FIELD FILE · VAN-METER-VISITORFLYINGLOCAL LEGEND

Van Meter Visitor

Also known as The Visitor, Van Meter Monster

A winged creature with a glowing horn said to have terrorized the small town of Van Meter, Iowa, for several nights in the autumn of 1903.

The Van Meter Visitor is one of the strangest monster stories in Midwestern newspaper history. In the autumn of 1903, papers reported that the small railroad and coal town of Van Meter, west of Des Moines, had been visited night after night by a huge winged creature with a horn on its head that shone a dazzling, searchlight-like beam. Respected townspeople were said to have seen it, smelled its overpowering stench and even shot at it.

According to the original account, the trouble began in late September, when local toolmaker U.G. Griffith noticed a strange light skimming over the rooftops of the business district. The next night Dr. A.C. Alcott (spelled Olcott in some retellings) was awakened by a brilliant light in his face, saw a creature with bat-like wings and fired his shotgun before retreating into his office. A man at the bank reportedly fired a shotgun through its window, and others described three-toed tracks. In the finale, armed townsmen – among them J.L. Platt, foreman of the local brick plant – were said to have tracked the creature to an abandoned coal mine, fired on it and watched it fly away for good.

The story first appeared in the Des Moines Daily News on October 4, 1903, and was soon retold in more matter-of-fact form by papers such as the St. Paul Globe. It was quickly disputed: Van Meter residents wrote to the Des Moines Daily Capitol calling the tale a fabrication. Researchers have since pointed to Harry H. Phillips, the local correspondent who wrote the first article, as its likely author – and possibly its inventor.

The legend lay mostly forgotten for a century, surfacing only in occasional magazine mentions, until researchers Chad Lewis, Noah Voss and Kevin Lee Nelson published The Van Meter Visitor in 2013, drawing on old newspapers, maps and oral histories. They helped launch the annual Van Meter Visitor Festival, which now brings several hundred people to a town of fewer than 1,500 for talks and guided walking tours of the 1903 sites.

Whether a prank, a piece of newspaper fiction in the style of the era’s “airship” and “flying dragon” stories, or something stranger, the Visitor has become a beloved piece of small-town identity – Iowa’s answer to West Virginia’s Mothman.

Type

Flying

Status

Local legend

First reported

1903

Best-known location

Van Meter, Iowa

Also called

The Visitor, Van Meter Monster

Reported in

Iowa

What witnesses describe

Described in 1903 as a large, winged creature – later retellings put it near nine feet tall – with leathery, bat-like wings, four legs and a blunt horn in the middle of its head that shot out a blinding beam of light. It was said to give off a nauseating odor and to leave three-toed tracks.

Where and when it’s seen

The rooftops, Main Street businesses and abandoned coal mine of Van Meter, Iowa, in the Raccoon River valley; all reports come from a few nights in late September and early October 1903.

Notable sightings

1. Late September 1903A light over the rooftops Van Meter, Iowa

   Toolmaker U.G. Griffith reported a strange light moving over the business district at night. Townspeople reportedly did not believe him when he told the story the next day.

2. Late September 1903The doctor’s encounter Van Meter, Iowa

   Dr. A.C. Alcott said a bright light woke him, and that he saw a winged creature with a glowing horn. He fired at it and fled into his office until morning.

3. October 4, 1903The story hits the newspapers Des Moines, Iowa

   The Des Moines Daily News published the first account, naming several townspeople and describing how armed men drove the creature away from an abandoned mine. Other papers soon repeated the story.

4. October 6, 1903Residents call it a hoax Des Moines, Iowa

   The Des Moines Daily Capitol printed a letter and commentary from Van Meter residents disputing the tale, one of whom suggested the newspaper had invented it.

5. 2013The legend is revived Van Meter, Iowa

   Chad Lewis, Noah Voss and Kevin Lee Nelson published The Van Meter Visitor. Their talks in town grew into the annual Van Meter Visitor Festival.

What could explain it?

• The original article contains no direct witness quotes, and residents publicly called it a fabrication within days – suggesting a newspaper hoax or tall tale.
• Harry H. Phillips, the correspondent who wrote the first story, may simply have invented it; such sensational “winged monster” pieces were common in turn-of-the-century papers.
• The creature’s anatomy – four legs plus wings and a light-emitting horn – matches no known animal, and the tracks and shots were never independently confirmed.
• The story fits the era’s wave of “mystery airship” and dragon-like reports, which drew on popular science fiction by Jules Verne and H.G. Wells.

Legend, culture and tourism

The Van Meter Visitor Festival, held each autumn, features talks by researchers, vendors and guided walking tours past the bank, the doctor’s office and other 1903 locations. Local businesses join in with Visitor-themed food and drink, and the creature appears on T-shirts, art and podcasts. Van Meter is also known as the hometown of baseball great Bob Feller.

Places to visit

Where it’s reported

Iowa

Van Meter Visitor in the news

No recent headlines about the Van Meter Visitor. Our news desk checks every day — see all cryptid news.

First published October 13, 2026 · Updated October 14, 2026