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Grinning Man


GoddessKate

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Actuly the grinning man has nothing to do with the Mad Gasser or Spring Heald Jack! The first encounter happened on November 2, 1966, a man named Woodrow Derenberger was driving home in his panel truck after a hard day of work. As he drove up a hill outside of Parkersburg on Interstate 77, he heard a sudden crash. A vehicle was speeding behind him, and it suddenly cut in front of him and slowed down. Derenberger looked in amazement as the vehicle that passed him looked like "an old fashioned kerosene lamp chimney, flaring at both ends, narrowing down to a small neck and then enlarging in a great bulge in the center." The "thing" blocked the road, and a door slid open on the side of the it. Then a man stepped out, the man was around 6 feet tall, with long dark hair combed straight back. His skin was heavily tanned. He wore an outfit that was made out of some sort of "glistening green material," similar to the outfit worn by the other Grinning Man that was encountered in Elizabeth, New Jersey by the two boys. He was grinning broadly.

The man spoke to Derenberger telepathically and said his name was "Cold", and went off asking him strange questions, and the two talked for a few minutes. Then the strange entity said that he would visit Derenberger again, and he got back in the craft, and left. Hope this helped!

I'm new here also, hope this hasn't already been said but Wikipedia has a fairly concise (though brief) entry on Indrid Cold/The Grinning Man. There is another discussion going on about 'Indrid' so perhaps all these fine people should team up and pool ideas!

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Doesn't the idea of the Grinning Man go back at least as far as the first Jack o' Lantern?

And that was a lot longer ago than Indrid Cold.

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  • 8 months later...

does this "grinning man" remind anyone else of the slenderman meme? maybe it's the inspiration

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I think that someone mentioned this earlier - v similar to the Gentlemen of the Hush episode of buffy. This is the one where no one talks because all their voices are stolen...

anway check out the pick

s102285283.jpg

Grinning men or what?

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I'm new here, I actually read about this in a book, interesting little read and a pretty good eye witness account. Unfortunately I haven't heard much about it elsewhere.

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("does this "grinning man" remind anyone else of the slenderman meme? maybe it's the inspiration?")

nah- totally different,lol :P

Edited by SirRedeye
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So I'm new on this board, I just found it thru a Google search so excuse me if I'm making kind of a newbie... But I was wondering if anyone had ever heard about something called the Grinning Man. Basically a scary grinning man-looking thing wearing black. Has anyone heard of this?

Unless I am mistaken, wasn't that the basis for the monster that was featured on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer second season episode "Killed by death"?

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Some have suggested that "Indrid Cold" was not so much the creature's name but a statement of his condition or a description of where he originated...."In Dread Cold."

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  • 6 months later...

Some have suggested that "Indrid Cold" was not so much the creature's name but a statement of his condition or a description of where he originated...."In Dread Cold."

Boy, leave it to an alien to speak in purple prose.

The mental image of this guy kinda makes me think of Primus' "Devil Went Down to Georgia" video.

And here's a picture that'll sooth me to sleep every night til I die. http://rookery5.aviary.com/storagev12/2452500/2452827_31a7_625x1000.jpg

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The Grinning man is/was allways connected to U.F.O sightings

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Victor Hugo,who wrote The Hunchback of Notre Dame wrote a book called The Man Who Laughs.It is about a man who as a child had the corners of his mouth slit by someone,and has this perpetual grin because of it. It was reprinted as a Classic Comic,and was a silent movie starring Conrad Veidt and Mary Philbin. I don't believe it has ever been remade.

I'll look at Wikepedia to see if they have something on it. And apparently this was something done by beggars to induce sympathy in passersby to give money to unfortunates.Apparently he based his book on a real pratice of the past.

Interesting info HollyDolly...especially the part about the child who had the corners of his mouth slit...reminds me incredibly of the Joker from DC Comics..could definitely be a connection there in the inspiration especially considering the very mysterious nature of the Joker: he is never affirmatively identified, much like the Grinning Man

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I researched a little on this entity and ended up on Youtube. There is a really good short film on the Grinning Man. Here it is if anyone is interested.

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  • 2 weeks later...

You mean the Disturbed guy logo? 'Cause I mean...he fits the description perfectly..

Disturbed---Indestructible.jpg

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I've heard of him as a kid, but the stories are kinda forgotten.

Edited by Fatalis
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  • 3 months later...

my uncle told me stories about the grinning man, said the guy wore a black hoodie and had big eyes and the hugest grin you'd ever seen, and some people say he's bald with no nose. my uncle said after a hurricane happened somewhere (i forgot where) but as people were leaving going over a bridge alot of people said they saw he grinning man a police officer went to talk to the guy but he just disappeared my uncle told me that the last reported sight was by a bunch of kids. :D

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  • 3 months later...

Ah yes the Grinning Man. A truly frighting thing to come upon. The most famous accounts of it coming from the incident in New Jersey but for me, the interactions that people had with the Grinning Man "Indrid Cold" are far more interesting.

Indrid Cold is somehow related to the Mothman sightings at Point Pleasant, West Virginia in the 1960s. Mothman seems to not be a new species (Making it a bit of an uninteresting topic to some cryptozoologists), but something paranormal or from another world of some sort. Indrid Cold's first reported visit to Point Pleasant happened when a man was driving on a road at night to see a strange craft blocked his path and a 6 foot tall man stepped out of the car. The man was incredibly tan, had a huge grin, had slicked back hair, and was wearing a strange glistening green material. Idrid apparently spoke to the man telepathically and asked him some odd questions and told him his name was "Cold". Then the Cold stepped back into his craft and left.

After that several people had reported strange lights around their houses and appliances turning off and on unexpectedly. Many people had frighting dreams of the Indrid Cold at night. More specifically a family in rural Point Pleasant reported many lights appearing over their house every night, sometimes they were so close they could see it looked a bit like a diamond shaped aircraft. At times automobiles would stop for no apparent reason near the families house and the family reported cabinets opening then slamming in the night. The family would chain lock their front door at night and find it mysteriously opened in the morning. Members of the family would occasionally hear banging of metallic objects and a baby crying. The daughter had a frighting encounter with a being much like Indrid Cold, towering over her bed and grinning at her, she then screamed causing her parents to run in and the daughter claimed that there was a man in her room. The daughter refused to sleep alone after that.

The Grinning Man may be something paranormal or alien, it has been linked to disasters and some odd events. Ah the strange things in this world we have.

Edited by xXxSquidzxXx
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  • 5 months later...
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  • 2 months later...

Hello I have done some research into the grinning man. From my studies it originated from a creepypasta.That is the most direct mention of the grinning man. Sorry not to be much help.

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  • 1 month later...

I know this thread hasn't been posted on in a few months, but I found it too interesting not to share this;

This thread jogged a few memories. Not of encounters, but stories from my grandfather when I was young and in New Jersey. I remember him saying something about seeing a "man with a terrible grin." He passed away in 1997, but I'll see if any of my aunts or uncles can tell me anything next time I'm back home.

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  • 1 year later...

I don't know about anyone else here, but I always start grinning when I'm dressed in all black and want to be creepy... lol

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