Post by auntym on May 4, 2013 10:58:04 GMT -6
www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20130503/LIFE/305030075/1039?gcheck=1&nclick_check=1
Van Meter remembers 1903 visit from winged monster
In 1903, townsfolk in Van Meter, Ia. say they saw a winged giant monster. More than a century later, the mystery remains unsolved.
Written by
Mike Kilen
May 3, 2013
Imagine what a smartphone in 1903 Van Meter could have accomplished.
Instead of shouldering shotguns and blasting away at an eight-foot winged creature with a forehead horn that cast a beam of light, panicked citizens could have quickly posted a YouTube video. Case closed. Monster confirmed.
Camping out all night 110 years later, at an old coal mine outside of town where the alleged creature is believed to have lived, a researcher of odd legends is still trying to get sight of it.
Chad Lewis survived the assignment. He was not abducted nor scooped up by a flying creature, but he has a good story to tell. In his wanderings of Van Meter, he unearthed a legend that was dying out with the old-timers, and tonight he will tell it at the old high school gym.
The story offers a glimpse of rural Iowa history and lore. The superstitious mindset at the turn of the last century, oddly, mirrors a resurgent 21st century trend of Bigfoot hunting and paranormal investigating that populate cable television today.
Lewis also has appeared on network and cable shows to discuss his monster/alien chasing across the globe, but the Minneapolis 38-year-old said he was particularly captivated by a creature he dubbed the “Van Meter Visitor.” He purposely chose a non-threatening name. One shouldn’t assume the winged creature did not come in peace.
THE STORY GOES LIKE THIS: Over a series of nights in the fall of 1903, several respected and prominent men of Van Meter reported a half human, half animal with enormous, smooth bat wings flying about. It let off a powerful stench and scared the daylights out of them because it moved at speeds never seen before. And it shot a blinding light from its horned head.
Shots were fired each time, first by implement dealer U.G. Griffith as it flew across building tops. The monster shrugged them off like a minor nuisance. The next night the town doctor and bank cashier Peter Dunn separately saw the creature and opened fire. Dunn even took a plaster cast of the “great three-toed tracks.”
The following night, O.V. White, reportedly a dead-eye with a gun, was awakened from his slumber in his quarters above the hardware store and shot at the creature that was perching atop a telephone pole. This awakened Sidney Gregg, who had been sleeping in his store nearby. Gregg said the monster hopped like a kangaroo. Even the local high school teacher saw it and deemed it some sort of antediluvian monster.
It seems there’s never a decent pitchfork-and-torch gathering these days, but back then townsmen were not averse to taking up arms and forming a posse. So to the northwest side of Van Meter they charged, near the old brickyard where J.L. Platt Jr. heard a noise down by the abandoned coal mine.
“Presently the noise opened up again, as though Satan and a regiment of imps were coming forth for battle,” according to an article in the Des Moines Daily News on Oct. 3, 1903.
The monster appeared, joined by a smaller version. In a brilliant light they sailed away, only to return in the morning where the men had gathered “to rid the earth of them” with their firepower heard far and wide.
“The reception they received would have sunk the Spanish fleet, but aside from unearthly noise and peculiar odor they did not seem to mind it, but slowly descended the shaft of the old mine.”
Never to be seen again.
SEE SLIDE SHOW & CONTINUE READING: www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20130503/LIFE/305030075/1039?gcheck=1&nclick_check=1 [/color]
Van Meter remembers 1903 visit from winged monster
In 1903, townsfolk in Van Meter, Ia. say they saw a winged giant monster. More than a century later, the mystery remains unsolved.
Written by
Mike Kilen
May 3, 2013
Imagine what a smartphone in 1903 Van Meter could have accomplished.
Instead of shouldering shotguns and blasting away at an eight-foot winged creature with a forehead horn that cast a beam of light, panicked citizens could have quickly posted a YouTube video. Case closed. Monster confirmed.
Camping out all night 110 years later, at an old coal mine outside of town where the alleged creature is believed to have lived, a researcher of odd legends is still trying to get sight of it.
Chad Lewis survived the assignment. He was not abducted nor scooped up by a flying creature, but he has a good story to tell. In his wanderings of Van Meter, he unearthed a legend that was dying out with the old-timers, and tonight he will tell it at the old high school gym.
The story offers a glimpse of rural Iowa history and lore. The superstitious mindset at the turn of the last century, oddly, mirrors a resurgent 21st century trend of Bigfoot hunting and paranormal investigating that populate cable television today.
Lewis also has appeared on network and cable shows to discuss his monster/alien chasing across the globe, but the Minneapolis 38-year-old said he was particularly captivated by a creature he dubbed the “Van Meter Visitor.” He purposely chose a non-threatening name. One shouldn’t assume the winged creature did not come in peace.
THE STORY GOES LIKE THIS: Over a series of nights in the fall of 1903, several respected and prominent men of Van Meter reported a half human, half animal with enormous, smooth bat wings flying about. It let off a powerful stench and scared the daylights out of them because it moved at speeds never seen before. And it shot a blinding light from its horned head.
Shots were fired each time, first by implement dealer U.G. Griffith as it flew across building tops. The monster shrugged them off like a minor nuisance. The next night the town doctor and bank cashier Peter Dunn separately saw the creature and opened fire. Dunn even took a plaster cast of the “great three-toed tracks.”
The following night, O.V. White, reportedly a dead-eye with a gun, was awakened from his slumber in his quarters above the hardware store and shot at the creature that was perching atop a telephone pole. This awakened Sidney Gregg, who had been sleeping in his store nearby. Gregg said the monster hopped like a kangaroo. Even the local high school teacher saw it and deemed it some sort of antediluvian monster.
It seems there’s never a decent pitchfork-and-torch gathering these days, but back then townsmen were not averse to taking up arms and forming a posse. So to the northwest side of Van Meter they charged, near the old brickyard where J.L. Platt Jr. heard a noise down by the abandoned coal mine.
“Presently the noise opened up again, as though Satan and a regiment of imps were coming forth for battle,” according to an article in the Des Moines Daily News on Oct. 3, 1903.
The monster appeared, joined by a smaller version. In a brilliant light they sailed away, only to return in the morning where the men had gathered “to rid the earth of them” with their firepower heard far and wide.
“The reception they received would have sunk the Spanish fleet, but aside from unearthly noise and peculiar odor they did not seem to mind it, but slowly descended the shaft of the old mine.”
Never to be seen again.
SEE SLIDE SHOW & CONTINUE READING: www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20130503/LIFE/305030075/1039?gcheck=1&nclick_check=1 [/color]