CRYPTID IN IOWA | The Van Meter Visitor | A Paranomal Mystery (Ep 330)

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It started with a light. Not a flicker, not a glow, a beam, blinding, unrelenting, cutting through the dark like a lighthouse in a sea of cornfields. And then came the sound. Wings, massive, but unnatural, and a smell like sulfur and decay that leaked throughout the town. Van Meter, Iowa, 1903. a quiet coal town that experienced one of the most terrifying encounters. So terrifying that by the end of one week, the residents would barricade their doors, arm themselves, and fire bullets into the night at something that they just couldn't quite explain. Something that couldn't be killed. Some called it a monster. Some said it was from another world. But everyone agreed to call it one thing, the van meter visitor.

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Yeah. Yeah.

Very spooky.

Hello. Supty dudy. Hotty dudy. This is two girls, one ghost.

Two girls, one ghost. And we are your ghostesses. That is Karin.

Hello.

And I am Sabrina. And we're color coordinated right now.

We're Yeah. the green and black.

And we match our curtains a studio.

Corinne's paranormal update

Um I didn't tell you this cuz you weren't able to join Campary Stories last week, but I told everyone else this. My Grammy who passed has had like so many signs to everyone. Well, you had told me that that morning

the butterfly stuff

is Yeah. Is there more?

Yeah.

Literally in that day there was more.

Yes. So, at the time of her death

Yeah.

So, my dad and two of his siblings were

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all like with my Grammy when she passed, but the three spouses of the three siblings who were together all woke up at the exact same time, which was the exact same time as my Grammyy's death. And then my brother was flying home that day to Houston.

Yeah. His plane was super delayed. There were a bunch of thunderstorms, like just like weird weather stuff. So, he didn't get in until much much later than he was supposed to. And when he was on the plane, he smelled, and this wasn't My Grammy hadn't passed yet. It was like maybe an hour before she did.

He smelled the massage bar, which is like an extremely specific smell. It's the lush massage bar with like the what's it called? Like coffee beans or whatever in it that my mom brought. She would bring it like to my Grammy and massage her every time she saw her. So, it's like a smell associated with your Grammy.

Yes. And my brother was on the plane and just suddenly got the smell. And it's like I've never just smelled that smell out and about. Like it's a very specific smell. People don't wear as like a

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perfume. It's not doesn't exist as a body wash or anything. Like it's so specific. And he'd been on the plane and then just suddenly got the smell of this. I mean, we talked about this two episodes ago now, episode 328, when you had first told us about your Grammyy's passing,

but her spirit had made herself known before she passed away

to multiple people and now clearly multiple times.

Yeah, we're just waiting to see.

Have you had anything else like person?

No, just the the footsteps and the door opening.

We'll see what happens cuz she Yeah, she's

Grammy is being

Grammyy's been active. Yeah,

but I mean all those things happened like leading up to when she passed and I don't think there's been anything since. So I wonder if it was just all

her, you know, like making her rounds to people.

I'm not sure. But

well,

it's wild cuz it's like so many people experiencing stuff.

That's amazing. I mean, the smell thing is so cuz I can relate to that because I smell my grandma

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randomly

and it's such a specific smell.

Coffee and cigarettes.

Coffee, cigarettes, and Listerin. It's the three of them.

And I'll be like sitting in my backyard when I get a whiff of it. I'll be sitting in my living room with all the windows closed. I'll get a whiff of it. Like

Yeah. In that com such random places.

corn & dental work

Yeah.

Right.

It's wild.

It is wild.

Well, what do you have for us today? Where are you taking us? What journey are we going on?

We are going on a journey to Iowa.

No hate to Iowa. Isn't Iowa the corn state? Shout out corn. I love corn. I think I started doing this because I had braces. But how do you eat your corn? We need to talk about this. I now cannot eat it without cutting it off the cob.

Same cuz it's all up in and I can't get it out. Get it out.

I enjoy it so much more when it's pre-cut. And there's nothing better than cutting it perfectly that it stays kind

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of in the

And honestly, I feel like it almost has like more juice and you can get more like butter and stuff around it when it's cut. Yeah. I'm not a nibble on the cob person anymore.

Yeah. Okay. Thanks, braces. One thing to think. Well, and my teeth. My nice teeth.

Thank you.

My shiny teeth and me. Fairly odd parents. Anyone?

Okay.

My brain went to brace face because of braces. Did you ever watch Brace Face?

No. I don't think it was that long lasting, but I had braces at the same time. So,

look at this. Oh, I did watch Brace Face.

Did you ever wear braces?

Yeah, I did.

How long?

Two years. My teeth have since shifted, but like whatever.

They look great.

It's fine. I have a little space. I will always have that little space.

I used to have the biggest gap tooth that I mean, I had braces for seven years. Like literally, I had such a big

seven years. My gap was so big that my canine teeth, the adult teeth, like my baby teeth wouldn't fall out because the adult teeth started growing inwards up on the roof of my mouth. I literally had to have surgery to connect one of my

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They pulled my baby teeth. I had the amount of dental work I've had.

Bless my parents. But they literally had to pull my baby teeth hoping that my adult teeth would like find their way back. One of them did. The other one I had to get surgery to go into the roof of my mouth, connect the tooth to a chain, connect the chain to my braces, and slowly over time they like pulled it down into its space.

Were you just like in constant pain?

Yeah.

Jesus.

But now look at me.

That's like the most intense thing I've heard. Connecting your teeth to a chain up in your gum to drag it back down.

Dental work is archaic.

No, I've got more space in my mouth than the teeth can. I can fit my whole fist in my mouth. So, let's see. Perform.

I don't want to do the whole thing.

You're so close. I don't think I can. Let me see.

Feel like this is inappropriate.

That's exactly why I said

the first sighting

Jamie, I think you should put like a little ghost emoji over our faces.

Let's not actually show anyone that.

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Okay. To the ghost story.

It all begins on an autumn night.

September 29th, 1903. Yugi Griffith, a well-known and wellrespected local businessman. He is jolted awake in the dead of night because he sees something. A bright light. It is so bright just shining through his windows, waking him up.

Are we talking aliens?

No.

Okay, I'll let you finish. Okay, sorry, I got excited.

It is a light like he has never seen before. It completely floods his bedroom windows. It overtakes his whole room. It's stark. It's unblinking. The source of it completely unknown. So instinctively he grabs his shotgun as you do in 1903 Iowa. He runs outside. His heart is pounding. He's about to find whoever is doing this shining this giant spotlight into his home and probably be pretty aggressive towards them.

Yeah. His right as a store owner who he lives above his store. So he's thinking that his home is being burglarized. His store is being burglarized. So he's ready to be like, "Get away from my

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store. Like don't take anything. Scram." Right? I've got a gun. Whatever. That's That's how I picture him.

Scary. Yeah.

Yeah. Scary. So, he was ready probably in his underwear to yell at some hooligans. But what he sees next will haunt him forever. There looming in the shadows is a figure. No, not a figure. It's a creature. It stands upright like a man, but it is not human. It has a huge wingspan. It's nearly 8 ft tall. Its body muscular, hunched, almost like a gargoyle. And these bat-like wings are unfurled behind its back, casting this giant shadow. A glowing horn is protruding from its head

like a unicorn.

Yes. And that is what is creating this like beacon of light, this like search light. It's casting this powerful sweeping beam of light into the darkness, which is what went into his windows and woke this man up. And so you, G. Griffith is watching this thing,

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completely terrified, gripping onto his gun, and the creature moves slowly, deliberately, eerily confident.

Well, yeah, you have a glowing unicorn horn. Of course, the confidence is

Yeah.

endless,

right? It's like dragon-like. It's big. It's almost like a pterodactyl looking creature, but it has this glowing horn.

Griffith then takes his gun, fires once, fires twice. the gunshots echoing down Main Street. But the creature doesn't flinch. It merely turns its head. Ah, looks at him with glinting eyes and then vanishes into the night at an impossible speed.

Okay. So, it's a combination of a

the creature returns

unicorn, a gargoyle, and moth man.

Yeah. And like really does look like a pterodactyl.

Wow.

It's weird. So, Griffith is not quiet about this encounter. He starts telling people and at first the town's folk are like, "Okay, like what happened to you? Did you bunk your head last night?" Like,

especially if this is a main street,

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like it's called Main Street. I would imagine there are a lot of people who live on this block and no one else saw it.

Right. Exactly. And if it has this like giant search beam of light, you think more people would wake up. And I don't know how many people lived above their shops, but like it was the middle of the night

in a shopping area, but I would assume more people would have,

right? People are like, "Griffith, you must have just imagined this." And he's like, "No, no, no. I swear I saw this." People are like, "It's a trick of flight. It's a bad dream. Something's happening to you, Griffith."

Without anyone else to back him up, it's should we be concerned about him?

Right.

Yeah.

And he was like, "Well, just you wait cuz I bet this thing will be back." Skepticism of the town's folk quickly turns to fear when that very evening a strange bluish glow begins to pulse through the windows of another person's home.

Dr. Alcott, the town's beloved physician. He would have the next doctor,

right? Yeah. Like you didn't want to

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believe in the shopkeeper. Well, guess what? Now your doctor is experiencing this. So Alcott steps outside. He's curious, but he's cautious. I don't know if he had heard the rumors yet about what this other man, Griffith, had experienced, but he's immediately overwhelmed by this suluric, disgusting stench. And it's actually the same stench that Griffith had previously told people about also experiencing when he was outside. Some people would later say that the stench is like mind erasing, like you're supposed to forget your experiences, very like Men in Black, but it is this like deeply disgusting odor, like rotten eggs,

which also is associated with demonic entities or dark entities.

Yeah. This creature from the underworld,

whatever this is, it's not.

No. And this thing smells like it's rotting.

And Griffith is a physician. He is familiar, I'm sure, with a lot of weird funky smells.

Yeah.

So, his eyes are drawn upward and there

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it is. Towering, winged, glowing.

Oh, the creature.

It's like not on the ground.

Yeah. It's often like perched on roofs. Rooftops. So, he raises his pistol cuz everyone has a gun in this town at this time. He raises his pistol and he fires five shots directly at it, intending to kill it.

The bullets strike.

Crack its neck again. Go. Haha, nice try.

Basically, five shots strike this beast, but no damage, no blood, no pain, but a sound that did not belong of this world screeched out of this creature. The beast was now angered, and the monster lifted itself into the sky. With thunderous flaps of its wings, it disappeared once more into the night. So,

I'm like flipping through my rolodex of cryptids because this has so many similar traits to so many we've heard of.

The glowing horn is what it Yeah.

Right.

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And what does it want?

Yeah. I don't really know. We're not going to get answers as to what it wants, unfortunately.

Shocking. But the way that like bullets don't strike it or damage it does make me think that crypted like the travel through dimensions.

Yeah. It also makes me think, okay, so like thinking about like the when people say like they see pterodactyls or thunderbirds like all these sort of like

prehistoric is this paranormal or is this like somehow these dinosaurs just existing? It also makes me wonder just about like the skin of a dinosaur and like the thickness of it. Would our modern day bullets actually penetrate it enough to do any damage? Like I don't know what their skin was like.

I think they would. A bullet think about the speed.

I don't know. Oh, I'm trying.

Your skin's not like armor.

I have questions for the dinosaurs. Not you chickens, the other ones. Ones before you. So, this is in Van Meter, Iowa. And now the entire town is awake, terrified, trembling in fear, completely

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trusting that there is now a beast in the town. Why do I so badly like my brain won't stop thinking this? But you know the game like murderer or one night ultimate one night werewolf where the town goes to sleep like you all get like a role. You're a town's person, you're the cop, you're the doctor.

So where you like put your head down and like someone gets like a scratch on their

It's similar of the same vein but like you get a role and they paint a whole story. It's like everyone goes to sleep. It's a peaceful night in the town of Van Meter, Iowa. Mhm.

And then like the narrator is like, "Murderer, wake up." And they point to the person they want to murder.

Yeah.

And then the murderer goes to sleep. And then the doctor wakes up. Who do you want to save? They point to someone.

Oh.

Then they go to sleep. And then the cop wakes up and it's like, "Who do you want to like ask?" If it's this person, like say you were the murderer and I pointed to you. this in school,

at sleepovers, at school.

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Recently, um recently

you can't really pay by yourself, but I just keep feeling like this town.

I love that you were thinking of that because this whole time I was researching this, I was thinking of Midnight Mass.

Very similar.

Yeah.

Murderer is literally um what's the show? The Scottish guy. They're all like staying in the castle.

Oh, Traders. It's literally It's literally the show Traiers. murder is the show graders.

Okay. Well, yeah, like this is this is freaking out the town and yeah, it does feel well. I guess the good thing with this is that there are no like suspects. It's just there's creature.

So, like no one's pointing fingers at each other

and no one's dying, right? No one's dying. No one's being murdered.

It's just really But people are trying to murder this thing, that's for sure.

So, the town's laughter turns into whispered prayers. Doors are barred. Children are kept inside. Every

the bank invasion

able-bodied man is now armed and people are taking shifts patrolling the town, patrolling the neighborhoods, trying to

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look to the skies and figure out where this beast is and what it might want.

The third night, the creature returns again, and this time it's to the town bank. Clarence Dunn, a local banker, is sleeping inside the bank with a shotgun in hand. Not because he was prepared for the beast, but because he was thinking in all the mayhem that would happen, potentially someone might try to take advantage of it, break into the bank. So, he was he was armed for potential burglars to protect the bank.

Around 1:00 a.m., a strange noise wakes Clarence. A scraping sound like claws against the brick.

The air is thick and the stench of rotting sulfur emanates through the building. He turns to the window and there it is. The creature, the horned beast. Desperate, Dun also fires shots at this creature. He fires.

So, does he go outside to fire shots? Like,

I think it might have been through the

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window. I have no idea.

Jeez, now people are really going to rob the bank.

Oh, right.

So, he fires multiple rounds and it's a very foggy night. The bullets disappear. The creature disappears. vanishes into the shadows, into the fog, and Clarence has no idea where it is. But upon going outside and trying to investigate like where it was near the window, he finds a footprint. It is 18 in long and it has three toes. And he took a cast of this.

Do we have a photo?

We do have a We have a photo. It's in a museum.

What year was all of this happening?

1903.

This isn't like that long ago. It's really hard to see in this photo, but like cuz there's like other bricks and stuff near it. And that's really the only like evidence left behind through this whole story, like physical evidence.

Well, this whole story feels fake because it's like on the first night, on the second night, on the third night, and it's each night, one person individually is seeing this thing.

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You're thinking, "Oh my god, everyone should be panicked. Everyone should be ringing together, but individuals are experiencing things." And it feels too like, "Okay, what's going on? Is this like just and I'll talk about this in a little bit, but just like mass hysteria almost like what's what's going on?

If one person says it, is this now creating the experience for everyone else that's experiencing it,

right? Or it's like sometimes I think of that one listener story that we received where it was like her aunt or something

Cymbiotika

was so convinced that there was this like demon or like beast on top of the house and then figured out that it was turkeys that were like flying over. Okay, so now we have a print from Clarence Dunn's experience on the third night.

I feel like it's very hard to feel 100% these days.

Yeah. So, we need a little help from our friends.

And thank goodness we have friends at Symbiotica because it is my favorite way to take my supplements. I love their vitamin C packets.

Yes. I was putting them in my drinks, but then you told me that you just squeeze the patches right into your

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mouth. So, I've started doing that now, too. Now, I'm a squeezer.

You're a squeezer. What are you How do you take your Symbiotica supplements? They have so many different amazing supplements. This one that we have right here is the Sheila liquid complex that truly tastes like yummy chocolate goodness. It's hazelnut coconut flavored. It's great for sustained energy, muscle recovery, and brain health, which I need all of those. It just makes taking your supplements so much easier and convenient. And also,

rooftop standoff

they taste good, which is the best part. Go to symbiotica.com/tggo for 20% off plus free shipping. That's symbiotic.com/tg for 20% off plus free shipping. Another person, a well-known hardware store owner, OV White, has a similar experience. He is awakened by this intense light and this terrifying pressure on his chest. So he steps onto his balcony and he sees perched on his neighbor's roof, not a turkey, but this

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creature, this beast, this visitor as people call it,

right? It has massive wings that are folded behind its back and the glowing horn is scanning the town like a lighthouse. Like it's searching for something.

What is it looking for? because clearly it wants something if it's revisiting the same town, especially the same street over and over, night after night.

It's very weird. So now this is the fourth time this creature is shot at because apparently everyone who sees it has a gun. So the creature while it's perched on the neighbor's home, Obie White fires at the creature basically almost like point blank. Like he's very close cuz it's on his neighbor's roof. So, this is maybe one of the closest shots compared to some of the others aside from Clarence Dunn who saw it right outside the bank's window. So, the creature screeches like it was hit, but it doesn't fall. It takes flight, its wings flapping, and it disappears again

townsfolk theories & rumors

into the silence of the night. But by

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this point, it is clear there is something in this town and it is not just a figment of people's imagination. It is real and seemingly it cannot be harmed. and it's confusing as heck.

So, if you're watching on YouTube, there's a picture that I'm including, which is like an artist depiction of the town and what happened. And I actually love it cuz it's this was like a mining town, which I'll go into in a little bit, but it like shows everybody like in uproar and like beasts flying over the mine. And I just love it.

Oh my gosh, I love it cuz it looks like a real photo.

It does. with added elements.

And it also reminds me of like a movie still from like

1996, right? Like this feels like we'd be watching this movie.

Oh my gosh.

Okay, so this is when the rumors really began to spread through the town. Some say this thing was a demon. It was summoned through dark rituals. Maybe the land itself was cursed. Perhaps the mining work unearthed something. Others

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claim that it's an alien from beyond the stars and it's here on some sort of mission and searching for something like you said. Other people are blaming it on the mining operation saying that it's disturbed some sort of ecosystem underground that we're not aware of.

I believe that.

And that there is these creatures now that are have access to above ground that maybe lived in like the deep caves cavernous

especially if it's batlike

and it has this glowing horn. good for seeing in dark underground caves.

Yeah, maybe it can't see at all. Maybe it's just like complete like light sonar like some sort of weird thing. Maybe it's eyeballs can't actually spot you. Who knows?

So interesting.

But the light is the thing that's tripping everyone up. No one can explain what the hell this like giant bright flashing horned like search light on top of this beast's head is.

Right.

It does remind me of that the one fish, the angler fish that they have the like light in front of them too. poor angler fish.

So, some swear that this is actually

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just a ghost of an ancient being disturbed from its slumber in the coal mines. Others say that there's a secret government experiment that's happening and that has now been exposed with mine activity.

I love a secret government experiment.

Love that. Uh some people have even blamed time travelers or like shifts in like someone did something and it like shifted the way time exists and basically no one knows what's going on. Every theory is possible.

Every theory is possible. So, the town is ablaze with theory and speculation, but one thing is certain, there's

the final night

something a beast in Van Meter, Iowa. That's about all they know for certain.

I'm also curious like how large is this town? Because I'm imagining a very small town and this is just so befuddling.

I think that's pretty

And it's also like the topic of convers of every conversation.

Yeah. Okay. So, the final night, the climax of the war,

the fifth night.

Witnesses claim not one but two

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creatures are now emerging from the abandoned coal mine on the town's edge.

Has a baby or

maybe it was looking for the baby or the partner.

Wait,

that's why it's the last night searching.

Okay. Well, oh, so these two beasts, their horns glowing in the darkness, their bodies covered in this dark leathery skin, their wings fast, silent, flapping through the night, leaving behind the smell of rotten eggs wherever they fly. Poor guys. So, a group of townsmen then gather near the mine's entrance. They are armed with every weapon they could muster, and they wait in the shadows for these beings to emerge once more. Because this is kind of like the site, like this one part of the mine that people aren't working in that's like seemingly abandoned. Perhaps this is where these beasts are living. This is where

they lie. They come back every night emerging from the mine shaft. So people gather there. The air is heavy. Anxiety is just palpable.

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And then a flash of light, the sulfuric stench, a shriek so loud it could break a window. The men open fire. Shotguns, rifles, all of them armed just at these two creatures. And the barrage of bullets are just echoing through the valley. The whole neighborhood, the whole town, I'm sure, was awake waiting for this beast and hearing this battle.

I'm also just so glad no one got hurt by a stray bullet.

That's true. People are just willy-nilly shooting at these things.

Foom. Yeah. But again, no blood, no wounds. The creatures, unbothered, retreat calmly into the mine. And just like that, it was kind of over. But in order to make sure that there wasn't going to be another night of these beasts returning, the town decided to act quickly and seal the mine. The entrance buried beneath rock and rubble. Official records made note of strange occurrences, but over time the story

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then kind of faded, became a bit of folklore in the town, and all of the physical evidence disappeared except for the footprint, but the memory did not. The lore did not.

Yeah. How could you forget that?

And to this day, people in Van Meter still talk about that week. There's actually a festival, too, that they have.

I love a good festival.

Generations later, families pass down the stories of this van meter visitor. The Is that what it's called?

The Van Meter visitor. Yep. In 1903, which is like such a for a giant beast basically like a dragon to come visit your town

and be like, "Oh, it's our visitor."

Well, they were terrified of it.

It's better than like the killer cuz it didn't kill anyone.

It didn't kill anyone.

Okay. Okay. Well, now I'm also thinking like what if these glowing horns are also a bit of like a drill if they do

social context and hysteria

live in the caves that they can use them to like tunnel through these

Oh, interesting.

through the underground.

Yeah. Like I wonder if there's a lot of heat.

Yeah.

Too like if they can kind of like melt rock or something.

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I love them.

They harmed no one. They were minding their own business. We were trying to harm them.

Yeah. We're the we're the villains.

We are in this story for sure. And most skeptics have chocked it up to mass hysteria. basically saying like this is something that happens time and time again. We have talked about some of the things like the dancing plague and just like other instances where people get really riled up and they get into a story and then suddenly unexplained everybody is experiencing the same thing and can't quite get

differentiate what's reality and what's not.

Exactly.

I hot take um think we're due for a dancing plague.

Sue me. I said it.

I I hope it happens. Actually, I I take that back because now that I'm thinking about the actual dancing plague and the people who died from like exhaustion and dehydration because they couldn't stop dancing, I don't hope it happens. But I do agree with you that maybe there should just be like a universal worldwide timed dance break. Like I almost want there to be a little bit of

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hysteria in it where like all of a sudden everyone in the world drops everything and just starts dancing and cannot stop until we realize how silly we've been about everything.

I said it. It's out there.

It's out there.

Manifest.

Manifest it.

People have talked mass hysteria. People have been just wondering if this was a hoax made up to like I don't know why but I guess like garner attention for the town. But essentially people have no idea what happened. The beasts were sealed in the cave. People sometimes still today say that they hear the beating of the wings soaring through the darkness of the sky. People have also sky.

Yeah. People have smelled that same suluric rot. And to truly understand how the fear overtook Van Meter, I did write a little bit about like the era and what was going on in the town of Van Meter in 1903. Okay.

So this was kind of like what you were saying. It's a small town or you were picturing it as a small town and it was it was a town where everyone knew everyone.

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Um tight-knit group of people who were like farmers, laborers, coal miners, families. It was just west of De Moine, Iowa. If anyone knows De Moines and there were a lot of wooden storefronts that lined Main Street, but it wasn't like this giant shopping metropolis. It was like a pretty modest little downtown. You know, people were

living town.

Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. This feels kind of like almost like a wild west

town in my mind.

So, and you probably don't have the answers for this, but I just am so curious if the economy of this town is primarily coal mining and then they've sealed the mines because of these beasts. Do all the coal miners just lose their job? Like, what happens?

I don't really know.

Yeah,

I guess I don't have enough information if like the coal mine that they cuz they were talking about the coal mine being abandoned, but like it wasn't at this time. So, I'm curious if the coal mine that they thought was where the creatures were was like

a separate

separate like they had already moved on and were working in a different area,

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right?

But like still, wouldn't you be terrified of going down and

and underneath the darkness, right?

Yeah.

Yeah. So, it was a lot of blue collar workers. There were hardware stores, grocery stores, a horse track, but really like it was very small, I guess.

Yeah. So the coal mines were van meters beating heart. Every morning before dawn people would wake up and they would descend into the darkness of the shafts just outside of the edge of town and it was very as we know very grueling and dangerous work. They had a lot of deaths just because of you know like the risks of cave-ins were not uncommon. But there were also these rumors of strange noises that would echo through the chambers. Little whispers of something weird down in the minehaft. And some of the minors sometimes dismissed this with a shake of the head and a nervous laugh. And this is where I wrote a stupid joke. It's a reference. It's a movie reference. The

I think I'm getting the black.

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I was literally just thinking about Zoolander. As you were talking about the conditions of the minds, I was literally in my head. Yeah. Well, we've all seen Zoolander. We know,

right?

So I propose.

There we go. Well, I'm glad I said it out loud now cuz otherwise I would have just gone over it. So on the surface of the town, electricity was scarce. They did a lot of like oil lamps in their windows and stuff. So this like bright light of this creature was just like complete. Yeah, it was so shocking. It so stuck out. Um medical understanding of mental health was very rudimentary at this time. The line between superstition and science was all blurred. And rural towns like Van Meter were very tight-knit and they were very deeply religious too. So something like this is like what the hell. And I'm actually shocked that they weren't immediately saying like this is a demon from the underworld. They were really questioning like what this thing could be. And I think maybe it's because they were it wasn't just like one person saw it and the rumors were ablaze. Many people were seeing it and it like was a real

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Yeah.

Like it was so confusing that they couldn't just simply say like, "Oh, well it's it it must be this,

the festival & a modern sighting

right?"

Especially cuz it has the glowing horn. Again, it goes back to the glowing horn. People were like, "What's that?" We about that.

Makes me think of a drawing a kid would have made.

Mhm.

And it came to life,

right? So, people are having a really hard time kind of like dissecting these experiences with logic.

Sure. How's that?

So, the rumors spread like wildfire and the beasts were trapped in the cave, I guess. Sealed away in the cave. Today, the van meter visitor lives on. Each September, the town hosts a festival commemorating the week that they went face to face with these. It's they say a beast but there were two in the end. So like these two creatures

I just like do people dress up as the beast.

Oh I don't know. Let me look

because if not I volunteer. I will do that.

I like honestly didn't even look into the festival that much.

What year? What day is it this year? Let's see.

Oh interesting. Okay. Wait. I'm looking at the flyer from last year and they had

33:00

a talk on exploring the possible connection between cryptids and allegedly extinct animals. Another talk on the evolution of lore. Evolving face of cryptids.

We would have fun here.

We would. Why are there no I feel like we're missing photos of this festival. People need to upload that.

What about the Facebook group? I think this year it's on September 27th. Okay. There's pictures of people eating food.

Oh, there's a Bigfoot casting cast. What am I I don't know what I'm saying.

Anyway,

it's an open casting call for Bigfoot.

Okay. So, yeah, they host a festival. locals and tourists, they'll gather for lectures, guided walks. There's also, I don't know if they still do this, but I know that previously there had been a nighttime excursion where you can go to basically like the outskirts of town to where the mine was closed.

Okay. There's a picture on the Facebook group with like a group of people like walking along a street and I was like, but they must be walking the path.

They must be. Yes. Okay. So, that's great if they still do it. And so while

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most people believe that the van meter visitor vanished in 1903, others are not so sure. In fact, there have been actually a handful of modern sightings that suggest that these creatures were not just banished to the cave. That the ceiling of the cave did nothing. Perhaps they found another exit.

I hope it didn't do any I hope it didn't trap them in there.

So they did nothing to anyone. Yeah,

they spent a week out there

and it was searching for some.

They were searching for something

presumably their their offspring, their partner, their sibling, their

Why can't they just sort through the sky?

Let them be.

Let them beast.

Rest in beast. So, this was not an isolated account, this 1903 sighting, because back in 1980 or the 1980s, there was a man who just moved to the area, had never heard the lore of this creature, which I believe that because like you and I have been doing this podcast for

35:00

how long, eight years, and we've never heard of it,

and we're like deep in the crypted lore. So,

I believe this guy and he'd never heard the lore. He just moved there and he claimed to come face to face with this creature that had a 5-ft wingspan and it was gliding silently above the old mine entrance.

Did it have a glowing horn?

I don't know. He didn't say that. He didn't say anything about a glowing horn. But then in the early 2000s, a van meter family who was driving home late one night caught a glimpse of this massive figure perched roadside and their headlights caught it and the creature turned its head, looked at them, and then was gone. Again, no mention of a light, so maybe it can turn it on and off. It's not just like something that's always glowing. In 2006, a pastor was driving through the area and he looks up to the sky and is just a gasast when he sees this giant creature and I think it's like daytime and he has no clue what he's seeing. He thinks it's a dragon. So when he goes home, he Googles Iowa dragon and then

36:00

this is when he learns about the visitor. I'm shook. And then in 2017, another man claimed to see it as well hovering above the tree line. And this time there was the really bright light. There was no sound. And he was like, "I do not know what I saw. All I can say for certain is that this definitely was not a plane."

It also just makes me so interested in why some cryptids are regional. Like why do they only appear in Van Meter, Iowa? Why do the Jersey Devil only appear in like the Pine Barons?

Well, but maybe they don't. Maybe the Jersey Devil and

the Van Meter visitor are related.

Yeah. Or even like I'm thinking about like when people say that they see pterodactyls in like the Bridgewater Triangle in Massachusetts. Why can't they all be the same or very similar? But it's just we get very rare glimpses of them because they don't

they're not supposed to exist like up here. And then sometimes, okay, here's

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my creative brains logic story that is happening in Van Meter in 1903. We got mama visitor who they live in the mines. She has a baby. They're, you know, she teaches her baby the ways.

Baby learns to fly.

Baby learns to fly. And baby knows the rules. Never leave the mines. Never go where the people go.

Yeah, we live in the caves.

But the curiosity is just killing him. And he has to just check it out. And he gets so scared and startled by something that he goes into hiding. And so Mama now for five nights is looking for her child

and finally finds them on the fifth night.

And that's when they see them flying together and then going back into the cave.

That's sweet.

At least they weren't trapped back in the cave without the second

Yeah. without each other.

I mean, the fact is they didn't harm anybody again.

Right. If you want to consider someone waking up because there was a bright

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light that just like scanned their window super fast, then sure. But like lightning does the same thing,

right? In 2020, just an hour north of Van Meter near Boone, Iowa, there was a local resident who also had a bizarre encounter. They were walking near the woods when they heard and described a massive whoosh, this forceful gust of wind. And then they saw right after that as they're like looking to the sound and looking up in the sky this huge flying creature like something overhead. It had huge massive wings and it like blocked

Alloy

out the sky. It was so giant. So this is an hour north. So you you were just saying like why aren't these things why are they just like right here? But this might not just be in this one town. It's just like

a visit a trip

just sometimes you get to see something. Some say it was a trick of the light. Others believe the town's mining history stirred up something dark and ancient, something that never really left, or maybe something that always existed before us. They don't know, but what we do know is over a century later, we are still celebrating and wondering about

39:00

the van meter visitor. This episode of Two Girls One Ghost is brought to you by Alloy Women's Health. Aging can be, let's just put it plainly, it's crappy. It is. We hurt. Problem sleeping, hot flashes, braid, decreased libido, weight gain. I mean, they can hit us hard. Menopause and midlife is inevitable, but it's also treatable. And it's wild how many women put off treatment cuz they don't realize it's available. Alloy can help you thrive during menopause and midlife, offering unlimited access to doctors and experts with safe science-based treatments for your hormone symptoms, as well as skin, hair, and sexual wellness treatments. So, here's how it works. You sign up. Alloy Solutions are available by prescription. So, you'll need to complete a short medical questionnaire and a patient verification. And then you work with an expert physician to finalize your personalized treatment plan. And then once you're approved, you get your 3-mon supply shipped directly to your door with automatic refills. And now that we're getting older, we also know a lot

40:00

of people who are dealing with these

psychological & paranormal theories

types of symptoms. And so, this has been something that I have started recommending to everyone. We cannot recommend Alloy enough. Join the 95% of women who joined Alloy and saw relief in the first 2 weeks. Head to myalloy.com and tell them about your symptoms and you'll get a fully customized treatment plan. And you'll get $20 off your first order today when you use the code TG. Head to myalloy.com ma ly.com and enter code TG for $20 off your first order. Experts in psychology have said that this is textbook mass hysteria, but we say no because why would you're wrong. Why would people who are so respected in their community all give basically matching stories like matching the stories are different but like the identification of the creature is the same,

right?

Why would they try to fabricate something so outlandish? They wouldn't. There is a beast there or at least there was. So paranormal theorists meanwhile

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say that this is part of a broader pattern and it's very similar to what you were saying in the beginning. Moth Man of Point Pleasant and the Flatwoods Monster of West Virginia. Those are like the two comparisons. I'm bringing in the Bridgewater Triangle because I think that

is that with Monster or is it in our Excel to cover. I think I have it as

the creature below

something to cover. So, you should cover it soon so we can do like comparisons. So, these entities appear during moments of change, uncertainty or geological disturbances. And people say that like with the the growth of the town and the mining and all of that, perhaps this is something a reason for these creatures to appear. What they mean, we do not know.

A warning, a yeah, omen of some kind.

People have wondered if there's a portal that has somehow opened up there. I guess the answer is we don't know. But today, Van Meter celebrates its strange history. And outside of the festival, if you are curious to learn more, there is an entire book that was written, The Van

42:00

Meter Visitor by Chad Lewis, Kevin Lee Nelson, and Noah Voss that goes into a very like comprehensive investigation. I think they include a lot of like real life accounts from people of more modern times. And there's also newspaper articles, like original newspaper articles, which if you've been watching on YouTube, I included one screenshot from one of them, um, that you can find

listener story

if you go online into the archives at the De Mo Daily News and the De Mo Register. So, there you go. So cool. Crypted stories are so hard cuz it's like there is no more information

and yeah, we don't like how can we theorize,

right? It's just it's fascinating. I'm rooting for you van meter visitor big fan of your work and go off king dance break and that's when we drop all of our things and fall into a dance hysteria. Wow. I have a listener story not of the

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van meter visitor and not necessarily from Iowa either, but it is from our listener Haley and it is called the time I saw a possible crypted nightly screams and the bones in the woods.

Oh, the bones in the woods.

I was drawn in. I was hooked.

Yeah.

And this is Appalachia adjacent. So again, I was hooked.

Hello ghouls. My name is Haley. She they I've recently gotten into your podcast and when I saw you were doing episodes on Appalachia, I was immediately drawn in because I have lived my entire life in the Appalachin region. To start this off, I lived in and around the woods my entire life. And I have grown up hearing weird noises and seeing things that have been brushed off. And as I grew up, I eventually fell into the Appalachin rabbit hole and learned about all the spooky things that happen out there. The cryptids, the legends, the whole nine. Now, I've lived in small towns mostly, so of course I've heard a few things from the locals that I pretty much ignored because why would I believe some old person rattling off some crazy

44:00

warning about the things in the woods? But now I know I have to heed those warnings. Okay, so a while back when I was just starting middle school, my family had moved further into southern Virginia at the heart of the Appalachin region. We were living in a small but comfortable house on the foot of the biggest mountain in the area where our only closest neighbors were our landlord who lived a mile behind us and a woman and her family who lived on a ranch in front of us. But her house was on top of a hill with a whole row of trees and a field plus a horse stable blocking our view of them. So safe to say we were pretty secluded. Everywhere around our house were the woods. Our backyard was just a porch that extended into a little garden. Up a hill we had a fire pit and then behind that began the tree line.

Sounds really nice. But I'm nervous the whole time cuz it's like,

you know,

it's an email that was sent to us.

So things are going to go ary.

Yeah. It was one morning around 6:30 a.m. late fall. So it was early in the

45:00

morning. The sun was barely up. My two sisters were upstairs in the house asleep. My mom was at work and my dad was at the store if I recall correctly. So, I was at the end of the fairly small driveway waiting for my bus to take me to school. And as someone with ADHD, for the life of me, I cannot stay stills. So, I was swaying side to side, had my earbuds in. And then I got this feeling like I was being watched. But I also have severe anxiety. So, at first, I just brushed it off thinking I was paranoid because again, it was still kind of dark. It's a dreary fall morning. I had just woken up a bit ago and I'm surrounded by wood. So, of course, I'm writing it off. This is a creepy environment. But that feeling just wouldn't stop. And you know that feeling of the hair on your neck standing up and your thoughts are racing trying to convince yourself it's fine and you don't have to turn around because it's all in your head, but you can't take the feeling and your stomach is full of dread. Well, yeah, that's what I was feeling. I was trying to focus on my music, but as I swayed back and forth, that feeling kept building up. I tried to ignore it, but I couldn't. And I felt my body want to turn to look. I couldn't resist it. I

46:00

turned to my right and there I saw it. Behind the treeine behind my house was a pale figure. No, I immediately think of flesh pedestrians.

And it wasn't humanoid in any way.

Oh,

it was pale gray with long gangly limbs. I imagine it if it happened to stand up, it would have been taller than any grown pine tree.

And it wasn't just standing.

Oh, I got chills. This is giant.

No, it was slowly crawling towards me like a predator stalking its prey.

But but like why even crawl? If you're that massive, you can just basically reach out and grab you cuz it's creepier.

It was almost grotesque watching it crawl with its long limbs, its joints bent in all the wrong ways, its body skinny with its ribs showing like a starved man. It is very flesh pedestrian.

Yeah.

I stood there for a moment, frozen in fear and shock as I watched it. And then I did what any sensible person would do

47:00

in that situation and ran all the way back to my house and quickly locked the door behind me. However, if you've learned any of the rules about Appalachia, it is said that if you find that you notice you are being stalked by one of the many creatures in the woods, you should never run because you don't want to alert it to either your presence or the fact that you're aware of its presence. But I was panicking and I was like, "Well, I don't really want to be killed." So, I ran inside and after taking a breather, I got my phone out and I texted my family group chat recounting what I had seen, asking when my dad was going to get back and if he could take me to school instead of me going back outside waiting for the bus. My parents didn't believe me, though. So, when my dad got back, he laughed at me and said he would not take me to school, but he would sit on the porch and watch me wait for the bus. That was the first and last time I saw that figure. And while I'm glad it was, for the next couple of years that we lived there, I couldn't shake the feeling of being watched every time I went outside. Now, for my second story, kind of short, but it takes place at the same house. For the first few nights after we had moved in, all was good. We were just shaking off the adrenaline from moving

48:00

into a new place and finally settling in. But of course, just as we got comfortable, that's when the woods decided to not let us rest. It was late at night, and my sleep schedule was basically non-existent along with both of my sisters. So, they were both in their shared room talking and I was downstairs getting a late snack. I don't know what time it was exactly, but I do know for a fact that all of the neighbors around us were definitely asleep. Keep in mind, they're also really far away from their neighbors. As I was finishing my snack and throwing the remaining trash away, I heard it. A scream coming from the woods behind her house. This scream lasted about 5 seconds. It was coming from the woods behind her house and lasted roughly 5 seconds. I paused, quickly finished what I was doing, and ran upstairs because the kitchen had two windows on the wall that faced the woods. And I did not want to catch a glimpse of whatever or whoever was making that noise. It sounded human. Not just a spook scream, but like a I'm getting attacked type of scream.

However, as someone who's lived in the

49:00

woods all of my life, I also know that while sounding like a human, it very well could have been a fox or a mountain lion. But mountain lion screams are deeper and I've heard them before. So, I went to bed spooked. But the next morning, as I barged into my sister's room, because I, as the sibling, have the right to do so, noticed that they were talking about a scream that they heard the other night. So, I was like, "Did you guys hear that scream last night, too?" And they both said yes, they had. We've all heard it. And I don't know if my parents have, but it was very unsettling. It's also unsettling because it's not the first or the last time we've heard it. For the full three and a half years that we lived in this house, we would hear these high-pitched screams coming from the woods at night, almost always around 11:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. Not every night. Sometimes we wouldn't hear it for weeks and then it would be back. And it was constant enough that we were always spooked at night.

And like if they they know the sounds of the wildlife,

right?

Like you know if it's the mountain lion or the coyotes or whatever an owl.

50:00

It also I'm glad that it happened more than once because you also know it's not just a human being attacked.

I had that thought too.

Yeah,

cuz at first I was like, well, what if that's noise that a human makes and like complete fear and terror of like a beast attacking them like some sort of like this giant gangly creature?

I don't know. For my last story, which isn't my personal experience, but it's something both of my sisters uncovered. So, in the summer, we were clearing out our backyard. And while I opted to stay as far away from the woods as possible and not go in them because I always have felt uneasy about the woods in that house, my sisters decided to go explore the area. I don't know why, but I'm imagining her sisters are twins. They share a room and Haley just seems like the older sister who's just like barging in runs the house.

Or is that younger sister behavior?

I don't know. I guess could be either. Haley, let us know. That's the biggest mystery. Okay, so Haley says their sisters went to explore. So they went past the garden up the hill to the treeine in the back and started walking along a little path that they had found

51:00

while the rest of us were inside. You know, cooling off, doing whatever. And they stumbled upon a little break in the pathway. On this pathway, they discovered bones. At first, they thought maybe deer bones. They found a part of a rib. But as they looked closer and started uncovering more, they found a part of a finger, a leg bone. And my middle sister picked up what was part of a femur bone, still attached to a part of a hipbone, and asked our oldest sister while waving it around, "What's this?" So, you're right, youngest sister.

Yeah.

My oldest sister saw it and immediately told her to put it down. And upon closer inspection, these bones did not appear to be animal, but human. They did not find a full skeleton. And after my sisters put the bones down, they made their way back to the house and for some reason did not call the police. No forensics and honestly, I get not wanting to deal with it, but there were literal human remains on our property. I wonder if they could tell at all. I mean, obviously like conditions and this is why body farms exist. like it's it's

52:00

you need a forensic specialist to tell you how long a body has been there. But it does make me wonder if if they did if like it would sync up to any of the times that they had a lot of that like screeching activity screams like a residual haunting.

Haley says closing notes. All of these incidents happened at the same house. This house was built in the late 50s to60s, and while living there, there had been other several spooky occurrences, but these are the ones that really fit into the Appalachin category. While living there, my sisters and I have all come to the conclusion that yes, the house and the property around it are definitely haunted. The vibes are very unsettling and we never want to go back. While I'm glad I have experiences to share. I know.

Make it like a haunted Airbnb. I don't think they live there anymore.

Shoot.

While I'm glad Good for you.

Yeah. While I'm glad I have experiences to share with you, I would never want to live there again or have others have those nightmares.

My theory is that maybe what I saw the creature was a flesh walker, a windy

53:00

boy, or some other creepy crawly spirit. Anyway, thank you for reading my stories, and if this does happen to be featured in an episode, thank you for sharing your thoughts on them. Love you girls and the podcast. See you on the other side, Haley.

I mean, for sure flesh pedestrian sounding just like even even the screams could very much be that. Right.

It is confusing though because this thing was so huge. Like the fact that it could be like taller than a grown pine tree.

I guess I don't know the height.

What kind of pine?

Yeah. I don't know the height, but I am just picturing it probably even seemed larger because of how skinny and gangly the limbs were.

Yeah. All like folded up.

Yeah. The way it just like so

so creeping towards her as she's waiting for the bus. You know what's interesting is like we've never actually heard and maybe this is because those people are no longer here to tell the story,

but like it always ends with something with these types of creatures like trying to like stalking but never

54:00

completing

like no one's like we've never heard of like being face to face like breathing it same breath touching it,

right? I feel like the closest story we've gotten was when we did the indigenous episode or encounters and we read the Raven Mocker story

because but even that it's probably the closest someone's been to an entity like that.

Yeah.

But they're still at a distance.

Yeah. And I can't remember if we read it on our podcast or if it was like another podcast I was listening to, but I remember another one where like someone encountered that and started sprinting out of the woods, which is like what you're not supposed to do.

Yeah. or no, I think they got to the the clearing of the woods and then started sprinting through the Did we read this?

No, I don't I don't Someone I think they were like walking their dog. Maybe it was on TikTok. They're like walking their dog and they they're like or whatever like, "Hi." And then knew that they weren't supposed to look but looked and it was this sort of like classic flesh pedestrian looking creature

55:00

and they just like head down swiftly but tried to like calmly walk to the forest edge and then there was like a big field clearing to get to their parents' house and they just sprint to the house and then they close the door. or I think they're like grandparent or like I don't remember the story but one of the relatives is there and they look back and the creature is at the forest edge like watching and waiting. Maybe we did read this. I feel like we've just read or heard so many similar to this.

I want to say the reason we haven't heard face tof face encounters is because those people can't share those stories anymore.

They're now missing people.

They're screaming in the woods. Oh, I had I I meant to look this up. So, I was driving home from New Jersey late. So, my brother proposed to his girlfriend. Yay, my new sister Charlotte. And I was gonna stay the night in New Jersey and then drive back Sunday morning, but I was just like, I'm just going to get I'm going to just get on the road and drive home.

So, I drove probably from like 9:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.

at 9:23

56:00

p.m. And I remember this specifically. I was driving on 15, like Highway 15 through Connecticut. I like voice noted myself after this happened because I was like I want to look up some if anything happened. But I was passing I want to say like Fairfield, Connecticut,

one of those exits.

And from my right to my left I saw this like glowing bright ball of light like fly through the sky and I was like am I seeing things like a comet?

Was it a comet? A fireball?

And I meant to look it up but I forgot. Oh, you Yeah, you need to.

But I like literally I was like I'm curious because like if it is a comet, there probably is some record of it,

right?

Or it's like remember I had told you the story about how when I was walking wrinkles when years and years ago and we saw like a giant

ball of fire going through this guy and it had like a huge tail like it seemed like end of the world asteroid and

57:00

wrinkles like looked up at me like oh

And then I I looked it up when we were starting this podcast. I went back and looked it up and there was like one blog that had existed with like one other person

who mentioned this giant fireball and like nowhere else like not on any sort of like space and whatever like I don't

people who are supposed to look and chronicle what's going on in the sky

supposed to chronicle our fireball experiences cuz it really did feel like a fireball or like I've seen so many meteor showers in my life

but it was so much bigger. It was.

Yeah. It feels like what the dinosaurs saw.

Yeah. Anyway, well, this was fun. See you at the Van Meter Festival.

Oh, I like forgot what we were even talking about in this episode. I was like, what did we cover? The Van Meter visitor.

See you in the woods of Appalachia.

No. My god.

Or will we? Because that does sound fun. If you have any encounters with the glowing unicorn pterodactyl of Van Meter, Iowa,

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uh if you have any paranormal encounters at all, if you want just want to let us know how you eat your corn, please email us at two girls onegopodcast@gmail.com. If you're team hysteria dancing plague, say woot woot in the comments. Woot woot. Say drop it low. She bang she bang in the comments and join us on Patreon for episodes one week early and ad free and bonus content and campfire stories and book club and so many more exciting things. Mhm. Shout out to Jamie Ryan who edits and produces our podcast. Thank you Jamie. And thank you to all of you. We love you and we will see you on the other side. Very spooky.