The unsolved mystery of the Van Meter Visitor - a winged creature with a glowing horn that caused terror in an Iowa town 110 years ago

By DAVID MCCORMACK
PUBLISHED: 13:49 EST, 4 May 2013 | UPDATED: 13:56 EST, 4 May 2013

dailymail.co.uk

A bizarre legend and unsolved mystery which has haunted a small Iowa town for more than 100 years is the subject of a new book called The Van Meter Visitor.

For several nights in 1903, the small town of Van Meter, Iowa was terrorized by a giant bat-like creature that emerged from an old abandoned mine.

The identity of this mysterious monster has never been discovered, but over 100 years later a new book is retelling the amazing tale and hoping to shed some light on what happened all those years ago.

The legend dates back to the fall of 1903, when several of Van Meter’s most well respected citizens reported a half human, half animal with enormous, smooth bat wings flying about.

The creature is described as moving at speeds the townsfolk had never witnessed before, plus it let off a powerful stench and shot a blinding light from its horned head.

Each time the townsfolk encountered the creature they fired their guns at it, but this appeared to have no impact on the creature.

Story continues: dailymail.co.uk 

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My Visit to see where the Mothman Took Flight

By Mark Turner Images

Demon or Harbinger of Doom?  A little back story . . . 

On the night of November 12th, 1966, in Point Pleasant West Virginia, two young couples went to the secluded TNT area, a former munitions storage dump used by the government during World War II.  That evening, someone saw red lights.  As they went to investigate, they saw that the lights were actually eyes attached to a man like creature that stood taller than any man.  They ran back to the car, and sped off as the thing took flight, chasing them and keeping-up with the speed of the car, even flying in-front of the car. Eventually it took off leaving the frightened teenagers.  They ran to the police station and told their story.  As time went on, more reports were made, a news man called it the Mothman after the popular Batman TV show, people saw UFO's in the area, odd men dressed in black began to ask questions of anyone that made reports of Mothmen or UFO's, some evening threatening witnesses not to tell their story.  There was so much activity that the military even began to take notice.  Then, just before Christmas on December 15th 1967, the Silver Bridge, spanning the Ohio River between Point Pleasant West Virginia to Gallipolis Ohio, collapsed, killing 46 people.  There were some that said the creature had been seen near the bridge only hours before.  After the collapse, no more sightings of the Mothman were made.      

Birthplace of a Moth . . .  

In 2008, a day before the Mothman Festival in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, we made a stop by the Mothman Museum.  The owner/curator was kind enough to give us a map of the places where people had reported seeing the monster back in the late 1960's. We had been to the festival a year before but never ventured to the sites where the creature had been sighted.

We had lunch at the Iron Gate Grill and took a tour of the very nice building beside it.  A place that you can reserve for business parties, meetings and so on.  It was a location ripe for some old ghost stories.  I do not know if they have any, but it's full of history.

Then we were off to the TNT area, the sight of the very first Mothman sighting. It is a dangerous place, and just last year, one of the bunkers, or igloos, exploded during the night!  No one was hurt, but if I had known how dangerous it was, I would not have ventured into one of them, in the pitch black, like you see me doing here.  I took a photo inside but it was too dark.  You could see large, old cans.  I believe probably gun powder and god knows what else was in them.  They had simply been left behind some 50 or 60 years ago.  It was from this site that the Mothman creature was first spotted. 

 

  Later I'll talk about Chief Cornstalk and the Curse on Point Pleasant.


Other Mystery Creature Stories on this site . . .

Black Panther Sightings of Ohio

Ohio Mystery Canine. A Wolf in the Buckeye State?

 

 

Genesis

Welcome to my new adventure; a kind of on-line magazine that I hope will entertain as well as enlighten.  First, I have a visit to Point Pleasant that I will be sharing on here very soon.  This was about two years ago.  We investigated the Mothman TNT area and came away thoroughly spooked.  Then I hope to get some shots soon of the Indian Mounds that are in our little area of the globe.  I'll share my thoughts on the mysteries of the mounds.  I'll also be adding links to videos I've posted on my YouTube site;  Mark Radio Turner.

I hope you come back as I have much to share when I can get the time.

Sincerely,
Mark Turner