Bigfoot Society - Van Meter Visitor Origins and World Wide Legend Tripping | Midwest Legends | Chad Lewis

Episode Date: September 7, 2022

#147For nearly three decades Chad Lewis has traveled the back roads of the world in search of the strange and unusual. The more bizarre and unusual the legend is the more likely you will find Chad Lewis.In this episode of Bigfoot Society I talk to Chad about the story behind the Van Meter Visitor, what Chad believes the cryptid is, and much, much more. You will not want to miss this episode of Bigfoot Society and I hope to see you at the Van Meter Visitor Festival coming up in Van Meter, Iowa on 9/24!Episode Resources:website - https://www.chadlewisresearch.comSupernatural Dares Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/user/UnexplainedbooksJoin the only Facebook group for Van Meter Visitor fans - “Van Meter Visitor Believers” - See you there! https://www.facebook.com/groups/vanmetervisitorbelievers/?ref=shareFOR MORE INFO ON THE VAN METER VISITOR FESTIVAL:https://www.facebook.com/vanmetervisitorfestival/_____________________________Join us over on Patreon! Get access to more in the After Show, a whole library of extended shows, exclusive merch like a membership card and stickers, watch me interview guests weekly live on video, a Patron-only Discord and more.https://www.patreon.com/thebigfootsocietyPick up a Bigfoot Society shirt to rep the podcast!https://www.etsy.com/shop/BigfootSocietyTune in for new episodes of Bigfoot Society!https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8Qq45W6iaTU8FE9kelxT7QIG: https://www.instagram.com/bigfootsociety/Full links: https://bit.ly/bigfootlinksSupport the show

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Welcome back to another episode of Bigfoot Society. This week I get to talk to Chad Lewis, of course, one of the co-authors of the book on The Vien Meter Visitor. I mean, it's the book on my favorite cryptid. Of course, as you know, if you're a listener to this podcast. but had a great chat with Chad all about, you know, how he got into the whole chasing after legends and weird stuff. And we talked a lot about the van meter visitor, of course, because he's the guy to talk to about it. So you're going to love it.

There's some info about the upcoming festival that you need to be at. It's coming up on September 24th. And sit back, relax. Enjoy this chat with Chad Lewis, co-author of the Vameter Visitor and many, many more books you should be checking out. But thanks for listening. All right, Bigfoot Society podcast. Thanks for coming back for another episode. I have the privilege of talking to Mr. Chad Lewis tonight.

Thank you so much for coming on, Chad. Greetings from the Northwoods of Wisconsin. Oh, man. I've been wanting to have you on for a while, Chad. You are, you know, I'll just say, you know, you are inspiration to myself and my buddies, you know, ever since we found out about the Van Meter Visitor Festival. And just like, man, you know, looking into the Van Meter Visitor is like, that's, that whole legend is what makes me go out and, you know, look for other legends in Iowa. us. So thank you so much for what you do. So I'm going to get the fan boy out of the way.

We're going to get that out of the way for a second. So let's get into the bio. All of you guys, you're all welcome at how cool and awesome I am. Everybody's welcome. Yeah, it's just amazing. Let's go into the short bio that you provided for nearly three decades. Chad Lewis has traveled the backroads of the world in search of the strange and unusual. the more bizarre and unusual the legend is,

the more likely you'll find Chad Lewis. And it's crazy. Like, you know, when I think of Chad Lewis, I think of like Midwestern cryptids, midwestern lore, right? But going through some research into what you've done. I mean, Chad, you've literally gone all over the world. It's pretty fascinating. I mean, we're going to focus, of course,

as listeners are probably thinking, we're going to focus on the van meter visitor tonight because that's my you know favorite cryptid I literally talk about it every episode but I just want to make sure listeners are aware that Chad has also gone uh you know he's gone after different uh UFO sites he's gone uh to look for the hellhounds uh the skunk ape uh bigfoot different different things besides the visitor And, you know, I want to say, you're, you're just released is it your 26th book? That's correct. That's incredible.

It's incredible. And let's see. We have, you know, a person in the comments. When to Go, Lor is one of their top five favorite paranormal books, you know? And that's, that's pretty high, high praise. But let's get right into it. So I'm curious, I'll always like to ask, Chad, what is it that brought you into all, you know, the cryptos and legends in the beginning.

What, what turns you to looking into all that stuff? Well, I really, for the last several decades, I've blamed it on my home state of Wisconsin. Because when I was in high school, I grew up near one of the three UFO capitals of the world we are said to have here in our state. So we have three different cities that all claim to be the UFO capital of the entire world. If they could say universe, they'd probably get away with that as well. Well, but I remember in high school hearing about these UFO sightings, not too far from my hometown of O'Clair. So I started traveling to Elmwood and interviewing people.

And then I happened to start studying psychology that fall at college and joined the mutual UFO network. And UFOs were my love back then. They were number one on the list of weird things. And so when I started studying psychology at college, I was really interested in. and why some people believe in all this stuff and others do not, or why they're seeing it and others are not. So I was interested in human perception and belief systems. And then I'd present these findings at research symposiums at the university.

And people would come up after and say, I need help. My home's haunted. Or I saw something in the woods. I can't explain. Can you help me out? So early on, I shifted and ended up doing my master's thesis on students believe in the paranormal. And I stopped really focusing on why they believe to what might actually be happening.

Wow. And did you, after all that research, I mean, even doing, you know, your, you said your master's, I mean, did you find that there was a thing that you discovered where, you know, about the people that, that tend to believe in the paranormal or were there any, you know, things like that? Yes, of course. And remember, for a lot of your listeners, this was back in the days when this wasn't mainstream. I had several professors on my campus actively telling students not to participate in my research. Oh, because I was the PT Barnum of UW Stout, which I thought was a compliment, you know, a poor man's PT Barnum granted because there's no one better than the master. but it was really hard to even get the study going that luckily my late advisor was a gentleman who was into the body, mind, spirit connection of psychology.

And he saw the significance that this might add to the field in some small way. But my findings were pretty interesting. And some of it was just common sense that I was looking at what students believed in and didn't believe in, believe in, but also what they thought was a possibility. So obviously the findings were what you might think. If somebody saw a UFO, they were more likely to believe that they were real. If somebody saw a ghost and had an encounter, they were more likely to believe ghosts were real than somebody who did not.

But I was fascinated by the fact that just the idea that a loved one, a friend, a trusted family member, if they had an experience, that person would be more likely. So if my mother had a UFO experience, I would be more likely to believe in UFOs, even if I didn't have one. And that was interesting to me. And the second main one that I always talk about

was the gender differences that men, statistically speaking, in my research, were more likely to believe in were wolves, vampires, sea serpents, things that I always thought were external, things you could hunt and kill. but women were much more likely than men to believe in the possibility of ESP, telepathy, out-of-body experiences, things you might associate more with internal feelings. So I thought that was fascinating and I always wanted to see if it could be replicated on a bigger scale, but I never got around to it.

And I don't know if anyone else has ever looked into that. I mean, I've never heard that before. that's really fascinating. Yeah, I guess it kind of makes, I mean, I can see how it makes sense, you know, like, you know, the guys are wanting to go after the things that they can, you know, shoot a spear at and bring home to the cave or something. Yeah. Who knows, but that's, that's very cool.

It's very cool. So you started out with, was there a time when you started to bring in like, you know, researching the different legends and the, the cryptids as well? Or is that at the same time that that was going on? That was really early on. As I said, UFOs were my love back in those days. And when I was presenting at these research symposiums, which were mostly students, grad students, and professors,

it was really boring statistical stuff. I always joked to people like, you're glad you were not there. But people in the audience, as I said, would come up and have all these questions, comments, and they were looking for help and assistance. And that really broadened my interest in the field where early on I knew I was not going to just focus on UFOs and that's it. There was so many other different phenomena that were amazing that I got into crop circles, into haunted places and cryptids, of course, and just weird. psychic phenomena. So I think early, one of the biggest influences I had when I was starting out is I picked up Jerome Clark's The Unexplained.

Sure. I think it came out in like 1993. I remember grabbing it. And it was if any of your listeners don't recall that, they need to get it. But also, it was one of those books where every chapter was something different. So one night you could sit back and read about strange things falling from the sky. and then the next night, fairy lore, and then a mermaid sighting. It was just, it was amazing because you never got bored of anything because one chapter

fled to the next and it was just really a big influence. Like, you don't have to specialize. And later in life, in the last few years, I've been able to befriend Jerry Clark and hang out with him quite a bit. And, well, I say hang out, but it's mostly me sitting with my mouth open. asking them question after question. Like we're having a few beers at Jerry's place and I'm like, so tell me about this, tell me about that, tell me about this.

And so many young people got into the field, they can name the TV people that influence them. Because that's just the generation where my generation, it was the authors. So, you know, for example, we're sitting around at some Minnesota UFO conference. And I was there and Jerry Clark was presenting. And afterwards we went to a restaurant,

and having a few drinks and just listening to Jerry, we count all of the old time stories of when he edited Fate Magazine in Chicago. And just to give you an idea of how awesome it was, Jerry goes to the restroom and he comes back. And, you know, we had had a couple drinks at that time. And he said, you know, the thing about hanging out with John Keel was this. And it was just like, wow, just amazing. You know, I fell off my stool.

And, you know, and I didn't get to. meet a lot of in person like Brad Steiger or Rosemary Ellen Geiley. She wrote a forward to one of my books, but I never met her in person. So all these old time, I don't want to say old timers, but pioneers in the field that are been doing it for 40 some years, 50 years, you know, Phyllis Galdi and Linda Godfrey and all these other magnificent experts. We can learn so much from them. But I think the generation today, I get I get more people saying I saw you on this show than I picked up your book. Oh, interesting. Okay.

Because you were, you're in this movie that's on Tobey and I was watching it. And all of a sudden, like they, it was like American Monsters or that's not the title, but something like that. And like, you got some great talking head parts in there. I was like, yes, they're getting chat out in the open. Let's do it. Man, but yeah, I love this, you know, when I see. you know, people like yourself and David Weatherly and, you know, even Eli Watson was in.

It was, dude, great movie. Tubey's a good stuff. Yeah, and I should throw out Weatherly, too, David Weatherly, another pioneer in the field. And he was at the Van Meter Festival, I think last year as a speaker. And same thing, just all day talking with him. And he's just rattling off stuff. And it's just such a learning experience. Oh, he's, he's the coolest dude.

too like I able I was able to talk to him for a few minutes there and uh man when he when his Iowa book came out I was pumped dude that's probably uh I mean it's it's if you're if you're talking about like cryptids across Iowa I mean that's the only one we got except for the gold standard yeah visitor right but um speaking of which let's before time escapes from us stay tuned for more Bigfoot Society will be right back after these messages. Let's talk about the van meter visitor because, I mean, it has, I'm going to let you tell this story. So first off, let's see if there's a person listening to this and they're like, I don't know what the van meter visitors. All right, quick quiz for the hiring managers out there. What's worse?

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Text iHeart to 50505. And with a qualified purchase, you could receive up to $15,000 in free gold or silver. Text iHeart to 50505 today. What's your pitch as to what's the van meter visitor? What's the story behind that? Well, what it is is a fantastic question because it really compiles everything we love about folklore. Mystery, history, guns. And the van meter visitor, I don't know. I think it's a giant bat-like creature from descriptions it was eight feet tall. It had a giant horn on its head.

It could project light. It could erase memories. It was impervious to weapons. But what it was, gosh, I really don't know. I think after so many years of this research, I'm left with more questions and answers on this thing. When I first went there with my colleagues and co-authors Kevin Nelson and Noah Boss on the book, I thought it was going to be a quick in and out. We had some newspaper articles and obviously it was a hope.

Had to be. Nothing like this could have been true. And we're going to get there and the historians are going to tell us, yes. You know, so-and-so made it up. And the exact opposite happened. And I was thankful, but I really thought it was going to be one of those where just one stop on a legend trip and we'd move on to the next case so let's so you get into van meter and you're starting to ask around about was there a certain point where you're like wow this is

maybe a little bit bigger than we thought or there's actually something to this was there is it talking to a certain person or a certain interaction i think it was one and van meter small 900 people. The downtown has three or four businesses and that's it. So when we went into the small library, we met the library director at that time, Jolina Welker. And she was a wealth of information. She had heard of it but didn't know much about it like a lot of the townsfolk. They kind of knew just in passing about what it was.

But she started digging up stories about it and telling us that, you know, oh, you need to talk to so-and-so. They were a young kid when some of these people that saw it were still alive. So we interviewed some of these old timers that, you know, obviously weren't around when the story was happening, but they remembered the witnesses. And I remember one gentleman Fletcher told us that when he was talking about Clarence Dunn, the old bank manager, at that time he was the town mayor or something when this guy knew him. And he said, if he said it happened, it happened.

and everyone trusted his word. He ruled this town, you know, one of the most credible people. So I think right away we kind of just shoved off the rest of our trip and said, we're staying here because we had planned on a whole Iowa legend trip, hitting graveyards and werewolf sightings and band meter was just one of those kind of anchors, but probably move on to some haunted bridge after it. But all of a sudden we said, nope, we're staying here. And by the time we finished those several days there, on the way back, we thought we have to do a book on this.

But what do we call the book? Because none of the newspapers kind of listed it as anything, a monster. They said an awful form, this creepy thing. And Kevin Nelson, my co-author, said, you know, we're driving back. He said, well, what do we know about this thing? We know it came to Van Meter and it visited. So we call it the Van Meter visitor. So Kevin, yeah, coined the term.

And I think it's very fitting because it doesn't, you know, it's not the van meter, flying monster or anything. You know, it could be anything. And I'm amazed at how many people contact me saying, this is what I think it was or is. And I say, you might be right. Who knows? Yeah.

Man, that's, I didn't know the story behind the naming of the cryptic that Kevin. That's really cool. Oh, that's awesome. I love that. Do you have any favorite theories about the visitors yourself? I do. I don't know if I subscribe to this one as much as some people, but I love it. And the idea is kind of like a real life dissent horror movie.

Because back in the days, in Iowa, there was a, in Van Meter, it was a heavy coal mining town. I mean, several train cars a day left with coal out of the Iowa mine that were mining there. It was several hundred feet deep. They had tunnels and teams of donkeys down there. It's a big to do. And being that this thing seemed to be nocturnal, it was only spotted at night. A lot of people back then theorized that it had been let out of the mines,

that it had been trapped down in the earth, like some demonic form. And it came up into the night because of the coal mining, that the tunnels released it. And I love that theory. just because, I mean, it has everything of a B horror movie. This old abandoned coal mine on the outskirts of town that's boarded up, nobody wants to go there.

All of a sudden, a giant monster's on the loose, and the town gathers a posse thinking it's coming from this forbidden place off in the distance, which when you go to Van Meter and you see that the brick and tile factory in the mine was only a couple, or is only a couple blocks from the main town. but yet at that 1903 it may as well been five miles that's a really i never thought of that before that's a really good point chad because i mean obviously not all the stuff is probably there in the town as it is today yes and this was a farming community yeah um remember these were mostly farmers or some ranchers but it wasn't like de moyn it wasn't a big

metropolitan city of sorts, even for Iowa. So it was a very rural place. Most of the people would have been probably armed at the time, would have been on horse and buggy. This is sort of wild, wild west. And a lot of people, you know, think of the Van Meter visitor as the real life, Cowboys versus aliens.

The movie that came out. I mean, it's kind of the same thing. The thing I love about Van Meter is, is that when I go to the festival, we'll talk about the festival in a bit, but when I go to the festival every year, I hear some new theory. And there's so many interesting theories. I mean, last year we had, Josh Hurd, right? And he had the documentary about, they saw some UFOs in the skies above Van Meter. And there's some people that say, well, maybe there's laylines that, that are.

or under the town. It's just, man, it's an evolving story, and I love that. It's my favorite regional cryptid, you know. I mean, who would have, like, thinking over the last few years, you know, go back in time a few years. And just for context, what year around was this when you first started looking into the legend and going out to Van Meter for the first time? Oh, great question.

Must have been 10 years ago, 11, somewhere around there. Because the festival's been going about eight, and it took us a few years to research it. So probably about 10 or 11 years, so 2010-ish. I mean, and look, I'll just, I'll throw out a few things here. So 10 years ago, and now we got, like, here's an enamel pin. We got a van meter visitor, enamel pin. Someone made Cryptozoos.

We got Cryptozoos. We got Cryptic Comforts makes Lisa, makes a van meter visitor plush she. I don't know if you remember this guy. Yes, I love it. And that's a glow in the dark horn just for fun there. And Metazoo, Metazoo has the van meter visitor. This is their Paul Bunyan card, but they make a van meter visitor card playing and there's, um, there was a play done in Iowa on the van meter visitor. Was there really? Several years ago, I forget what town it was in. It was at a college and the professor contacted me and said, you know, can we use your book

for the plane, of course. Oh, my goodness. And I wanted to go there, but they were doing it in the fall, October. That's my busy speaking season. So, but yeah, I don't think they ever recorded it, but that would have been awesome to see. Oh, that kills me. No. Like, how was that just a few years ago?

Yeah, within the last five years, definitely. I'm just going to hope that's before I started the podcast and really got into this. Because if I miss that, oh, I will never be able to sleep. Like, that's awesome that someone made a play about the Van Meter Visitor, though. Has there been an experience that's happened over the last few years that because of you looking into this legend where you're like, wow, that's weird or totally didn't expect that to happen in my life? I think all of the shows that are interested in the visitor, because it's just so bizarre, it just stands out that I remember just during COVID, I filmed Josh Gates's. Expedition, whatever's new show is. Expedition X, yep.

Yeah. And we filmed an episode, filmed for two days there, told them the whole story, ran them through, introduced them to the owner of the land. And their conclusion at the end of their show was that it was a regular size bat that was a light had projected it against the wall. Yeah. And it was like the shadow of the bat. Shadow of the bat.

Yeah. Which so many people contacted me and were laughing about that. That say it's unknown. Say it was just a big turkey vulture or something. but a shadow. I mean, very uncreative. You know, and I've seen that episode and, you know, I'll let viewers view it and make their own, you know,

decisions about it. But it is very cool how they got access to the tile factory that was above the mine. I mean, that is very cool to, because, you know, we want to point out that if you listen to this episode and you're like, wow, I want to go look for the Van Meter visitor. And, oh, it's just in that field. Now, that's private property. And you just can't go over and start rummaging around and trying to find where the mind is yourself.

Because that's an actual property owned by a farmer in Van Meter. And I don't want you guys to get in trouble or worse. And that was fascinating. When we first went there, it was an old-time farmer that owned the land. His son now owns it. Rest in peace, he passed. But he was very excited. decided to show us around and he told us, and this was this no-nonsense Iowa farmer, down to earth,

wasn't prone to flights of fancy. And he said, here's where the opening used to be. I remember as a kid, and it was just covered over. You wouldn't even know it was a little hill. You wouldn't even guess it was a mine opening. But he said, even as a young kid, I didn't like playing near it because it gave off this weird presence. Like something was just wrong. And unfortunately, once the story broke, so many curious legend trippers made their way onto his property that he was really sour about the whole thing. But now his son owns it along with the daughter. And I had spoken with her several years ago about doing the possibility of letting people camp there.

And she was kind of open to it. Because a day doesn't go by where someone doesn't contact me saying, we want to open up the mine. How can we do it? And they don't realize it was probably flooded in so bad now. So the TV show did dig at least superficially. Yeah. Digging at where they thought the entrance was.

And that was a huge progress of movement for me that they allowed them to do that. So it's coming from the point of, you know, upset about people being on the land to maybe there's stuff worth exploring here. That is a lot of really interesting. information I didn't know and I am unpacking that for about two seconds and then we're going back into it. That's really cool, Chad. I always love, so I live within, I live close to van meter. Let's say that. And sometimes I'll drive past the town and I'll, you know, just drive down the road, turn around by the field. And it's so cool. Like you can imagine something huge swooping over the field and you're like, man, one of these days.

I know I'm going to see something swooping up there. But it's such a cool little town. You know, one of the coolest things about the town, I think, is how they've embraced it by having a festival every year. And what can, you know, I talk about the festival a lot. What can people expect from the festival this year? I mean, it's 924, but what kind of things do we have going on? this year that makes it kind of cool. Everything you'd expect at a festival of this nature.

Speakers, vendors, food, drinks, and of course walking tours. And what I love about Van Meter is that unlike a lot of other festivals I've been to, which are amazing, whether it's Mothman Festival or down in Roswell, is that the Van Meter town has really stayed the same over the years that this walking tour, you're walking just several blocks where you can point out where they shot at the monster. This is the bank vault where they shot out the front window of the bank shooting at this monster. And you walk two blocks out to the old abandoned coal mine area.

So you don't need a great imagination to wonder what it would have been like in the early 1900s because you kind of see what it was like. And for me, that's the best part because the festival is right where they experience things. you know, not like a mothman, which I love their festival, but all the activities happened way out by the T&T area, the domes and the festivals in the downtown, which makes sense because you have to, when you get that many people coming. But Ben Meeter sticks out in the fact that you can go walk into the bank, the vault, and say, okay, this is where he shot out the front window. It's just, you know, point up to a building and say that's where they saw it, you know, erase someone's memory. So it's just so fun. And again, it has all the hallmarks of a traditional festival, things people want, the vendors, as you said, crypted toys and shirts and all that.

But also the history, the history and mysteries combined in as well. All right, quick quiz for the hiring managers out there. What's worse? Being understaffed or being poorly staffed? Well, that's a trick question, because both are recipes for chaos. Either way, Just say to yourself, this is a job for Indeed's sponsored jobs. You'll get matched with candidates that meet the skills, certifications, and everything else you're looking for. Or go a different way and get no traction. Seriously, sponsored jobs posted directly on Indeed are 95% more likely to report a hire than non-sponsored jobs. It really is a no-brainer.

Spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Less stress, less time, more results. When you need the right person to cut through the chaos, this is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. And listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to help your job get the premium status it deserves at Indeed.com slash podcast. Just go to Indeed.com slash podcast right now. Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? This is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs. The Starbucks iced horchata shaken espresso is back for the summer. crafted with cinnamon, vanilla, and nutty notes of toasted rice,

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Simply text IHeart to 50505. Stay tuned for more Bigfoot Society. We'll be right back after these messages. And also the cool thing this year, so it's in the Veterans Hall. So thanks to them for allowing the festival to be in it this year. They have a mini bar, so you can, as you're walking around the festival, well, I'm going to, I know that you can get a drink at the festival. I'm not going to assume anything else, but you will be able to purchase something from the bar at the veterans, which is pretty cool. We didn't have that before.

And the town's one bar and restaurant makes a special van meter visitor cocktail. Yes. Into that. And I think they have a non-alcoholic one as well. So you're covered on all ends of, you know, drinking a visitor drink. And that was the first year, one bar did that. It was so amazing to be just that, that, just that's what folklore is about. Yes.

You know, enjoying this on all areas. And I think that's what the festival does with having a lot of fun. Oh, for sure. And yeah, you know, I'd always heard that like, oh, you go to the Mothman Festival, you get the Mothman pizza from a certain restaurant. I was like, Van Meter needs to do something like that. You're killing me. And then when fifth quarter, the restaurant came out with the Van Meter visitor drink last year,

I was like, yes, this is awesome. Go for it. So the thing is, like, you know, if people are wanting to visit Van Meter, van meter is not going to be small forever. It's like, so living so close to this town, it's starting to grow. And this is going to be regional Iowa stuff for some people. But it's like, you know, there's a huge on-ramp being built on the highway. to go to Van Meter right now.

It's the next town to become a bustling town, in quotes, for Iowa because West Des Moines is huge. Van Meter's next. It may not be small forever, so don't miss the chance to kind of step into the world of regional cryptid before, you know, they're starting to talk about putting in bigger schools for Van Meter. the future is bright for that town but right now is the perfect time

to see how it looked in the time of the visitor and man that town needs a statue I'm just gonna throw it out but that's just me but it needs a visitor statue that would be cool I think it does it needs a statue

a mural something because when you drive there you think where's the visitor I mean outside of the festival if you're just there and, you know, June, you're like, am I in the right place? There's nothing here. What do I do?

Right. And so they definitely need it. And you're right that 10 years from now, it's going, van meter is going to be west, west Des Moines. Yeah. I mean, you can't buy a house. So that area, Chad, where it's like the old van meter, houses are so expensive, you would have no idea. It's like, it's really hard to get in there. But all right, let's get out of regional Iowa for a second.

So one of the more fun parts of the legend that you always bring up is how there was a footprint. Yes. Do you think, and I want to ask you, do you think that will ever be found? So the story goes that after the bank manager shot out the front window of the bank at night, you know, he barricaded himself in waiting for the safety of daylight. And when he came out, he was expecting a robber, a dead guy out there, or at least some animal, fur, feathers, blood, something. And there was nothing, just absolutely nothing but glass shards all over. But he walked to the side of the building. And there, according to the newspaper, he saw several giant three-toed tracks in the mud.

And it was said he took a cast of at least one of these prints, maybe more, maybe none. but they said he took one. So it's never been found. And we had hoped that when the book came out, someone in California would be rummaging through their attic and find great-grandpas and things and say, wow, look at this. And when I called the historical society,

the state branch in Des Moines of Iowa, and asked them if they had such an artifact on hand, they said they didn't. And they were very skeptical that it could even last that long, unless it was preserved under great conditions. And we don't know what he would have casted it with, you know, what material they would have used.

It was never mentioned. So the odds of it lasting 100 and almost 20 years now without being under some protection. Yeah. Iffy, but we had hopes and we still have hopes that maybe not the three-told print, the cast, but maybe somebody's journal.

Because out of all the places, I've ever been to, Van Meter has the least amount of records from its history. We know that during, before, during, and after the sightings, Van Meter had its own newspaper, but nobody's ever seen a copy. Not just during that time, but a copy in general. Wow. You know, they don't have photos of what the street was like in 1903. Where were all the businesses?

Because it had a couple hotels. It had some saloons. It had all sorts of businesses. many more than it has today, but there's no records of it. It's like the town said, there's nothing here to document, let's just move on.

It always gets me how, at that point in history, there are way more businesses in Van Meter, but I mean, that's the way it was. I want to check, well, actually, before I forget,

I do want to mention, I will be, Chad was nice enough to ask me to speak at the Van Meter Visitor this year. I'll be speaking at what I found, what I'm currently finding right now about the Iowa Bigfoot Information Center from the 1970s. So if that sounds interesting, and there's so many more speakers too, Laura Cram will be talking about Thunderbirds.

And way so much, it's worth the trip if you're within a few hours to go to the VanMitts, the Van Meter Visitor Festival. And I think this year it's like two bucks to go in. It's super deal. But that's my plug for it. And I'm interested in your program because I had never heard of that organization at all. I have no idea what you're talking about.

So I'm so fascinating to hear your program. I really want to just talk about right now, but I'm not going to like. So the only people that know about it are in the Patreon. and then I'm going to just blow the lid off of it at the festival. So I'm waiting until that, but it's going to be awesome. I do have to ask you, though. So you're constantly at people, you know, sending you emails, I would guess, about the visitor, about Iowa stuff. Do you have any new, you know, have you gotten any new reports about the visitor flying things or anything cool that you can share?

if not that, you know, if you can't share, that's fine. But yes, of course. I've received a lot of flying stuff, mainly in the region, not specifically in Van Meter. For instance, a few years back now, a pastor contacted me. And he was in Kofax, Iowa, which is about 40 minutes, maybe an hour from Van Meter, if I remember correctly. And he was waiting for a buddy out in the country, had an appointment. and he's just sitting there waiting and he looks up into the sky and he sees what appears to be a dragon. He's fully convinced this is a dragon right out of a Hollywood TV movie or whatever.

And so when his friend comes, he tells him about it and the guy gets home and he Googles, Iowa dragon. And of course, the van meter visitor pops up and he's like, yep, that's what I saw. So he contacts me and he saw something like that. I've spoken with many people who have had encounters like that, but not in Van Meter, although there have been recent, semi-recent reports in Van Meter. I talked to a guy at a festival a few years back in Van Meter who said he moved there in the 1980s and he was walking out in that area with his dog at night, never heard of the visitor. When all of a sudden his dog started acting strange, he looked up and there was about a four-foot bat hovering, flying over him.

you know, biggest bad he had ever seen. Bigger, you know, wasn't that eight-foot creature that there was reports of. But those who know the story will quickly point out that on the last night that the visitor was spotted, it had a smaller version of itself with it. So after four nights on the fifth night, all of a sudden there were two of them. And the smaller one may have been the offspring or the female gender of the species. I don't know. So the possibility of this being a young.

young Van Meter visitor, if you will. But he said the dog was so frightened that he didn't walk the dog out in that area at all. And then more recently, a guy moved to the area. As you said, there's a huge influx of people moving there. And he was driving home on the main road outside of Van Meter by the old cemetery, the veteran cemetery there. And over on the side of the road, he thought was a dead man in a back costume. And it was getting dark.

He had his wife and children in the back. and he's thinking, I'm not stopping for this. You know, but he swore it would look like a man, a size of a man, but a bat, just laying there in the gully on the side of the road. So he drives home and it just irks him all night. He's thinking about it. I should have stopped, should have stopped. And so he goes back in the morning and it's gone, obviously.

The thing is no longer there, if it was ever there. beginning. So Kevin Nelson, one of my colleagues, and I always have a rule that if we're on a legend trip and somebody's like, oh, what was that in the yard? Like maybe it's a weird barn or a car roadkill, you immediately turn around. There's no like debating. Should we go back and see what that was? It's just immediately you spin around and 99% of it time. It's just, oh, okay, that's what it was. But that offshoot because, you know, how many times have I been on a a road trip where at the end, I'm like, you know, we should have went back an hour ago, but now we're way too far.

Right. Exactly. So that's one of my legend tripping rules of the road. Oh, that is, that's awesome. And I'm sure I have a few listeners that are thinking, this legend tripping thing sounds really cool. How do I do my own legend trip? What are the other rules?

What do I need? Is that something that you can maybe share a little bit about? So so many people contact me saying, how do I get into this field? How do I go about researching? And for me, the number one rule is there are no rules that you have to find a way that you like doing it. And if you like using a ton of equipment to help you along, great. If you don't, great. If you're there not necessarily to interview witnesses or document anything, you're there just to experience

the legend, see if something happens. And if it doesn't, you're off to the next one. Great. There's no real way to do this. And I found early on for me that it was very important to shift from when I first got into this field, like probably a lot of people, you know, I thought this is going to be easy. I'm going to solve some cases, figure out what's going on, no problem. And early on, I shifted and said, that's not going to happen for me. That's just not in the cards. So I better see this as an adventure. I better have fun with it and see it as a legend trip, hitting the back road,

stopping at roadside attractions. Because so many people who started out in this field when I did, they burned out a long time ago. Because especially when you're in haunted places, 99% of the time you're there, nothing happens. And it's not the sexy TV show version of it. It's boring,

terrible stuff. So, you know, when you do this year after year and for a lot of people, nothing happens, you know, you burn out on it very quickly. So I shifted early on to seeing it as an adventure. So for me, that's the number one thing. Do it the way you like. If there's a paranormal group in your area that is, you know, has all these rules and all these things you must follow and you don't like that. Don't do it that way. Nobody's forcing you. you. And there's no real one way to do it because for me at least, it's all speculation. I don't have any answers in this field. I have a lot of research, no a lot of knowledge about folklore. But, you know, when you say, ask me what Bigfoot is, I have no idea, never seen one,

never captured one. Can tell you what a black bear is like. I've encountered them on hiking, you know, but so I think sometimes people get caught up in that I have to do it the same way everybody else does. I don't have $10,000 to spend on equipment, so why even get involved? Where I always tell people some of the best research in the paranormal was done by candlelight, sprinkling flour on the floor to make sure nothing walked through your area. Stay tuned for more Bigfoot Society. We'll be right back after these messages. So I think people get dissuaded by not investing in equipment. I really wish I would have invested in the manufacturing side of equipment years ago.

Oh, my goodness. You know, I'd be retired right now because, and I've never understood where a lot of this equipment is used to explain, especially in the ghost field, like you'll buy a piece of equipment and they'll say, well, if this, something triggers this, it's a ghost. Well, why isn't it a unicorn? You know, what evidence do you have that it's a ghost? You know, I bet there are a lot of.

a fairy folk that are upset because they're not in on the action. That's funny. So, yeah, so sometimes people rely too heavily on equipment and they're losing the fun. And I was the same way when I started. I'd have van loads of equipment. And it's different in the Bigfoot or cryptid field when you're setting up trail cameras and infrared and the like to try to capture some of this evidence. But sometimes with hauntings, it was setting up so much equipment, monitoring, and

breaking it down that I was missing out. on the legend. I wasn't having any fun that by the end of the night, it was like, okay, tomorrow we'll look at all this stuff we recorded and try to figure it out. And what was that legend anyway? All right, quick quiz for the hiring managers out there. What's worse? Being understaffed or being poorly staffed? Well, that's a trick question, because both are recipes for chaos. Either way, just say to yourself, this is a job for indeed sponsored jobs. You'll get matched with candidates that meet the skills, certifications, and everything else you're looking for. Or, go a different way and get no traction.

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to help your job get the premium status it deserves at Indeed.com slash podcast. Just go to Indeed.com slash podcast right now. Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? This is a job for Indeed's sponsored jobs. The Starbucks iced tortata shaken espresso

is back for the summer. Crafted with cinnamon, vanilla, and nutty notes of toasted rice. Hand-shaking with smooth blonde espresso and finished with oat milk for a creamy touch. Made for summer. Only at Starbucks. Every day the headline shipped,

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And with a qualified purchase, you could receive up to $15,000 in free gold or silver. Text Iheart to 50505 today. There was an old joke. Noah, boss, Kevin Nelson and I did a pilot, filmed a pilot episode for a sea monster show, a sea serpent show that obviously never got picked up. But we were on Lake Pepin, which is home to a creature called Pepe. There's a $50,000 reward for it. And we were filming for a couple days, like long hours of just monotonous stuff over and over and over.

Like point that way, but now turn your head different. And our joke at the end of the night was that three people saw Pepe while we were busy filming. You know, that we didn't see anything. We were too busy looking at that, that three people saw it. So that was kind of the idea that you have to have fun with it. So that's my long answer to your question. Is that on YouTube? Uh, no, which is terrible because, so the project didn't go.

Okay. They didn't get in, um, I have a great ghost adventure story about our other project, too. But anyway, um, that project. Like the show ghost adventures? So I'll get back to that. Oh, Chad. So the sea serpent one never made it. And I said, you know, I would like a copy of the demo reel, the sizzle reel.

Yeah. Um, and a lot of time they'll share that. with you and say don't ever show it until it's either going and then you can't show it or it's failed and then who cares and they never sent it to me because I would have loved to have seen how they how they did it but that's terrible oh man okay ghost adventures oh yeah so yeah this is years and years ago before ghost adventures was on the air that's how long ago it was and we filmed an episode out on the east coast called legend trippers okay and it was a concept show where we would go to these alleged supernatural legends.

And a lot of them would have a dare attached to them that you'd have to do something like sit on the cursed chair and you'd be pushed off or knock on a mausoleum. Anyway, so the idea was we'd go there, tell the story of the legend, find somebody who did it, have them redo the dare that they've experienced it. And then people that were watching would say, yeah, I want to go and try that. that. You know, I want to swim in that lake where the siren's supposed to drag you down. Oh, my goodness. Yeah. So we filmed this whole thing. And I think we spent like three, four days filming. And they pitched it and it got into one station, one channel, really loved it.

So they had like 50 pitches and it got cut to 25. We were in it. Got cut to 10. We were in it. Got cut to five. We were still in it. They called us and said there's only us in one other show. that are competing and we're pitching it tomorrow afternoon. And then we got the call saying, while they went with this other show, because they had a full show already done. And it was Ghost Adventures. Oh, my goodness.

Are you kidding me? So apparently, whoever the guy and the main guy in Ghost Adventures, was a film student in L.A. or UCLA or L.A. or wherever, Vegas. And had filmed like a full-length documentary type. Oh, wow. So they already had that in the can. And I'm sure that wasn't the only reason, but they went with that show and ours didn't make it. It's, it was you versus Zach Bagan's.

Yeah. That's so wild, dude. Which it's not bad because my record would, I probably filmed 20 TV show pilots. Okay. And none of them have made it. So that's a pride I take that if you want to doom your TV show, I'm your guy right here. In an alternate universe, you own a haunted museum in Las Vegas. So there's that.

That's true. Dude, that's a crazy story, Chad. Thank you for sharing. Is there anything, maybe any sneak peeks, anything cool that you're working on for the horizon? Well, I'm finishing up right now, which is kind of weird because it's just still the heart of summer or the end of summer, beginning of fall. I'm finishing up my winter legends and lore. monograph. So it's a smaller, you know, 95-page book because I'm really interested in these topics that probably couldn't fill a full book without adding a bunch of filler. But yet people are

interested in, but they don't want 400 pages on, you know, some of these legends combined. So I'm doing a winter legends and lore, which contains everything from crampus, the windigo to New Year's Eve rituals and superstitions or how to influence whether you're going to have, have a snowstorm or not. Just all this old farmer's almanac lore as well. So, and then I'm doing something on circus legends and lore and hobo legends and lore because I'm really on the edges of the paranormal. I like adjacent, paranormal adjacent, where I like these legends that don't fit into paranormal

but yet they have paranormal aspects to them. Like some of the circus stuff, all kinds of circus stuff's haunted from phantom, elephants, to circus barkers that are still doing it from the grave, that type of thing. So that's what I'm really interested in, even though I think most people would know my work from the haunted stuff I've done, just because I've done so many books on haunted places in the U.S., but, you know, my interests have really been expanding.

That's going to be very interesting to see the circus books. That's cool. I love that. In the last few minutes we have, you know, I got to ask you since you're a guy from Wisconsin, what are your thoughts on the dog man crypted? Yeah. So if you're not familiar, dog man creature, at least the Beast of Bray Road, the one here originally in Wisconsin, began when my friend and colleague Linda Godfrey started receiving reports. She was a reporter in Elkhorn, a small southeastern town in Wisconsin.

she started receiving reports of people traveling down this small stretch of rural road called Bray Road. And for lack of a better term, they were seeing what they thought was a werewolf, the size of a bear, but shaped more like the wolf with the long muzzle, the deep dark matted down fur, the claws, the fangs, you know, biped running upright on its hind legs. Sometimes it was eating roadkill or freshly killed prey. And it went from that to where it is today where people are believing it's coming from portals out there, that it's coming in and out of our existence, wherever it's heading to, whether dimension, time, whatever. And, you know, people say it's very similar, if not the same thing as the Michigan Dogman.

But traditional werewolf out of, you know, Hollywood, of folklore. People were seeing it. And Linda started interviewing them. And then like always happens, people come out of the woodwork with their own stories from all over the U.S. They started flooding Linda and then other researchers started getting all these reports of people seeing these werewolf-type creatures. And now it may be as hot as Bigfoot, which. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

I mean, I'm amazed at how many people contact me about the Beast of Bray Road. And not just there. the Michigan Dogman and all over. Oh, wow. Dogman's just really popular right now. And then the ebb and flow of the paranormal is like that. When I first began, UFOs were the hottest thing. And then I remember I was just talking to a colleague the other day,

where the heck are all the crop circle reports these days? Right. Like that just was like gone. So, you know, there's cycles to this. Hauntings were big and then UFOs came back and then Bigfoot's gigantic. and then vampires were big and now they've kind of cooled off, they'll be back. And so I'm always fascinated by how these things attract the general public's attention span and what people are interested in.

How can people contact you if they have something to report? Easiest way is just my website, Chad Lewis Research, or just Google Chad Lewis, you'll find it. But I always joke, like the easiest way is, as I said, just find the weirdest legend you know about. and that's probably where I am. That's awesome. Yeah, sure, because I'm always traveling and, yeah. Chad, it has been super awesome to have you on the podcast. Do you mind spending a few minutes, you know, presenting how people can keep up to date

with what you're doing, how they can pick up your books, all that good stuff. Yeah, let's, you mean coming up or now or what's going on here? The whole, the whole, yeah, right now. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, again, my website has everything from where I'm speaking to new book projects. You can go to my YouTube channel, which is supernatural dares. I think I have like over 80 dares that I've done, which is probably a Guinness record. And I've done hundreds, but I've only filmed like 80 of them.

You can watch me, you know, test my bravery or be foolish and risk my life. So, yeah, again, you're hard pressed not to find some of the stuff I've done. Great. And really, you can get your books. I know they're on Amazon. You can pick them up through your website, correct? Yes, if you want them signed. The best way, of course, if you want that sign. Yeah. Sorry, Bezos. Yeah, if you want to send Bezos back into space, get it from Amazon. But our website, if you can find a bookstore, and believe it or not, the best selling place for all my books are tourist stops. Really? Ripley's Wisconsin and Wisconsin

Believe it or not The bestseller of my books in the entire world Maybe the Ripley's in Florida sells a lot too But in St. Augustine But yeah, the tourist spots Where you're not expecting books to be But when you're a tourist and you're there It's an impulse by like this sounds cool

We're here, let's grab it. Exactly. And if you want to pick him up from the man himself, the Van Meter Visitor Festival is 924 coming up in beautiful van meter Iowa so don't miss it and pick up uh i mean last year you had all your books there it was awesome dude like i picked up a few good stuff but chad thanks again so much for coming on uh it's been a pleasure and i can't wait to see you in a few weeks keep an eye out thanks for listening to the bigfoot society podcast please take a few minutes

to review the show on itunes five stars as it does help us get into the eyes and ears of more listeners on iTunes. That will help us just get bigger and bigger and get even better quality guests for future shows. Also, if you have any Bigfoot encounters or cryptic encounters, please send your stories and audio and photos, whatever you've got over to Bigfoot Society at gmail.com. If you'd like to become more involved with Bigfoot Society and get some extra content, we do have a Patreon where you can get all sorts of cool things. For example, for $7 a

month, you get extra Bigfoot Society content, usually interviews, but other things as well. You get a sweet membership card and a vinyl sticker that I send to you in the mail. You get access to the Bigfoot Society after show, which is an extra interview, after the main interview with the weekly cast. And usually they are up for Patreon members to be in that extra show segment with them and me, and you get to ask your question live to them and get an answer from the guest, which, as you've seen what guests we've had in the past,

this could be a really big deal. There's also a private discord where you can get involved with talking to me one-on-one and the community there, and that's always a great time. You can find the Patreon at www.w.com forward slash the Bigfoot Society. We're very thankful for all our supporters that we have in so many different ways and appreciate

all our listeners coming back week after week to listen to more cryptozoology-based interviews. Thanks so much for listening and we'll see you next time. The views and opinions expressed are those of the guest and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Bigfoot Society. Any content provided by our guests are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual, or anyone. Thank you. A really quick last minute announcements.

You have a month, about a month, to get to Van Meter, Iowa, to listen to me speak live at the festival, $924, $2 to get in. I'll be talking about the Iowa Bigfoot Information Center. other cool stuff as well, wink, wink, to kind of share in my research from around the state. Also, a big thank you to Paranormality Magazine. And to all the listeners who nominated me for two categories for the Paranomality Magazine podcast awards. So voting is now open for that. If you could go over to Paranormalitymag.com and vote for Bigfoot Society in the best crypto's Podcast category and the best interview podcast category. Now is your time to get over to paranormaltymag.com.

I'm going to have it in the show notes as well. And vote for Bigfoot Society. Because a vote for Bigfoot Society is a vote for Bigfoot himself or, you know, this podcast that you listen to. Again, thank you so much. for listening. I appreciate each and every one of you and have a fantastic day or night or however you are listening to this. Whatever time. Okay, I'm out. All right, quick quiz for the hiring managers out there. What's worse? Being understaffed or being poorly staffed? Well,

that's a trick question because both are recipes for chaos. Either way, just say to yourself, this is a job for indeed sponsored jobs. You'll get matched with candidates. that meet the skills, certifications, and everything else you're looking for. Or go a different way and get no traction. Seriously, sponsored jobs posted directly on Indeed are 95% more likely to report a hire than non-sponsored jobs. It really is a no-brainer. Spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates

who check all your boxes. Less stress, less time, more results. When you need the right person to cut through the chaos, this is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. And listeners of this show will get a 75% $25 sponsored job credit to help your job get the premium status it deserves at Indeed.com slash podcast. Just go to Indeed.com slash podcast right now.

Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? This is a job for Indeed's sponsored jobs. The Starbucks iced tortata shaken espresso is back for the summer. Crafted with cinnamon, vanilla, and nutty notes of toasted rice. Handshaking with smooth blonde espresso and finished with oat milk for a creamy touch. Made for summer. Only at Starbucks.

Economic headlines keep shifting, but the uncertainty remains. Market volatility, rising debt, and global tensions are affecting retirement accounts and long-term savings. Many Americans are turning to physical gold and silver as tangible assets to help diversify their portfolios. Preserve gold provides educational guidance, including how metals can be held in an IRA. Get your free wealth protection guide when you text IHeart to 50505. That's IHart to 505.05. If you've been following the news, you know the world is dealing with a level of uncertainty that isn't going away anytime soon. Inflation pressures, global tensions, and the highest U.S. debt levels on record continue to influence markets day after day.

And the result is familiar to anyone checking their retirement balances or savings accounts. Volatility has become the norm. In times like these, people often look for ways to strengthen their financial foundation. Physical gold and silver have served that purpose throughout history. They're real assets that exist outside the digital and financial systems that tend to fluctuate during economic stress. They're not a guarantee and they're not a shortcut to wealth, but they can offer diversification when things feel unpredictable. Preserve gold is committed to helping Americans understand their options with simple educational information, including how precious metals can be held in an IRA. For your free wealth protection guide, text IHeart to 50505.

And with a qualified purchase, you could receive up to $15,000 in free gold or silver. Don't wait. Text Eyeheart to 50505. This is Daniel Fischel. And Ryder Strong from PodMeet's World. As cat parents, Ryder and I know the feeling of being ignored by our cats. I often wonder, does my cat even love me? Well, there's only one solution to solve that, Shiba. Feed your cat Shiba and go from feeling ignored to truly adored in 12 days, guaranteed or your money back.

Sheba has so many incredible products that can satisfy even the pickiest eater. like new Shiba grilled, made in the USA with the finest ingredients from around the world. They are savory strips and a succulent sauce that cats are sure to love. And it's 100% complete and balanced with essential vitamins and nutrients for adult cats like my bill. Made without artificial flavors or preservatives, no corn, wheat, or soy. To learn more, check out shiba.com. On this episode of Plant Killers, we'll explore One Nation's most notorious fruit and vegetable killer, bad dirt. What makes bad dirt so bad?

The answer? The ingredients. But fear not, true crime enthusiasts. This story has a happy ending. Miracle Grow organic raised bed and garden soil. It's made with quality organic ingredients from upcycled green waste like compost and aged bark. Unlike the other guys who can't say the same, looks like bad dirt's murdering days are over. Thanks to Miracle Grow. Join us next time on Plant Killers.