Indrid Cold, the Truth about Planet Lanulos and the Mystery of the Smiling Man

On November 2nd, 1966, Woody Derenberger was driving home from. a business trip when he encountered an. extraterrestrial being named Indrid. Cold. Cold communicated with Woody. telepathically, and the two went on to. be lifelong friends. Other people close. to Woody, including family, friends, and. even his therapist, claimed that they. too had experiences with Indrid Cold. Woody wrote and published a detailed. account of his experiences and never. went back on his story. And since the. 1960s, the legend of Indrid Cold has.

become one of the most famous in all of. UFO lore. And taken at face value, the. story sounds strange. But the real. story, [music]. it's much stranger. Woodrow Wilson Derenberger, who went by. Woody, was from Mineral Wells, West. Virginia. And he was an ordinary. Appalachian man in the 1960s. He worked. as a salesman for a sewing machine. company. In early November 1966, Woody was returning from a business trip. when his life changed forever. Around.

7:30 p.m. on Route 77 in Parkersburg, West Virginia, Woody heard a crashing. sound behind him. He looked in his. mirror and saw a brightly lit vehicle. charging behind him at great speed. Woody thought it was a car until the. vehicle flew over his van and stopped in. the road in front of him. Woody hit the. brakes and the object hovered in front. of him a few feet off the ground. Woody. was paralyzed, terrified. He had never. seen an object like this. He described. it as looking like an old-fashioned. kerosene lamp sitting on its side, a.

tube with a bulge in the middle. It was. dark gray like charcoal, and the craft. made a deep humming sound that reminded. Woody of a helicopter. Then Woody. started to panic. A door on the side of. the craft opened and out walked a man. Just an ordinary-looking man, maybe. about 40 years old, average height, average build, and dressed in dark. colors. As soon as the man stepped out. of the craft, the door closed and the. object shot straight up into the air. The man walked directly to Woody's van.

and came right up to the passenger side. window. The man looked completely. average, though he had a tan and dark. slicked-back hair. He was smiling. amiably and then gestured to Woody to. roll down the window, which he did. The. man said, "Why are you frightened? We. mean you no harm." Woody heard the words. and understood them, but the man's mouth. didn't move. He just kept on smiling. like this. The man asked Woody his name. and said he's called Cold and he was a. searcher from the planet Lanulos. [music]. Then Mr. Cold asked Woody some mundane.

questions about the town they were in, what kind of work Woody did, and basic. small talk. And after a few minutes of. friendly conversation, Mr. Cold said. telepathically that he had to be going. The craft then came down nearby and the. door opened. As Mr. Cold climbed back. aboard the ship, he turned back and said. telepathically, "It's been nice talking. to you, Mr. Darenberger. We'll be seeing. you soon." The door closed, then the. ship shot into the air and out of sight. Woody Darenberger was in shock for a few. minutes, but soon he was able to compose.

himself. He went home and told his wife. what happened. He then went to the. police. But Woody didn't have to wait. very long for Mr. Cold to keep his. promise, because the very next day Mr. Cold was back. [music]. [music]. What Woody Darenberger didn't realize at. the time was he wasn't the first to see.

the strange visitor. He was seen a few. weeks earlier on October 11th in. Elizabeth, New Jersey, about an 8-hour. drive from that West Virginia highway. At about 10:00 p.m., a UFO had been. reported in the area. The first. eyewitnesses to this event were a police. officer and his wife. They described the. object as a blazing white light as big. as a car. It almost crashed into a. television tower, then slowly. disappeared behind some hills nearby. The UFO was then seen on the opposite. side of the hills. This time the.

witnesses were two police officers on. patrol. It was so bright it almost. blinded them. The light was brilliantly white. [music]. It lit up the whole area for about 300. yards. In fact, it blinded me when I got. out of the patrol car to look at it, and. I couldn't see for about 20 minutes. afterwards. That same night a woman in the next town. over saw a flash in the sky. Then a. cylinder-shaped craft landed in the lot. where her car was parked. The ship. opened and two ordinary-looking men came. out. They asked her strange questions in.

a weird dialect, then they got back in. the ship and flew away. At about 10:30, again on that same night, two teenage. boys were on their way to play pinball. They were crossing underneath the New. Jersey Turnpike when they saw the. strangest man they'd ever seen. He was. standing directly across the street. behind a fence. They thought maybe his. car had broken down, but he was in a. place no one could get to. Accessing the. spot would have required crossing a very. busy highway and then climbing a steep. 30-ft embankment that would be crazy to.

try. The boys said this was the biggest. man they'd ever seen, almost 7-ft tall. and broad. He was wearing green. coveralls that glittered. He was. originally facing away from them, but. then he slowly turned around. He had. beady, wide-set eyes and a giant, unnatural grin. The boys bolted. At. first they didn't tell anyone about this. experience, but then they heard about. the encounter in the parking lot that. same night and figured they'd better. report it. A week later the boys were. interviewed by John Keel, a writer from.

New York City. John had been drawn to. the area by this rash of UFO sightings. all happening around the same time. After interviewing the teenagers. separately as well as together, John. Keel believed they were telling the. truth. Keel would name this entity the. Grinning Man and write about him in his. book Strange Creatures from Time and. Space. A few weeks later, John read. about Woody Derenberger's encounter in. the newspapers and saw he'd given an. interview on television. Woody seemed to. be describing the same entity seen in.

this area of New Jersey. And now the. entity had a name. He's called Cold. To viewers of the Wi-Files, John Keel is. a familiar name. Keel was an. investigator and author, most well-known. for his theories about. ultraterrestrials, specifically the. Mothman. If you didn't see that episode, it's linked below, but here's a quick. recap. The Mothman is a large winged. creature with red eyes that's been. spotted all over the world. But the. first sightings were in Point Pleasant,

West Virginia, beginning on November. 15th, 1966. That's 3 days after Woody's first. encounter with Mr. Cold, and just an. hour's drive away. Keel was in town. investigating Mothman sightings, as well. as all kinds of other paranormal events. happening in the area. One of those. events happened at the home of James. Lilly and his family. The Lillys had. been reporting strange noises and. poltergeist activity. [music]. They thought maybe their house had. become haunted. Doors and cabinets would. slam in the middle of the night. There.

was the sound of a distant baby crying. And every night about 5:00 p.m., the. phone would ring. And when they. answered, they would hear what they. described as a bizarre metallic voice. speaking in an incomprehensible. language. They reported the calls to the. phone company, but there was no. explanation. They'd also been seeing. unusual lights above their house almost. every single night. We've seen all kinds of strange things. Blue lights, green ones, red ones, things that change color. Some have been. so low that we thought we could see. diamond-shaped windows in them, and none.

of them make any noise at all. But the most terrifying incident. happened to the Lillys' daughter, Linda, who was 16 years old. One night, Linda. heard a noise in her room that woke her. up. She opened her eyes and there was a. man leering down at her. It was a man, a big man, very broad. I. couldn't see his face very well, but I. could see that he was grinning at me. He. walked [music] around the bed and stood. right over me. I screamed again and hid. under the covers. When I looked again,

he was gone. Whether the grinning man was Indrid Cold. is hard to say, but the events all. happened during the same week. The night. of Woody's first encounter, two. construction workers were driving south. from Marietta, Ohio, heading to their. homes near Point Pleasant, West. Virginia. Then a strange flying object. appeared over the highway and settled in. front of their car. A man in shiny. coveralls stepped from the object, walked over, and engaged the men in a. seemingly pointless conversation. He. wanted to know where they were from,

what they did for work, and where they. were going. He didn't offer any. information about himself, and the men. were too frightened to ask questions. After a few minutes, the stranger. returned to the object and it floated. quietly into the night sky. The two men. decided to keep their mouths shut. because they didn't think anyone would. believe the story. They only came. forward after Woody went public with his. story. One family saw the ship right. after it stopped Woody Derenberger. They. watched the object for about 5 minutes. until it flew out of sight. And later, a. young man driving on the same stretch of. road reported the object hovering over.

his car and blasting him with extremely. bright light. He reported this to the. police. The day after Woody's and these. other encounters with Cold, a TV. producer came to the store where Woody. worked and asked him to go on television. that afternoon, which he did. [music]. Whether or not you believe in. unidentified flying objects or not is.

not the point. Whether you believe in what you hear or. see on this program is not the point. We are here to talk to a man that. allegedly. did make contact. with such an object. within the Parkersburg area last. evening. Mr. Dyerberger, in your own words, would you please. relate. what happened last night? And this man stood there and he he first.

asked me what I was called. And I. immediately met my name and I told him. my name. And then he asked me, he said, "Uh why. are you frightened?" He said, "Don't be. frightened. We wish you no harm." He. said, "We mean you no harm. We wish you. only happiness.". I told him my name and when I told him. my name, he said he was called Cold. Woody was peppered with questions for. half an hour, but he remained calm, consistent, and believable.

Uh did he ask you what you did for a. living? Where you work? asked me he he asked me if I if I worked. for a living. And I told him that I was a salesman. And he told me that he was a searcher. A searcher? A searcher. But he didn't tell you what he was. searching for. No, he didn't. But at two or three times he did tell. me, he said, "Mr. Dyerberger, look at. me.". He said, "Do not be frightened. Look at. me.". I I was very nervous. I was very upset.

after this happened. Do you believe in flying saucers? I had never had believed in flying. saucers before. I. honestly never did believe in it. Do you believe in them now? I believe in what I seen last night. I. believe it was. I don't believe it was a saucer, but I. believe it was an alien. some kind of an aircraft or spacecraft. or [music] something. While driving home that evening, Cold.

reached out to Woody telepathically. He. told Woody his name was Indrid and he. went on to mention a few details about. his planet Lanulos. Lanulos was a lot. like Earth, similar water, air, similar. plants and animals. Indrid Cole was part. of a crew of searchers sent to learn. more about the people of Earth. Their. brief conversation ended and Woody. finally got home. Woody was surprised to. see a crowd of people had gathered on. his porch, all very excited to ask him. questions about his encounter. [music]. And Woody's phone was ringing off the.

hook. Everyone wanted to speak to him, researchers, journalists, and other. people who had similar experiences. The. story became an instant sensation and. was picked up by media all over the. country. Every day dozens of people. would appear on Woody's property at all. hours of the day and night. Many would. ring the doorbell and ask Woody to tell. the story again. Some people just lurk. through his backyard watching the skies. and this went on for months. All the. attention put a strain on the Dyerberger. family. Woody's children were harassed. at school. [music] People in town called.

him a liar or crazy or both. Finally, Woody's wife took the children and moved. to Cleveland. The Dyerbergers would. divorce soon after that. Then one. evening, Woody came home from work late, the usual crowd had gone. Woody parked. by the side of his house and as soon as. he opened the door of his truck, [music]. he heard a voice say, "Don't be. frightened, Woody. It's Indrid and this. is my friend Karl." Indrid Cole was. back. And he brought company. When Woody Dyerberger arrived home from.

work late that evening, he found Indrid. Cole waiting for him and Indrid had. brought his friend Karl. Despite the. late hour and cold weather, Woody. Dyerberger sat on the porch with his. visitors for 2 hours. They discussed. life on their home planet Lanulos, which. is in a distant galaxy called Ganymede. Lanulos, as described by Indrid and. Karl, is a world of profound peace, unity, and compassion. The concept of. conflict and hatred is unknown to them. and from childhood, Lanulosians, as. they're called, [music]. are taught to think of all beings as.

family. Yeah, these alien planets are always. these peaceful hippie colonies where. everybody gets along. Yeah, that does happen a lot. Back in the aliens, don't use Twitter. On Lanulos, they believe in a single. universal God, the creator of all worlds. and life. Discrimination has no place in. the universe where all are equal. children of this one God. Each. Lanuloshan shares the collective purpose. to serve the community and help each. other. The inhabitants of Lanulos are. technologically enlightened. Their. understanding of gravity and space.

manipulation has been perfected through. centuries of dedicated research. And. mental telepathy is a skill all. Lanuloshans learn early. They believe. that if people of Earth could learn. telepathy, there would be worldwide. peace. Telepathy discourages dishonesty. and allows everyone to understand how a. person really feels. And that's a terrible idea. Oh, yeah, you don't want people to know. your thoughts? Are you kidding? They'd throw me in. jail. Your thoughts are that bad? Oh, you couldn't handle these thoughts, cupcake. Not for a second. I'd haunt.

your dreams. The ability to communicate. telepathically, according to legend, came into being when a group of Earth. explorers crash landed on Lanulos many, many years ago. Their loneliness and. longing for companionship sparked the. latent telepathic abilities that all. humans have. This meeting was the first of many Woody. would have with Ingrid Cold and others. from Lanulos. And these meetings are. detailed in the book Visitors from. Lanulos that Woody Derenberger released. in 1971. One evening, after a long.

conversation, Woody was invited to see. the inside of the ship. It contained. technology Woody didn't understand, [music] like doors that can open and. close on their own. There were panels on. the walls with cryptic writing made of. blue light. And in the book, it sounds. like he's describing flat panel. displays, though he couldn't understand. what the symbols were. Woody was. fascinated with the machine, how it. worked, how it flew. So, Indrid asked. him if he wanted to go for a ride, and. there was no way Woody would refuse.

Indrid Cold said, "Name a place and. we'll go there." And Woody doesn't know. why, but the first thing he thought of. was the Amazon jungle. The door closed with a hiss, and then. there was a gentle vibration. And in a. few seconds, windows on the side of the. craft slowly opened. Though Woody didn't. feel them take off or fly, they were now. over the jungle. He looked down and saw. treetops and villages and people walking. around. Woody was ecstatic. So, [music]. Indrid Cold asked him, "Do you want to. see our planet?" Woody smiled and. nodded. The windows closed, the ship.

vibrated, and within moments, they were. on their way to another world. During the journey, Indrid Cold. introduced Woody Derenberger to the rest. of the people on board. Woody had. already met Karl Ardo, who he learned. was second in command. He met crew. members Tony and Daryl. Indrid's wife, Kimi, was also on board. Yeah, rookie mistake. Never take the. wife on a business trip. When the ship was within 600 mi of the. moon, it docked with a larger vessel.

Woody called this the mothership, but. Indrid called it the flagship. The. flagship was bigger than anything Woody. could imagine flying. It was eight or. nine stories high and at least 300 ft. long. The flagship got within 50 ft of. the surface of the moon, where other. ships were parked. The windows closed, and in a few seconds, opened again. Now, they were above Saturn. Woody didn't see. signs of life, but he was told there was. agriculture on the planet. The windows. again closed, and they were off to. Lanulos. Because of their ability to.

bend space and time, Indrid Cold's. people could travel almost anywhere very. quickly. The trip to Lanulos took about. 30 minutes. When they arrived, Woody, Indrid, and the crew returned to their. craft and disconnected from the. flagship. As the smaller ship zipped. over the planet, Woody could see many. cities that Ingrd Cold called. gatherings. There were huge fields and. forests. He saw rivers and streams, [music] and there were hundreds of. people walking around the gatherings. There were vehicles on roads and. highways, but Woody saw they didn't have.

wheels. They hovered about a foot off. the ground. Soon the craft landed and. Woody was taken to Ingrd Cold's home. Woody was awestruck by the house that. was made of brick and glass. There were. modern devices in the house like an. automated kitchen and laundry. And. everything ran on nuclear power. Next, Ingrd took Woody to a nearby city called. number 27 gathering. There were hundreds. of people moving from building to. building, but they used moving. sidewalks. There were shops lining the. streets not unlike stores on Earth, including what Woody described as large.

department stores. Everything was very. Earth-like except for one very big. difference. Everyone was naked. Woah, what? The Lanius lotions believed in being. seen exactly as God intended. [music]. They get freaky on this planet. I love. it. Digga digga dow. Digga digga dow. dow. Digga digga digga digga dow dow. So they never wore clothes except when. dancing or during cold weather. Two very logical times to put on. clothes. It is. Shrinkage. I got it. So to better blend in with the people, Woody ate this robe.

Attaboy, let it all hang out. Woody only felt slightly self-conscious. He was a little overweight and everyone. he saw was in very good shape. Ingrd. told him that they are physically human, but because of their healthy and. peaceful lifestyle, they typically live. 125 to 175 years. From childhood, they. learn to control the volume of food they. eat and eat very healthy. All the food. is grown organically with no chemicals. of any kind. They don't eat chocolate, pork, or bleached flour. They do eat. lean beef, but prefer seafood. But their.

diet is mostly fruits and vegetables. Now coffee is very popular on the. planet, but only decaf. I you know, I like the nudity, but no. chocolate, no caffeine. Ah, that's a. problem for me. Yeah, you don't want to give those up. they don't drink vodka, huh? I don't know. Woody didn't mention it. He wasn't a drinker. 175 years is a long time to do sober. The society is very focused upon. happiness and understanding. Children. remain in school until they're 28 years. old. Yeah, same as here. Pretty much. After school, they're. allowed to choose whatever job they.

want. If they want to change jobs, they. can do that at any time. Woody said that. the thing that impressed him the most. was their monetary system. People were. paid not according to their skill or. talent, but according to the size of. their family and general needs. From each according to his ability, to. each according to his need. That's exactly right. That's Marxism. Yeah, well, I guess it works on their. planet. Yeah, it sure doesn't work on this one. Llanulos was a paradise. Llanulos was. only one inhabited planet out of many. After Woody returned home, he would come.

into contact with beings from a. different planet. And these beings. weren't so friendly. One evening, Woody and his friend Jim. had gone to a location known for UFO. sightings. They had seen a craft there. the night before and wanted to see if it. would come back. After short time, a. pink UFO landed on a nearby field and. two beings that looked human stepped. out. Woody and Jim began walking toward. the beings, but a short distance away, Woody saw the silhouettes of three.

figures. It was Indrid Cold, Carl Ardo, and another member of the crew named. Demo Hassan. Telepathically, Indrid told. Woody that these beings were not from. Llanulos. Indrid asked Woody to cause a. distraction so Indrid and his crew could. get behind them. Woody began a fake. argument with Jim to draw attention. Indrid's crew flanked the other crew and. began to confront them. And Woody. thought the altercation was going to. become violent, but the beings got back. in their ship and were escorted away. Indrid told Woody that these beings were.

called humanoids and were from a planet. in another galaxy. And from a distance, they look human, but up close, there are. some differences. The skin around their. eyes is very red and wrinkled, and they. don't have hair, but something like. small pin feathers like a bird has. And. they aren't necessarily dangerous, but. they tend to steal anything they can get. their hands on, including humans. [music]. And Indrid Cold said that the aliens who. abducted Betty and Barney Hill were this. species. A few months after this. encounter, there was a standoff between. the humanoids and Indrid's people.

involving 11 ships. Again, the situation. ended peacefully, but the humanoids were. escorted to the edge of the galaxy and. told never return. At some point during. his time with Indrid Cold, Woody. Derenberger asked the obvious question, "Why him? What did Indrid want with. him?" Indrid simply wanted Woody to talk. to people and share his experience. Indrid wanted the people of Earth to. know how his people lived. How they. lived without hatred and greed. Indrid. wanted Woody to convince people to. pressure Washington to tell people the. truth about UFOs. So, Woody Derenberger.

did this to the best of his ability. That's the main reason he wrote his. book, Visitors from Lanulos. Woody did. speak to the media whenever he could. He. gave lectures. He tried to keep his word. to Indrid Cold. Woody Derenberger died. in the year 2000, 23 years after Indrid. Cold stopped him on the highway that. cold November night. But his daughter, Tanya, picked up the work where her. father left off. She met Indrid Cold on. many occasions, and she also wrote a. book called Beyond Lanulos that gives.

even more details about Indrid Cold, his. family, his crew, and the people of his. planet. [music] And sadly, Tanya. Derenberger passed away just a few weeks. before this episode at the young age of. 60. But Indrid is still here, presumably. looking for someone else to carry his. message. And this might be the best time. in history to deliver that message. Disclosure is slowly happening, and. people are more receptive to the idea of. UFOs and aliens than ever before. [music]. So, if one day you find yourself. face-to-face with a quiet, smiling man,

a man that somehow lets you hear his. thoughts. Don't be afraid. [music] You. know exactly who he is. He's called. Cold. The story of Indrid Cold is one of the. most enduring stories in all of UFO. history. It's an elaborate, detailed, and complicated story. But is it true? Well, you can't really. debunk the story because Woody. Derenberger was the only witness. And. because of that, we can't prove the. story either. But we can look at things. that Woody said and wrote, and the. things his daughter said and wrote, and.

see how much of this adds up. I'll say. right up front that most UFO researchers. don't believe the story. They believe. something happened to Woody on the. highway that first night, but the rest, no. Even John Keel, who wrote about the. Mothman, the Grinning Man, and Indrid. Cold, didn't believe the story. But Keel. did write the forward to Woody's book. In the forward, he said, "Whether you. believe Woody or not, it doesn't. matter." He felt Woody believed he was. telling the truth and deserved to be. heard. The first clue that the story. might not be true is how beings with.

advanced technology and advanced culture. are colored by the technology and. culture of the time when the story is. told. Like when you watch old Star Trek. episodes from the '60s, the bridge of. the Enterprise looks modern and. high-tech, but all the controls have big. clunky dials and switches. You see the. same thing in Woody's story. Yes, the. door of the spacecraft could open and. close on its own. Modern doors can do. that. But the doors on Indrid Cold's. ship had big hinges [clears throat] like. you'd find on a car. And the door made a. loud thunk when it was shut. And the.

ship itself, for some reason, fire shot. out of the sides, though Woody never. explains why. And the culture of the. 1960s, tinged with Woody's own beliefs, makes its way into the story. For. instance, everyone believes in God. The. main purpose of all of Indrid's people. was to serve each other and serve God. The one God. Woody's God. Specifically, Jesus Christ. Now, maybe Jesus is the. son of God for this planet and every. planet. I don't know. But you think a. planet in a distant galaxy would have a.

slightly different calendar than we. have. But in Lanulos, Christmas is also. celebrated on December 25th. So, I guess. they switched to the Gregorian calendar. when we did. I It doesn't track. And by. the way, Woody was very religious. He. later became a Christian minister. So, we shouldn't be surprised at how. important God is in his story. Woody's. story also reflects the politics of the. time. When Indrid Cold appeared, America. was tearing itself apart with the. Vietnam War. The civil rights movement. was also causing a lot of conflict.

Indrid's culture implied that there is a. solution to these problems. There was a. path forward without war and without. racial bigotry. It's a good message, but. it's a very 1960s message. On Lanulos, women and men are treated equally. That's nice, but for some reason women. aren't allowed to fly spaceships. Oh, why? Cuz they can't back into a park. in space? That's rude. Women can back into parking. spaces. Name one. On Lanulos, women seem to have the same.

roles as women did here in the 1960s. They mostly stayed home and raised. children. Woody loses me with another. piece of technology. Indrid Cold's. people had cameras, but much more. advanced than ours. They didn't use. film. Okay, modern cameras don't use film. Well, that's true, but Indrid Cold's. camera was so advanced that when it took. a picture, it was instantly printed on. paper. Oh. Right. The Polaroid camera was invented in. 1948, but it wasn't until the late 1960s. that instant cameras really took off.

But you'd think that on a planet in. another galaxy, the plants and animals. would be different, but they weren't. On. Lanulos, they raised cows and pigs and. chickens. They ate the same vegetables. we did. They didn't drink Raktegino or. some exotic alien beverage, they drank. coffee. What will it be, boys? And don't ask for. Raktegino. If I have to say we don't. carry that one more. the Raktegino. [music]. Then there's the issue of galaxies. Woody Derenberger didn't really know. what a galaxy was. Initially, the planet.

Lanulos was in the Ganymede. constellation, a constellation we. presume that's in our galaxy, but. there's no constellation by that name or. galaxy. Ganymede is one of Jupiter's. moons, and this detail changed a little. bit more over time. And Woody didn't. know much about our planets, either. He. said Saturn was covered with vegetation, and that the air was breathable on Mars. and Venus, and none of those things are. true. Woody was right that Venus is. warmer than Earth, but he said it was. usually about 100° F.

Venus is actually almost 900° F. Woody's book contains an appendix with. some really interesting stuff. He. included a few articles about himself. He included his UFO reports to the. police and other groups. He even. included results from a brain scan and a. report from his psychiatrist, I assume. to prove that he wasn't crazy. The. psychiatrist found no sign of mental. illness, but a month after meeting Woody, the. shrink claimed that he also was in. contact with aliens, so maybe a little. biased. Also in the appendix was the.

alphabet that was used on Lanulos. The. alphabet was actually used everywhere. It's the intergalactic alphabet, but it. looks pretty cool. But the symbols match. the standard Latin alphabet character. for character. It's English, just with. fun characters instead of letters. [music]. Languages and alphabets vary greatly on. our own planet. If there's an. intergalactic alphabet, this isn't. [music] it. Woody said he had many. friends who also saw Indrid Cold and. spoke with him, [music] but I can't find. any of those people. The author John.

Keel did say that he saw UFOs near. Woody's house, but all the information. about the Grinning Man and the UFO. sightings in New Jersey, the only source. for those is John Keel. [music]. Keel said there were sightings all over. the area that week, but there's no. evidence of that. Not in the newspapers, not even with groups like NICAP, who. document every sighting they hear about. Keel is also the only person to connect. the Grinning Man with Indrid Cold. The. young man who saw the Grinning Man said. he was huge, 7-ft tall or taller, and. that he had no nose and no ears. Woody.

said Indrid Cold was maybe 5'10, 5'11, 185 lb, and looked perfectly normal. Now, Keel was known to exaggerate for. the sake of telling a good story, [music]. and he admitted this. And even Woody's. daughter, in a recent printing of the. book, said her father embellished his. stories to help book sales. Now, Woody. never said he embellished, but he did. say his publisher did. So, the only. other witness we have is Woody's. daughter, Tonya. And she remembers. spending a lot of time with Indrid and. his crew. [music] But when Indrid Cold. was visiting, she was 3 years old. The.

reliability of children's memories has. been studied to help courts determine. whether or not to include testimony from. child witnesses. [music]. Studies have identified that children. struggle with source monitoring, which. is a cognitive process that has to do. with attributing the source of. information. Young children really can't. tell the difference between events they. experienced, [music]. events they dreamed, and events they. just heard about. By the time Tonya was. 4, her mother had taken her and her. brother to live in Cleveland. It's. doubtful that she remembers any of this.

Sidenote, Woody's wife actually ran off. with one of the UFO investigators. working Woody's case. She [snorts] ended up marrying the guy. Ouchy, really worked the hell out of. that case, huh? Now, Tonya's story about Indrid Cold has. also fluctuated over the years. At one. point, she said Indrid Cold was known as. Valiant Thor. And Valiant Thor is a. pretty famous alien story, but I think. we did a pretty good job of debunking. that one. A few years ago, Tonya said. that Indrid Cold died. Now, I suspect.

she said this because she was getting a. lot of attention from a new generation. of UFO researchers, like the folks from. the Hellier TV show. I just received two visitors carrying. some devastating news. [music]. Indrid Cold, age 92, Demo Hassan, and. Carl Ardo died today. They wanted to get a message to Indrid. Cold's people, and Tanya said they. could, but it had to go through her. If we wanted to send a message to, you. know, [music]. Indrid, he may have passed away, he may.

be in hiding, but to him or even the, you know, his sons [music]. that have taken over, how would how do we do that? What would. be the best way? [music]. Through me. But earlier this year, Tanya said Indrid. Cold didn't die, but he was in a bad. accident. Still, the only way to talk to. him was through her. Now, I don't know. what what he saw, but at first he loved. the attention. He did TV and radio. interviews whenever he could. Even from. his very first interview, the facts.

weren't perfect. The UFO was hovering, then it wasn't, then it was. And if. Indrid Cold could communicate. telepathically, why did he ask Woody to. roll down the window? Oh, yeah. Now, Woody said that was so they could. see each other better. Yeah. Fine. But doing all this media started. to get Woody in trouble. He did one TV. interview that allowed regular people to. call in. No, it's a mistake. I agree. A caller named Tom said that he. too knew Indrid Cold, and he had went to. Lanulos. Woody asked Tom to describe. what he saw to see if he was telling the.

truth. Tom gave Woody a bunch of details. about the planet. Woody confirmed on TV. that Tom was telling the truth. Woody. even talks about this in his book. What. Woody doesn't mention is that Tom was. actually a college kid pranking [music]. him. Tom was actually Thomas F. Monteleone, who went on to become a. well-known science fiction writer. And. later on, Monteleone actually admitted. to this. He even said he regretted it. because of all the negative attention it. brought him. [music] The attention. eventually got to Woody, too. He. released his book just 4 years after his.

encounter with Indrid Cold, but by the. time the book came out, Woody's fame had. fizzled. He'd lost his job and his. family. People in his town thought he. was crazy, so he eventually had to move. to a different state. The defenders of. Woody will say he had no reason to lie. and that he never made any money from. his story. Well, the reason to lie could. have simply been enjoyed the attention. until he didn't. And he didn't make. money from his story because well, with. all due respect to Woody Derenberger, the book isn't very good. But Indrid. Cold still has many, many believers and.

they're out there today telling the. story and trying to make contact. I. provide a counter arguments here, but. believers have their own responses to. every one of mine and I think that's. okay. Whether you believe in the story. of Indrid Cold or not, it's not that. important to me. What's important. [music] is Indrid Cold's message. He. wanted the leaders of the world to be. honest about extraterrestrial contact. He felt that the people of Earth were. intelligent enough to understand [music]. and ready to believe. And according to. Indrid Cold, once all of us accept that.

we're not alone and that it's okay, we. can move into a new period of our. history where wars for land and oil. would be unnecessary, where borders. between nations would just be academic. and where all the races of the world. would see themselves as one race, the. human race. [music]. Now, I can't get myself to believe in. the story of Indrid Cold, but his. message, that's something I can believe. in. So, I have to agree with John Keel, whether the story is true or not, it's a. story worth telling.

Thank you so much for hanging out with. me today. My name is AJ. That's Apple. Fish. What's shaking, baby bacon? This has been the Wi Files. If you had. fun or learned anything, do us a favor, like, comment, subscribe, share. I know. it's annoying to hear me say that, [music] but I promise it really helps. the channel. Now, like most topics we. cover on this channel, today's was. recommended by you. So, if there's a. story you'd like to see or learn more. about, go to the wifiles.com/tips. And if you'd like to join a great. community, check out the Wi Files. Discord. There's [music] thousands of. people on there who think just like you.

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[music]. I took a stroll downtown this evening, [music]. when I heard music echo through the. night. [music]. The same old songs that I heard. [singing] the night before. So, I. started running, so I wouldn't be too. late. I didn't think that I would ever see. your face again. But I was wrong.

Yeah, I [music] was wrong. [music]. When I got close, my heart was pumping. to the beat that was [music and singing]. blasting through the night. And on the [music] street, the crowd was. jumping, [singing]. singing songs. and dancing [music] through the night.

I didn't think that I would ever see. your face again. [music]. But I was wrong. I can't believe we're dancing in the. street. Oh, I ever wanted was to get close to. [music] you. Now I'm burning up. in your atmosphere. I can't feel my feet. while we're dancing [music] in the. street in the. neon light. While the music warms me up. through the night. [music].

[music]. [music].

[music].