Lanulos

Lanulos is an imaginary planet known only from the account by flying saucer contactee Woodrow Derenberger, who claimed to have flown there on a spaceship. In 1996, a being reputedly from Lanulos named "Indrid Cold" contacted Derenberger and indicated that he was seeking friendly contact with humans.

According to Cold's account, Lanulos was some 14.6 light years from Earth in the Ganymede galaxy of stars. It was originally settled by people from Earth who traveled there in space ships (thus implying that Earthlings could travel in space prior to the twentieth century) but that the knowledge of space travel had been lost for a long time and only more recently rediscovered. Their new planet was much like Earth, though the yearly cycle had only three seasons: planting, harvest, and cold. Now back in contact with Earth, the Lanulosians can easily pass for human.

Cold related that the people of Lanulos are religious. They believe in one God, the Father of all and the creator of all that is good. They have a language, but also communicate via telepathy. They developed in a nonhostile manner and have no crime or war. Government is loosely organized around a 56-person Guiding Council whose members are elected every six months. If a member proves unfit, he/she is dismissed and another elected to fill the vacancy. The people also have no need of clothes and generally walk around in the nude. When Derenberger first visited the planet, he found he attracted stares because of his clothing and soon adopted the local custom. (Derenberger also reported that he had traveled to Venus and that its residents were nudists).

Marriage is common among the Lanulosians. When a couple marries, they are "united." The male refers to his spouse as his "union," and a female calls her husband her "united." Cold indicated that he had a wife and two children. Children go through a lengthy education period that begins as soon as they seem capable of knowing good from evil. People live to be 125 to 175 years old (in Earth time).

The friendly Lanulosians, while not warlike, were engaged in business, and desired to establish trade with Earth. However, they found their attempts to form a relationship rebuffed. They had approached the American government but found officials unwilling to guarantee their safety. On occasions when they had attempted to land, they had been met with hostility. Cold indicated that he had received wounds from a shotgun on one occasion.

Derenberger published his most substantive account of Lanulos in 1971, though writer John Keel had a continued fascination with the Derenberger story and included information he had collected in several of his books over the years. There has been no independent verification of the existence of such a planet as Derenberger described.

Sources:

Derenberger, Woodrow W., and Harold W. Hubbard. Visitors from Lanulos. New York: Vantage Press, 1971.

Keel, John. Mothman Prophecies. New York: Saturday Review Press/E. P. Dutton, 1975.

——. Strange Creatures from Time and Space. Greenwich, Conn.: Fawcett Gold Medal, 1970.

——. UFOs: Operation Trojan Horse. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1970.