Pterosaur Sighting or What?

Sometimes I think that the most ignorant persons on earth, regarding pterosaur extinction, are biology professors and paleontologists. An unnamed biology faculty member at UCLA recently said, “Pterosaurs are extinct and have been for 10s of millions of years. Period.” That was in response to a question about the ropen of Papua New Guinea. It would have been better to simply admit ignorance of eyewitness sightings and perhaps ask about details.

What paleontologist knows about the reported pterosaur flying near the university at Irvine, California? Probably not any professor at that university, for it was a non-faculty member who saw the animal fly in front of his car one summer day a few years ago.

I would guess very few, if any, biology professors know about the “pterodactyl” sighting between Australia and Indonesia, a few thousand feet above the surface of the sea. The pilot and copilot were knocked out of their comfort zone by the huge flying thing that almost collided with their two-engine prop plane a few years ago.

Paleontologists can talk about and write about particular extinctions of pterosaurs, and they can do that until the paint flakes off the walls, but it is all speculation. Which of them knows about the Australian psychologist Brian Hennessy, who saw a long-tailed “prehistoric” creature flying over a dirt road on Bougainville Island, New Guinea? The paleontologists are ignorant of such encounters, for their heads are always buried in their old presumptions.

If Duane Hodgkinson and his army buddy did not see a “pterodactyl” in that jungle clearing west of Finschhafen, New Guinea, in 1944, what did they see? It could not have been any mechanical toy, for it was too big and sophisticated and too early in history. It could not have been a bird, for it had a wingspan of about thirty feet and a tail at least ten or fifteen feet long, even if it had feathers. It could not have been the largest species of bat for the flying fox fruit bat has nothing like a tail anywhere near that size, even if there had been extreme exaggeration in tail length estimate.

What did the married couple see in Perth, Australia, as they were taking a walk on a warm evening in December of 1997? The husband worked in a scientific field, and he reported a size of around thirty to fifty feet for the long-tailed flying creature. The wife was ridiculed for making the sighting public, accuse of telling a lie. She was offended at the accusation but kept on insisting that she and her husband had observed the pterosaur-like creature. That observation, by the way, was for minutes, with some of that time revealing much structure in the lighting from a nearby sports stadium. Why would she subject both of them to riducule, for years, if they had not actually seen what they said that they had seen? A hoax makes no sense here.

It’s not that professors of biology and paleontology are somewhat less informed about one or two reports of modern pterosaurs. Most of them seem totally ignorant of over a hundred critical pterosaur sightings, reports from a few decades ago to a few weeks ago.

Pterodactyl Sightings Worldwide

One night, whilst sitting on the ground by the tents (a fair way from the noise and commotion of the festival), I saw what I at first assumed was an owl gliding over the campsite (I assumed that because it was night time, and obviously no other birds would be out-bar things like nightjars-which this was not!) – it passed right over us, probably about 30-40ft high, and as I watched it, I realised it was definitely no owl I’d ever seen before. It was the colour of suede/sand, looked like the same sort of texture as suede (i.e no feathers), had a long thin tail, and didn’t flap once.

Pterosaur Sighting in Australia

“ . . it had a ruddy reddish brown leathery skin; (we could see its underneath as it flew over us at about 300 ft up; the glow from all the ground lighting made that possible), it had a long tail and a wingspan that we estimated at between 30-50 feet across. . . .”

 Not All Biology Professors Fight Modern Pterosaurs

A recent survey of biology professors in the USA reveals not all of them are completely convinced that all species of pterosaurs became extinct by 65 million years ago.

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More About the “Destination Truth” Ropen Episode

I know that last July I wrote about this television show, but I left many things out.

It seems timely now to quote Josh Gates, who leads expeditions, including this one in Papua New Guinea, searching for the truth about the flying creatures that could be pterosaurs.

“I’m Josh Gates. My travels have taken me to the most exotic and mysterious places on earth. I’ve seen some unexplainable things which raise some strange questions. Now I’ve pulled together a crack team, armed with the latest technology, to search for answers. I’m not sure what’s out there waiting for me but I know what I’m looking for: the truth.”

“Reports of a pterodactyl-type bird brought my attention to Papua New Guinea. The locals call this flying dinosaur the “ropen,” and the papers have reported sightings all over the country. They describe it as an extremely dangerous large featherless bird with a wingspan that can reach up to fifteen feet. Some experts believe the ropen is a pterosaur that survived the Cretaceous period by hiding deep in the caves scattered throughout Papua New Guinea.”

“As a nocturnal creature, the ropen’s defining characteristic is the glow it reportedly emits from its stomach and tail. Many witnesses have claimed to see this glow at night, and recently a U.S. explorer caught two lights on camera that he thought belonged to the legendary animal.”

“As you might have guessed, I wanted to see this lost-world creature for myself, so Lindsay, Marc, Neil, Eric, Hank, and I packed up the equipment and headed to the airport”

Joshua Gates shows native eyewitness a recording on a laptop computer, while the sit on a native boat

Josh Gates and Fabian in Salamaua, Papua New Guinea, in 2007

Three expedition-team members on a small boat in Papua New Guinea

On the left, Josh Gates; on the right, Jacob Kepas, native eyewitness

At a harbor in Papua New Guinea, native interpreter Jacob Kepas is interviewed by the American Josh Gates

Jacob Kepas answered Josh Gates questions

Joshua Gates interviewed the eyewitness Jacob Kepas.

Josh: “I’ve heard that you’ve seen the ropen.”

Jacob: “I saw the light back in Wau.”

Josh: “What did the light look like.”

Jacob:  “It looked very bright.”

Josh: “Like a round light?”

Jacob: “Yes.”

Josh: “The whole bird just glowed?”

Jacob: “The stomach and the light from both wings.”

Later in their expedition, the team was able to videotape one of the flying lights.

Television Episode of “Destination Truth”

Soon after the cave adventure, they set up cameras nearby, hoping for some sighting at night. They were not disappointed, for a strange flying light appeared over the sea, out beyond the high cliff on which they had set up their four cameras.

Television Coverage of Flying Creatures

I am grateful that my friends and associates Garth Guessman, Clifford Paiva, and Paul Nation were featured on this Monsterquest episode. I am also grateful that Duane Hodgkinson was part of this television production about these wonderful flying creatures.

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From page 173:

It all happened so fast and I didn’t get a good look at it as I was busy trying to control my car. But it flew over my head and disappeared into a gravel pit. I was pretty shaken up, but unhurt and wasn’t brave enough to go to the gravel pit to investigate then or later. Nor did I tell anyone because they would have thought I was crazy.

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Modern Pterosaurs Seen in Georgia

“There’s nothing new under the sun.” Recent reports of modern pterosaurs, or large featherless creatures, in Georgia are not that new. The Phantoms & Monsters web site has a post from 2009 about two hunters in Georgia around the early 1960’s. One of the hunters was greatly frightened by a large flying creature: “Suddenly my friend appeared and the look on his face was ashen. He told me he had been hunting when a giant bird or something had flown right over his head and disappeared into the trees.”

I did some research on the name of the town of Griffin, Georgia, but found that it came from a man named Griffin, not from any strange flying creature.

I found that searching online with -dragon in Georgia- brings up web pages on the subjects of scenic motorcycle routes and a dragon boat festival, which are not helpful. Sea dragons at the Georgia Aquarium and a business of tattoos and piercings were also not helpful. It seems more useful to search on cryptozoology sites.

When we think of sightings of modern pterosaurs in Georgia, we need to look at the big picture. Animals and birds have no knowledge of political boundaries. Flying creatures in particular are not hindered by borders, even when people put up high fences. We need to look at sighting accounts from states around Georgia.

Susan Wooten is a good example. She was driving down a country road around 1989 when something huge flew in front of her car and across the road. She reported that the flying creature “looked as big as any car, and had NO feathers.” Like other eyewitness accounts, this one had a report of a long tail.

There have also been eyewitness accounts of similar flying creatures in Florida and North Carolina, states near Georgia.

Flying Creature Sightings in Georgia

I can only guess to be 15-20′ wing spans and the motion of their wings as they flew was very slow. The head was long and ended in a point; wings ended in a point and appeared to be featherless

Featherless Flying Creature in Georgia

As it leapt out from the woods, I saw it from below, and the tail was very long with a shape on the end. Its wings were probably half-spread and I saw several dark thin horizontal bands across the belly.

Georgia Sightings by Sandra Paradise

She has now revealed two more sightings, in addition to the first two. The third one was when she had a camera in her car but she could not stop in time to photograph it before it flew away. The fourth sighting she was not sure of except that it was probably of the same kind of creature.

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