In Arkansas, we have two sightings, separated by about five years. The 1977 sighting was in the early afternoon. The 1982 sighting was in the twilight evening.
“My father and I saw a huge, featherless bird in Arkansas . . . when I was sixteen . . . We were sitting on big rocks at a cliff about 300 foot above the river when it flew out just under us and we watched it all the way down toward the river till it passed the tree lines. It was an awesome experience, indeed. It was however smaller, and wing span of maybe eight feet . . .”
Later in her answering questions, she used the word “teradactyl,” instead of “featherless bird.” The flying creature, or pterosaur, had a large head with a head crest that she described as “fat, long and curved back toward the neck.” The tail length was similar to about half the wingspan (about four feet and eight feet). She was certain about the lack of any feathers, later indicating that the creature was first observed only about twenty feet away. She was impressed by its graceful flight.
From the book Live Pterosaurs in America
. . . It [about] 1982 when me and my older brother were sitting in our carport . . . in Texarkana, AR. It was getting dark but there was plenty of light in the sky when we saw what we believe to be a pterodactyle. The wingspan seemed to be about twenty-five to thirty feet wide. It was probably about 70-80 [feet] off the ground, flying over a large tree in front of the house.
something “huge” took off into the air from the far side of the clearing. The creature ran to their left, taking six to ten steps to get airborne. . . . It then disappeared over the dense brush but soon returned and flew over the clearing, presenting a “perfect side view” of its features . . .
[When eyewitnesses mention “pterodactyle” or “pterodactyl,” they mean “pterosaur.”]
Extensive pages allow media professionals to access images and information in this press room of “Live Pterosaur.” The home page includes:
With daylight sightings, perhaps the most publicized modern report comes from Duane Hodgkinson, who saw a “pterodactyl” near Finschhafen, New Guinea, during World War II. . . . in a jungle clearing that was about a hundred feet across, in clear daylight, [they] saw a “huge” winged creature as it ran across the far side of the clearing and took off into the air. Hodgkinson . . . estimated its wingspan as equal to that of a Piper Tri- Pacer airplane . . . and its tail as “at least” ten or fifteen feet long. The head had a long crest and there was no sign of feathers.
Photos of Jonathan Whitcomb, Duane Hodgkinson, Wesley Koro, Gideon Koro (his brother), Mesa Agustin, Abram of Opai Village, David Mokay, and Luke Paina.
Photos of Umboi Island, Finschhafen Harbor (Papu New Guinea), and the San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary (Orange County, California).
The following sketches: fruit bat compared to a large ropen, long-tailed pterosaurs observed by Eskin Kuhn, a similar one observed by Patty Carson, and a Flying Fox fruit bat.
Question #2: Why do many paleontologists believe they’re all extinct?
Answer 2-B: Until recently, little research had been done on reports of sightings of apparent living pterosaurs. Even now, many paleontologists may know little or nothing about that research for it is in cryptozoology, a very different field from paleontology.
Answer 2-C: Until a few years ago, few if any peer-reviewed scientific journals had published anything on eyewitness sightings of apparent living pterosaurs. The subject of modern extant pterosaurs appears paranormal, so it has been ignored in most scientific journals.
“Hoaxes are disproved,” declares Jonathan Whitcomb, author of the nonfiction book, “Live Pterosaurs in America.” After compiling data from reports collected from early-2004 to mid-2009, from eyewitnesses across the United States, he found three kinds of evidence disproving any hoax- explanation.
The third edition of Live Pterosaurs in America is now available on Amazon, with a suggested retail price (Amazon sometimes reduces their price) of $13.65. Before going into details about how it differs from the second edition, I include a recent Amazon review about the second edition:
I couldn’t put this book down. It is absolutely fascinating to read about eyewitness accounts of the people who have seen these creatures. To learn about these testimonies from such an open minded perspective is refreshing in the extreme! The way that our school systems and scientists alike are indoctrinated is sad. There is so much money out there being used for research, if only they would use it for good. I highly recommend this book to anyone! People should know the truth about what is going on. No one ever hears anything about this unless they conduct extremely specific internet searches, even then, information is minimal. Jonathan Whitcomb needs to write more books! [from “StrangeDream” – Oct 11, 2011 review on Amazon – rating the book with five stars out of five]
The third edition has a thrilling account from the eyewitness Patty Carson, whom I interviewed earlier this year. I quote part of what is in this new edition:
“I [Patty Carson] was watching Monster Quest . . . it triggered my memory of [my] sighting of the pterodactyl and just out of curiosity, I googled ‘Pterodactyl in Cuba’ and I’ll be . . . if that guy’s drawing didn’t come up on the first page, and the word Guantanamo!!! . . . “I was only a child when I saw it . . . We lived at the end of the road, last house, by the radio tower. [American military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in 1965] . . . Suddenly it sat up, as if it had been eating something or resting. . . . right in front of us about thirty feet away. All of us froze for about five seconds, then it leaned to its left and took off . . . in a big hurry, . . . and flew to its left and disappeared behind trees and terrain.”
What I did not mention in the book is the orientation of the tail vane on the apparent Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur that Patty had seen. She is sure that it was horizontal, meaning it would be visible from below or above but not from the side. I double-checked it, asking her about this below/side perspective, and she verified that is how the tail vane was arranged on the flying creature.
The details are slower in getting through to Barnes & Noble, but Live Pterosaurs in America, third edition, is now available with that online book dealer.
I recently learned of a documentary film being produced for possible release into theaters in 2012; with encounters with strange creatures in the United States being the theme, reports of living pterosaurs are included. I was grateful to be invited to be a part of the production preparations. From my preliminary research into the previous documentaries created by this producer, I believe that this new production will give a fair and open perspective with respect being shown for the eyewitnesses.
Perhaps the most significant evidence for the general rule that modern pterosaurs are nocturnal is the connection with bioluminescence. Many of the repeated-sighting areas are where flying lights are observed, for example, in Papua New Guinea. But strange flying lights at night are also seen in North America, including Texas.
“Could Marfa Lights be nocturnal flying scavengers? I don’t mean to put down the bat hunting hypothesis, regarding the splittings and rejoinings that may have given rise to the comment from residents about “dancing devils.” That may have a place, during seasons when bats are about around Marfa, Texas . . . But bats are unlikely to be about during the colder winter nights, and some of the stranger Marfa Lights are seen on some of those nights.”
“One of the flashes took off from a big tree overhanging the river and made a kind of flashing coma turn. Many flashes were parallel to the river. . . . there were many fish . . . Prime hunting grounds for fish-eating birds. Only these things fish at night with bioluminescence.”
“No evidence proves universal extinctions, but ample eyewitness evidence supports the concept that some supposedly ‘ancient’ creatures still live, including pterosaurs.”
In the summer of 2007, at a secret location used by other cryptozoologists for searching for pterosaurs at night, Scott Norman took a turn alone to stay up and watch the sky. He had little hope of observing a pterosaur, for the video the others showed him was unconvincing to him: He thought it was a video of a bird.
According to the cryptozoologist Chad Arment, Scott Norman gave the following account to him, soon after Norman had the pterosaur sighting (here quoted only in part).
I was sitting in a chair, sideways towards the shed looking up at the starry skies, when this animal came gliding just over the shed and into the field . . . The animal I saw had an 8-10 foot wing span, the wings were bat-like in shape, the inside had that wavy type of look. The body was about 5-6 feet in length, the neck about 1-2 feet in length, the head was about four feet in length, and the head was key for me: it has a crest that was about 2 feet in length, fit that of a pteranodon, don’t know how else to describe it.
The cryptozoologists who search the night skies at night, hoping for pterosaur sightings—those men have good reasons for keeping the location secret. Perhaps the major reason for the secrecy relates to the landowner.
The Death of Scott Norman
The cryptozoologist Loren Coleman, soon after the sudden passing of Scott Norman early in 2008, gave the following tribute (here quoted only in part).
Scott was a deeply religious man whose faith was with him always, and who was calm and intelligent. He will not be able to return to Africa, but Africa had become part of him. I am glad he was able to live his dreams before he left us.
I am totally in shock and send out my empathy, sympathy, and sorrow to his friendly family.
Creating a movie both engaging and satisfying to a discriminating viewer—that requires more than a healthy seed of an original idea, more than professional acting, more than astonishing special effects. Super 8 failed to satisfy me and my wife and engaged us only superficially, and then only up until near the ending. For those with a special desire to see Kyle Chandler in a new role, or a new monster in an old role, this movie certainly can satisfy, in some way, but the production could have been much better, probably at every stage from writing to directing.
Live “pterodactyls?” [AKA Pterosaurs] In the United States? Many scientists have long assumed all pterosaurs died millions of years ago. Now take a whirlwind tour of many years of investigations in cryptozoology, and prepare for a shock: At least two pterosaur species have survived, uncommon, not so much rare as widely and thinly distributed.
How are sightings in the United States related to those in the southwest Pacific? How do some apparent nocturnal pterosaurs pertain to bats, and how are bats irrelevant? How could modern living pterosaurs have escaped scientific notice? These mysteries have slept in the dark, beyond the knowledge of almost all Americans, even beyond our wildest dreams (although the reality of some pterosaurs is a living nightmare to some bats). These mysteries have slept . . . until now.
I really tried to “cram” my study at that time [his 1971 sighting of two pterosaurs in Cuba], focusing on details as well as taking in the overall form and motion of the pair in flight. I tried to memorize the details that would enable me to commit them to paper in a sketch so as to accurately define the creature. . . . the long strands of hair in a tuft at the end of the tail (a brush, not flesh covered as the rest), and that detail has become muted by the many copies of the drawing, the original newsprint type coarse paper
. . . this morning I turned the corner at the base of my property and headed up the hill and saw a relatively familiar sight . . . a Great Blue Heron in flight. . . . The Heron in flight would make many a person wishing to see a pterosaur think they had. It’s great wings, short body, long heavy beak and crooked neck, prow-like chest and very long legs trailing behind with curved toes resembling a tail . . . it puts you in mind of such creatures as pterosaurs . . . unless you have actually seen pterosaurs. Then the differences are dramatic.
We were walking through [a] scrub area, and suddenly it sat up, as if it had been eating something or resting. . . . right in front of us about thirty feet away. . . . I looked at his [Eskin Kuhn’s] drawing, and if I had to make any changes I would make the tail maybe six inches shorter and the wings maybe 10% longer, maybe even 15%, but the proportions of the head are very good, and the body and the hind legs are exactly as I remember.
An eyewitness of a long-tailed featherless flying creature has recently come forward: Patty Carson of Southern California. She witnessed the “Gitmo Pterosaur” when she was a child, on the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in 1965. Jonathan Whitcomb, the cryptozoologist who interviewed her, believes the flying creature is related to the kongamato of Africa.
All this brings up the question about pterosaur extinction: “Why are these flying creatures not extinct but still flying around?” In reality, dinosaurs and pterosaurs have been assumed to be extinct, in all of their numerous species. This has been repeatedly taught without explanation, as an assumption portrayed as if scientific fact. No dinosaur or pterosaur has been proven to be extinct, let alone all species of a particular type.
Of course the correct word is “pterosaur,” not “flying dinosaur.” Some cryptozoologists believe the “Gitmo Pterosaur” of Cuba is related to the kongamato of Africa and the ropen of Papua New Guinea.
From 1994 through 2009, about nine Americans have intermittently (and usually two or three at a time) visited remote islands of Papua New Guinea, searching for flying creatures: a living pterosaur. On Umboi Island, it’s called “ropen,” but it’s also known as “duwas,” and “seklo-bali.” Most of the evidence they have gathered is native eyewitness testimony.
A new sighting report has just emerged, although the sighting itself was in about 1965. I have recently interviewed Patty Carson by emails and by a long phone conversation, and I am convinced that she is telling the truth about a large flying creature that was neither bird nor bat: a live pterosaur. By the time I had talked with her on the phone, she had seen Eskin Kuhn’s sketch and told me that many details were much like what she had seen.
To appreciate the significance of the Carson sighting at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba (also called “Gitmo”), we need to know something about the Kuhn sighting at that same military station, about six years later.
The base is located on the shore of Guantánamo Bay at the southeastern end of Cuba. [Wikipedia]
“It was a beautiful, clear summer day . . . I was looking in the direction of the ocean when I saw an incredible sight. . . . two pterosaurs . . . flying together . . . perhaps 100 feet [high], very close in range from where I was standing, so that I had a perfectly clear view of them. The structure and the texture of the wings appeared to be very similar to that of bats”
This is a very brief overview of the 1971 sighting at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and a detailed response to a critic who thoughtlessly dismissed the U. S. Marine’s account.
Patty was only about six years old when she and her younger brother were walking home on the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. I’ll let Patty’s words tell much of this account.
“We were walking from the boat yards toward home, but still closer to the boat yards, to where it was sandy underfoot, sparse scrub vegetation around four feet tall . . . There were some stagnant pools here and there, a few inches deep . . . and suddenly it sat up, as if it had been eating something or resting.
“[It was] about thirty feet away. All of us froze for about five seconds, then it leaned to its left and took off with a fwap fwap fwap sound . . .”
The teeth were small but clearly visible, as the creature’s mouth was not quite closed. About those teeth, Patty said that there were “a LOT of them.”
They [the two children] ran home and told the grownups that they had seen a dinosaur that had flown away. They “started to tell me it was a pelican or frigate bird. NO WAY! It was as tall as a man when it stood up on it haunches.”
In our phone conversation, Patty explained to me that . . . the wings were like bat wings, in a way, but not at all transparent. She is sure of the structure at the end of the tail (what I call a “vane” or “flange”) and estimates the “diamond” was about five inches long and about three inches wide.
Patty Carson Sighting (1965)
This pterosaur sighting of 1965 was reported to Patty’s family within minutes of the frightening encounter. It was made public, however, in early May of 2011, having been previously disbelieved by family members who heard the girl’s account but who had no knowledge of the Kuhn sighting of two pterosaurs at that same military base, which sighting was in 1971.
No misidentification caused Patty Carson to only believe that she had seen a flying “dinosaur.” That was a sighting at close range in daylight, and the very large creature had a long tail with a Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur tail vane, eliminating any bat; it had no feathers but it did have many teeth, eliminating any bird.
Patty Carson is a Registered Nurse, with clear memory and with nothing to gain from any hoax involving a living pterosaur that she had seen in her childhood. In phone conversations, she has high credibility, with very little possibility of any hoax.
“I grabbed the binoculars and looked for myself. What I saw was large and very much alive. Its hue was close to the hue of the desert sand but more the color of rust. Its skin, I say skin because there were no feathers, . . . looked like dull leather sort of dusty looking. . . . The back of the head was pointed.
“When we started making comparisons, we knew it had to have been [a] lot larger than an eagle, maybe three times larger.”
To begin, the nonfiction book by James Bunnell, Hunting Marfa Lights (HML), gives no hint of any pterosaur involvement with the more mysterious flying Marfa Lights. Still, although he admits having no clear explanation, his book firmly proves that some of the mysterious lights seen flying near this part of Texas are not from any car headlights, and that leads us closer to the truth. My own book, the second edition of Live Pterosaurs in America, has one chapter on the Marfa Lights; it explains that some of them are quite likely from a group of bioluminescent flying predators, possibly even pterosaurs similar to the ropen of Papua New Guinea: intelligent flying predators.
But why believe that Marfa Lights are directed by intelligence? For the moment, let’s set aside pterosaurs, and concentrate on sighting reports that Bunnell classifies “CE-III.”
Let’s begin with a “legend” reported on page 15 of the book HML:
Hiking in this part of Texas, a college professor got lost late one afternoon. Being lightly dressed, he realized the danger of being stranded in the cold high desert at night. Soon after sunset, he saw a light, and assuming it was a ranch light, followed it for awhile, until he found that it had led him back to his truck. Then the light went out.
I realize that without careful interviewing of this professor, some aspects of his encounter may have become distorted through retelling. Nevertheless, if his experience is anything close to this summary, it seems very unlikely that following a non-living light, one without any intelligent direction, would lead a lost person back to their vehicle at night. Bunnell offers no explanation. Of course, all this assumes that this professor was a real person, not just a legend.
Four sighting stories in HML may be related. Each involves a light witnessed by the driver of a car that seems to be chased by the light. These are obviously real persons, with names, including “Bunnell.” He offers “Fata Morgana” as a possible explanation but admits his own sighting (one of those four) does not fit that type of mirage phenomenon very well. But another of those four sightings seems to defy the Fata Morgana explanation.
Linda Armstrong, at about 8:45 p.m., on October 8, 2008, was driving from Alpine to Marfa when she noticed a bright white light approaching from behind. Thinking something was about to collide with the back of her car, she accelerated, but the light simply passed her, following the curvature of the road ahead of her. That alone may discredit the Fata Morgana explanation, but there’s more: “It then left the road and flew through Mitchell Flat south of the View Park.” That was a real Marfa Light.
Forgive me if I state the overly-obvious: An intelligent fast-flying creature never collides with the trunk of a fast car.
How do car-chasing lights in Texas relate to living pterosaurs? Consider the restaurant waitress who saw a “mutated pterodactyl” flying alongside her car, as she drove on I-75, outside Atlanta, Georgia. Also consider that many eyewitnesses have seen glowing pterosaur-like flying creatures in various parts of the world.
. . . reports of living pterosaurs here in North America keep coming to my attention, and those strange flying Marfa Lights keep returning. Strange as it may seem to most people in this country, there seem to be a number of scientifically unknown animals in North America, and the ropen, even a long-tailed pterosaur, may be one of them.
Many other eyewitnesses, in Texas and other states, describe a long tail on a featherless flying creature. How does that relate to strange flying lights in the southwestern area of Texas? In Papua New Guinea and other countries, strange flying lights have been seen to be large or giant pterosaurs with long tails, when the eyewitnesses have been close enough to observe detailed features of the flying creatures.
