Iowa · Series Two
Van Meter Visitor
The Sky Dropper
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The bat-winged creature with a blinding horn-light that terrorized an Iowa town for five nights in 1903 — and was never explained.
- Hand-painted collectible figure
- Collectible trading card in every box
- Tracked shipping to the US & 27 more countries
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Van Meter Visitor
Iowa
- Size
- 4-5 ft
- Habitat
- Rural skies & fields
- Sighting
- Van Meter • 1903
- Trait
- Blinding horn-light
A bat-winged creature with a blinding horn-light that terrorized an Iowa town for five nights.
★ America’s ★
Legendary Creatures
Tilt it for a closer look
Box exclusive · Never sold separately
Evidence enclosed
Tucked inside every Van Meter Visitor box is card #014 of 50: a collector's card you won't find in any shop, pack or booster. The only way to get it is to bring the Van Meter Visitor home.
Fifty legends, fifty cards. Collect the figures, complete the field guide.
- Size
- 4-5 ft
- Habitat
- Rural skies & fields
- Sighting
- Van Meter • 1903
- Trait
- Blinding horn-light
Sculpted from the sightings
Van Meter Visitor, up close
- Figure height
- 5 inches
- Finish
- Hand-painted
- Edition
- Series Two — Fresh Tracks
- Classification
- Winged Enigma
- Family
- Night Stalker
- Legend reports it at
- 4–5 ft (estimated)
The legend of Iowa
“They say it comes without warning, riding the thunder from the stars. When the night is quiet, look up — because the Van Meter Visitor might be watching. It means no harm... unless you're not supposed to see it.”
For five nights in the fall of 1903, the small railroad town of Van Meter, Iowa came under siege from the sky. Witness after witness — and these were the town's most respectable men, a doctor, a banker, an implement dealer — described the same impossible thing: a half-human, half-bird creature with great leathery wings, moving at incredible speed, with a blunt horn on its head that projected a beam of light bright enough to blind.
They shot at it. That is the detail that separates Van Meter from a thousand spook stories: these were practical men with rifles and shotguns, and several of them emptied their guns into the creature at close range. The bullets did nothing. By the fifth night the whole town was awake and armed, and the story was racing down the telegraph wires to newspapers across the country.
The Legend+
It began around 1 a.m. when U.G. Griffith, a tool dealer, saw a light gliding across the rooftops downtown and chased it until it vanished. The next night Dr. Alcott, sleeping in his office, woke to a blinding beam through the window — outside stood the creature, horn glowing, and Alcott fired five shots point-blank before fleeing.
Night three belonged to Clarence Dunn, the bank cashier, who stood guard expecting robbers and instead met the light head-on through the bank's plate glass. He fired through the window and in the morning cast the creature's footprints in plaster — three-toed, like a great bird's. The next evening it was seen perched atop a telephone pole, leaping pole to pole like the wires were stepping stones.
Documented Sightings+
The siege ended at an abandoned coal mine north of town. Followed there by armed men, the creature was met at the mine mouth by a second, smaller one — there were two — and the town's account says the men 'fired enough lead to sink a battleship' as the pair rose into the night. Unharmed, both descended into the mine shaft at dawn. The miners watched the entrance. Nothing ever came out.
The Van Meter Visitor appeared in the Des Moines newspapers within the week and then went silent for a century, preserved mostly in town memory until researchers reopened the case in a 2013 book. The witnesses had nothing to gain and plenty to lose — and none of them ever recanted a word.
The Lore+
Explanations have been tried on like hats, and none fit. A giant heron caught in lantern light explains no blinding horn-beam. A hoax explains no plaster casts. Mass hysteria explains nothing at all about businessmen who fired guns at a shared hallucination on five consecutive nights and described it identically.
Van Meter has made peace with its mystery the way small towns do — with a festival. Every fall the town celebrates the Visitor that bullets couldn't touch, and the old mine north of town keeps its counsel. The creature meant no harm, the elders point out: in five nights of terror it never hurt a soul. It only wanted to look at them. That, somehow, is the part nobody finds comforting.
Good questions
What comes in the box?+
A 5-inch hand-painted collectible figure of Van Meter Visitor from Series Two — Fresh Tracks, plus its collectible Fablins trading card — with Van Meter Visitor's size, habitat, first sighting and signature trait.
When will it ship?+
Van Meter Visitor isn't released yet. Join the waitlist and you'll hear first when it's available.
Do you ship internationally?+
Yes — to the US, Canada, the UK, most of the EU, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and more. Prices show in your local currency and checkout calculates shipping for your country.
What if I need to return it?+
You have 30 days from delivery to start a return (return postage is on the buyer). Reach us through the contact page and we will walk you through it.
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