THE GRINNING MAN: The Legend of Indrid Cold

With an unnatural grin and eyes too far apart, he spoke without moving his lips — and those who saw Indrid Cold were never quite the same again.

As heard in this Weird Darkness podcast episode…

Indrid Cold, aka the Grinning Man or the Smiling Man, is still one of the strangest enigmas in paranormal lore. His true nature unknown, this humanoid figure is best known for his haunting and permanent smile. Witnesses describe him as extremely tall and wearing metallic-looking green overalls. His appearance is also marked by small, beady eyes placed at an unnaturally far distance apart on his face. Many who say they’ve seen him in person describe him as having no visible ears or nose, a completely bald head, and skin that is either tan or greenish.

There were several documented home encounters with this peculiar figure during the mid-1960s, which seemed to coincide with UFO sightings and other paranormal events Including the much vaunted Mothman sightings. The details of many of these witnesses were documented and published in interviews conducted by famous investigator and journalist John Keel.

The first time they were officially noted as having crossed paths was October 11, 1966, as reported in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Two boys, James Yanchitis and Marvin Munoz, were making their way home along 4th Street and Jersey Street when they saw a strange man standing in a nearly inaccessible spot. The area was adjacent to the New Jersey Turnpike, which rises on an elevated ramp above a steep slope down to 4th Street, with a large wire fence along its edge. The location of the man did not appear to be a safe place to reach.

James later called him “the biggest man I ever saw.” At first, the figure was looking at a house far off but when he heard the boys, he directed his attention toward them. He stayed completely still, a big smile plastered on his face. Earlier that day, the boys had heard reports of someone being chased by a tall green man, so they quickly removed themselves from the area.

A few days later John Keel interviewed the boys separately, and both gave the same account. The man was described as more than six feet tall, wearing a shiny green coverall costume that reflected the street lights and a wide black belt around his middle. They talked about his dark skin and small round eyes spaced widely apart. Most troublingly, they could remember no hair, ears, or nose on this creature.

This was linked to an alien phenomenon, since it came soon after a UFO sighting in the same region. The report detailed “a blazing white light as big as a car” nearly striking a television tower outside Pompton Lakes, New Jersey. This object moved slowly northward and then vanished beyond some nearby hills, according to a policeman and his wife who witnessed it. Across these hills, Sergeant Benjamin Thompson and Patrolman Edward Wester of the Wanaque Reservoir Police also witnessed the same light fly low over the reservoir at approximately 9:45 p.m. Officer Thompson noted how brightly white the light was — it illuminated the surrounding area up to three hundred yards around him, and that the light was bright enough to blind him momentarily after getting out of his patrol car.

The grinning man was first encountered in 1966 in Point Pleasant at the rural home of the Lilly family. The family had been having what they thought was poltergeist activity as well as mysterious lights in the sky around their property. Mrs. Lilly said she saw a series of lights of various colors — blue, green and red — one even flying low enough that, she said, they thought they could see diamond-shaped windows in it. All of these objects were moving silently. The family similarly endured cars inexplicably stalling around their home, their kitchen cabinets and doors slamming late at night, and their locked living room door found flung wide open in the morning as if someone had opened it from outside.

They also received strange calls with metallic, incoherent sounds or what sounded like a baby crying. The phone company could offer no explanation for these incidents. When John Keel asked the family if they dreamed of a stranger in their house at night, Linda Lilly, the daughter, admitted it. She said she woke one night to see a very large figure looming over her bed — a big, broad man whose face she could not see well, but who had a big grin. He crept around her bed and stood right above her before vanishing when she covered her head with the blanket. Linda rushed to her mother’s room, hysterical, and didn’t want to sleep alone for months after.

One of the most notable encounters with Indrid Cold took place on November 2, 1966, in West Virginia. Woodrow Derenberger, who sold sewing machines and lived in Mineral Wells, was driving home on I-77 after a business trip to Marietta, Ohio. Creatively adjusting a sewing machine in the backseat of his truck he caught sight of an odd craft approaching his truck from his rear. This vessel went past him, moved ahead of him and started putting the brakes on.” Derenberger drove onto the shoulder of the highway to avoid the collision.

The craft looked like a “kerosene lamp chimney” and hovered 8–10 inches above the ground with a fluttering, low rumbling sound similar to helicopter blades idling. A door opened on the side that faced Derenberger, and a man emerged. Although the man was tall, he seemed ordinary in the dim light. He wore a zippered topcoat, with the top two buttons undone, in a shiny, metallic-ish fabric. His shirt was darker than his jacket but his trousers were lighter than his coat.

Derenberger said the man had a deep tan, like one who had been out in the sun a lot, otherwise normal eyebrows, face, and features. The only thing that seemed odd was his weird, toothless grin. The man walked up with his arms crossed and hands inside his armpits.

Most astonishing of all, the man spoke to Derenberger through telepathy, never once opening his mouth to speak. He ordered Derenberger to roll down his window, which he did, and then asked his name. Don’t be afraid, the stranger reassured him, we do not wish you any harm… we mean you no harm, we only wish to make you happy. When Derenberger said his name, the man said his was “Cold.”

Cold inquired about the nearby city of Parkersburg, pointing toward its lights, and wondered if most people lived in the city. “It was mostly a business district, and most people were living in surrounding communities,” Derenberger said. Where he came from, such places were called “Gatherings,” Cold responded. Cold continued to smile throughout the conversation and was polite and amicable, but Derenberger remained frightened.

“We will see you next,” Cold said before leaving Derenberger’s car. He then climbed into his own ship through the hatch, and the craft took off straight with a whooshing sound. Derenberger was so shocked that he forgot his drive home. His wife said he appeared like a zombie when he came, sitting quietly at their table and staring into space. He told the Parkersburg police about the encounter.

The following day, the story was picked up by various media sources. So Derenberger gave a live television interview on WTAP featuring the state police, Wood County Airport, Parkersburg Police and Wright Patterson Air Force base. When the interview was aired, other people claimed they saw someone who matched Cold’s description. A man told reporters a similar figure had attempted to flag him down but he was too frightened to pull over. Several witnesses observed lights and “fluttering vehicles” on the same road, and some even reported seeing Derenberger pulled over and talking to someone.

Derenberger’s dealings with Cold did not stop here. Driving through Pomeroy, Ohio, a mere two days later on November 4th with a buddy, Derenberger sensed a tingling in his head. Note: He understood it as Cold trying to speak with him telepathically. Cold told him to drive safely because his ship was directly overhead of them. He said he had asked only questions to ease Derenberger’s fears when they first met.

Cold shared more details about himself during this exchange. Mr. Cold claimed to be from a planet near the galaxy of Ganymede. He described his home world as much like Earth, with woods, fields, streams and oceans. Cold said he was married to a woman named Kimi and had two sons. He said the life expectancy on his planet was 125-175 years but if they stayed too long on Earth, the reverse could occur and they would “go back in years” and might even forget how to operate their craft.

Cold would go on to say that his planet of Lanulos had plenty of things to offer Earth and vice versa, and blurted out that he wanted a friendly trade between the worlds. He spoke of a landing base on the Moon run by many interplanetary civilizations that included a pancake-shaped mothership from Lanulos the size of a football field and nine stories high with berthing docks for scout ships.

Derenberger’s friend didn’t talk to Cold, but claimed to have felt weird sensations in his own head on the drive over.

Over the next few weeks Derenberger said Cold visited his home and town frequently, at times with another being named Karl. They would come to him on his back porch late at night for long conversations through telepathy. Derenberger even said he had visited their ship. During this time there were many UFO sightings around Parkersburg.

The publicity had a devastating impact on Derenberger’s life. He was ridiculed by skeptics, lost several jobs, and his obsession with the encounters ultimately drove his wife away. His house would get strange phone calls, threats sometimes telling him to stop writing about his experiences, other times strange electronic sounds or silence. At night, curious onlookers would hide around his property, trying to get a glimpse of Cold or UFO activity.

Once, a pair of fellows hiding in underbrush saw a black pickup truck pull into Derenberger’s yard. A strange man with tan skin, who was dressed all in black, got out of the vehicle, spoke with Derenberger, and departed. Derenberger would later describe how “men in black suits” would show up unannounced at his door, questioning him about his encounters with Cold and acting in what he called a threatening manner if he failed to answer their questions.

In 1967, Derenberger went missing for six months. When he eventually returned, he said Cold had taken him to Lanulos. He said the planet’s residents wore scant clothes, sometimes merely colorful shorts. Their written language existed as squiggly, Oriental writing. They resided in a galaxy named Ganymede and everything was peaceful there, Derenberger claimed. The residents had the belief that all people were equal in birth, and did not understand hate. There was no more war, and everyone was happy.

Later, Derenberger would give a much deeper account of his experiences to one Harold Hubbard, who published “Visitors from Lanulos” in 1971. Derenberger wrote in it about visits to the moon, Saturn and other places.

A final prominent sighting very possibly linked to the Grinning Man, came on December 3, 1979. Police officer Zanfretta was pumping his patrol car at a self-service gas station outside Genoa when he heard someone shouting from the shadows. When he looked, he saw a tall humanoid figure with a bald, egg-shaped head wearing a checkered suit and a steel chest plate. The creature smiled wide and spoke to the officer without using its lips.

Under the guidance of the Grinning Man’s voice, the officer drove his cruiser into a small cloud floating a few feet above the ground. He was then levitated inside this cloud with his patrol car and in this cloud, he claimed to have entered a large craft. Zanfretta claimed that the ship had reptilian-like aliens and large transparent tubes filled with blue liquid. One of the cylinders allegedly held a body which the aliens described as “an enemy of ours from another planet” — “frog-like” in appearance, according to the more colorful explainer.

The true identity of Indrid Cold is still unknown. Theories about the being range from him being an extraterrestrial visitor, some sort of demonic entity, a strange but human man, a “Man in Black,” or just the byproduct of mass hysteria in the wake of UFO interest during that time. Whatever the case may be, the legend of the Grinning Man intrigues those who are fans of the unexplained… including Yours truly.