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 listening to Journey to the Fringe. If you have liked what you have listened to, please like, share, subscribe, or follow depending on what venue you are listening to us through. Also, please, if possible, leave a five -star review
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