saw her.

[Jamie]

So it's like a smell associated with your grammy?

[Corinne]

Yes. And my brother was on the plane and just suddenly got the smell. And it's like, I've never just smelled that smell out and about. Like, it's a very specific smell. People don't wear it as, like, a perfume. It's not. Doesn't exist as a body wash or anything. Like, it's so specific. And he'd been on the plane and then just suddenly got the smell of this.

[Jamie]

I mean, we talked about this two episodes ago now, episode 328, when you had first told us about your grammy's passing. But her spirit had made herself known before she passed away to multiple people. And now clearly multiple times.

[Corinne]

Yeah, we're just waiting to.

[Jamie]

Have you had anything else, like.

[Corinne]

No, just the. The footsteps and the door opening. We'll see what happens. Because she.

[Jamie]

Yeah, Grammy is being.

[Corinne]

Grammy's been active.

[Jamie]

Yeah.

[Corinne]

But I mean, all those things happened, like, leading up to when she passed, and I don't think there's been anything since. So I wonder if it was just all her, you know, like, saying goodbye rounds to people. I'm not sure, but. Well, it's wild because it's like, so many people experiencing stuff that's amazing.

[Jamie]

I mean, the smell thing is so. Because I can relate to that because I smell my grandma randomly, and it's such a specific smell.

[Corinne]

Coffee and cigarettes.

[Jamie]

Coffee, cigarettes and Listerine.

[Corinne]

It's three of them.

[Jamie]

And I'll be, like, sitting in my backyard when I get a whiff of it. I'll be sitting in my living room with all the windows closed. I'll get a whiff of it.

[Corinne]

Yeah. And that combo.

[Jamie]

In such random places.

[Corinne]

Yeah, right.

[Jamie]

It's wild.

[Corinne]

It is wild.

[Jamie]

Well, what do you have for us today? Where are you taking us? What journey are we going on?

[Corinne]

We are going on A journey to Iowa.

[Jamie]

No, hate to Iowa.

[Corinne]

Isn't Iowa the corn state? Shout out Corn. I love corn.

[Jamie]

I think I started doing this because I had braces. But how do you eat your corn? We need to talk about this. I now cannot eat it without cutting it off the cob.

[Corinne]

Same. Because it's all up in and I can't get it out. I feel like my tongue can't get it out.

[Jamie]

I enjoy it so much more when it's pre cut and there's nothing better than cutting it perfectly that it stays.

[Corinne]

Kind of in the. And honestly, I feel like it almost has like more juice and you can get more like butter and stuff around it when it's cut. Yeah, I'm not a nibble on the cob person anymore.

[Jamie]

Yeah. Okay.

[Corinne]

Thanks.

[Jamie]

Braces. One thing to think.

[Corinne]

Well.

[Jamie]

And my teeth. My nice teeth. Thank you.

[Corinne]

My shiny teeth and me fairly oddparents. Anyone? Okay.

[Jamie]

My brain went to brace face because of braces. Did you ever watch brace face? No, I don't think it was that long lasting, but I had braces at the same time.

[Corinne]

So look at this. Oh, I did watch brace face.

[Jamie]

Did you ever wear braces?

[Corinne]

Yeah, I did.

[Jamie]

How long?

[Corinne]

Two years. My teeth have since shifted, but like, whatever.

[Jamie]

They look great.

[Corinne]

It's fine. I have a little space. I will always have that little space.

[Jamie]

I used to have the biggest gap tooth. I mean, I had braces for seven years. Like literally I had such a big seven years. My gap was so big that my canine teeth, the adult teeth, like my baby teeth wouldn't fall out because the adult teeth started growing inwards up on the roof of my mouth. I literally had to have surgery to connect one of my. They pulled my baby teeth. I had the amount of dental work I've had.

[Corinne]

Oh my God bless my parents.

[Jamie]

But they literally had to pull my baby teeth. They hoping that my adult teeth would like find their way back. One of them did. The other one. I had to get surgery to go into the roof of my mouth, connect the tooth to a chain, connect the chain to my braces and slowly over time, they like pulled it down into its space.

[Corinne]

Were you just like in constant pain?

[Jamie]

Yeah.

[Corinne]

Jesus.

[Jamie]

Bananachemy.

[Corinne]

That's like the most intense thing I've heard. Connecting your tooth to a chain up in your gum to drag it back down.

[Jamie]

Dental work is archaic.

[Corinne]

No, I've got more space in my mouth than the teeth can. I can fit my whole fist in my mouth.

[Jamie]

So let's see. Perform.

[Corinne]

I don't want to do the Whole thing.

[Jamie]

You're so close.

[Corinne]

I don't do the whole thing.

[Jamie]

Let me see. I feel like this is inappropriate.

[Corinne]

That's exactly why I said Jamie.

[Jamie]

I think we should put like a little ghost emoji over our faces.

[Corinne]

Yeah, please, let's not actually show anyone that.

[Jamie]

Okay. To the ghost story.

[Corinne]

It all begins on an autumn night, September 29, 1903. U. G Griffith, a well known and well respected local businessman. He is jolted awake in the dead of night because he sees something. A bright light. It is so bright, just shining through his windows, waking him up.

[Jamie]

Are we talking aliens?

[Corinne]

No.

[Jamie]

Okay, I'll let you finish. Sorry, I got excited.

[Corinne]

It is a light like he has never seen before. It completely floods his bedroom windows. It overtakes his home. Whole room, it's stark, it's unblinking. The source of it completely unknown. So instinctively, he grabs his shotgun, as you do in 1903, Iowa. He runs outside, his heart is pounding. He's about to find whoever is doing this, shining this giant spotlight into his home and probably be pretty aggressive towards them. Yeah, his right as a store owner who. He lives above his store. So he's thinking that his home is being burglarized, his store is being burglarized. So he's ready to be like, get away from my store. Like, don't take anything, scram. Right, I've got a gun. Whatever. That's how I picture him.

[Jamie]

Scary. Yeah.

[Corinne]

Yeah, scary. So he was ready, probably in his underwear, to yell at some hooligans. But what he sees next will haunt him forever. There, looming in the shadows, is a figure. No, not a figure. It's a creature. It stands upright like a man, but it is not human. It has a huge wingspan. It's nearly 8ft tall. Its body muscular, hunched, almost like a gargoyle. And these bat like wings are unfurled behind its back, casting this giant shadow. A glowing horn is protruding from its head.

[Jamie]

Like a unicorn.

[Corinne]

Yes. And that is what is creating this beacon of light, this searchlight, casting this powerful sweeping beam of light into the darkness, which is what went into his windows and woke this man up. And so you G. Griffith, is watching this thing, completely terrified, gripping onto his gun. And the creature moves slowly, deliberately, eerily confident.

[Jamie]

Well, yeah, when you have a glowing unicorn horn, of course, the confidence is endless.

[Corinne]

Right? It's like dragon like. It's. It's almost like a pterodactyl looking creature, but it has this glowing horn. Griffith then takes his gun, fires once, fires twice. The gunshots echoing down Main Street. But the creature doesn't flinch. It merely turns its head, looks at him with glinting eyes, and then vanishes into the night at an impossible speed.

[Jamie]

Okay, so it's a combination of a unicorn, a gargoyle, and Mothman.

[Corinne]

Yeah. And, like, really does look like a pterodactyl. Wow, it's weird. So Griffith is not quiet about this encounter. He starts telling people, and at first, the townsfolk are like, okay, like, what happened to you? Did you bonk your head last night?

[Jamie]

Well, especially if this is a Main Street. Like, it's called Main Street. I would imagine there are a lot of people who live on this block, and no one else saw it, right?

[Corinne]

Exactly. And if it has this, like, giant search beam of light, you would think more people would wake up. And I don't know how many people lived above their shops. But like, it was the middle of the night. Interesting in a shopping area, but I would assume more people would have, right? People are like, griffith, you must have just imagined this. And he's like, no, no, no. I swear I saw this. People are like, it's a trick of light. It's a bad dream. Something's happening to you, Griffith.

[Jamie]

Without anyone else to back him up, it's, should we be concerned about him?

[Corinne]

Right?

[Jamie]

Yeah.

[Corinne]

And he was like, well, just you wait, because I bet this thing will be back. Skepticism of the townsfolk quickly turns to fear when, that very evening, a strange bluish glow begins to pulse through the windows of another person's home. Dr. Alcott, the town's beloved physician. He would have the next encounter of the doctor, right? Yeah, like you didn't want to believe in the shopkeeper. Well, guess what? Now your doctor is experiencing this. So Alcott steps outside. He's curious, but he's cautious. I don't know if he had heard the rumors yet about what this other man, Griffith, had experienced, but he's immediately overwhelmed by this sulfuric, disgusting stench. And it's actually the same stench that Griffith had previously told people about, also experiencing when he was outside. Some people would later say that this stench is like mind erasing. Like you're supposed to figure out your experiences. Very like Men in Black. But it is this, like, deeply disgusting odor, like rotten eggs, which also is.

[Jamie]

Associated with demonic entities or dark entities.

[Corinne]

Yeah. This creature from the underworld, whatever this is, it's not. No. And this thing smells like a tongue rotting. And Griffith is a physician. He is familiar, I'm sure, with a lot of weird, funky smells.

[Jamie]

Yeah.

[Corinne]

So his eyes are drawn upward, and there it is towering, winged, glowing.

[Jamie]

The creature, it's like not on the ground.

[Corinne]

Yeah. It's often like perched on roofs, rooftops. So he raises his pistol. Because everyone has a gun in this town at this time, he raises his pistol and he fires five shots directly at it, intending to kill it. The bullets strike, crack its neck again.

[Jamie]

And go ha, ha ha.

[Corinne]

Nice try. Basically, five shots strike this beast, but no damage, no blood, no pain. But a sound that did not belong of this world screeched out of this creature. The beast was now angered and the monster lifted itself into the sky. With thunderous flaps of its wings, it disappeared once more into the night.

[Jamie]

I'm like flipping through my Rolodex of Cryptids because this has so many similar traits to so many we've heard of.

[Corinne]

The glowing horn is what throws you.

[Jamie]

Yeah, right. And what does it want?

[Corinne]

Yeah, I don't really know. We're not gonna get answers as to what it wants, unfortunately.

[Jamie]

Shocking. But the way that like bullets don't strike it or damage it does make me think that Cryptids like the travel through dimensions.

[Corinne]

Yeah. It also makes me think, okay, so like thinking about like the. When people say like they see pterodactyls or thunderbirds, like all these sort of like prehistoric. Is this paranormal or is this like somehow these dinosaurs just existing? It also makes me wonder just about like the skin of a dinosaur and like the thickness of it. Would our modern day bullets actually penetrate it enough to do any damage? Like I don't know what this skin was like.

[Jamie]

I think they would a bullet. Think about the speed.

[Corinne]

I don't know, I'm trying to think.

[Jamie]

Your skin's not like armor.

[Corinne]

I have questions for the dinosaurs. Not you chickens, the other ones. Ones before you. So this is in Van Meter, Iowa. And now the entire town is awake, terrified, trembling in fear, completely trusting that there is now a beast in the town.

[Jamie]

Why do I so badly? Like my brain won't stop thinking this, but you know the game like Murderer or One Night Ultimate, One Night Werewolf, where talent goes to sleep. You all get a role. You're a townsperson, you're the cop, you're the doctor.

[Corinne]

It's where you put your head down and someone gets a scratch on there.

[Jamie]

It's similar of the same vein, but you get a role and they paint a whole story. It's like everyone goes to sleep. It's a peaceful night in the town of Van Meter, Iowa. And then the narrator's murderer wake up and they point to the person they want to murder.

[Corinne]

Yeah.

[Jamie]

And then murderer goes to sleep, and then the doctor wakes up. Who do you want to save? They point to someone.

[Corinne]

Oh.

[Jamie]

Then they go to sleep, and then the cop wakes up and it's like, who do you want to, like, ask if it's this person? Like, say you were the murderer and I pointed to you at night.

[Corinne]

Do you play this in school?

[Jamie]

At sleepovers? At school recently, you can't really pay by yourself, but I just keep feeling like this town.

[Corinne]

I love how you're thinking of that because this whole time I was researching this, I was thinking of midnight mass.

[Jamie]

Very similar.

[Corinne]

Yeah.

[Jamie]

Murderer is literally. What's the show? The Scottish guy. They're all like, staying in the castle. Oh, traitors. It's literally the show Traitors. Murderer is the show.

[Corinne]

Traitors. Okay, well, yeah, this is freaking out the town. And, yeah, it does feel well. I guess the good thing with this is that there are no suspects. It's just there's a creature. So, like, no one's pointing fingers at each other.

[Jamie]

And no one's dying, right?

[Corinne]

No one's dying.

[Jamie]

No one's being murdered.

[Corinne]

It's just really. But people are trying to murder this thing, Right? That's for sure. So the town's laughter turns into whispered prayers. Doors are barred. Children are kept inside. Every able body man is now armed. And people are taking shifts, patrolling the town, patrolling the neighborhoods, trying to look to the skies and figure out where this beast is and what it might want. The third night, the creature returns again, and this time it's to the town bank. Clarence Dunn, a local banker, is sleeping inside the bank with a shotgun in hand. Not because he was prepared for the beast, but because he was thinking in all the mayhem that would happen, potentially, someone might try to take advantage of it, break into the bank. So he was armed for potential burglars to protect the bank. Around 1am, a strange noise wakes Clarence. A scraping sound like claws against the brick. The air is thick, and the stench of rotting sulfur emanates through the building. He turns to the window, and there it is, the creature, the horned beast. Desperate, Dunn also fires shots at this creature he finds.

[Jamie]

Does he go outside to fire shots?

[Corinne]

I think it might have been through the window. I have no idea.

[Jamie]

Jeez, now people are really gonna rob the bank.

[Corinne]

Oh, right. So he fires multiple rounds. And it's a very foggy night. The bullets disappear, the creature disappears, vanishes into the shadows, into the fog. And Clarence has no idea where it is. But upon going outside and trying to investigate, like where it was near the window. He finds a footprint. It is 18 inches long and it has three toes. And he took a cast of this.

[Jamie]

Do we have a photo?

[Corinne]

We have a photo. It's in a museum.

[Jamie]

What year was all of this happening?

[Corinne]

1903.

[Jamie]

This isn't, like that long ago.

[Corinne]

It's really hard to see in this photo, but, like. Cause there's, like, other bricks and stuff near it. Nobody. And that's really the only, like, evidence left behind through this whole story. Like, physical evidence.

[Jamie]

Well, this whole story feels fake because it's like on the first night, on the second night, on the third night. And it turns out each night, one person individually is seeing this.

[Corinne]

You're thinking, oh, my God, everyone should be panicked. Everyone should be rallying together. But individuals are experiencing things. And it feels too, like, okay, what's going on? Is this, like, just. And I'll talk about this in a little bit, but just like, mass hysteria almost.

[Jamie]

Sure.

[Corinne]

Like, what's. What's going on?

[Jamie]

If one person says it, is this now creating the experience for everyone else that's experiencing it?

[Corinne]

Right. Or it's like sometimes I think of that one listener story that we received where it was like, her aunt or something was so convinced that there was this, like, demon or, like, beast on top of the house and then figured out that it was turkeys. Okay. So now we have a print from Clarence Dunn's experience on the third night.

[Jamie]

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[Corinne]

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[Jamie]

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[Corinne]

Yes. I was putting them in my drinks, but then you told me that you just squeeze the patches right into your mouth. So I've started doing that now, too. Now I'm a squeezer.

[Jamie]

You're a squeezer? What are you. How do you take your Symbiotica supplements? They have so many different amazing supplements. This one that we have right here is the Shilajit liquid complex that truly tastes like yummy chocolate goodness. It's hazelnut cocoa flavored. It's great for sustained energy, muscle recovery, and brain health, which I need all of those. It just makes taking your supplements so much easier and convenient. And also they taste good, which is the best part.

[Corinne]

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[Jamie]

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[Corinne]

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[Jamie]

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[Corinne]

Hardware store owner, Ov White, has a similar experience. He is awakened by this intense light and this terrifying pressure on his chest. So he steps onto his balcony and he sees, perched on his neighbor's roof, not a turkey, but this creature, this beast, this visitor, as people call it, right? It has massive wings that are folded behind its back and the glowing horn is scanning the town like a lighthouse, like it's searching for something.

[Jamie]

Yeah, what is it looking for? Because clearly it wants something. If it's revisiting the same town, especially the same street, over and over, night after night, it's very weird.

[Corinne]

So now this is the fourth time this creature is shot at because apparently everyone who sees it has a gun. So the creature, while it's perched on the neighbor's home, OVI White fires at the creature basically almost like point blank. Like he's very close because it's on his neighbor's roof. So this is maybe one of the closest shots compared to some of the others, aside from Clarence Dunn, who saw it right outside the bank's window. The creature screeches like it was hit, but it doesn't fall. It takes flight, its wings flapping. And it disappears again into the silence of the night. But by this point, it is clear there is something in this town. And it is not just a figment of people's imagination. It is real and seemingly it cannot be harmed.

[Jamie]

And it's confusing as heck.

[Corinne]

Mm. So if you're watching on YouTube, there's a picture that I'm including, which is like an artist's depiction of the town and what happened. And I actually love it. Cause it's. This was like a mining town, which I'll go into in a little bit. But it, like, shows everybody, like, in uproar and beasts flying over the mine. And I just love it.

[Jamie]

Oh, my gosh. I love it because it looks like a real photo.

[Corinne]

It does.

[Jamie]

With added elements.

[Corinne]

And it also reminds me of, like, a movie still from, like, 1996. Right. Like, this feels like we'd be watching this movie.

[Jamie]

Oh, my gosh. Okay.

[Corinne]

So this is when the rumors really began to spread through the town. Some say this thing was a demon. It was summoned through dark rituals. Maybe the land itself was cursed. Perhaps mining work unearthed something. Others claim that it's an alien from beyond the stars and it's here on some sort of mission and searching for something. Like you said. Other people are blaming it on the mining operation, saying that it's disturbed. Some sort of ecosystem underground that we're not aware of.

[Jamie]

I believe that.

[Corinne]

And that there is these creatures now that are have access to above ground that maybe lived in, like, the deep caves. Cavernous.

[Jamie]

Especially if it's bat like and it has this glowing horn. Good for seeing dark underground caves. Yeah.

[Corinne]

Maybe it can't see at all. Maybe it's just like complete, like light sonar, like some sort of weird thing. Maybe its eyeballs can't actually spot you. Who knows?

[Jamie]

So interesting.

[Corinne]

But the light is the thing that's tripping everyone up. No one can explain what the hell. This, like, giant, bright, flashing, horned, like, searchlight on top of this beast's head is.

[Jamie]

Right.

[Corinne]

It does remind me of that. The one fish, the angler fish, they have the, like, light in front of them.

[Jamie]

Poor anglerfish.

[Corinne]

So some swear that this is actually just a ghost of an ancient being disturbed from its slumber in the coal mines. Others say that there's a secret government experiment that's happening and that has now been exposed with the coal mine activity.

[Jamie]

We love a secret government experiment.

[Corinne]

Love that. Some people have even blamed time travelers or like, shifts in like someone did something and it like shifted the way time exists. And basically no one knows what's going on.

[Jamie]

Every theory is possible.

[Corinne]

Every theory is possible. So the town is ablaze with theory and speculation. But one thing is certain. There's something. A beast in Van Meter, Iowa. That's about all they know for certain.

[Jamie]

I'm also curious, like, how large is this town? Because I'm imagining a very small town. And this is just so befuddling.

[Corinne]

I think that's.

[Jamie]

And it's also like the topic of conversation. Of every conversation.

[Corinne]

Yeah. Okay, so the final night, the climax of the horror.

[Jamie]

The fifth night.

[Corinne]

Witnesses claim not one, but two creatures are now emerging from the abandoned coal mine on the town's edge.

[Jamie]

It has a baby.

[Corinne]

Maybe it was looking for the baby or the partner.

[Jamie]

Wait, okay. That's why it's the last night searching.

[Corinne]

Okay, well.

[Jamie]

Oh.

[Corinne]

So these two beasts, their horns glowing in the darkness. Their bodies covered in this dark leathery skin. Their wings fast, silent, flapping through the night, Leaving behind the smell of rotten eggs wherever they fly.

[Jamie]

Poor guys.

[Corinne]

So a group of townsmen then gather near the mine's entrance. They're armed with every weapon they could muster. And they wait in the shadows for these beings to emerge once more. Because this is kind of like the site, like this one part of the mine that people aren't working in that's like seemingly abandoned. Perhaps this is where these beasts are living. This is where they lie. They come back every night, emerging from the mineshaft. So people gather there. The air is heavy. Anxiety is just palpable. And then a flash of light. The sulfur extension. A shriek so loud it could break a window. The men open fire. Shotguns, rifles, all of them armed just at these two creatures. And the barrage of bullets are just echoing through the valley. The whole neighborhood, the whole town, I'm sure, was awake waiting for this beast and hearing this battle.

[Jamie]

I'm also just so glad no one got hurt by a stray bullet.

[Corinne]

That's true.

[Jamie]

People are just willy nilly shooting these things.

[Corinne]

Foom, foom. Yeah. But again, no blood, no wounds. The creatures, unbothered, retreat calmly into the mine. And just like that, it was kind of over. But in order to make sure that there wasn't going to be another night of these beasts returning, the town decided to act quickly and seal the mine. The entrance buried beneath rock and rubble. Official records may note of strange occurrences. But over time, the story then kind of faded. Became a bit of folklore in the town. And all of the physical evidence disappeared. Except for the footprint. But the memory did not. The lore did not.

[Jamie]

Yeah, how could you forget that?

[Corinne]

And to this day, people in Van Meter still talk about that week. There's actually a festival too, that they have.

[Jamie]

I love a good festival.

[Corinne]

Generations later, families pass down the stories of this Van Meter visitor.

[Jamie]

Is that what it's called?

[Corinne]

The Van Meter visitor? Yep. In 1903, which is like such a. For a giant beast, basically like a dragon to come visit your town. Be like, oh, it's our visitor. But they were terrified of it.

[Jamie]

It's better than like the killer because it didn't kill anyone.

[Corinne]

It didn't kill anyone.

[Jamie]

Okay, well now I'm also thinking like, what if these glowing horns are also a bit of like a drill if they do live in the caves that they can use them to like tunnel through these.

[Corinne]

Oh, interesting.

[Jamie]

Through the underground.

[Corinne]

Yeah. Like, I wonder if there's a lot of heat too. Like if they can kind of like melt rock or something.

[Jamie]

I love them.

[Corinne]

They harmed no one. They were minding their own business. We were trying to harm them.

[Jamie]

Yeah, we're the villains.

[Corinne]

We are in this story for sure. And most skeptics have chalked it up to mass hysteria. Basically saying like, this is something that happens time and time again. We have talked about some of the things like the dancing plague and just like other instances where people get really riled up and they get into a story and then suddenly unexplained, everybody is experiencing the same thing and can't quite.

[Jamie]

Get differentiate what's reality and what's not exactly. I hot take. Think we're due for a dancing plague. Sue me. I said it.

[Corinne]

I. I hope it happens. Actually I, I take that back because now that I'm thinking about the actual dancing plague and the people who died from like exhaustion and dehydration because they couldn't stop dancing. I don't hope it happens. But I do agree with you that maybe there should just be like a universal worldwide timed dance break.

[Jamie]

Like I almost want there to be a little bit of hysteria in it where like all of a sudden everyone in the world drops everything and just starts dancing and cannot stop until we realize how silly we've been about everything.

[Corinne]

I said it.

[Jamie]

It's out there.

[Corinne]

It's out there.

[Jamie]

Manifest it.

[Corinne]

Manifest it. People have talked mass hysteria. People have been just wondering if this was a hoax made up to like. I don't know why, but I guess like garner attention for the town. But essentially people have no idea what happened. The beasts were sealed in the Cave people sometimes, still today, say that they hear the beating of the wings soaring through the darkness of the sky. People have also. Yeah, people have smelled that same sulfuric rotation. And to truly understand how the fear overtook Van Meter, I did write a little bit about, like, the era and what was going on in the town of van meter in 1903. Okay, so this was kind of like what you were saying. It's a small town, or you're picturing it as a small town. And it was. It was a town where everyone knew everyone. Tight knit group of people who were like farmers, laborers, coal miners, families. It was just west of Des Moines, Iowa, if anyone knows Des Moines. And there were a lot of wooden storefronts that lined Main Street. But it wasn't like this giant shopping metropolis. It was like a pretty modest little downtown. You know, people were.

[Jamie]

Sounds like it's a mining town.

[Corinne]

Yeah, yeah, exactly. This feels kind of like almost like a wild west town in my mind, so.

[Jamie]

And you probably don't have the answers for this, but I just am so curious if the economy of this town is primarily coal mining, and then they've sealed the mines because of these beasts, do all the coal miners just lose their job? Like, what happens?

[Corinne]

I don't really know. Yeah, I guess I don't have enough information if, like, the coal mine that they. Because they were talking about the coal mine being abandoned, but, like, it wasn't at this time. So I'm curious if the coal mine that they thought was where the creatures were was like a separate one? Separate. Like they had already moved on and were working in a different area.

[Jamie]

Right.

[Corinne]

But like, still, wouldn't you be terrified of going down and.

[Jamie]

And underneath the encounter darkness?

[Corinne]

Right.

[Jamie]

Yeah.

[Corinne]

Yeah. So it was a lot of blue collar workers. There were hardware stores, grocery stores, a horse track. But really, like, it was very small, I guess.

[Jamie]

Yeah.

[Corinne]

So the coal mines were Van Meter's beating heart. Every morning before dawn, people would wake up and they would descend into the darkness of the shafts just outside of the edge of town. And it was very, as we know, very grueling and dangerous work. They had a lot of deaths just because of, you know, like, the risks of cave ins were not uncommon. But there were also these rumors of strange noises that would echo through the chambers, little whispers of something weird down in the mineshaft. And some of the miners sometimes dismissed this with a shake of the head and a nervous laugh. And this is where I wrote a stupid joke. It's a reference. It's a movie reference. The. I Think I'm getting the black.

[Jamie]

I was literally just thinking about Zoolander as you were talking about the conditions of the mines. I was literally in my head. Yeah, well, we've all seen Zoolander.

[Corinne]

We know, right?

[Jamie]

So apropos.

[Corinne]

There we go. Well, I'm glad I said it out loud now because otherwise I would have just gone over it. So on the surface of the town, electricity was scarce. They did a lot of like, oil lamps in their windows and stuff. So this like, bright light of this creature was just like complete. Yeah, it was so shocking. It so stuck out. Yeah. Medical understanding of mental health was very rudimentary at this time. The line between superstition and science, it was all blurred. And rural towns like Van Meter were very tight knit. And they were very deeply religious too. So something like this is like, what the hell?

[Jamie]

Yeah.

[Corinne]

And I'm actually shocked that they weren't immediately saying, like, this is a demon from the underworld. They were really questioning, like, what was this could be. And I think maybe it's because they were. It wasn't just like, one person saw it and the rumors were ablaze. Many people were saying it and it like, was a real. Yeah, like, it was so confusing that they couldn't just simply say, like, oh, well, it's. It must be this.

[Jamie]

Right?

[Corinne]

Especially. Cause it has the glowing horn again. It goes back to the glowing horn. People were like, what's that? We wondered about that.

[Jamie]

Like, it makes me think of a drawing a kid would have made. And it came to life.

[Corinne]

Right. So people are having a really hard time kind of like dissecting these experiences with logic.

[Jamie]

Sure.

[Corinne]

So the rumors spread like wildfire. And the beasts were trapped in the cave, I guess sealed away in the cave. Today, the Van Meter visitor lives on. Each September, the town hosts a festival commemorating the week that they went face to face with these. They say a beast, but there were two in the end. So like, these two creatures, I just like.

[Jamie]

Do people dress up as the beast?

[Corinne]

Oh, I don't know. Let me look.

[Jamie]

Because if not, I volunteer. I will do that.

[Corinne]

I like, honestly didn't even look into the festival that much.

[Jamie]

What day is it this year? Let's see.

[Corinne]

Oh, interesting. Okay, wait, I'm looking at the flyer from last year. And they had a talk on exploring the possible connection between cryptids and allegedly extinct animals. Another talk on the evolution of lore. Evolving face of Cryptids.

[Jamie]

We would have fun here.

[Corinne]

We would. Why are there no. I feel like we're missing photos of this festival. People need to upload that.

[Jamie]

What about their Facebook group. I think this year it's on September 27th. Okay. There's pictures of people eating food.

[Corinne]

Oh, there's a Bigfoot casting cast. What am I. I don't know what I'm saying.

[Jamie]

Anyway, it's an open casting call for Bigfoot.

[Corinne]

Okay. So, yeah, they host a festival. Locals and tourists, they'll gather for lectures, guided walks. There's also. I don't know if they still do this, but I know that previously there had been a nighttime excursion where you can go to basically the outskirts of town to where the mine was closed.

[Jamie]

Okay. There's a picture on the Facebook group with, like, a group of people, like, walking along a street. And I was like, it must be that. They must be walking the path.

[Corinne]

They must be, yes. Okay, so that's great. If they still do it. And so while most people believe that the Van Meter visitor vanished in 1903, others are not so sure. In fact, there have been actually a handful of modern sightings that suggest that these creatures were not just banished to the cave, that the ceiling of the cave did nothing. Perhaps they found another exit.

[Jamie]

I hope it didn't do anything. I hope it didn't trap them in there.

[Corinne]

Right. They did nothing to anyone. Yeah. They spent a week out there.

[Jamie]

And it was searching for something. They were searching for something, presumably their offspring, their partner, their sibling.

[Corinne]

Why can't they just sort them in the sky? Let them be love and beast. Rest in beast. So this was not an isolated account, this 1903 sighting, because back in 1980 or the 1980s, there was a man who just moved to the area had never heard the lore of this creature, which I believe that because, like, you and I have been doing this podcast for how long?

[Jamie]

Eight years?

[Corinne]

Yeah.

[Jamie]

And we've never heard of it.

[Corinne]

And we're like, deep in the cryptid lore. So I believe this guy. And he'd never heard the lore. He just moved there and he claimed to come face to face with this creature that had a five foot wingspan, and it was gliding silently above the old mine entrance.

[Jamie]

Did it have the glowing horn?

[Corinne]

I don't know. He didn't say that. He didn't say anything about a glowing horn. But then in the early 2000s, a van meter family who was driving home late one night caught a glimpse of this massive figure perched roadside, and their headlights caught it, and the creature turned its head, looked at them, and then was gone again. No mention of a light. So maybe it can turn it on and off. It's not just like something that's always glowing. In 2006, a pastor was driving through the area, and he looks up to the sky and is just aghast when he sees this giant creature. And I think it's, like, daytime. And he has no clue what he's seeing. He thinks it's a dragon. So when he goes home, he Googles Iowa dragon. And then this is when he learns about the visitor.

[Jamie]

I'm shook.

[Corinne]

And then in 2017, another man claimed to see it as well, hovering above the tree line. And this time, there was the really bright light. There was no sound. And he was like, I do not know what I saw. All I can say for certain is that this definitely was not a plane.

[Jamie]

It also just makes me so interested in why some cryptids are regional. Like, why do they only appear in Van Meter, Iowa? Why do the Jersey Devil only appear in, like, the Pine Barrens?

[Corinne]

Well, but maybe they don't. Maybe the Jersey Devil and the Van.

[Jamie]

Meter visitor are related.

[Corinne]

Yeah. Or even, like, I'm thinking about, like, when people say that they see pterodactyls in, like, the Bridgewater Triangle in Massachusetts. Like, why can't they all be the same or very similar? But it's just we get very rare glimpses of them because they don't. They're not supposed to exist, like, up here. And then sometimes.

[Jamie]

Okay, here's my creative brains logic story that is happening in van meter in 1903. We got Mama visitor who they live in the mines. She has a baby. You know, she teaches her baby the ways.

[Corinne]

Baby learns to fly.

[Jamie]

Baby learns to fly. And baby knows the rules. Never leave the mines. Never go where the people go.

[Corinne]

Yeah, we live in the caves.

[Jamie]

But the curiosity is just killing him, and he has to just check it out, and he gets so scared and startled by something that he goes into hiding. And so mama now, for five nights, is looking for her child and finally finds them on the fifth night.

[Corinne]

And that's when they see them flying together and then going back into the cave. That's sweet.

[Jamie]

At least they weren't trapped back in the cave. Without the second.

[Corinne]

Yeah, without each other. I mean, the fact is, they didn't harm anybody again.

[Jamie]

Right.

[Corinne]

If you want to consider someone waking up because there was a bright light that just, like, scanned their window super fast, then. Sure, but, like, lightning does the same thing, right? In 2020, just an hour north of Van Meter, near Boone, Iowa, There was a local resident who also had a bizarre encounter. They were walking near the woods when they heard and described a massive whoosh. This forceful gust of wind. And then they saw right after that, as they're like looking to the sound and looking up in the sky, this huge flying creature like something overhead had huge massive wings and it like blocked out the sky. It was so giant. So this is an hour north. So you were just saying like why aren't these things, why are they just like right here? But this might not just be in this one town.

[Jamie]

It's just like a trip.

[Corinne]

Just sometimes you get to see something. Some say it was a trick of the light. Others believe the town's mining history stirred up something dark and ancient. Something that never really left. Or maybe something that always existed before us. They don't know. But what we do know is over a century later, we are still celebrating and wondering about the Van Meter visitor.

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[Corinne]

Experts in psychology have said that this Is textbook mass hysteria. But we say no, because why would. You're wrong. Why would people who are so respected in their community all give basically matching stories? Like, matching. The stories are different, but, like, the identification of the creature is the same. Why would they try to fabricate something so outlandish? They wouldn't. There is a beast there. Or at least there was. So paranormal theorists, meanwhile, say that this is part of a broader pattern. And it's very similar to what you were saying in the beginning. Mothman at Point Pleasant and the Flatwoods monster of West Virginia. Those are like the two comparisons I'm bringing in the Bridgewater Triangle, because I think that's.

[Jamie]

Have we covered the Flatwoods monster or is it in our Excel to cover? I think I have it as something to cover.

[Corinne]

I hope so. That'll be covered soon so we can do like comparisons. So these entities appear during moments of change, uncertainty, or geological disturbances. And people say that, like, with the growth of the town and the mining and all of that, Perhaps this is something, a reason for these creatures to appear. What they mean, we do not know.

[Jamie]

A warning, omen of some kind.

[Corinne]

People have wondered if there's a portal that has somehow opened up there. I guess the answer is we don't know. But today, Van Meter celebrates its strange history. And outside of the festival, if you are curious to learn more, There is an entire book that was written the Van Meter Visitor by Chad Lewis, Kevin Lee Nelson and Noah Voss that goes into a very, like, comprehensive investigation. I think they include a lot of, like, real life accounts from people of more modern times. And there's also newspaper articles, like original newspaper articles, which, if you've been watching on YouTube, I included one screenshot from one of them that you can find if you go online into the archives at the Des Moines Daily News and the Des Moines Register. So there you go.

[Jamie]

So cool. Cryptid stories are so hard because it's like there is no more information.

[Corinne]

And yeah, we don't like, how can we theorize?

[Jamie]

Right? It's just. It's fascinating. I'm rooting for you, Van Meter visitor. Big fan of your work. And go off king.

[Corinne]

Dance break.

[Jamie]

And that's when we drop all of our things and fall into a dance hysteria.

[Corinne]

Wow.

[Jamie]

I have a listener story. Not of the Van Meter visitor and not necessarily from Iowa either. But it is from our listener, Haley, and it is called the Time. I saw a possible cryptid. Nightly screams. And the bones in the woods.

[Corinne]

Oh, the bones in the woods.

[Jamie]

I was drawn in. I was hooked.

[Corinne]

Yeah.

[Jamie]

And this is Appalachia adjacent, so again, I was hooked. Love it. Hello, ghouls. My name is Hayley. She They. I've recently gotten into your podcast, and when I saw you were doing episodes on Appalachia, I was immediately drawn in because I have lived my entire life in the Appalachian region. To start this off, I lived in and around the woods my entire life, and I have grown up hearing weird noises and seeing things that have been brushed off. And as I grew up, I eventually fell into the Appalachian rabbit hole and learned about all the spooky things that happen out there. The Cryptids, the legends, the whole nine. Now, I've lived in small towns mostly, so of course I've heard a few things from the locals that I pretty much ignored, because why would I believe some old person rattling off some crazy warning about the things in the woods? But now I know I have to heed those warnings. Okay, so a while back, when I was just starting middle school, my family had moved further into southern Virginia at the heart of the Appalachian region. We were living in a small but comfortable house on the foot of the biggest mountain in the area, where our only closest neighbors were our landlord, who lived a mile behind us, and a woman and her family who lived on a ranch in front of us. But her house was on top of a hill with a whole row of trees and. And a field plus a horse stable blocking our view of them. So safe to say, we were pretty secluded. Everywhere around our house were the woods. Our backyard was just a porch that extended into a little garden up a hill. We had a fire pit, and then behind that began the tree line.

[Corinne]

Sounds really nice, but I'm nervous the whole time because it's like, you know, it's an email that was sent to us, so things are going to go awry.

[Jamie]

Yeah, it was one morning at around 6:30am, late fall. So it was early in the morning. The sun was barely up. My two sisters were upstairs in the house asleep. My mom was at work and my dad was at the store, if I recall correctly. So I was at the end of the fairly small driveway, waiting for my bus to take me to school. And as someone with adhd, for the life of me, I cannot stay still. So I was swaying side to side, had my earbuds in. And then I got this feeling like I was being watched. But I also have severe anxiety, so at first I just brushed it off, thinking I was paranoid, because, again, it was still kind of dark. It's a dreary fall morning. I had just woken up a bit ago and I'm surrounded by wood, so of course I'm writing it off. This is a creepy environment. But that feeling just wouldn't stop. And you know that feeling of the hair on your neck standing up and your thoughts are racing, trying to convince yourself it's fine and you don't have to turn around because it's all in your head, but you can't take the feeling and your stomach is full of dread. Well, yeah, that's what I was feeling. I was trying to focus on my music, but as I swayed back and forth, that feeling kept building up. I tried to ignore it, but I couldn't. And I felt my body want to turn to look. I couldn't resist it. I turned to my right and there I saw it. Behind the treeline, behind my house was a pale figure.

[Corinne]

Ew, no. I immediately think of flesh pedestrians.

[Jamie]

And it wasn't humanoid in any way. Oh, it was pale gray with long, gangly limbs. I imagine if it happened to stand up, it would have been taller than any grown pine tree. And it wasn't just standing there.

[Corinne]

Oh, I got chills. This is giant.

[Jamie]

No, it was slowly crawling towards me like a predator stalking its prey.

[Corinne]

But, like, why even crawl if you're that massive? You can just basically reach out and grab you.

[Jamie]

Because it's creepier. It was almost grotesque watching it crawl with its long limbs, its joints bent in all the wrong ways, its body skinny with its ribs showing like a starved man. It is very flush, pedestrian.

[Corinne]

Yeah.

[Jamie]

I stood there for a moment, frozen in fear and shock as I watched it. And then I did what any sensible person would do in that situation and ran all the way back to my house and quickly locked the door behind me. However, if you've learned any of the rules about Appalachia, it is said that if you find that you notice you are being stalked by one of the many creatures in the woods and you should never run because you don't want to alert it to either your presence or the fact that you're aware of its presence. But I was panicking and I was like, well, I don't really want to be killed. So I ran inside, and after taking a breather, I got my phone out and I texted my family group chat, recounting what I had seen, asking when my dad was going to get back and if he could take me to school instead of me going back outside waiting for the bus. My parents didn't believe me, though. So when my dad got back, he laughed at me and said he would not take me to school, but he would sit on the porch and watch me wait for the bus. That was the first and last time I saw that figure. And while I'm glad it was for the next couple of years that we lived there, I couldn't shake the feeling of being watched every time I went outside. Now for my second story. Kind of short, but it takes place at the same house. For the first few nights after we had moved in, all was good. We were just shaking off the adrenaline from moving into a new place and finally settling in. But of course, just as we got comfortable, that's when the woods decided to not let us rest. It was late at night and my sleep schedule was basically non existent along with both of my sisters. So they were both in their shared room talking and I was downstairs getting a late snack. I don't know what time it was exactly, but I do know for a fact that all of the neighbors around us were definitely asleep. Keep in mind they're also really far away from their neighbors. As I was finishing my snack and throwing the remaining trash away, I heard it. A scream coming from the woods behind her house. This scream lasted about five seconds. It was coming from the woods behind her house and lasted roughly five seconds. I paused, quickly finished what I was doing and ran upstairs because the kitchen had two windows on the wall that faced the woods and I did not want to catch a glimpse of whatever or whoever was making that noise. It sounded human. Not just a spook scream, but like a I'm getting attacked type of scream. However, as someone who's lived in the woods all of my life, I also know that while sounding like a human, it very well could have been a fox or a mountain lion. But mountain lion screams are deeper and I've heard them before. So I went to bed spooked. But the next morning as I barged into my sister's room, because I, as the sibling have the right to do so, noticed that they were talking about a scream that they heard the other night. So I was like, did you guys hear that scream last night too? And they both said, said yes they had. We've all heard it and I don't know if my parents have, but it was very unsettling. It's also unsettling because it's not the first or the last time we've heard it. For the full three and a half years that we lived in this house, we would hear these high pitched screams coming from the woods at night. Almost always around 11:00pm to 3:00am, not every night. Sometimes we wouldn't hear it for weeks, and then it would be back. And it was constant enough that we were always spooked at night.

[Corinne]

And, like, if they. They know the sounds of the wildlife, right? Like, you know, if it's the mountain lion or the coyotes or whatever, an owl.

[Jamie]

It also. I'm glad that it happened more than once, because you also know it's not just a human being attacked.

[Corinne]

I had that thought, too.

[Jamie]

Yeah.

[Corinne]

Because at first I was like, well, what if that's the noise that a human makes in, like, complete fear and terror of, like, a beast attacking them? Like, some sort of, like, this giant, gangly creature?

[Jamie]

I don't know for my last story, which isn't my personal experience, but it's something both of my sisters uncovered. So in the summer, we were clearing out our backyard, and while I opted to stay as far away from the woods as possible and not go in them because I always have felt uneasy about the woods in that house, my sisters decided to go explore the area. I don't know why, but I'm imagining her sisters are twins. They share a room, and Haley just seems like the older sister who's just, like, barging in, runs the house.

[Corinne]

Or is that younger sister behavior?

[Jamie]

I don't know. I guess it could be either. Haley let us know. That's the biggest mystery. Okay, so Haley says their sisters went to explore. So they went past the garden, up the hill to the tree line in the back, and started walking along a little path that they had found while the rest of us were inside, you know, cooling off, doing whatever. And they stumbled upon a little break in the pathway. On this pathway, they discovered bones. At first, they thought maybe deer bones. They found a part of a rib. But as they looked closer and started uncovering more, they found a part of a finger, a leg bone. And my middle sister picked up what was part of a femur bone still attached to a part of a hip bone, and asked our older sister while waving it around, what's this? So you're right. Youngest sister.

[Corinne]

Yeah.

[Jamie]

My oldest sister saw it and immediately told her to put it down. And upon closer inspection, these bones did not appear to be animal, but human. They did not find a full skeleton. And after my sisters put the bones down, they made their way back to the house and for some reason, did not call the police. No forensics. And honestly, I get not wanting to deal with it, but there were literal human remains on our property.

[Corinne]

I wonder if they could tell at all. I mean, obviously, like, conditions. And this is why body farms exist. Like, it's. It's. You need a forensic specialist to tell you how long a body has been there. But it does make me wonder if. If they did, if, like, it would sync up to any of the times that they had a lot of that.

[Jamie]

Like, screeching activity or the screams, like a residual haunting. Haley says closing notes. All of these incidents happened at the same house. This house was built in the late 50s to 60s, and while living there, there had been other several spooky occurrences, but these are the ones that really fit into the Appalachian category. While living there, my sisters and I have all come to the conclusion that, yes, the house and the property around it are definitely haunted. The vibes are very unsettling, and we never want to go back. While I'm glad I have experiences to share, I know, make it like a haunted Airbnb, I don't think they live there anymore.

[Corinne]

Shoot, while I'm good for you.

[Jamie]

Yeah, while I'm glad I have experiences to share with you, I would never want to live there again or have others have those nightmares. My theory is that maybe what I saw, the creature was a fleshwalker, a Wendy boy, or some other creepy crawly spirit. Anyway, thank you for reading my stories and if this does happen to be featured in an episode, thank you for sharing your thoughts on them. Love you girls and the podcast. See you on the other side, Haley.

[Corinne]

I mean, for sure, flush, pedestrian sounding. Just like even the screams could very much be that.

[Jamie]

Right.

[Corinne]

It is confusing though, because this thing was so huge. Like the fact that it could be like, taller than a grown pine tree, I guess.

[Jamie]

I don't know that.

[Corinne]

What kind of pine?

[Jamie]

Yeah, I don't know the height, but I am just picturing it probably even seemed larger because of how skinny and gangly the limbs were.

[Corinne]

Right? Yeah. All like folded up.

[Jamie]

Yeah. The way it just like, so, so creeping towards her as she's waiting for the bus.

[Corinne]

You know what's interesting is like, we've never actually heard, and maybe this is because those people are no longer here to tell the story. But like, it always ends with something with these types of creatures, like, trying to like, stalking but never completing. Like, no one's. Like, we've never heard of, like, being face to face, like breathing at same breath, touching it.

[Jamie]

Right. I feel like the closest story we've gotten was when we did the Indigenous episode or Encounters and we read the Raven Mocker story. But even that, it's probably the closest someone's been to an entity like that. But they're still at a distance.

[Corinne]

Yeah. And I can't remember if we read it on our podcast or if it was like another podcast I was listening to, but I remember another one where like someone encountered that and started sprinting out of the woods. Which is like what you're not supposed to do.

[Jamie]

Yeah.

[Corinne]

Or no, I think they got to the clearing of the woods and then started sprinting through the. Did we read this?

[Jamie]

No, I don't, I don't know.

[Corinne]

Okay. Someone. I think they were like walking their dog. Maybe it was on TikTok. They were like walking their dog and they, they're like. Or whatever, like hi. And then knew that they weren't supposed to look, but looked and it was this sort of like classic flesh pedestrian looking creature and they just like head down swiftly but tried to like calmly walk to the forest edge. And then there was like a big field clearing to get to their parents house and they just sprint to the house and then they close the door. I think they're like grandparent or like I don't remember the story but one of the relatives is there and they look back and the creature is at the forest edge, like watching and waiting.

[Jamie]

Maybe. We did read this. I feel like we've just read or heard so many similar to this. I want to say the reason we haven't heard face to face encounters is because those people can't share those stories anymore.

[Corinne]

They're now missing people.

[Jamie]

They're screaming in the woods. Oh, I had, I meant to look this up. So I was driving home from New Jersey late. So my brother proposed to his girlfriend.

[Corinne]

Yay.

[Jamie]

My new sister Charlotte. And I was gonna stay the night in New Jersey in the drive back Sunday morning. But I was just like, I'm just gonna get, I'm just getting on the road and drive home. So I drove probably from like 9pm to 1am at 9:23pm and I remember this specifically. I was driving on 15, like Highway 15 through Connecticut. I like voice noted myself after this happened because I was like, I want to look up if anything happened. But I was passing, I want to say like Fairfield, Connecticut, one of those exits. And from my right to my left I saw this like glowing bright ball of light, like fly through the sky. And I was like, am I seeing things?

[Corinne]

A comet? A fireball?

[Jamie]

Was it a comet? A fireball. And I meant to look it up but I forgot.

[Corinne]

Oh, you. Yeah, you need to.

[Jamie]

But I like, literally I was like, I'm curious because like if it is a comet, there probably is some Record of it.

[Corinne]

Right? Or it's like, remember I had told you the story about how when I was walking wrinkles, when years and years ago, and we saw, like, a giant ball of fire going through the sky and had, like, a huge tail that, like, seemed like it's end of the world asteroid. And wrinkles, like, looked up at me like, oh, shit. And then I looked it up when we were starting this podcast. I went back and looked it up, and there was, like, one blog that had existed with, like, one other person who mentioned this giant fireball and, like, nowhere else. Like, not on any sort of, like, space and whatever. Like, I don't. People who are supposed to look and chronicle what's going on in the sky.

[Jamie]

Supposed to chronicle our fireball experiences because it really did feel like a fireball. Or like, I've seen so many meteor showers in my life, but it was so much bigger. It was.

[Corinne]

Yeah. It feels like what the dinosaurs saw.

[Jamie]

Yeah. Anyway, well, this was fun. See you at the Van Meter Festival.

[Corinne]

Oh, I forgot what we were talking about in this episode. I was like, what did we cover? And the Van Meter wizard will see.

[Jamie]

You in the woods of Appalachia.

[Corinne]

No, my God.

[Jamie]

Or will we? Because that does sound fun. If you have any encounters with the glowing unicorn Pterodactyl of Van Meter, Iowa. If you have any paranormal encounters at all. If you just want to let us know how you eat your corn, please email [e-mail]. If your team Hysteria Dancing plague, say woot woot in the comments. Say drop it low, low.

[Corinne]

She bang.

[Jamie]

She bang in the comments. Join us on Patreon for episodes one week early and ad free and bonus content and campfire stories and book club and so many more exciting things. Mm.

[Corinne]

Shout out to Jamie Ryan, who edits and produces our podcast. Thank you, Jamie. And thank you to all of you. We love you and we will see you on the other side.

[Jamie]

Very spooky.