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American Ghost Lights

Chapters Four and Five of Live Pterosaurs in America are titled “Flying Luminescence” and “American Ghost Lights.” The lights have been seen in many states, some of them for generations, with names like Marfa Lights (Texas), Hornet Spook Light (borders Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma), Brown Mountain Light (North Carolina), Yakima Lights (Washington state), and Bingham Lights (South Carolina). The book deals more with Bingham Lights and Yakima Lights. [Update: the second edition of Live Pterosaurs in America, published late in 2010, has a whole chapter about the Marfa Lights.]

Of course not all these “ghost lights” need be from the same source, and even in one area, unidentified lights need not all be from the same source (Yakima in particular, according to the book). But the regularity, over many years, of the light-sightings in some locations strongly suggests that in at least each area, the source is the same (for many lights) over the history of that area.

My associates and I have a unique perspective, having studied the ropen light of Papua New Guinea. We know,  from many eyewitness testimonies, that those nocturnal lights correlate with sightings of glowing flying creatures described like giant Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaurs. We suspect that some American “ghost lights” are from living pterosaurs; some flight behaviors, such as a fast dive from the sky without any fast ascent, obviously fit a diving creature more than a ball of gas.

From my investigations (including analyzing eyewitness testimonies over several years), I believe that some of these American “ghost lights” come from at least two species of bioluminescent pterosaurs. All the species are rare, not necessarily endangered. Of course, not all apparent pterosaurs seen in daylight need be bioluminescent at night, but when a ghost-light location is nearby (note the Susan Wooten sighting in South Carolina), it deserves consideration for that particular creature.

Regardless of the degree of rarity of modern living pterosaurs in North America, how rare the scientist who has interpreted strange flying creatures or ghost lights as potential living pterosaurs! This is not in itself evidence against the hypothesis, for our society indoctrinates us into universal-extinction-of-all-dinosaurs-and-pterosaurs. The evidence for living pterosaurs (including perhaps bioluminescent ones in North America) includes rare sightings of the creatures in daylight, when they are obviously non-bird and non-bat. This deserves serious consideration, in light of the continuous invesigations that continue to involve new sighting reports.

Jupiter, Florida, Sighting

At about 2:30 a.m., in 2002 or 2003, two men were talking outside a house in Jupiter, Florida, when a strange creature flew over their heads and into the backyard. Moments later, another one flew in a different direction. They got a good look at the first apparent pterosaur: “beige brownish color, . . . no feathers, pointed beak . . . long pointed thing protruding from the back of its head.” The wingspan was about four feet. [more details, see pages 24-25 in the book Live Pterosaurs in America]

The time of the sighting answers a question about some of the sightings in Papua New Guinea: Why do native islanders, in at least three areas, report that these (pterosaur-like) creatures fly around at Christmas time? Modern pterosaurs have not been converted to Christianity (although a few cryptozoologists have petitioned modern pterosaurs to preach to those who need to be converted to Christianity). Many natives celebrate Christmas at night, so they are walking about when the ropen (called “kor” in areas of northern Papua New Guinea) is flying around. Most modern long-tailed pterosaurs appear to be nocturnal, for they appear mostly at night.

Read more about the Jupiter, Florida, sighting in the cryptozoology book Live Pterosaurs in America

City Pterosaurs

Some people assume that pterosaurs, because they have not yet been officially discovered by Western science, fly only in remote areas of the planet. Think about this: If a butterfly can be carried by wind over the Atlantic Ocean, still alive, (it happens sometimes) what about a large pterosaur, still alive? In other words, if even just one species of pterosaur were living, let’s say in a remote jungle in South America, what would keep some of its descendents (over centuries) from flying elsewhere?

On page 45 of my book, Live Pterosaurs in America (first edition, published in mid-2009), a lady describes a flying creature (“at least twice the size of a hawk. Maybe three times”) that she and her friend thought might have a wingspan of twenty feet; that creature was sailing over Philadelphia. A few months after my book was published, a couple reported to me a flying, dimly glowing creature, too big to be a bird, that they observed while they were taking a walk one night; that creature was gliding over a residential neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley (Los Angeles, California, area). Large flying creatures, including pterosaurs, cannot be confined to remote areas of the planet.

Eyewitness Reports NOT From Hoaxes

“‘Pterodactyls’ are more likely living creatures than hoaxes, according to three separate factors analyzed from eyewitness accounts across the U.S.: Hoaxes have been eliminated as a significant cause of reports.” (Press release in News Blaze and other online news-release pages) I wrote that press release after analyzing the overall eyewitness testimonies in my new nonfiction book Live Pterosaurs in America.

“More likely” understates the case, for no combination of hoaxes can explain the overall data.

Wingspan Estimates

Eyewitness estimates of wingspan “are [27% of them] within . . . 8-10 feet . . . far too small or too big for hoaxers.” Any American trying to pass off a hoax would likely choose standard-model fossil knowledge (Rhamphorhynchoid fossils are small) or ropen reports (mostly much larger than ten feet in wingspan). The peek of eight-to-ten feet is statistical evidence against a hoax or combination of hoaxes.

Details About Featherless Appearance

“Probably” featherless outnumbered “definitely” featherless by about two-to-one, so most eyewitnesses (or supposed eyewitnesses) admitted that they were not certain. This is what we would expect of honest persons who observed something in imperfect (typical) conditions. The point? Why would a hoaxer avoid being positive about featherlessness while trying to convince somebody of a living pterosaur? It is unlikely that even one hoaxer would have thought of that; hoaxers from across the United States, all thinking of that detail–that is unbelievable. So the eyewitnesses (at least as a whole) were telling the truth about what they saw. (Accuracy of interpretation is another subject.)

Long Tails

“The great majority of movie and television portrayals of pterosaurs are of short-tailed Pterodactyloids. In addition, textbooks declare that those were the more-recent pterosaurs.” About 80% of American eyewitness reports of apparent living pterosaurs–that is a lot of long tails, notwithstanding critics’ insinuations of tall tales. If Americans were constantly sending me hoaxes, however, they would be of short-tailed or no-tailed pterosaurs, for that is what is commonly portrayed in our society. That is the third nail in the coffin for the hoax hypothesis.

Refutation of the Pterosaur Hoax Idea (no hoaxes were involved)

Forget about the article in The Illustrated London News (1856) about workmen in a railway-line tunnel in France. It is commonly accepted that the “pterodactyl” that stumbled out of the stone was a hoax. . . . [but] Interviewing eyewitnesses of apparent living pterosaurs, over the past five years, I know that a hoax (or a number of hoaxes) could not have produced the answers they have given me. While writing my book (“Live Pterosaurs in America,” . . .

Live Pterosaurs In America, nonfiction book

cover of third edition of the nonfiction cryptozoology book

Updated early in 2018:

Excerpts from the book’s title page:

Eyewitness Reports of Pterosaurs in the Contiguous United States

Reports of huge flying “pterodactyls” in American skies have floated around the internet for years; but before about 2005, details were scarce. When an eyewitness was named, the interviewer was often anonymous; even when an eyewitness was credible, and the account published in a newspaper, the story was ridiculed, discouraging others who had also seen strange flying creatures. . . .

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.

From the third chapter of the book:

The longer we watched, the more spooked we became. It was as though a giant vampire bat (like Dracula-style) was there, but neither of us thought it really looked like a bat, either, even a big one. Also, all the bigger bats are fruit-eaters and not scary at all. This was frightening. I get little chills just writing about it now.

Excerpts from the book’s Appendix:

Philosophy at the foundation

Charles Darwin chose an extreme dedication to Naturalism philosophy; his Common-Ancestry ideas seem to make God unnecessary. He chose atheism, but most Americans reject the idea that life arose without any creative act of God.

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Live Pterosaurs In America (third edition, print) by Jonathan Whitcomb

Live Pterosaurs in America -third edition of the nonfiction book - covers

“The Truth About Pterosaurs” — They are not all extinct