From the unexplained to the mundane, come join
us on a Journey to the Fringe. Hopefully, I don't
know, Chelsea's got the episode. Hello, we are
your podcast host Taylor and Chelsea. Here today
doing a Chelsea episode as I guess I just said,
and I will leave it to her here. I'm going to
do it just like you said. Today, this week, whatever
it is that you're listening to this, maybe this
month, I'm staying true to my love of cryptids.
And what's my favorite type of cryptid, you might
ask, though you probably know. See, I would think
that they're ones that are near crypts, because
they keep trues to the name, is it not? Yeah,
but you know, I was just about to throw out Friar
Banati, but he's not a cryptib. What's the one
that likes the rum? Oh, Baron Sivelli, yeah.
Yeah, no, I don't know why I got Friar Banati
and Baron Sivelli confused, but that's who that
reminds me of that you just said. but for some
fucked up reason I love winged cryptids and humanoids
and they're better when they're together I like
it when they're considered winged cryptids just
because that feels like a better descriptor for
a cryptid yeah it's a winged cryptid that no
no that's we have winged mammals now we have
winged mammals those majestic flying rats but
winged bad. No, they're just not as good. It's
probably because a winged creature is so terrifying
to me that that is just why I love that so much.
Yeah. And it's just like me and my fucked up
personality. I don't know. Maybe it's because
I already have that fear of winged beings. So
it just adds to the horror of it all. May I also
just add that it's weird that it's not winged.
It is weird. Fucking English. It comes up every
episode. Yeah. Why? But man, if we call them
winged crayfish, this would not be a good episode.
Anyhow, they're winged from here on out. Winged
humanoid. So today I'm going to cover one of
each, one winged, one humanoid, just to bring
some balance into our lives. First up, I got
the van meter visitor. Have you heard of him?
That sounds like a parking maid that may or may
not exist. It does. Okay, I'm gonna tell you.
For five nights in September 1903, a strange
creature with bat -like wings and a horn on its
forehead that sometimes shot beams of light.
Think a pterodactyl. It emits a foul smell, haunted
the town, leaving behind footprints, plastic
casts and terrified witnesses. I'm assuming that
the plaster casts were later collected and left
behind. Yeah, I'm really hoping. Probably collected
now Chelsea. I'm just gonna say if you then Come
up that this winged creature has been defending
the local like haunted mansion. He said it wrong
What a winged creature? I'm gonna say that you
accidentally watch an episode of Scooby -Doo
Turned it into a cryptid episode. I Might have
who's to say that's rude We just watched Scooby
-Doo and the rest is made up. We take out the
ending and the bend of, I don't know, mystery
-solving teens were there. We leave the part
out where the mystery is solved and the rest
is just a journey to the fringe episode. I'm
sorry that we finally let the secret out of the
bag. A smaller, similar creature sometimes accompanied
the van meter visitor, depending on who you ask.
Like I said, it's actually quite pterodactyl
-looking creatures speaking of English. Pterodactyl?
Yeah, oh god. There's that one kid's book. I
have it. You actually got it. It's called E is
for pterodactyl, yeah. Yeah, yeah. English sucks.
Yeah, it does. Okay, so the first sighting of
the Van Meter monster occurred September 29th,
1903. That was so long ago. At around 1 a .m.
downtown, right in the heart of the city's business
district. Wait, what city? Van Meter? Maybe.
I'm thinking, yeah. I don't actually say for
sure. I'm pretty... Is Van Meter a city? It's
gotta be. Yep, Iowa. Oh, okay. I hope there's
not two. A businessman was returning home when
he saw the Van Meter Griffith. You gotta love
these business people. They're they're doing
so much business, but they're seeing the cryptids.
That wizard frog. I forget where it was, but
it was saw by it. Oh, the loveland frog. Yeah.
Not a humanoid, nor is it winched, but he is
one of my favorites. Yeah, it is. Is it? Love
line frog. Okay, that's for sure who you're talking
about. You're right. You're right. Yeah. Oh man,
that is a great artisan. Are you looking at the
one? I don't even know how to describe this.
I'm pretty sure we're looking at the same thing,
but we have to I have to make sure. You can't
describe it. So I'm pretty sure we're looking
at the same thing. Let me take a look. That's
him! I still picture the one from Futurama with
the crown. The Hypnotote. Yeah. Yeah, Hypnotote,
I don't know. I still can't get him out of my
head. But Chelsea, this is clearly a frog that
is photoshopped to have legs and human hands.
Yeah, standing up. They have a scale. His butt
looks weird. They have the silhouette of the
frog with a little human butt. My favorite part
though, Chelsea, is that the scale is a human
size. And he's just waving at us. he's like oh
hey i'm the model for this yeah i don't know
that you can get much accurate than this look
at the shadow in the bushes but look how muscular
his thighs are oh yeah that's a buff boy right
there oh they're not the frog the frog is not
buff it's just a frog no the shadow is yeah it's
got some ripples on that shadow yeah i know he's
fucking at least he did not skip leg day that's
for sure no in in real life he skipped leg day
in shadowverse he did not skip leg day not a
once no not once anyhow sorry this has nothing
to do with this proc No, we were talking about
the businessmen. Right, because it was two businessmen
on the road home or something. Businessmen is
not a job. It doesn't tell you anything about
them. But also, it was a businessmen on the way
home that encountered Ingrid Colt. They're all
businessmen. Yeah. I mean, that businessmen was
selling sewing machines. I don't know what this
businessman's up to. Okay, so let's find it.
We haven't even gotten like two seconds into
this episode. It's beautiful. I already see the
picture that we're using for this episode. Okay,
a businessman was returning home when he saw
the van meter visitor for the first time. Ulysses
Griffith. A local doctor was awakened by a bright
light shining into his bedroom window. That's
creepy. He grabbed his shotgun and went outside
to investigate. He saw a large creature perched
on a telephone pole emitting a beam of light
from its horn. He fired at it, but it seemed
unaffected and flew away. man how would you know
that it had a horn i don't know maybe it's lights
that were shining down were blocked somewhat
by a horn you gotta love the american tradition
of firing at the unexplained fire first ask questions
later yeah or at the same time that's written
on their flavor it's just not before never it's
in the constitution or something yeah i'm pretty
sure this encountered was followed by more sightings
all from prominent people within the community,
including the town doctor, a banker, and a teacher.
Wait, sorry. Yeah, you heard right. No, I just
want to - wasn't the doctor the first one to
see him anyways? No, he was a businessman. No,
the doctor fired at him, didn't he? He's a businessman.
Oh yeah, he was! He was a doctor, you're right.
You were listening. I was not. I just got busted.
So he was both the doctor and there was another
doctor who was the town doctor. This guy just
wasn't good at it. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. You
interpreted that all right. Okay, so they report
seeing the monster perched on top of buildings
and flying through the sky at high speeds. All
of the witnesses agreed that it looked half human.
half -animal with enormous bat wings and some
saying that it looked like the devil. Yeah, you're
gonna get that. Whenever it's kind of human -like,
you're just gonna get that. You are. It's all
up for interpretation. Especially in, like, the
Bible Belt. Yeah, or anywhere. You could pretty
much say anything's the devil. Did he proposition
anyone to build a church? Because then we would
know it's the devil. He's a good guy. I still
feel so bad for that, Tiffle. He was just a good
guy. He was a good guy. They suspected he wasn't,
but they had no reason to believe otherwise.
I know, I know. He just wanted, like, a church.
He wanted a winery. My heart broke for that guy
that night. The next night, around 1 a .m., Dr.
Alcott, the town doctor. They're freaking doctors.
It's just full of them! Are there any other camp
people? Is this where the doctors who can't get
jobs move? Yes! Was sleeping in a room. How many
town doctors can a place have in 1901? 1903?
Come on! This man meter is fucking full of them!
Was sleeping in a room at his office when he
was awoken. I think this might be the same incident.
Okay. So, yeah, no, it definitely is. Okay, the
next night, local banker Clarence, in brackets,
Peter Dunn, I just, Dunn, had an encounter with
the visitor. After hearing about the previous
night's encounters, Mr. Dunn felt he should watch
over the bank. Fearing burglars, he brought along
his shotgun for the night's watch. Around 1 a
.m., he heard a strangling noise outside. What
the hell is a strangling noise? Why does the
banker know what it sounds like when people are
being strangled? I don't know! Peter, formerly
known as Clarence, has real talking to do, but
he was clearly born in the 1800s, so he is clearly
dead too. So. Yeah. Well, this is only 1900.
Gotta fuck you on this one. No, it's 1903, and
he's a banker, which means that he had to at
least have enough schooling to become a banker.
So he's at the earliest 16. So he was born in
the 1800s. Before he could investigate, he was
hit full in the face with a blinding beam that
shot through the front window. The light suddenly
switched off and then back on again, as if scanning
the room, finally swinging back at him. he could
make out quote some kind of great form end quote
behind the light dun fired his shotgun at the
mysterious being right through the bank's front
window he hasn't seen where the being is though
he's only seen that light is coming through the
window so he is firing blind blindly oh yeah
at whatever lighted strangler is out there yeah
you got it then it vanished yeah he got it so
he never actually saw it you first asked questions
later I think that's on the flake Yeah, it could
have been someone with a flashlight. It was choking
and was going to the nearest place because everybody
in town is a doctor. Yeah, in the morning he
noticed sets of large three -toed footprints
outside the bank and claimed to have made plaster
casts of them. Okay, so here's the plaster cast
that we left behind. I was just gonna say I don't
like that he's only claimed, but okay, I'm glad
that there's plaster casts left behind. Yeah,
those are the ones that we left behind that was
mentioned earlier. By the following day, the
previous night's events had circulated around
town within all the doctors. Later that night...
Don't treat people for strangulation! Local hardware
store owner O .V. White had an encounter with
the visitor. He was jolted awake by a metallic
rasping sound outside his second floor room above
his hardware store on Main Street. He grabbed
his gun and moved towards the window. Outside,
he saw the visitor. Everybody lives in their
business in this town. And they're all doctors.
What the hell's the businessman? do for a living
that, like, the hardware store owner and the
banker aren't described as business people, but
the businessman is. That's such a good observation.
Quite astute. He grabs his gun and moves towards
the window. Outside, he saw the visitor perch
close by on the crossbeam of a telephone pole.
White, a known marksman, took deliberate aim.
White is the guy. Remember, his name's O .V.
White. He took deliberate aim and fired at the
creature, unlike the previous guy who did not
take deliberate aim. It had no effect. He didn't
even see that it was actually anything. It only
seemed to awaken the visitor. The creature emitted
a stupefying odor that overpowered White, knocking
him unconscious. Okay, so yeah shot it it emits
a An odor yeah knocks him out. Okay, that's quite
the superpower. I smell the knocks. I would definitely
Disagree with him saying that the bullets did
not affect the being in any way because it clearly
made it release an odor I wonder what kind of
odor like if it was sulfurous Yeah. Oh, yeah.
You got to hate one that is described as stupefying.
The shots of Woke White's neighbor, Sidney Greg,
a doctor who, just kidding, who raced outside
to see what the commotion was. We can only assume
he's a doctor. He watched in dismal. Somebody
needs to assess the people involved. None of
these doctors can find any fucking work. I feel
like this is the town where the doctor who finishes
last in the class has to move to because they
can't get a job as a doctor. Yeah, exactly. And
they all hear tales from their fellow lowest.
Any emergency, there's like a lineup of doctors
seeing who can rush in there. He watched in disbelief
as the monster descended the telephone pole after
the manner of a parrot using its huge beak. What?
I have never seen a parrot maneuver down a telephone
pole. I don't think I can picture this in any
way. No, I'm not. I've never heard anything put
this way. Upon reaching the ground, it stood
erect and by Mr. Greg's estimates, it was at
least eight feet high. Whatever it was, the light
from its forehead was as bright as an electric
headlight. The light again darted about just
as it had the nights before in a searching motion.
The creature paused only for a moment before
taking off towards the old coal mine. The following
night, strange sounds were heard coming from
the abandoned coal mine at the edge of town described
by a local as quote those satan and a regiment
of imps were coming forth for a battle end quote
remember this is 1903 in in the bible no one
talks like that this day chelsea i do just need
to this is not a parrot climbing down a telephone
pole it is a parrot climbing up a rope Are you
showing me something? Yes. This is what I imagine
it kind of looked like. I do love the beats.
Yeah, it probably had the same beats going on
because that's coming from the parrot, I assume.
So it's a very beak heavy descent is what I'm
getting from this. Yeah. But have you heard any
mention of a beak? Well, it's been described
as a pterodactyl, is it not? Yeah. So does that
not just like... But not in any of the eye...
witness accounts that we're reading, right? Did
anyone describe it? I've kind of just been assuming
from you telling me that at the start that they're
all just picturing this thing because they have
described the horn. But you're right. I don't
know if they've described a beak or a muzzle.
But I'm just saying that because these are my
notes. But the there is like eyewitness sketches
and it looks like a pterodactyl. OK, you can
go ahead and Google that if you want. Van Meter
visitor. The visitor, accompanied by a second
creature, were spotted emerging from the mine
and taking off into the night. A large crowd
of armed men gathered at the mine to ambush the
creatures when they returned. They were reported
as having enough firepower to have sunk the Spanish
fleet. Shortly before dawn, the creatures returned.
The crowd opened fire on the creature. The crowd
of doctors. To their bewilderment, the creatures
were totally immune to their assault and only
gave off the terrible odor as a response before
they crawled back down into the mine. They gotta
stop saying that they're immune when they immediately
respond with a repulsive smell. That's true.
That is a response to it. The next day, it was
reported that a force of men had been set to
work to barricade the mouth of the mine, sealing
the creatures in sight. The creatures were never
seen again. Is it still barricaded? It has to
be. You know what would be another good episode?
Mine creatures. I've heard more than one instance
of creatures coming from mines. Yeah, you know
what? That's a fair thing to say. Now... I have
a newspaper article related to another encounter
with the Van Meter monster. I really hope it's
a doctor. And I'm going to do my best to read
it because it's one of these fucking old news.
Oh, it's really great. Yeah. Seeing strange things.
Half human, half beast with great bat -like wings.
That was the easy part. That was the title. New
York, October 12th, something patch. From Des
Moines, Iowa says the town of Van Meter containing
1 ,000 persons, mostly doctors, is terribly wrought
up by what is described as a horrible monster.
Every man, woman and child in the town is in
a state of terror and fully Half of them fall
to close their eyes in slumber except in broad
daylight. Friday night, while the population
was keeping the dreadful vigil, every electric
light in the city was kept burning to satisfy
the most timid. The monster put in its appearance
Monday night US Griffith an Implement dealer
drove into town at 1 a .m. And saw what seemed
to be an electric searchlight on Mayor and Griggs
store while he gazed it sailed across to another
building and then disappeared His story was not
believed His story was not beloved next day I
think believed is what it's supposed to be. But
the following night, Dr. AC Olcott, who sleeps
in his office on the principal street, was awakened
by a bright light shining in his face. He grabbed
a shotgun and ran outside the building where
he saw a monster seemingly half human and half
beast with great bat -like wings. A dazzling
light that fairly blinded him came from a blunt
corn -like perturbance, protuberance, in the
middle of the animal's forehead and it gave off
a stupefying odor that almost overcame him. We
already heard these stories, so this is not a
new one. But they're using 1903 words for cat
in the headlines and it's so much better this
way. The doctor discharged his weapon and fled
into his office barring doors and windows and
remained there an abject Terror until the next
morning Peter Dunn cashier of the only bank in
town fearing bank robbers Loaded a repeating
shotgun with shells filled with buckshot and
prepared to guard his funds next night This is
a part of the job right at that time If you're
a cashier at the bank in town. Oh, yeah. You
also got to be. You got to be there all night
with a gun. Yep. He's probably the town doctor
at two o 'clock. He was blinded by the presence
of light at great intensity. Eventually, he recovered
his senses sufficiently to distinguish the monster
and fired through the window. The plate, glass,
and sash were torn out and the monster disappeared.
Next morning, imprints of the great three -toed
feet were discernible in the soft earth. Plaster
casts of them were taken. That night, Dr. O .V.
White saw the monster climbing down a telephone
pole using a beak, much in the manner of a parrot.
that was the deep base video that taylor just
showed us clearly showed all of you apparently
yeah as our podcast has come a long way it has
as it struck the ground it seemed to travel in
leaps like a kangaroo they're using a lot of
different animals to describe this they really
are there was another creature that was a kangaroo
was it not i forget which one but like the entire
thing was like yeah this is a kangaroo at the
train yard cannot remember what the hell that
was that was at halloween i can't remember which
one it was though using its huge featherless
wings to assist it gave off no light he fired
at it and he believes he wounded it well this
is the first time i've heard that it was wounded
the shot was followed by an overpowering odor
Sidney Greg, attracted by the shot, saw the monster
flying away. But the climax came Friday night.
The whole town was aroused by this time. Professor
Martin, principal, also doctor, principal of
the school, decided that from the description
it was an antediluvian animal. I know that word.
Shortly after midnight, the Bible, right? Antediluvian?
It has to do something with Noah, does it not?
Yeah, before the flood. Yeah, before biblical
flood. That's what it is. So this animal should
not have been survived. Yeah, it's going to survive
the flood. It fucking flies. It flies, yes. Like
all the winged animals? Yeah, the winged ones
are gonna make it up! We had no choice but to
keep the winged beings. You can't flood out the
winged or the swimmer. Those ones are just gonna
survive. Especially the swimmers. Beard? That
definitely says beard. A peculiar sound in an
abandoned coal mine. And as the men had reported
a similar sound before, a body of volunteers
started an investigation. Presently the monster
emerged from the shaft accompanied by a smaller
one. A score of shots were fired without effect.
The whole town was aroused and a vigil was maintained
the rest of the night but without result until
just at dawn when the two monsters returned and
disappeared down the shaft. A watch was kept
again last night but without result. The town
geniuses are devising various plane to capture
the monster. May I just add that in the early
1900s they were too comfortable throwing around
the word aroused. Yes, and you know I have to
say this article does lack the addresses of all
the people who have signed it. And phone numbers.
And I also don't see who wrote the article. It
doesn't have that on there, and that was a quite
a difficult read. It makes me feel better about
my eyesight, though. They're definitely all doctors.
They're definitely all doctors, and he didn't
know how to be a journalist, so he didn't put
his name down. Or he wrote it in such scribbly
fashion that nobody could discern it at the newspaper
store. There were only a thousand doctors in
that town. In 1980, sporadic sighting started
to be purported again. The first report was given
by a man who was walking near the coal mine and
reported seeing a five -foot -long bat -like
creature flying overhead. He claimed that he
had never heard of the Van Meter monster before
his sighting. Which, you gotta think in Van Meter,
Iowa, that this is probably a huge story that
everybody talks about, especially when there's
only a thousand doctors in the town. Yeah, I...
I googled band meter visitor and one of the first
things that comes up on Google searches is band
meter visitor festival. Yeah, you got to think.
I mean, there probably wasn't a festival in like
1905 to 1980. But you got to think it was probably
renowned for this. Oh, and apparently you need
to eat at the fifth quarter because that's the
only restaurant that shows up when you just Google.
How's this review? It's ran by a family who had
a doctor. Yep. In the 2000s, a family was driving
to man meter when they said they saw a giant
bat -like creature lying dead on the side of
the road. When they went back to investigate,
the creature was gone. Wait, they didn't - Yeah,
you heard me right. They drove by and said, huh,
you know, they kept going and then at some point
they're like, you know what? You remember that
dead body we saw on the side of the road? We
should have probably stopped. And you know what?
They probably said, you know what? There's not
a good turnaround here. We'll wait for the next
overpass. And it was like 10 miles down the road.
It was one of the two, definitely. And then they
went back and it was gone. And they're like,
it probably wasn't anything, anyway. But we should
tell the newspaper. In 2006, a local pastor,
they got pastors at this point, 2006, saw a creature
flying in the sky. Dr. Pastor, so. Dr. Pastor.
You saw a creature flying in the sky, which you
described as looking like a dragon. Totally different
creature. After investigating, he came across
the account for the original. None of these people
have ever heard about the Van Meter visitor before.
So he investigates and finds out about the Van
Meter legend and confirms that those descriptions
matched what he had seen. But it's funny because
he called it a dragon. So it doesn't seem to
me like the descriptions match. No, not quite.
No. There were two more sightings in 2014 and
2020. In both these sightings the witnesses described
the creature as a giant bird rather than a bat
-like monster so we aren't sure whether they
had seen the Van Meter visitor or another creature.
Even though the local pastor said dragon and
they circled back he was like yeah that was definitely
it. Van Meter now hosts a Van Meter visitor festival
every September on the anniversary of the sighting
so I'm adding that to the bucket list. I wonder
when that started. I don't know. But it is September
27th, 2025 this year. So ChadLewisResearch .com.
You can get tickets there. Who is Chad Lewis?
Chad Lewis, a doctor. Or a child of a doctor
who had to settle there. You could only get a
homestead if you were a doctor. Who is this guy?
He might get his own episode. He likes his cryptos.
He looks like he's related to Sean Penn maybe.
Yeah, you know what? Is it Sean Penn? I don't
think so. He's younger and a little chubbier,
but related to Sean Penn nonetheless. Probably.
They both do spell and pronounce their last names
different. Oh no, go to the about me section.
I'm scared. Bio? Yeah. Oh, that is a shower head
he's got? I don't know, but he's pointing it
at me and I don't like it. Okay. Huh. Okay. Here
are just a few places I have ventured in search
of strange and unusual. Chupacabras, Puerto Rico,
Costa Rica. I said that wrong, but I'm sticking
to it. Tata Duende, Belize. Mothman, Point Pleasant.
He could have gone to Chicago. Wendigo, Canada.
Van Meter Visitor. Why am I buying tickets on
this guy's website? I also don't quite understand.
What this guy is about? Anyhow, we could probably
save this for a different time. Yeah VIP entrance
tickets to Van Meter Visitor Festival $20 that's
it or $10 if you don't want to be a VIP Don't
know the difference. I think I'd spring for it.
Okay moving on next up the humanoid encounter
Kind of I don't know this is all way for a spaceman,
which is an apparent anomalous photograph. This
took place May 23rd, 1964 in Burg Marsh near
Solway Firth in Cumbria, England. While on a
family outing with his wife and daughter Elizabeth,
Jim Templeton, a Carlisle fireman, took a series
of photographs in an open field. quote, we went
on a normal outing and picked our spot. Jim Templeton
recalled in a BBC interview before his death
in 2011, we sat down and I said, now I'll get
some photos of you with the new dress on, end
quote. He's saying that to his daughter. It doesn't
explicitly say that, but when the film was developed,
one image revealed something inexplicable. Behind
his daughter in the photograph was a strange
figure. What looked like a person in a white
suit with a helmet or dark visor resembling an
astronaut or spaceman was in the background.
Templeton insisted that no one else was present
at the time and the figure had not been seen
when the picture was taken. The photograph quickly
gained attention from the press. It was dubbed
the Solway First Spaceman photo capturing imaginations
worldwide during the height of the space race
and UFO interest. The mysterious figure seemingly
appeared from nowhere and became a cultural curiosity.
Mr. Templeton took it to the police in Carlisle
and they declared there was nothing out of the
ordinary, no illegal activity at the very least.
Kodak, who developed the photo, examined the
negative and confirmed that the image was not
manipulated. The figure was physically present
at the time the photo was taken. They even offered
a reward to anyone who could prove that the photo
was faked and it was never claimed. I mean that
would just get Jim right away if he was like,
I can prove it. We wouldn't be here today. Following
the publicity, which this one was news to me,
Templeton claimed that he was visited by two
men in black suits who identified themselves
only as number 7 and number 11. They asked him
to take them to the location where the photo
had been taken. And Templeton said they acted
strangely and when he explained that he had not
seen the spaceman in real time, they became frustrated
and left abruptly. One of the reasons the photo
entered UFO folklore was a coincidental event
at the Bad Diadem. Missile testing site? I don't
know if I'm saying that right at all. A planned
launch of the Blue Streak missile was reportedly
halted due to sightings of two figures on the
launch range, said to resemble the figure in
Templeton's photograph. Side note, it wasn't
actually until after it was cancelled due to
the two figures when the people operating this
that cancelled saw the photo on the front page
of an Australian newspaper. paper, where they
are stunned that the figure looked the same as
the figures they saw close to the missile. Though
there is no official confirmation of this incident,
the story added another layer of intrigue that
contributed to conspiracy theories about government
knowledge of extraterrestrial activity. The prevailing
explanation today is far more mundane and likely
more accurate. Investigators, including photographic
analysis, later suggest that the spaceman was
likely Templeton's wife, Annie. She had walked
into the background of the shot without his noticing,
which is weird, but I don't know. You got to
remember at the time, like you couldn't look
at photos until they were developed and like
it would take you a while to develop them. So
when you actually got to look at them. You wouldn't
necessarily remember exactly what was happening
in that photo. Absolutely. She was wearing a
pale blue dress, which, due to an overexposure
and the limitations of 1960s film stock, appeared
bright white. Her back was turned, and the cropped
shape of her head and shoulders may have given
the illusion of a helmeted figure. Evidence that
supports this theory would include the figure's
proportions and posture aligned with someone
standing with their back to the camera, which
I don't know that that supports the wife versus
a spaceman, to be honest. Easily explained. And
the whole thing is, if it's back -facing, why
would it look like a spaceman if it's the back
of the spaceman? Spaceman turn their backs sometimes.
Well, they do, but they don't need a visor on
the back. We do, to popular belief, that's true.
Yeah, but I guess, I don't know, aliens could
technically have eyes on both sides of their
head, I don't know. That's true. Or just backwards
postures. I wonder what the circle papers have
to say about this. Oh, it was probably pooping
in the sand just over there. Just like a cat.
Yeah. Other photographs from that day show Annie
wearing the same dress. I did see it. I don't
know. It's like, you know, one of those, like,
pictures you have to stare at for a long time
to see something in? Yeah. It's kind of like
that. I do not see it at all. I don't see a woman
with her back turned. All I see is a spaceman,
but maybe... once I see it I won't be able to
unsee it. You know when that happens. The camera
angle and the lighting could easily distort the
figure into a misleading form and that's the
thing about old photography I guess as well.
Which actually brings up another cool thing because
nowadays you can't trust a photograph for totally
other reasons other than what we're talking about
right now right? It's not because of over exposure
or because like you don't have the problems anymore
of what's -his -face Billy Meyer where he's just
like fucking taking pictures of Christmas ornaments
and he's like look at it it's a UFO and it's
clearly just someone taking a fucking picture
of a UFO like he thinks he's manipulating a photograph
so well or something like this now you're dealing
with things like AI where I mean AI is still
you can still kind of pick it out from not being
a believable photograph and it's small things
too it's like the hands are weird or it doesn't
understand english or something like that that
bothers me the most that you can't make a photo
with english in it yeah i know right i don't
know why it doesn't know english but it's such
a cool like I don't know if it's cool or worrisome
that this is where it's going. My personal theory
is that English AI outsources its photo generation
to like Spanish or like third world AI and that's
why it doesn't speak English. That's so true.
It only vaguely speaks English. It has English
letters. That's what English letters kind of
look like. So it's definitely not a problem you
see anymore, where this is more of an anomaly
that you're seeing in a photograph that is an
actual photograph. I do think an important one
in this one, too, because I have looked into
this one before or at least done some research
into it, is this is one of those stories where
if somebody doesn't actually see the thing that
they took the picture of and it's only looking
at the photo where it arises. And Nick Pope has
spoken of this before, where he says he gets
these sometimes and he's really skeptical where
they didn't see anything at the time and he gives
an example of one that he got with UFOs in the
top left corner of the photo and they did some
analysis and they realized that the guy at the
time who took the photo didn't see it but it
was when he had it but years later he's looking
at it and he saw a UFO in the top left corner
they realized he had stapled the photo and then
photocopied it and he didn't realize that the
photocopy because it was a photocopy that the
UFOs were the back like protrusions of the staples
coming through the photo. Yeah. So it's just
like amazing. Yeah. It's just something that
you wouldn't be aware of at the time of the photo,
which when you take the photo, it's we don't
get the immediate feedback that we do on digital
stuff now that it's different with old photos.
Yeah. It's not a problem anymore. It's not as
much of a problem, I should say. It does still
happen. That's true, that's true. But just such
a contrasting period that we're living in, where
we're looking at very different phenomenons,
where one is more of either an anomaly, where
it's not turning out as you can properly interpret
what's going on in the photo. I don't know that
that's how you would summarize a Billy Mayer
photo though, because it clearly looks like garbage
gambling. Christmas ornaments. When he was speaking
German, the pure language. So who knows what
he was trying to do. You just have to believe
someone who's speaking German and something like
this. So just a cool contrast to kind of think
of when sometimes, you know, you're scrolling
through. TikTok or what have you, wherever else
you can watch videos, Reddit or whatever. Sometimes
it's hard to tell the AI videos from actual videos
now and that really creeps me out. I was watching
TikTok the other day and it was people rescuing
whales from the ocean and I had to look at the
comments and people were like, this is clearly
AI. People can't touch things like that. And
I was like, oh. It didn't look like AI at all,
but it was AI, and it fooled me, because I was
like, wow, this is crazy that they're doing this.
And it was AI, so not that it relates to this
at all, but it kind of does. Anyhow, while the
spaceman likely wasn't a visitor from another
world, the incident reflects how easily our perception
can be deceived by lights, angles, and expectation,
as well as AI. It also, can you imagine what
Billy Mayer could do with AI now? I don't think
he could do much. It'd be so much easier with
his one arm. Do you really think he could type
in prompts? No. He seems like he'd be terrible
at prompts. But he's so good at writing. Look
at that website. There's so many entries. We
gotta revisit that sometime. I know, we really
do. It also demonstrates how a single unexplained
image can ignite the imagination of an era, especially
when gripped by space fever and Cold War paranoia.
It still lives on. There is a whole subculture
of people who want to believe in this stuff and
will point to stuff like that that something's
going on. I do believe there's stuff going on,
but sometimes it can be explained things, and
those aren't the ones that we have to look at.
It's the other ones, like the Van Meter visitor
in a town full of doctors. Ooh, it's extra pterodactyl.
Yes. Exactly! The Solway for Space Meninger is
not necessarily because of what it shows, but
because of what we want it to show. And that
is the end of my episode. Oh, those are fun.
They're fun! One with the winged creature and
one with the potential to fly, just without the
winged. Exactly! That was beautiful. And yeah,
I... Interesting, how close is Iowa to the Mothman
Belt? I think pretty close. Yeah, did you not
get Mothman vibes of it too? A little bit, yeah.
But not quite either. It's kind of weird to say.
Yeah, you know, it's right below Minnesota. So
yeah, it's kind of close to that area. Yeah,
and I just love everybody has their unique cryptids
that just grow and grow and they develop it.
I don't know how to feel about the Solway Firth
spaceman. just because, like, it is such one
picture where they didn't even see things at
the time. But how did it not get a festival?
Come to think of it, how did that clown alien
homeless man not get his own festival? I love
that clown alien guy. The parts of that were
so creepy, but it was so clearly someone trying
to abduct children. Oh, it's always it's always
great looking at these in hindsight and with
a good laugh because sometimes that's I think
I feel that's all you need to break through the
mysterious of it all. We live in such a different
world that a lot of these things that we visit
on our episodes just could not exist in the world
as we know it in this time and place, unfortunately.
Saul Weyferth and what the hell is that clown's
name? I don't know. The Sand Down Clown. Sand
Down Clown. Sand Down Clown. Good job. Yeah,
he just couldn't exist this day and age. People
wouldn't just be like, you mean Bill? No, there's
too many homeless these days. Due to the capitalist
nature of our society, we just have too many
of the sand down clowns out on the beaches. Yeah,
exactly. Kids are warned about them early. Children
are already more not to enter the clowns. They
don't enter clown domains. It's a different world.
I think that's a reasonable place to end it.
I have been Taylor, here with Chelsea. We are
Journey to the Fringe. Thank you all for listening
and we'll see you next week. Bye. Thank you for
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