Indrid Cold - The Creepy Smiling Man of Modern Folklore Horror - RF090

Patreon / Merch / Website / YouTube / Instagram / X.com / TikTok If you like the show, please leave us a 5 star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify if you think we deserve it. (It helps new listeners find the show.) Thank you.Email your favorite crazy paranormal story or conspiracy idea to LexGordon@Mail.com with the word "Theory" in the subject line to possibly have your tale included in the upcoming Fan Theories Epsiode. Submissions accepted all September 2025.This is Renegade Files Episode 90, Indrid Cold - The Creepy Smiling Man of Modern Folklore Horror. Imagine for a moment. You’re driving down a lonely Appalachian highway late at night. The mountain road curves and twists ahead. Rocky, dark, forested mountain shoulders loom over the high side above the left shoulder, and a plunging abyss into deep valleys looks only of blackness below the right-hand guardrails. Headlights conjure the yellow center-line from the advancing corners, the only reference point holding you to the road as you split the Blueridge night. Here and there a patch of fog. No houses or buildings passed for an hour. Hardly another car. Then, just ahead, you see a figure on the side of the road. An impossible sight. A man in a sharp, old-fashioned suit gleaming almost metallic in the headlamp glare. Arms at his sides, he just stands as you pass. He doesn’t move. He doesn’t blink. And the garish smile stretched mask-like across his face never flinches. Tonight, we’re diving headfirst into one of the strangest legends to emerge from the annals of American paranormal lore; the story of Indrid Cold. He’s been called The Smiling Man, or The Grinning Man. To some, he’s a visitor from the stars. To others, a specter stitched together by coincidence, fear, and media frenzy. We’ll retrace the chilling first encounters of the 1960s, from roadside sightings in New Jersey, to Woody Derenberger’s famous meeting on a dark stretch of West Virginia highway. We’ll explore the tangled connections between Indrid Cold, Mothman, and John Keel’s labyrinth of investigations. And we’ll follow the trail of this unsettling grin all the way into modern pop culture, where this enduring figure refuses to fade away. Come with me now, as we explore the stories of Indrid Cold - The Creepy Smiling Man of Modern Folklore Horror. Get More RF on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/renegadefiles Get cool RF Merch https://therenegadefiles.com/shop/Visit and Share the RF Website http://therenegadefiles.comDig RF on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@renegadefiles Follow RF on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/renegadefiles/Follow RF on TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@renegadefiles  If you like the show, please leave us a 5 star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify if you think we deserve it. (It helps the show find new listeners.) Thank you. Music and Audio Licensing: Theme Song: “Steve’s Djembe” by Vani, FMA, licensed: Creative Commons