Heroes & Zeros- A True Crime Podcast · Annie Weaver

Episode 78 The Butterfly People of Joplin Missouri

·34 min·3 clips

Key discussion

Annie opens by greeting listeners and apologizing for a missed week around Thanksgiving. She says she heard this story about a year earlier. She explains that she and her husband have always been fascinated by storms. She admits they even enjoy spring and tornado season, which she knows is a strange thing to love. She remembers standing on a covered porch in Winterset and watching clouds roll in. She tells a small story about seeing a funnel cloud several miles away. She remembers another moment when rain poured in her neighbor Trevis's yard while her own porch stayed dry under the sun. That memory leads her into the danger of storms and the families killed by tornadoes in the Winterset, Iowa area the previous year. From there she turns to Joplin, Missouri, and the EF5 tornado that devastated the city. She says people of every faith were trapped and scared inside their homes. She notes that the phrase butterfly people came from reports that surfaced after the storm. A mother and preschool-aged daughter reportedly ran from their car as the twister closed in. The child later asked whether her mother had seen the butterfly people. In another version, the girl says she saw them lifting men and women into the sky. Another account involves a man and two young boys who were caught outside during the tornado. In those retellings, the wind was strong enough to rip the soles from the man's shoes, but no one was injured. Annie also mentions a butterfly sculpture unveiled at the hospital and Raymond Vetsch's tribute after he spent two hours removing the rod from Mason's body and praised her bravery and the hospital staff. She ties the stories to her belief that the figures were angels and to the power of prayer in a place where many people were praying together. She closes by saying that her own spiritual encounters have strengthened her faith and that she would rather speak openly, even if unbelievers think she looks foolish. The episode ends with an invitation for listeners to decide for themselves, but not before Annie says she believes God has her back and that there is a great deal out there that does not fit easy explanation.

As heard by us

A tornado story told through faith, fear, and eyewitnesses who saw butterfly people.

This episode stays close to the ground. It moves from porch-level weather memories to the Joplin, Missouri tornado, then into the EF5 destruction, the hospital tribute to Mason, and the eyewitness details that keep the story tied to fear, grief, and survival.

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Why you'd press play

For when a tornado story turns into a faith-forward account of butterfly people, prayer, and survival.

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