Encounter Atlas
For several nights in late September and early October 1903, residents of the small town of Van Meter, Iowa reported a huge winged creature, half human and half animal, with bat-like wings and a single blunt horn on its forehead that shone a beam of light.
A farm implement salesman saw the light first on a rooftop. The town doctor said he saw it outside his office window, and a bank cashier fired at it through the bank's front window, leaving only three-toed tracks. Witnesses said bullets did nothing to it. Accounts say townspeople finally drove it and a smaller companion back into an old mine.
Van Meter now holds a Visitor festival each autumn.
What witnesses report
- Bat-like wings on a part-human body
- A single horn that shines a bright beam of light
- Three-toed tracks
- A strong sulfur smell
- Unharmed by gunfire
Famous cases
- 1903Five nights of sightings
Van Meter, Iowa
Seen the Van Meter Visitor?
Tell us what happened. Every report is read by a person before it goes on the map, and you can stay anonymous.
