Indrid Cold: Unexplainable Encounters with West Virginia’s Smiling Man

What if everything you thought you knew about cryptids was only the beginning of a rabbit hole you couldn’t pull yourself out of? There is always more than meets the eye; there is always more to the story. And in this case, the story of Indrid Cold, the Smiling Man who supposedly came down in a spaceship to greet the people of West Virginia, will make you question everything you thought you knew about cryptids. Think of this tale as the “lore behind the lore.” Because the further you go, the deeper the story.

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Housekeeping

Before we get started, I wanted to take a moment and do a little housekeeping, but stay with me; it will make this story so much more rewarding in the end. 

First, the journey we are about to embark on today will not feel very “Cryptid” in nature, at least not in the beginning. But I assure you, Cryptids Across the Atlas is not and will not abandon cryptids. Even though the cryptid we are covering today feels like anything but, I assure you that this specific story is a gateway into literally thousands of other cryptid tales. Almost every cryptid encounter theory we have ever and will ever cover has been influenced by this very story.

Second, I need you to pay extra close attention to each part of this. No, not just because I want you to enjoy the story, which I do! But because, well. You know those stereotypical peg boards with push pins and string ran in a web of connected ideas you might see in every stereotypical investigation drama? Yea. You’re about to join me in creating that. Because in order to unlock an entirely new theory about cryptids in general, it’s going to be a wild, bumpy ride. But hey, I promise to make it a fun one! And with that, let’s begin. 

Do aliens use the highway?

State and local police, accompanied by an air force representative, sat nearby, listening in skeptical shock as Woodrow Derenberger, frazzled and shaken, recounted his encounter. WTAP-TV news director Glen Wilson, a seasoned journalist, took notes and coaxed out as many details as he could while the story was still fresh. 

“It all started shortly before 7:30 pm,” he explained. Derenberger pulled off Highway 77 on his way home to Mineral Wells, West Virginia, from a business trip in Marietta, Ohio. As a traveling Sowing Machine salesman with 50 years of living in the area, he spent a lot of time traveling the highways that bounce along the borders of West Virginia and Ohio. As he drove, he noticed one of his Sowing Machines was shifting around a bit haphazardly. So Derenberger pulled off the side of the highway and began to readjust the machine.

After ensuring it wouldn’t be a problem for the rest of the trip, he pulled back out onto the highway, but as he did, he noticed a vehicle approaching from behind. Thinking nothing of it, he continued down the road, but as he drove closer, something seemed off. This was a vehicle that Woodrow Derenberger had never witnessed before. A vehicle that was out of this world. 

He was just shy of the West Virginia 47 interchange when the object passed him up and then pulled out in front of him. “It was traveling about the same speed of my truck: It cut in front of my vehicle and continued to travel at some distance sideways.” Derenberger recounted. But this wasn’t an ordinary vehicle. He described it as a dark, long aircraft that resembled a kerosene lamp globe. It appeared to be made of some kind of dark grey metal. There were no visible lights, and the aircraft seemed to emit a soft, fluttering noise as it hovered approximately 8-10 inches above the ground. It approached Derenberger’s truck at the intersection, where it slowed and finally stopped, blocking the entire road. 

The aircraft, 35-40 feet long and ovular, had a flat bottom with what appeared to be a dome-like top. Derenberger watched in amazement as suddenly, a crack began to form along the edge of the craft, and a hatch-like door popped open and swung out. “It was much like a car door,” Derenberger recounted. Anxiously, he continued to gawk at the spectacle before him as the craft lowered to the ground. A man then stepped out of the craft and onto the pavement below, then began to walk toward Derenberger’s truck. As he walked, the craft slowly rose up about 75 feet into the air. 

The man from the craft appeared to be around 6 feet tall, maybe 35-40 years old. His skin looked naturally sun-tanned. His hair dar brown and well kept, slicked straight back on his head. His face looked very…normal. Oh, and he appeared to be wearing some kind of top coat that was zipped up in the front. His undershirt was buttoned up, and the clothing seemed to be made of a shiny, navy blue material. The jacket, shirt, and pants all seemed to be made of different shades of the same material. I can’t help but conjure images of some kind of intergalactic tracksuit, though, to be fair, Derenberger described it more as a zip-up business suit. 

The man approached the passenger side and asked Derenberger to roll down the window. Except, he didn’t exactly use words. Derenberger would go on to describe his form of communication as “waves of mental telepathy”, that is – he could hear the space man’s voice in his head despite the fact that his mouth was constantly locked in some kind of other-worldly smile. The two of them would go on to have a 5-10 minute mental conversation, the whole time this smiling humanoid never breathing an actual word. 

“Have no fear; we come from a country not nearly as powerful as yours. We mean you no harm. We wish you only happiness. We eat, we breathe, we sleep, we breathe, we bleed even as you do.” These are the first words projected into Derenberger’s mind as he begins the conversation with the saucer man. Which, if I am being honest, are probably some of the creepiest words a being that just crawled out of a UFO and started telepathically communicating could say. “My name is Cold. And I am a Searcher,” the being went on to the project. Cold then asked Derenberger his name, which he told Cold out loud. Cold then informed Woodrow Derenberger that he was welcome to use actual words or just think them, whatever was easier for him.

He, or rather, turned towards the glowing lights in the distance and asked, “What is that?” Derenberger told Cold that the glow was from Parkersburg, a city. A place where there are a lot of people. Cold seemed to contemplate this and then responded that where he was from, places like that were called “Gatherings.” 

After a bit more conversation back and forth, Cold informed Derenberger that it was time for him to leave, but not without informing him that “We will see you again.” Cold also advised Derenberger to contact the local authorities. Then, right on cue, the kerosene-shaped craft lowered back down to the road, the hatch popped open, and a hand reached out to assist Cold back up into the object. The door audibly closed, sounding much like a car door, before the craft rose back off into the air and darted away. 

Derenberger rushed home trembling. He burst through the door, barely giving a passing glance to his wife and two children, practically running to the phone, where he called the Parkersburg police and recounted the tale in full. 

The following days were almost as much a whirlwind as the normal encounter. Police, Air Force officials, and reporters alike all wanted to hear the tale of the telepathic, grinning space-man on Interstate 77. Derenberger even went on air the following day, November 3rd, 1966, for a 30-minute interview with Ronald Mains and WTAP-TV, describing in detail the experience. And if you are wondering, yes, you can absolutely go listen to this conversation for yourself. I did in preparation for this episode, and if you are as interested in this as I am, I’d highly recommend you do. 

Upon arriving home from the interview, Mr. Derenberger pulled up to his home to a crowd waiting for him. Family, friends, neighbors, and complete strangers alike had all gathered in excitement to hear the story again, this time straight from the source. But as shocking as this encounter was, we now know that it wasn’t even the first encounter with a telepathic spaceman… and it most certainly wasn’t the last.

Indrid Cold Gets Around

It seems like Woodrow Derenberger wasn’t the first person to encounter the smiling man from outer space. One month prior, on October 16th, Martin and James Yanchitis were walking down Fourth Street, some 600 miles away in New Jersey. As they walked, they noticed what they described as a “surreal figure” standing near a fence. 

Martin later recounted to reporters: 

“Jimmy nudged me…and said, “Who’s that guy standing behind you?” I looked around and there he was…behind that fence. Just standing there. He pivoted around and looked right at us. Then he grinned a big old grin.”

The Yanchitis boys described the man as being tall and bald, almost sinister in appearance, and wearing a “metal green suit.” They said his nose and skin looked strange, and he had an ominous air about him. But unlike Cold, this man wasn’t so friendly. The boys recounted how it appeared as if the grinning man began sprinting after them. They turned and fled the scene, sneaking out of his grasp, most likely due to their familiarity with the area. For the next few days, multiple reports of UFO-type crafts were reported by a handful of people across New Jersey.

A month after the Yanchitis boy’s encounter, within a day or so of Derenberger’s, another family had a run-in with a grinning spaceman. Just down the highway, about an hour’s drive from Parkersburg, is a little town called Point Pleasant, West Virginia. It seems that the Lilly family had been experiencing strange activity in their home. Every night outside their window, these strange, diamond-shaped lights would shine into their daughter Linda’s bedroom. These strange lights continued every night until things took an invasive turn. 

The entire house awoke to the sound of Linda screaming. As her parents burst into her bedroom, they found their daughter huddled in a ball, crying her eyes out. As she regained her composure, she recounted to them,

“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 around the bed and stood right over me. I screamed again and hid under the covers, when I looked again he was gone.”

And if that wasn’t enough, after Woodrow Derenberger’s story, a handful of other eyewitnesses came forward to share their sightings that very same night. In chapter 2 of Derenberger’s book titled, “Visitors from Lanulos: My Contact with Indrid Cold,” Derenberger shares a handful of other sightings people supposedly confided to him following his public account of his first encounter. For the sake of not reinventing the wheel, I will share these exactly as they are recounted in his book:

“One family, a mom, her son Frank, and daughter Susan, stopped their car and watched the ship very shortly after I had left the spot where it had stopped me. They watched it for about five minutes until it left, heading towards Parkersburg, possibly scouting the city. Later, a young man, driving on the same stretch of road, has the shocking experience of having the ship hover over his car; as the ship hovers over his car, it shines a brilliant, white light on him. He left very quickly and reported the incident to the police.

Later that night, two truck drivers were also stopped on Interstate 77 by the same ship, but not wanting notoriety, they would not give their names for publication, and they did not report it to the police. These two men did, however, later reveal their story to John Keel, a well–known writer from New York.”

So it appears that Cold had been making his rounds, but if you thought this story was wild, you’d best buckle up because we haven’t even left first gear. 

Where’d You Park Your Space Ship?

It appears that Cold was a being of his word. The following day, November 4th, Derenberger was driving with his friend when he felt a tingling sensation begin to creep into his mind. He recounted: 

“I was on my way home from Pomeroy, Ohio, and a friend of mine was riding with me. We were traveling south on Route 7 towards Parkersburg when I began to feel a slight tingling sensation around the area of my forehead. Very quickly, I knew that Mr. Cold was trying to communicate with me. I did not want to receive him, but the sensation persisted, and I finally answered him. The gentleman riding with me knew something was going on because he later told me that he also had some sort of feeling but didn’t know what it was.

Mr. Cold suggested that I slow down and drive very carefully and said that his ship was high directly over my truck and that he was following me. He told me that the first time he had contacted me, he had only asked me questions to calm me and settle my fears. At this second contact, I was not frightened, and he told me repeatedly to drive very carefully. I had a feeling that I cannot explain. The feeling was in my head – not pain, 

but the sensation that I was hearing my own voice with his words. “He also told me that their time was not exactly as ours, that they have three seasons — planting, harvesting, and cold, whereas we have four–winter, spring, summer, and fall. He said that his people had a life expectancy of one–hundred twenty–five to one–hundred seventy–five of our earth–years. At this time, he told me that his first name was Indrid and that he was getting ready to break contact. He then explained to me that I would receive a severe shock when he did so and that I should prepare myself for it. I was listening very intently to every word he said and had begun to think of questions to ask him when he told me that he was leaving.”

From here on out, things with Indrid Cold get stranger and stranger. Derenberger’s book recounting his encounters with Cold goes on to talk about how Cold and his friend named Karl, yes, Karl, showed up on his back porch and talked religion for two hours. Apparently, they are monotheistic, meaning they believe in one Divine creator and have learned to love one another as “God’s Children.” They found Woodrow’s explanations of our many religions baffling. 

A couple of days later, Indrid Cold and Karl Ardo—yea, we now know Karls’s full name—stopped by again and let “Woody” Derenberger tour their ship. This is where he learns that Karl and Indrid travel together and that Karl was the arm he saw that night. A bit after that, Woody traveled with Indrid and Karl to the Amazon jungle, then to the moon, and then to the flagship—or rather, mothership—of Lanulos, Indrid and Carl’s home planet.

Oh, and then they stopped by Saturn to view its agricultural society and then went to Lanulos itself, though Woody was not allowed to actually leave the ship due to “contamination and vaccination” reasons. And that’s just chapter 5! There are 15 whole chapters of intergalactic frolics to venture off into, from run-ins with other aliens to the slapstick excursions of Indrid along with his wife Kimi explaining how they washed clothes on Lanulos.

Honestly, I just got through reading Rob Bell’s new book, “Where’d You Park Your Space Ship,” and let’s just say I bet Heen Gru-Bares would have LOVED Woody, Indrid, Kimi, and Karl. I know, niche reference, but if you get it, you get it. 

Okay, we really have to get off this spaceship now. This has already run the length of some of our episodes, and we haven’t even gotten into the part where I explain how this connects with cryptid culture. So, here’s the deal. If you want to read the full story for yourself, just google Lanulos and grab a copy of the book. It’s a trip! 

Now, I can’t speak for Woodrow Derenberger. Hey, I’m open-minded. I mean, I host a podcast about Cryptids, and I’ve gotta be at least a bit accepting that there could be something out there that defies our explanation. That said, in my humble opinion, I find this whole Indrid and Karl story to be a bit much. Okay. I find it to be a lot, much. 

That said, I’ve listened to that initial conversation with Derenberger the day after his encounter, and to be fair, he sounds pretty convincing. His story stays straight. He seems genuinely excited and even a bit nervous about the whole thing. It’s kind of strange, really. If you read his book and listen to his interview, at least to me, they seem like two different people recounting these events. On one hand, you have an ordinary man who seemed to have a rather convincing, extraordinary experience. On the other hand, you seem to have some kind of euphoric Twilight Zone fan-fiction writer. And don’t come at me for saying it. You were thinking it, too. 

And let’s not forget how chaotic things in this part of West Virginia were around 1966. If you love cryptids, then Point Pleasant is a town that immediately excites you. This sleepy little town is ground zero for one of the most famous cryptid encounters of all time: none other than the Mothman Itself. And while that is a tale we are working to spin for you this Christmas, it would be abashed if I didn’t at least make mention of the fact that sightings of the Mothman, a tall, winged, bird-like humanoid, were first reported on November 15th of the very same year. And side note/teaser, yes, Mothman was more bird-like than moth-like. Sorry to ruin it for you.

Oh, and for those of us less number-savvy, that’s only 13 days after Woody’s first Indrid encounter. Couple that with all the Men in Black showing up asking strange questions and rumors of a Native American curse, and you got yourself ground zero for a folklore frenzy.

But how does this all tie into cryptids? How much of this story is plausible, and how much is capitalism? And why is Indrid’s friend named Karl!? Well, that, my folklore-loving friends, is what we are about to find out. 

The Grinning Man

The term Uncanny Valley has become all the rage with the rise of digital media. You know it when you see it: It’s the word we give to something that looks human, but there’s something not quite right about it. The face is there, the shape is right but our brains can just tell that whatever we are looking at isn’t human. And one of the worst offenders of the Uncanny Valley? A smile that isn’t quite right. There’s something sinister about a forced smile. If you recall the story of the Yanchitis boys in New Jersey we covered just a bit ago; you’ll remember that the smile is what created them out the most about the tall man standing by that fence. 

But what is even creepier is when you realize that, for some reason, our brains seem intentionally wired to pick out faces that aren’t quite right. This kind of implies that at some point in human history, we have NEEDED the ability to distinguish humans from imposters. And historically, there are plenty of impostors in cryptid folklore. 

First on the list, there are the German tales of doppelgängers – those fairy-like beings that sneak over into our world and snatch up an innocent life where they then, after some time, replace them in this reality, forcing those around them to take care of them while they lazily reap the efforts of those who thought they had lost their loved one for good. There are small differences, of course. The Uncanny valley effect is said to be all too real with Doppelgängers, however distraught loved ones are often said to be so relieved to find the one they lost that they turn a blind eye until it is too late. 

Sleep Paralysis, Skinwalkers, or Aliens?

The Navajo have for centuries told tales of the now famous, yee naaldlooshii or, as we know them, skin walkers. Having to be invited in to enter one’s home, these shape-shifters, though having a few different variations, are said to be able to take the form of people close to you in order to sneak into your house and feed. But of course, if you look closely, you can tell that there is something that is not quite right. 

Then, of course, you have tales of the grinning man. The grinning man is a being who people often see haunting their dreams. The same man, dark hair slicked back a wide, almost creepy smile, has been said by thousands of people to haunt their dreams. Often the man shows up in the most obscure places in a dream: in a closet, on a dresser, in the corner of the room, shocking people awake. Other times, the grinning man is seen as a sleep paralysis entity, hovering over people caught in that trance-like state between rest and awake, not unlike the tale of the Lilly family and their daughter Linda. Some view the grinning man as a type of sleep paralysis demon or even perhaps a Karabasan, that is, a Jinn or Jeanie from Turkish Folklore. 

And all that, of course, seems all too similar to our friend, Indrid Cold, and those sightings in 1966. So maybe This alien wasn’t alien after all, but more Cryptid in nature? While there are obviously similar humanoid experiences around the world dating much farther back than the ’60s, it’s worth noting that in my research, I could not find anything about a “grinning man” that predates the Indrid Cold encounter. It seems that these encounters might be a simple case of mass hysteria fueled by all the coverage of this story over the years. This was most likely elevated even faster with the rise of forums like Reddit and CreepyPasta in more modern times.

Not saying Sleep Paralysis victims aren’t seeing a Grinning Man standing over them, of course, but we know that often our dreams bleed into those experiences, no matter how real they might seem. So if there is a panic going on around Indrid Cold -Especially perhaps on WTAP News a few nights prior to an Indrid Cold encounter, it might not be a far stretch for a girl to have an encounter with Indrid later that same week. 

Humanoids

In chapter 8 of Visitors from Lanulos, we take a hard turn from the space antics of intergalactic travel to share an encounter back here on Earth. This chapter follows two cousins, Jim and Carla, who encounter a flying Saucer in a ravine. This saucer was piloted by two creatures, Indrid and Karl, who wrangled up and chased off. They later informed Jim, Carla, and Woody that these creatures were known as “Humanoids.” These Humanoids have a bad problem with stealing what isn’t theirs. And what did these humanoids look like, you ask? Well, they were tall, man-like beings but with large, red eyes, wrinkly faces, and small feathers instead of hair. 

And here is the transition you’ve been waiting for. Because well, have you ever seen the description of the mothman? You know, that tall humanoid with red eyes and covered in what might be described as bird-like feathers? It appears that the Humanoids and the Mothman of Point Pleasant might just be one and the same. I mean, that is if you believe that any of what Woody Derenberger wrote in the first place.

So, in a way, our first explanation is that these Searchers, as Indrid calls himself and Karl, are aliens from another planet… hunting Cryptids. Albeit, in this case, the cryptids are also aliens. And we thought we were cool going on Bigfoot hunts in the Ozarks…

This theory might explain Men in black, Indrid Cold, the Mothman, and the Flatwoods monster – another cryptid from this same area with alien-like qualities and red eyes – all in one big crazy cryptid folklore mashup. Or perhaps it’s the other way around, given that Derenberger wrote his book in 71. Maybe the Mothman sightings weaved their way into his story for a bit of extra familiarity to boost his sales by offering a mild explanation of another local event. 

Or, maybe The Mothman Prophecies” Author and West Virginia paranormal expert John Keel’s theories of the area might be a bit more believable. See, Keel had a theory that seemed insane at the time, but science has since given a bit of Creedence to it. The idea is that all of these beings, Alien or otherwise, aren’t from Lanulos, Venus, or Mars at all but rather that they originate right under our noses. 

Ultraterrestrials

Terra: The Latin name meaning Earth. Most of us are familiar with the term Extraterrestrial: A being that has come from somewhere other than this planet we call home, A foreign visitor from planets beyond. An Alien. But aliens are not always synonymous with being out of this world. 

In Keel’s book, “Operation Trojan Horse,” he hypothesizes that these “extraterrestrial” encounters might not be so extra at all. He presents the idea that rather than from somewhere else, what if these beings were “Ultraterrestrials”? Ultraterrestrial means that rather than being from somewhere else within our existence, what if these beings were from pocket dimensions that existed in tandem with our own? 

Keel’s investigations led him to believe that many strange phenomena, including UFO sightings, cryptid encounters, and supernatural events, were interconnected and possibly caused by these ultraterrestrials. He argued that these beings could manipulate human perceptions and reality, appearing in various forms to different cultures throughout history. At this point, we now encounter yet another thumbtack in our web of interconnected ideas because, from here, we can split two different ways. 

First, let’s take the path of beings existing on a higher plane. There’s a long-running joke that maybe the reason we can’t get a good photo of a cryptid is because, well, they are blurry by nature. See, it’s not the camera operator’s fault after all! But let’s. Back up here because if you want to get scientific about it, there’s plausibility to this argument. As a matter of fact, one could say this thought pattern has scientific merit worth exploring. 

Height, width, depth. We experience life in three dimensions. Four if you count time (Which is an arguable idea within the quantum physics community). Think of it like this. If you doodle on a piece of paper a stick figure and that stick figure was alive, and then you drew a stick dog on the back of the paper, and it too was alive – now those figures could travel up and down and left and right across that page, but they would never know that the other existed. They can see across the page but not beyond it.

Why? Because they lack depth. Depth is what allows us to flip the paper over and view the back side of it. Now, if you were to cross your hand across the side of the paper and this theoretical stick man was watching left, it could see your hand passing by the paper – what you would call the edge; but it would only see it as a sliver growing and shrinking as it passed. You follow? 

So now, equipped with that knowledge that we are three-dimensional beings, imagine if there was a fourth dimension – something yet to be discovered but hinted about in mathematics and theoretical physics. What would a fourth-dimensional being look like? Well, it might seem to almost phase in and out of our perceivable reality as it travels across a dimension we are incapable of seeing. Is this a race of more intelligent beings like what we call aliens? Maybe.

Or maybe they are more natural creatures like Bigfoot. I mean, that might even explain tales like the Fay realm, where fairies are said to reside. Just another layer of existence that we can’t see because it’s on the other side of something we are incapable of perceiving.

Now you see how this affects the whole big picture? This is foundational Cryptid content you’re consuming! 

Indrid, Angels, Demons, Oh My!

And then, of course, you can go the other way, too. Maybe Indrid Cold was more Angelic. After all, the deeper you get into Derenberger’s book, the more you learn how spiritual, and dare I say, religious, the Lanulotian race is. They worship together. They play together. They are nudists! (Sorry, did I forget to mention that?)  But how similar does that sound to Abrahamic tales of creation? A utopian gathering, naked and unashamed, sinless, pure. This is a very “Garden of Eden” vibe.

Who knows? They say the Mothman is an omen of disaster. Maybe Indrid Cold is hunting the Humanoids in some kind of Angels vs. Demons celestial showdown in preparation for the end times. 

Or, maybe angels and demons and Indrid Cold, and the Mothman, and that one crazy uncle on your dad’s side, and Bigfoot, and ghosts, and the whole freaking gang are ALL interdimensional beings, and we are just a bunch of flat objects on a petty space rock catching glimpses of something we could never understand. Oh the pains of being Terrestrial I suppose. 

Maybe Woodrow Derenberger really did witness something that November night that shook him to the core. Maybe he really did encounter Cold that dark evening on Highway 77. And maybe he got caught up in the hype of John Keel’s ongoing investigation, and the whole thing made him a bit… delusional – a byproduct of alien encounters, no doubt.

Maybe that led him to write all these wild stories of intergalactic travel. Or maybe he was astral projecting into alternate dimensions right there with Cold, Karl, and Lanulos gang. Or maybe he decided to capitalize on the UFO sensationalism of the time and spin a tale so wild it would wisp him out of his mundane Sowing Machine Salesman’s job into stardom – in which, if that’s the case, it worked.

This could all have been inspired by the tale of Valiant Thor, the human-like Alien of similar description from Venus who supposedly advised the Pentagon for three years in the 1950s, as disclosed in the book, “Stranger at the Pentagon” by Frank E. Stranges. After all, Stranges was a devout Christian evangelical minister, and Derenberger, a devout Christian, and pious man might have heard of his work, given their cultural overlap. It’s also fair to note that both men gave tales of peaceful aliens wanting to show the world how to live righteous lives, not unlike their Christian religion’s ideals.

Who knows which parts are true, semi-true, or completely bogus? It’s funny. Humans are willing – desperate even, to believe something that’s a bit crazy. The tale of a Telepath crawling out of a spaceship told by a humble town folk is way more believable than the story of Kimi’s crazy methods of washing Indrid’s trousers before his next space mission.

But….why?

At what point does folklore go from being something we could rationalize in our minds to being something that gets you labeled as the town lunatic? A larger-than-life hairy ape in the woods is plausible, but fairy creatures that lure lost woodland travelers away into secret realms are just a… well, fairy tale? We can believe in Angels, demons, Karma, ghosts, and honest politicians, but a red-eyed humanoid and a galactic spaceman are too much for us to handle. 

Hey, I’m just a human from a place we humans call Arkansas. Where I grew up, the religion I was taught, the superstitions of my parents, and the folklore of my grandparents have all been weaved into the tapestry that is my life, just as your roots have to yours. We all have our own natural curiosities, idiosyncrasies, and ideals. And that’s what makes life so amazing. Maybe there are other worlds we will one day explore like Indrid and the gang. Maybe there really are pocket dimensions with captivating creatures that we can find a way to understand. Maybe these things are way more terrestrial, just like us, and one day, we can understand those hidden slivers of our reality. 

But no matter which path is true, I can guarantee you this: There will always be those of us seeking to explain the unexplained. There will always be those seeking to Un-explain those explanations. On both sides, there will always come the excitement of the unknown and the desire to push a bit further into that mystery because humans are curious to a fault, and as long as there is hope for another stone we can uncover, we will travel land, air, sea, and even space to find it, uncover it, and bring its mysteries to light. 

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