The Grinning Man – A Cryptoid Or Just an Urban Legend?

He usually appears around the time of UFO sightings

The Grinning Man is a name given to a mysterious creature that has been reported in various areas over the last century.

He is believed to either be an alien or some other type of unknown creature.  If nothing else, he is very creepy and all the witness accounts describe him as being very strange.  Everyone who has seen him will never forget him or what he looks like.  Nobody knows if there is just one Grinning Man or many, or if the whole thing is just an urban legend.

One account of the Grinning Man happened in October 1966.  Two boys in NJ were walking along Fourth Street, and when they reached a corner parallel to the NJ Turnpike, one of the boys, James Yanchitis, could see a strange figure standing on the other side of a fence.  He nudged his friend, Marvin Munoz, who then noticed the man too.  They both describe the man as being “a really big man with a big old grin”.  Allegedly, another resident in the neighborhood claimed to have been “chased by a tall green man” down that very same street. 

John A. Keel, a well-known paranormal investigator and author of “The Mothman Prophecies”, visited the boys a few days later to speak to them about their incident.  He interviewed each boy separately and they both gave the same exact story.  The man, they claimed was more than six feet tall and was dressed in a green coverall costume.  The costume even appeared to be shimmering in the street lights.  There was a black belt around his waist.  Neither boy noticed any hair, nose, or ears on the man, just two, beady eyes and a really big grin.

There were other, similar reports of such a strange man in other parts of the country, including on in Parkersburg, WV, which is about 40 miles away from where the mothman sightings took place.  In Nov. 1966, Woodrow Derenberger was driving home in his truck when he heard a crash.  Out of nowhere, a vehicle came zooming up behind him and quickly passed him up.  After passing him up, the vehicle slowed down and stopped, blocking the road.  The witness noticed that it was the strangest vehicle he had ever seen, and described it as looking like a “kerosene lamp chimney”.  It apparently was flaring at each end, and the ends were narrow.  The vehicle had a large bulge in the center.

All of a sudden, a strange, tall man stepped out.  He was described as being “really tall and tanned”.  Derenberger claimed that the man had a “gleaming green” outfit on, similar to what the boys in NJ noted.  The Grinning Man alleged communicated with Derenberger telepathically and asked him strange questions about UFO sightings in the area.  The entity then, telepathically, revealed his name to be “Indrid Cold”. 

There have been other reports of a strange, grinning man, including on in Point Pleasant, WV, where the mothman sightings took place.  Nobody knows for sure who---or what---this strange man was, or why he was here.  Of course, he could just be an urban legend.  Or, he could’ve just been an ordinary, albeit strange man.  There haven’t been any more reported sightings of him as of late.  Whenever he had been around in the past, there were usually UFO sightings or crypto sightings such as Mothman.  He couldn’t be associated with the Men in Black, since he supposedly wears a shimmering green outfit.

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