Mothman: a Cryptid, Cold or a Crane?

Transcript

0:00

Hello, and welcome to All Things Cryptid. I am your host, Amanda Winter. And today in this episode, We're going to be traveling to Point Pleasant, West Virginia and surrounding areas. In November, 1966, some very strange paranormal happenings occurred. And it all started with a being called Indrid Cold or"grinning man", as he is sometimes referred to. And then there was the mothman and a horrible tragedy that occurred after the sightings. Were they all connected? Some people think so others, not so much. Let's dive in and see what you think. So let's begin. A salesman for a sewing machine company by the name of Woodrow, Derenberger or"Woody" as his friends would sometimes call him was on his way home on November 2nd, 1966 at about 7:25 PM to Mineral Wells in West Virginia. He had been away working in Ohio and was heading home along highway I-77. As he was reaching Parkersburg, a strange car flew past him at an extraordinary speed. The car was like none other that he had ever seen before. And he claimed it had"a kerosene lamp, chimney sprouting out of its top". And it traveled eight to 10 inches off of the road. Without warning, the car suddenly pulled in front of him and jerked itself sideways making Woody slam on the brakes and making his so that he could not go around it. Suddenly a grinning man in a dark suit got out of the strange craft and started to walk toward Derenberger's truck. As the man got out of the craft and was approaching the truck, the craft suddenly shot straight up into the air about 50 to 75 feet from the ground. As the being was walking toward the right side of Woodrow's truck. He was speaking with him telepathically. He asked him to roll his window down because he just wanted to talk to him. Noticing that Woody was frightened. He asked why he was frightened. The being then said,"We are just like you, we eat, we breathe. We sleep. We bleed even as you do. We are. Like you please be not frightened." Then the grinning man asked what he was called. So Derenberger told him his full name. The man then responded by saying the, his name was"Cold". The physical description of Cold was pretty common. He said, he looked just like a man that you would see on the street Derenberger described him as about 35 to 40 years of age, having a trim build. Was about six feet tall. 180 to 185 pounds with dark eyes and dark brown hair that was slick straight back. Cold wore, a long dark top coat that was zippered down the front. And beneath the coat, Woody was able to glimpse a suit like attire and by suit like attire, I mean, a button up shirt and pants. He said that the fabric glistened. He also described Cold as having a tan complexion throughout the conversation Cold kept a frozen smile, and curiously hit his hands beneath his armpits most of the time. Derenberger said that he had a smile on his face and appeared very courteous and friendly. Cold did however, point to the distant lights of Parkersburg and ask Mr. Derenberger"What do you call that over there?" Derenberger said,"well, that's Parkersburg and we call that a city." Cold responded with"where I come from, we call it a gathering." Cold later added that he came from a place less powerful than ours. As the men talked cars passed underneath the craft, which drifted up up the road. The occupants were seemingly unaware of the spaceship, even being there as it didn't have lights on Cold, then asked about Parkersburg."Do people live there or do they work there?" Woody answered"why, yes. People live and work there." Cold asked,"do you work for a living Mr. Derenberger? Derenberger answered," I am a salesman. That's what I do. Do you have a job?" Cold answered,"yes, I am a searcher." Toward the end of the conversation, Cold step back away from the window. As soon as he did the craft immediately came back down and floated about 10 inches off of the ground. Cold ended the conversation with, we will see you again, and the door opened and Derenberger saw the silhouette of another human being it'sarm reached out and pulled in Cold up into the craft and then shut the door. The ship, then jetted it up into the air about 75 feet, made a fluttering noise and then shot away at a very high rate of speed. For a few moments. Derenberger sat stunned. Finally, he started up his car and drove to his farm house and Mineral Wells where his wife met him at the door. Mrs. Derenberger later described Woodrow as"he couldn't have been any whiter if he'd have been lying in a coffin." The stories vary but from Mr. Derenberger's account, though, his wife is the one who called the West Virginia State Police, or at least dialed the number. Woody gave them a brief report of what he had claimed to have had happen. It is interesting to note that in the initial report, Derenberger called the alien Cold, but he did not mention Indrid Cold until later. He just said Cold. The next day, Derenberger attempted to go back to work, but was sidetracked when he agreed to do a live television interview about his experience on the previous night with the UFO, he did the interview with WTAP-TV, an NBC affiliate in Parkersburg housed in a small building, not much bigger than a garage. The interview took place shortly before noon where Woodrow Derenberger was grilled by veteran reporter Glenn Wilson, Ronald Mains, who was the general manager of WTAP-TV a city police, chief Ed Plum, as well as other local law enforcement, including the head of the Wood County Airport. The last part of the broadcast was about 30 minutes During that time, Derenberger drew a picture of the spacecraft, which he described in his thick West Virginia accent as charcoal gray with no lights and looking like an old fashioned chimney. He said that the craft glistened in his headlights and was approximately 25 to 30 feet long. You can actually look up and listen to the interview that took place on YouTube. It's pretty interesting to hear. Probably one of the most curious statements that Woodrow Derenberger made about his meeting was that Cold had said,"and we will see you again...." and then his voice trails off. Police Chief Ed Plum asked."Do you really believe you will see him again?" Derenberger then answered. I think so I believe I will I don't know'cause that's what I'm afraid of" After that interview, Derenberger's life transformed drastically and not for the better. He changed jobs, develop marital problem, clung to his church for a while, and then came the strange visits from men dressed in black clothing, whom Derenberger suspected to be some kind of hidden government group of spies, or maybe even mafia. He wasn't sure, they just spoke to him. They would arrive at his house and asked Derenberger simple questions. Some had to do with his UFO experience. And then the men in black acted in a very threatening manner. But nothing was as incredible as the return of Indrid Cold. At least this is what Woodrow Derenberger claimed. He said that Cold visited him many times at his farmhouse in Mineral Wells. At one point, Derenberger came up missing for about six months and said that he was with the aliens. I'm going to pause right here for just a minute, because I am so curious. Like, was he really missing? I want to like talk to people who was around and be like, yeah, dude was just gone because, oh my gosh, that is so wild. The local population finally became skeptical. The sewing machine salesman tale grew more and more farfetched. Derenberger even claimed to have been impregnated by the aliens. In 1967, Woodrow, Derenberger stated to have visited Indrid Cold's home planet where its residents walked around wearing no clothing. He said the aliens lived in a galaxy called Ganymede, where everything was peaceful and there was no war. The ridicule became too much. Derenberger with his family, moved from the area and stayed away for decades. He returned to Wood County in the 1980s and he died in 1990. Woodrow Derenberger was finally laid to rest in Mount Zion Cemetery in Mineral Wells, West Virginia. Many people have claimed to have met Indrid Cold and wherever he ends up disaster and strange phenomenon seem to follow. Many of these witnesses believe the grinning man is actually one of the men in black and is linked to UFO sightings. While looking into Indrid Cold. I found that Woody Derenberger was not the only person to report the appearance of a sinister looking grinning, man. On that same night on that very same road, two other men saw an elongated object land in front of their vehicle. They were forced to stop and they watched as a man disembarked and headed their way. He wore a dark coat and folded both arms in a peculiar way that could be considered looking uncomfortable. He asked both men questions that seem pointless to them before the man returned to the craft that subsequently took off. So while researching Indrid Cold, I did find that several weeks before Derenberger had his encounter, a pair of boys met a man that scared both of them. The boys, James Yanchitis and Martin"mouse" Manov were walking home along Fourth Street in Elizabeth, New Jersey. They had reached a corner opposite of a landmark called the turnpike. This was an elevated area with a high wire fence and a steep incline. They reported that behind the fence stood, the strangest man they ever saw. Neither had any idea how the man got there or where he came from. The man just stood there and grinned, they described him as being over six feet tall and he had a dark complexion and small beady eyes. He appeared in a green reflective suit. The man chased the kids until they got away. So because there were these two strange sightings I definitely wanted to start the podcast with Indrid Cold. But now we're going to be traveling to Point Pleasant West Virginia. And we're going to be talking about November 12th, 1966. So literally 10 days after the iIndrid Cold sighting by Woody. Five men were digging a grave, in a cemetery near Clendenin, West Virginia. And they were startled by the appearance of a large brown winged man in the trees who hopped from branch to branch. They reported the man like creature to be"like a bat from hell". Just a few days later on the evening of November 15th, 1966. Roger and Linda Scarberry and Steve and Mary Mallett. We're in the process of driving past an area of town known as theTNT area, and they noticed two huge red eyes that caught in the headlights. As they got closer, they realized that these eyes belong to a seven foot tall creature with wings. They naturally panicked and sped off as fast as they could leaving the creature, standing there with its wings tucked in behind its back. As they got further down the road, they slowed back down and started discussing what they had seen. All of a sudden they spotted the same creature on a hill near the road. This time, it decided to give chase, they managed to get into Point Pleasant and file a report with the Sheriff about the strange creature. Apparently they were not the only ones to have witnessed the strange entity that night. A building contractor named Newell Partridge was watching TV in his home. And at about 10:30 PM, that same night, his enjoyment was interrupted by a strange pattern that appeared on his television screen. As he got up to take a closer look at the TV screen, he was shocked to hear a frightening scream originate from outside his home. His dog was out on the front porch, barking, wildly. So Newell grabbed his torch. Now I'm not sure why he had a torch, and we probably won't talk about it. But I will just say that I want a torch. Anyway, he grabbed his torch and he went outside to join his hound. When he got outside, he noticed that his dog was concentrating his barking toward the barn near the house. He quickly shown his flashlight in the barn's direction and was horrified to see two bright red eyes shining back at him.The dog took off at once and gave chase to the strange red eye creature across the farmland, Newell ran back inside to grab his gun. But when he got in doors, the fear hit him. He was far too scared to return back outside and to aid his poor dog in the pursuit. That night, no Partridge was so frightened, he slept with a loaded gun propped up against the foot of his bed. He woke up the next morning and scanned the local area for his dog, but there was no sign of him. After a few days of searching for his dog, he picked up the local newspaper and he came across reports of similar encounters to the one that he had experienced. When he got to the story by the couple and the TNT area or the two couples by theTNT area, his heart sank. In the report, they claim to have seen a large dog lying on its side, on the road, as they entered into the city of Point Pleasant. Newell Partridge never saw his dog again. A press conference was arranged for the 16th of November, where the Scarberry's and the Malletts gave their account of what happened at the TNT plant. They were joined at the conference by Deputy Halstead who told onlookers that he had known the couple all their life and he believed them. They had never before been in any trouble and they had no reason to lie. The TNT plant seemed to become the center of the mothman's attentions over the next few months with numerous sightings reported. It was a large location made up of concrete buildings and wooded areas. Locals believe the mothman was using the maze of tunnels underneath the TNT plant to come and go. As he pleased. A lot of land covered by the plant was pretty much inaccessible. So the moth main could've stayed hidden with very little effort at all. There were a few houses in the region that surrounded the TNT plant. And one of those was the home of the Thomas family. On the night of November 16th, the family noticed a strange, glowing light levitating above the plant. About an hour later, Marcella Bennett decided to visit the Thomas household with her young daughter. When she pulled up and got out of the car, she turned to see a huge gray humanoid with red eyes. Raise up from the ground. It had been lying down when she arrived, but decided to rise up when she got out of her car. In her panic, Marcella forgot she was carrying her young daughter and actually dropped her back accident. She quickly scrambled about picked up her daughter and made a mad dash for the Thomas home. When inside the house, they quickly locked all the windows and doors. A minute later, the red-eye creature made its way to their porch and started to peer through various windows. They were all so petrified, they quickly contacted the police station to ask for help. By the time that the police arrived on scene, there was no sign of this mysterious red eyes, visitor. Marcella Bennett could not forget the ordeal and spent months afterwards suffering from severe mental health issues. She was constantly tormented by strange nightmares, and she later admitted to investigators that the creature had not finished with her. It had visited her home on various occasions. She also claims she was haunted by the sounds of a woman's screaming somewhere near the edge of Point Pleasant. Over the coming months, no fewer than 20 other people reported seeing something similar to the mothman beast. After the excitement of these initial sightings made their way into public focus. Sightings began to crop up all over West Virginia witnesses claim that this mothman could fly at speeds over a hundred miles an hour, but that he was extremely uncoordinated on foot. Legends grew to surround the beast saying that had an infinity for landing on the roofs of teenagers cars or that it was a member of the alien species. However Dr. Robert L. Smith and associate professor with wildlife biology at West Virginia University dismissed the notion that a flying monster was stalking the town. And instead he attributed the sightings to that of a Sandhill Crane, which stands almost as tall as the average man and has bright red flesh around its eyes. Logical explanations for the mothman, tend to favor the theory of the crane. Sandhill cranes are migratory birds that annually traveled from Northern Canada to the Southern United States where they spend the winter. These brownish gray birds can grow to be around five feet tall with wingspans exceeding their height. Their migratory routes take them along the Appalachian Mountains, skirting the west of West Virginia, but it would be possible for some of the birds to stray from their usual route and appear in places they wouldn't typically be found such as Northwest West Virginia, where Point Pleasant is located. In addition to matching the height, color and location criteria, sandhill cranes have fleshy crimson patches around their eyes, which could easily be mistaken for the glowing red eyes of the mothman. Other suggestions, attempting to uncover the origin of the beast had included owls and unusually large herons. Some people hypothesize that the bunkers have leaked toxic materials into neighboring wildlife preserve affecting nearby animals. They believe that these toxins come from the bunker area or the TNT area where they manufactured munitions and stored TNT During World War II. At the height of its production, the facility, right outside of Point, Pleasant West Virginia produced 500,000 pounds of TNT each day. This site closed in 1945. However much of the land is contaminated by TNT and its chemical precursor, DNT. No one can know 100% why the mothman was there or what the mothman was. But we do know one thing. Something very tragic was getting ready to happen. Was it connected? On December 15th, 1967, just a little over a year after the first month, man citing. Traffic was bad on the silver bridge. The Point Pleasant Bridge, also known as the Silver Bridge, was an eye-bar chain suspension bridge built in 1928 and named for the color of its aluminum paint. It was used to connect Point Pleasant West Virginia to Ohio. The bridge was packed with cars. Christmas was just around the corner and both lanes were lined with shoppers and commuters alike,as they tried to make their way home. But for many among them, it was not to be. This placed a strain on the bridge, when it had been built in a time when cars were much lighter. And on that cold December day, without warning, a single eye-bar near the top of the bridge on the Ohio side, cracked. The chain snapped. And the bridge and its careful equilibrium, disturbed fell to pieces, plunging cars and pedestrians into the icy water of the Ohio River below. One of the eye-bars had a small unseen defect. The faulty eye-bar eventually cracked and began to corrode out of sight from the public or the bridge inspectors and about 5:00 PM on December 15th, the eye-bar failed, setting off a series of other failures that cause the whole bridge to collapse. There were 31 vehicles on the bridge at the time of its collapse. 46 people died either by drowning or being crushed by the wreckage. Two people were never found. The Silver Bridge tragedy led to national changes in how bridges were inspected. At St. Mary's some 100 miles upstream from Point Pleasant, another 40 year old bridge of the same design was immediately closed and later demolished. Following the mothman citing the bridge collapse was the second terrible and bizarre thing to put Point Pleasant on the map in a year's time. IT was actually third, if you count Indrid Cold. So it didn't take long for people to connect all of them together. Mary Hyre was the Point Pleasant reporter for the local newspaper,"The Messenger". A few days after the bridge disaster, she was swapped with calls from locals claiming they had seen UFO lights in the sky before, during, and after the bridge collapse. One night in January, she was stuck in her office working late when a short and peculiar man walked in. His eyes were very strange, almost inhuman and they were covered by extremely thick spectacles. His hair was very dark and long and cut into a strange bowl shaped. When he spoke, he had a strange low voice that sort of stuttered. At first, she thought he stuttered from some sort of speech impediment. He was only interested in one subject. He wanted more information on the people that have reported seeing the strange lights in the sky. He also seemed interested in getting directions to Welch West Virginia. As he talked to Mary, he was edging closer and closer to her. She became very afraid and called her boss into her office with her. As they continue to talk to the strange character, the phone rang, and Mary answered it, the small man then noticed her pen lying on the office desk and picked it up to examine it further. He seemed to have a look of amazement on his face as he examined the pen. It was as if he'd never encountered one before. All of a sudden he quickly scanned the room, pocketed the pen and ran out of the building. This was not the last time Mary would see the strange character. As a few weeks later, she spotted him crossing the road, near her office location. He recognized her, he panicked and made a dash for a large black sedan that suddenly appeared. He jumped into the backseat of the car and it sped off into the distance. There were reports of this strange man visiting the homes of several of the witnesses that had reported seeing the lights in the sky. He claimed to be a member of the press from Cambridge, Ohio, But when questioned, he seemed to know nothing about the area Some locals believe that this man was Indrid Cold returning to the area while others believed he was one of the men in black that worked beneath Cold. The truth of the matter is that we will never know for sure. He has not reappeared since that we are aware of. The mothman craze eventually gained traction outside of West Virginia. As national papers began reporting the phenomenon. Sightings of the beast started popping up as far away as Chicago, the pervasiveness of the myth also caught the attention of psychologist and zoologist who took it upon themselves to diagnose the mothman craze. Along with the qualified professionals, pseudoscience enthusiast, and cryptozoologist also offered up their explanation to the mothman sightings as everything from aliens to supernatural manifestations. In 1975 author, John Keel conflated the mothman sightings and the bridge disaster while creating the book,"The Mothman Prophecies". He also incorporated UFO activity. His book to hold, and the town soon became iconic among conspiracy theorists, ufologist and fans of the paranormal. It's worth noting that John Keel was not a believer and Woodrow Derenberger's UFO story. So it's mysterious why he would make it such a big part of"The Mothman Prophecies"book. In"The Mothman Prophecies" movie, the character Gordon Smallwood, is based upon Woodrow Derenberger. But the Wood County man most often appeared a suit, not overall. A few elements. The story made it believable that initially something of an extraordinary nature happened to him. First of all his account predates the mothman sightings by 10 days. Derenberger would have had to have been a prophet to know that something was about to happen next. Making his story even more extraordinary. Woody's family explains, they believe something in an other worldly nature initially happened, but he added the tale to sell his book. Woodrow Derenberger, self published a book called"Visitors from Lanolus" in 1971, I've not read the book, but I do want to read it. In 2002, a movie based on Keel's book, rekindled interest in the mothman. In" The Mothman Prophecies" film, Richard Gere plays a reporter whose wife seems to have witnessed the moth man shortly before her death he finds himself inexplicably in Point Pleasant several years later with no clue how he got there. And he's not the only one having trouble explaining himself as several other locals experience premonitions of distant disaster. There's talk of visitations from a mysterious figure called the mothman. The film, a supernatural horror and mystery offers, no conclusions communicating instead, an eerie feeling of disjointedness that was both planned and praised by critics. Most notably the film popularized the image of the mothman as an omen of doom. The idea that visitations from the mothman predicted disaster led some believers to make ties to the Chernobyl disaster of 1986, the Mexican Swan flu outbreak of 2009 and the 2011 nuclear disaster in Japan. As for sightings of the actual mothman, they've mostly declined since the late 1960s, but every so often there is an emergence. In 2016, a man who just moved to Point Pleasant, spotted a mysterious creature, jumping from tree to tree. He claimed to the local reporters that he was unaware of the local legend of the mothman, until he allegedly spotted the beast himself. Now I'd like to stop for just a minute and say there's a whole ass fucking statue standing in the middle of town. I know, I've seen it. It's a big ass statue. How could you not know about the mothman? Like, I mean, That's just me saying, I'm not saying he's lying. I'm just saying there's a whole ass statue there. Whether these sightings are real or not, the mothman can still be seen in Point Pleasant today in the form of a historical museum and also in the form of a 12 foot tall Chrome polished statue. Complete with massive steel wings and Ruby red eyes. Furthermore, a festival commemorating, the mothman visit, has taken place annually for years. A fun celebration that attracts locals and tourists alike. Every September, the festivities celebrate one of America's strangest legends that still has people scratching their heads today. Typically over 10,000 people show up to this festival. So I'm going to pause right there and tell you that this year's festival is actually on September 17th and 18th of 2022. I personally am planning on attending my very first ever Mothman Festival this year. So I will be there and I can't wait to meet other people like me, who just enjoy these things. I will definitely be updating this podcast after I go Guys, I just got back from traveling to The Mothman Festival and I couldn't wait to update you as soon as I could. First of all, there was around 15 to 20,000 people there. It was so worth it. If you ever get a chance to go to The Mothman Festival, you really need to. I got to hear so many amazing speakers and I can't wait to tell you some of their stories, but I need to update you on something right now. I met a wonderful author and researcher named Mark Muncy. He's written several interesting books that you should go check out on different cryptids in different areas. Um, he specializes in Florida. But he's also written one on the Appalachian area. And he's really gifted at researching. I was lucky enough to talk to him and hear him speak and an update he gave me had me so excited. So here it goes. Okay. I want to talk to you briefly about an incident that occurred in April, 1967. Remember the incidents that occurred in West Virginia were in 1966. So we're talking five or six months. In south Florida at Crestview Elementary School, hundreds of witnesses, many who were young children and still alive today, saw UFO's over their school and hovering right across the street. I could go more in depth on this whole story at a later time, but I did want to say that one of the kids who was still alive today, dad. One of the kids' dads took notes on who in the military or government officials that he spoke to about the incident. He had three names written down, Captain Sinclair with the Coast Guard, Captain Smith with the Air Force. And the third one was only listed as Government man Cold. What? When the now adult who still remembers being questioned by these officials was asked about Government man Cold. He said,"He really didn't say anything. He just stood there, smiling." Shut up. Are you serious? Is this our Indrid Cold? I know Mark Muncy who I hope to have on here as a guest one day, is doing a chapter in his new book on Indrid Cold. So I cannot wait to dig more into that. And I know you guys will be excited to hear about that too. But I did want to share that new information because, oh my goodness. It is always so interesting to see how these things are all tied together. And I just love it. So on that note, I would like to thank you very much for listening to my very first ever podcast. I hope you enjoyed it. And I hope that you found it as interesting as I did when I was researching it. If you did enjoy this podcast, please keep coming back. From time to time I will be having friends on and we'll be doing interviews with different people. So keep hanging on, keep listening and have a great week.