The Van Meter Visitor

Episode Bio

It's the turn of the 20th century and revolutionary inventions are sitting on the horizon. In 1901 we have the vacuum cleaner and in 1902 we have air conditioning. In 1903 we have Orville and Wilbur Wright making the first successful manned controlled powered flight. Amongst these great inventors and their wonderful creations lies another. An invention of... fear? Courage? Tourism? Or perhaps just a great story. That story would be about the Van Meter Visitor. A creature that defied explanation at the time and terrorized a number of residents in the small town of Van Meter, Iowa. Don't let this story be overlooked though. Sure, it might not have the most evidence to support it's high strangeness but based off of the research that we here at TFR had conducted, there could be a lot of validity buried deep within the newspaper article that first brought it to life. The creature described could potentially fall into the realm of reality as we know of many other species that inhabit our world that share some of the traits as the Van Meter Visitor, described by locals. It's a short but tantalizing tale that was unearthed by Chad Lewis, Noah Voss, and Kevin Nelson and it has brought forth an incredible story to be told until the end of time, the Van Meter Visitor Festival that is held in late September every year, monster hunters to traverse the town at night in search of a cryptozoological wonder, and much more. We hope you enjoy this episode just as much as we did researching and discussing it. Stay safe and healthy out there, everyone! If you have any stories to tell us, remember we are doing a second "Listener's Tales" episode this Halloween so we need lots of them! You'll hear from us soon!