Welcome to The Lycaeus Frequency’s Cryptid of the Day, a month-long series detailing a cryptid one day at a time for the month of October—by Redwood Voice’s Sebastian Monroe.
Today’s Cryptid is Indrid Cold, also known as the Smiling Man. A relatively human appearance is what you would see immediately upon greeting the Smiling Man, although he lacks ears or a nose, or hair for that matter.
Artists have many takes on the Smiling Man, imploring the urge to explore to explore the uncanny valley—especially that which is so similar to us, yet undoubtedly… wrong. Photo courtesy of DarkUnknownWarrior on the Villains Wiki page for Indrid Cold.
He wears reflective suits and gets his name from the fact that he has smiled at almost everyone he has encountered. As time has gone on, it appears that Indrid Cold has gotten better at integrating into our society, as in more recent reports he has slick-backed hair and a regular suit, looking like a tan, but not dark, human man.
He asked the first person to report an encounter with him several questions. Indrid pointed to Parkersburg, a city in West Virginia. “What do you call that? Over the hill?”
The witness said that we call it a “city.” This conversation continued for approximately 10 minutes, all the while Indrid tried to calm the witness down with statements such as, “We eat and bleed the same as you do,” and, “We wish you only happiness.”
Since then there have been many reports in the area and are thought to be related to the Men In Black phenomenon. They supposedly refer to themselves as “Merilgians” (though many other reports suggests he calls himself a Lanulosian from the planet Lanulos in the Galaxy of Genemedes—you know, if that clarification helps.)
This all props up the theory that they are in fact aliens. All I’ve got to say on the matter is that they sound creepy as all-get-out and I’d rather not meet one.
This has been the Lycaeus Frequency’s Cryptid of the Day.
Audio transcribed, alongside images and context, by Persephone Rose. Thumbnail art by Sebastian Monroe.
