Awesome or Off-Putting is a weekly delve into cryptozoology, ufology, aliens, medical marvels, scientific wonders, secret societies, government conspiracies, cults, ghosts, EVPs, ancient artifacts, strange facts, odd sightings or just the plain unexplainable.
The thing that bugs hecklerspray most about its dearly departed mother-in-law was the way she lay in the coffin with that wide-toothed, ear-to-ear grin. It’s an image that still haunts us as we lay awake at night staring into the darkness of our clenched eyelids.
The Grinning Man has a (probably) less frightening smile on him – but those who’ve seen him would likely argue that point.
The Grinning Man seems to be a paranormal oddity akin unto Spring Heeled Jack or The Mad Gasser of Mattoon in that it seems to be very human-esque, but nobody is really sure.
That’s not to say nobody’s seen him though – oh no! Plenty of people claim an encounter – like this one off of Wikipedia:
“Perhaps the most famous sighting of a Grinning Man is reported to have taken place on October 11, 1966 in Elizabeth, New Jersey. The entity was sighted by two boys, James Yanchitis and Marvin Munoz, as they were walking home along Fourth Street and New Jersey Street when they reached a corner parallel to the New Jersey Turnpike. The turnpike is elevated and there is an extremely steep incline going down from the busy street above which leads to Fourth Street. A very large, high wire fence runs along the edge of the other street below where the boys were walking, making it incredibly difficult to near impossible for anyone to want to climb up the incline to the turnpike above.
“There are bright street lights in that area, which gave the boys a good glimpse of what they called “the strangest guy we’ve ever seen.” Yanchitis noticed the strange entity first. “He was standing behind that fence,” he stated later to investigators. “I don’t know how he got there. He was the biggest man I ever saw.” “Jimmy nudged me,” Marvin Munoz reported to police, “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.” There had been recent reported incidents of violence in the nearby neighborhood, such as a middle-resident being chased by a “tall green man” down that same street and on the same night, so the boys fled quickly.”
That sighting seems to have been a pretty big deal when it happened – big enough to have caught the attention of John Keel – the famous Mothman researcher. Keel interviewed the boys three days after the incident – Wikipedia has those details as well;
“Munoz and Yanchitis were interviewed by Keel separately in the home of Mr. George Smythe and both boys told the exact same story. “The man was over six feet tall, they agreed, and was dressed in a sparkling green coverall costume that shimmered and seemed to reflect the street lights. There was a wide black belt around his waist.” The boys also said “He had a very dark complexion, and little round eyes…real beady…set far apart.” The most frightening and bizarre aspect of the encounter is the fact that “They could not remember seeing any hair, ears, or nose on this figure.””
Keel, we assume, decided to get his hands dirty with this case because he thought it kind of sounded like a Mothman encounter. Others think the Grinning man is an alien. Still others think it’s one of the Men in Black or a cryptid like a shaved version of Bigfoot. We are of the school of thought that his shiny green wardrobe definitely rules out being a Man in Black.
Given the stated evidence, in fact, we feel strongly that he is a gay disco dancer. This next sighting may just prove our theory wrong. It’s off the website Profiling the Unexplained:
“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?.”
Indrid Cold – wasn’t that the name of a Care Bear villain? Somebody better put Care-A-Lot on at least orange alert. Meanwhile we’ll keep working down here – trying desperately to learn the true identity of this Grinning Man, and to end his nefarious smiling once and for all.
This we swear.
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jesus says
is there any more info on the grinning man
Wayne Kerr says
He’s probably just ANOTHER American weirdo with a nath clothes-sense who has just won the lottery – that would explain the wide grin!!!
Chad Burke says
Thanks God Wikipedia discovered its article was a made-up pile of BS and deleted it.