The events of the mothman in Point Pleasant, West Virginia are more complicated than just sightings of a creature. It seemed like the perfect recipe for weird activity: an old curse from massacred native americans, an abandoned military compound with toxic waste, and the odd collapse of the Silver Bridge.
mothman sightings pale in comparison to other weird stuff going on there at the time
The entire town was spun into paranormal uncertainty in 1966. With the terror of mothman sightings, strange men began showing up, asking weird questions, and then disappearing completely. And, in a town where everyone knew everyone, the most disturbing case from Point Pleasant is the case of Indrid Cold.
The Grinning Man
With all the odd things happening at the time, sightings of the Grinning Man in town were just added to the list until a man named Woodrow Derenberger came forward with a strange story.
While driving late, Derenberger was stopped by a bright light and approached by a tall and stiff looking man.
The man introduced himself as Indrid Cold, but didn’t actually speak. He just kept grinning.
For a long time after, Cold appeared without warning to “speak” with Derenberger often in round-about ways. Derenberger recounted his encounters with the strange man on tape: Cold never had good news, but his silent mouth was always grinning.
Men In Black
The case of Indrid Cold is one of the more unusual sightings, but strange men were reported all over Point Pleasant. Witnesses talked about men dressed in old suits, driving old cars, and asking odd questions around town. Indrid Cold did many of the same things, except it seemed like he had the answers to the questions the other men were asking. For alien theorists, Men in Black are the best explanation for the the case of Indrid Cold.
But since the mothman sightings had gained a lot of press, it’s possible that these odd men were just visitors hoping to see a piece of the story.
But, like the mothman, Indrid Cold disappeared after the Silver Bridge collapsed in 1967. Woodrow Derenberger spoke of the odd encounters with the grinning man, but after a while refused to talk to the press. The general consensus of the mothman sightings is that it was just an owl. But the reported message from Indrid Cold was that he would be back, and I still get shivers thinking about it.
