By Dr. Raymond A. Keller
Lessons Learned from a Contactee:
Woodrow W. Derenberger (1916-1990)
First Encounter
Woodrow Derenberger’s extraterrestrial contact case came to the attention of the UFO
community, and the world, when his story was picked up by the wire services in the second week
of November 1966. Before that month was out, investigators from both the Air Force and the
planet’s largest civilian UFO group, the National Investigations Committee on Aerial
Phenomena (NICAP) in Washington, D.C., were interviewing Derenberger and searching for
evidence of the alien presence on Earth in the alleged landing zone of the flying saucer, just
outside of Parkersburg, West Virginia.
His initial experience with the flying saucer and a being from another planet took place
on the night of 2 November 1966. Derenberger, a salesman for a sewing machine company,
completed his sale in Marietta, Ohio, and was on the road, driving his pick-up back home to
Mineral Wells, West Virginia, on the outskirts of Parkersburg just off Interstate 77.
About halfway between Parkersburg and his home, a big saucer-shaped craft nestled
down on the South Hill Road in front of Derenberger’s pick-up truck. The object literally
covered the width of the highway from berm-to-berm. Surprisingly, Derenberger was more
curious than anxious about the UFO landing.
Derenberger noticed a hatch opening up on the side of the object. There was an intense
light pouring out from the open portal, and out stepped a slim, seemingly fit specimen of a man,
dark-skinned and middle-aged. Derenberger estimated him to be about 40 years old, plus or
minus five years.
The ufonaut started walking over to Derenberger’s pick-up truck. The mysterious craft
suddenly rose about 50 feet in the air, hovering overhead while the visitor approached
Derenberger’s truck, mentally transmitting the thought to him that he desired the experiencer to
roll down the window and have a friendly chat with him.
Derenberger complied, rolling down the window. The extraterrestrial self identified as