pterosaur – Live Pterosaurs in America

November 28, 2014

Dr. Prothero Attacks Living Pterosaurs

Jonathan David Whitcomb in 2004, near Gomlongon Village, Umboi Island

Readers of a recent post by Dr. Donald Prothero may think that I, Jonathan Whitcomb, have single-handedly deceived ignorant people into believing that pterosaurs are still alive. The paleontologist seems upset that my web pages dominate Google searches (and they used to dominate, years ago, on words like ropen.) Let’s look deeper.

Why use the Words “Apparent Pterosaur?”

Google “apparent pterosaur” (within quotes) and all nine non-image pages on the first Google-page are my publications, at least on November 28, 2014. What other search terms result in such a domination by my writings? My postings do not even come close to that dominance with the following terms used:

ropen
pterosaur
pterodactyl

In fact, today the word ropen brings up “Don’t Get Strung Along by the Ropen Myth,” on the top non-image first-page position, and that article is extremely critical of living-pterosaur ideas. In addition, pterodactyl did not bring up even one of my posts on the first-page listing on Google.

So why do my blog posts and other web pages dominate when googling apparent pterosaur within quotation marks? I often use those words when referring to an eyewitness report of a flying creature. In other words, I try to be objective and allow for the possibility that a particular encounter was not from observing a living pterosaur.

Bulverism in a post by Prothero

A major problem with Dr. Prothero’s post is in the idea that I, Jonathan Whitcomb, have used deception in promoting my ideas, thus flooding the internet with my supposed error in believing in modern pterosaurs. I will not link to “Fake Pterosaurs and Sock Puppets,” but it’s easily found. In reality, I used two pen names, in a minority of my writings, to allow readers to learn about eyewitness sightings without becoming distracted by my common name, which had been used in ridicule years earlier. I used those two pen names because of earlier false accusations about dishonesty; I did not use them to deceive.

Sock puppetry accusations pull readers’ attention away from the point, which is eyewitness testimony. Prothero has fallen into bulverism, but in a more pernicious form than the one described by C. S. Lewis decades ago.

Men of action, who search remote jungles for modern pterosaurs but who return home admitting they saw no clear pterosaur—they do not lie about their failures. They do, however, tell the truth about what natives tell them. Men who go nowhere to look for any living thing—they may be least qualified to accuse men of action of deceiving.

Objective Investigation of Reports of Living Pterosaurs

Getting back to the words apparent pterosaur, an individual eyewitness of one sighting of a flying creature can be mistaken in thinking a bird or bat or unknown non-pterodactyl was a pterosaur. Dr. Prothero and I agree on that. But that paleontologist appears to be completely ignorant of the overall sighting report details, in particular the similarities that cross cultural boundaries and cross religious differences.

Long tails on featherless flying creatures dominate reports from around the world, even in Western countries where short-tailed Pterodactyloid pterosaurs dominate in fictional television and in films. I have found practically no difference between American sighting reports and in the reports from third-world countries where cultures and traditions are greatly different.

Common kind of image seen by Americans in fiction (no long tail)

Compare the above with the sketch by Eskin Kuhn:

This is much more like what both Americans and jungle natives actually see

If a cryptozoologist becomes over-exuberant in trying to persuade the Western world that one or more species of pterosaur is alive, and loses all sense of objectiveness, would that radical person use the phrase “apparent pterosaur” so often that his pages would dominate when a Google search were done with it? Of course not. The point is that I am honestly trying to know and understand the truth about these sightings. I am trying to be objective.

I hope that many readers will come to understand that I have not spent over 10,000 hours, in the past eleven years, on a personal project to deceive people. This is not actually about me, however; it’s coming to that understanding so people can awaken to listen to the eyewitnesses with an open mind. The overall report-details make the case.

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Honesty in Ropen Searching

A different kind of attack has been launched, as an American paleontologist has dismissed the ropen as a “fake” pterosaur and dismissed me, Jonathan Whitcomb, as one who practices deception.

Whitcomb interviewed on Monster-X Radio

“Maybe, Shane, I should go a little bit into some of the ideas that have been floating around and thrown out by skeptics . . . One of them is about, well, people are just misidentifying flying foxes. That’s one of the oldest: I heard of that way back in 2004; I think that was already an old idea. But this is one of the examples: You see, these seven boys were terrified at this creature that was not a flying fox because they would not have been scared of it. . . .”

Ropen in Papua New Guinea

Hodgkinson continues to give a powerful testimony of his 1944 encounter with a huge flying creature that is an obvious live pterosaur, notwithstanding the Western dogma about universal extinction.

C. S. Lewis and Bulverism

When someone publishes a web site with a URL that includes the words “stupid” and “lies,” and the point of the site is to ridicule those who promote the idea of living dinosaurs or living pterosaurs, “bulverism” probably fits . . .

The quest for discovering modern pterosaurs – nonfiction book

Searching for Ropens and Finding God – fourth edition

August 30, 2010October 13, 2010

Frigate Birds Are Not Ropens

How unfortunate for living-pterosaur investigations that some recent web pages display photos of Frigate birds as if they were living pterosaurs! Those daylight-loving feathered soarers look hardly anything like ropens, or long-tailed modern pterosaurs. Let’s consider a photo of a Frigate bird, then compare it with the sketch by the U.S. Marine Eskin Kuhn (which he drew soon after his sighting in 1971 in Cuba). This deserves careful attention, please.

Notice the huge size of the ropen head. (I say “ropen” because that is the name becoming common in at least some English-speaking countries.) Notice the ropen’s head crest. Notice the depth of the wings (distance from cutting-edge to trailing-edge of wing). Notice the bone structure visible because of the lack of feathers. How little this creature resembles the common Frigate bird!

Eskin Kuhn's sketch of pterosaur that fly over a military base in Cuba — Sketch by Eskin Kuhn: 1971 sighting in Cuba

Addendum: The sighting of two pterosaurs, in Cuba in 1971, by the marine Eskin Kuhn, deserves a brief summary here. On a hot day, with clear visibility, at the Guantanamo Bay military station, he was looking out towards the sea. He saw two flying creatures–obvious pterosaurs–flying not far away. Being a gifted artist, he soon thereafter sketched what he has seen. He later wrote many details about that day and about what he had seen. He has maintained the truthfulness of his account, despite ridicule and disbelief from skeptics. The combination of long-tail and head-crest have been vindicated, for subsequent years of investigations and interviews, with eywitnesses from a number of countries around the world, verify this otherwise strange combination: a giant Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur with a head crest (“long” and “pointed” and words that might be used for some of the head crests observed).

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July 22, 2010July 22, 2010

Various Names for “Pterosaur”

Whether reported in the United States of America or elsewhere, “pterosaur” is not the only word that comes to mind when someone sees a strange featherless flying creature that is not a bat; but that is the technically correct word. Let’s consider those other names: “flying dinosaur,” “pterodactyl,” “ropen,” and “dinosaur bird.”

Flying Dinosaur (actually, pterosaurs are not really dinosaurs)

Called by some Americans “flying dinosaurs,” pterosaurs, in modern times, appear to be at least somewhat rare, for they are rarely reported by eyewitnesses.

Pterodactyl

“Pterosaurs,” the technically correct name for what many call “pterodactyls,” are known by Western scientists through their fossils. Textbooks and children’s books declare that they all became extinct many millions of years ago. . . . But where is the evidence for the extinction of all pterosaurs?

According to one news report, strange featherless flying creatures fly over a valley in the center of New Britain Island, Papua New Guinea.

Ropen

A man who was taking a walk with his wife near Perth, Australia, in December, 1997. . . . “In the distance I perceived an object in the sky. . . . I watched it as it approached. . . . It was some sort of flying creature, and my first thought was that it must be some very large bird . . . Within a minute or so it had reached our position and was about 250 or 300 feet above us . . . it seemed to be a light reddish-tan color. It did not appear to be covered with feathers but had a leathery texture. Soon after it passed us it flew over a more brightly lit sports area which highlighted even more the leathery appearance also bringing more detail to view. The wings were the most definite leathery feature, they were shaped in a triangular arch, similar to a very elongated shark fin . . . [I] estimated the size to be in excess of thirty foot, possibly as great as fifty foot.”

Dinosaur Bird (Google searches were in mid-July, 2010)

How do you spell “pterosaur?” Some eyewitnesses may search on Google with “flying creature” or “dinosaur bird.” That is unfortunate, for those searches, with those words, will bring up many irrelevant pages, not likely pages of the cryptozoology researchers who have specialized in modern living pterosaurs.

July 2, 2010July 2, 2010

Extinction or Near-Extinction: What Distinction?

I have watched many science documentaries. How often does a documentary proclaim the extinction of dinosaurs “65 million years ago,” as if datings were from a verifiable measurement or extinctions were from a verifiable observation! Dinosaurs were not a species. “Dinosaur” is a general word for countless species; likewise for “pterosaur.” Who can dispute the idea that there were dinosaur and pterosaur species for which we have not yet discovered fossils? Perhaps nobody disputes that idea. Yet how rarely is the consequence acknowledged by any scientist! The point is this: There is a world of difference between extinction and near-extinction. It is the difference between death and life.

Consider this obvious conclusion: Fossils, at best, can give us only a limited understanding of what species have lived in the past. I don’t belittle what paleontologists can learn about particular organisms that left fossils; but the subject is extinction, and nothing, absolutely nothing, in all the fossils (in all the laboratories, universities, and museums of the world) can give us any sure knowledge about the extinction of even one species. Since fossils cannot prove even one species extinct, what about the many species of dinosaurs and pterosaurs?

How did we come to believe that they are extinct? I don’t dispute the general concept of dinosaur and pterosaur extinction, for the many species for which we have fossils does suggest those wonderful creatures were once common. But I dispute the dogmatic indoctrination of universal extinctions of general categories, in particular “dinosaur” and “pterosaur.” Why should we believe that all those species are forever gone? Simple it is. We rarely hear or read about human encounters with dinosaurs and pterosaurs. Why? It’s not that nobody ever encounters a dinosaur or a pterosaur. In some remote areas of the earth, people are not astonished by the encounters (although they are often scared by them), for the existence of certain rare creatures is common knowledge. The problem lies in Western society, for we have been indoctrinated into the belief in universal extinctions, so any report of a living dinosaur or pterosaur is met with skepticsm.

It is actually more complicated, however. The rarity of some species (especially nocturnal, seclusive, or remote ones) has made observations rare. But a critical cause has been a combination of partial extinctions and near-extinctions, which has mimicked universal extinction. Many species of dinosaurs and pterosaurs have surely become extinct at some time in the past; those still living are mostly either rare, nocturnal, seclusive, or remote (or some combination). Whether one believes in worldwide destruction 65 million years ago or a few thousand years ago (Noah’s Flood), the possibility of near-extinction, as opposed to absolute extinction, of a species must be taken into account.

My specialty is eyewitness reports of apparent living pterosaurs, so let’s push aside the dinosaurs. Fossils cannot give us any indication of extinction, but eyewitnesses can give us testimony evidence of life. The many testimonies, from the mid-twentieth century into the early twenty-first century in particular, suggest apparent Rhamphorhynchoids may be more common than apparent Pterodactyloids. I suggest considering individual eyewitness accounts, comparing them with other accounts of apparent pterosaurs. I have done this for years, and it has been rewarding, thrilling beyond words. I invite you to learn more about these accounts of what are described as wonderful creatures (though sometimes frightening) that live and fly in the present.

South Carolina flying creature (long-tailed pterosaur)

Cryptozoology Book (nonfiction) about pterosaurs living in North America

Pterosaur Extinction or non-extinction

May 20, 2010May 20, 2010

Living Pterosaur on Front Page of a Newspaper in Ohio

Something on front page of the Antwerp-Bee Argus newspaper was different, on August 5, 2009. It was the live pterodactyl that made the news.

“A young man was reported to have seen something strange flying over the Maumee River in the summer of 2003.; he described it like a pterosaur, according to a recently-published book, Live Pterosaurs in America. It was reported to be chasing sparrows as it flew over the Route 49 bridge near Antwerp, Ohio.”

It delighted me to see that the editor of the small-town Ohio newspaper had published my article. Many big-city newspapers seem to ignore these kinds of reports, for whatever reasons. I knew of newspaper reports from the 1980’s of giant pterosaurs flying in Texas, but I’ve noticed little else like that in recent years. It seems to be a matter of culture, for Americans live in a news environment that has become unfriendly to anything that seems to contradict standard models of biology.

May 11, 2010May 12, 2010

Northeast Texas Pterosaur

Aaron Tullock would sometimes play in the woods and swamp near his grandparents’ house; he and his friends would often look for animals there. But this day was different, for Aaron was alone, and the animal he encountered on that late afternoon in 1995 was different.

Fortunately the eight-year-old was not in the swamp but in the yard, waiting for his mother to come out. Something strange flew out of the swamp while Aaron’s back was turned. It flew just over his head, stopping in mid-air to hover for awhile. The boy knew it was not a bird or bat that he was staring at. There were not feathers, so it was no bird; it had a long tail, so it was no bat. He knew what it was but was shocked: a pterosaur!

I interviewed Aaron (now a young man) earlier this year, by emails. I have been impressed by his credibility; he seems to be telling the truth, notwithstanding the strange coloration of the creature: bright orange mixed with black. The long tail had a flange at the end. The head had no crest, at least not like other creatures seen by other eyewitnesses in the United States; it did have a “kind of a longish bump on the back of the head.”

Aaron sent me a copy of the report that he had previously sent to another cryptozoologist, including, “it turned back west and started flying, it first went up about fifty feet and then forward towards the sunset. Then I just stood there because I knew what I had just seen. My favorite thing as a child was dinosaurs and I watched specials on them virtually every day . . .”

More about the Texas Pterosaur

Do not confuse this sighting with the one by another child (a girl) in Texas in 1995

April 29, 2010February 10, 2011

Pterosaur Sighting in South Carolina

From the nonfiction book Live Pterosaurs in America (Chapter One: South Carolina Sighting):

Susan Wooten was driving east on Highway 20, to the town of Florence, on a clear mid-afternoon in the fall of about 1989, following a girl who lived in her dorm, who was driving ahead. . . . Wooten saw something flying from her left, then passing in front of her, behind her friend’s car. “It swooped down over the highway and back up gracefully over the pines,” but its appearance was shocking: “It looked as big as any car . . . NO feathers . . . like a humongous bat.”

Local libraries revealed other sighting accounts in the area, but not until 2007 did Wooten find much more: accounts on web sites . . .

Since early 2004, living-pterosaurs investigations have relied on eyewitnesses finding a web page and responding. Have you seen something like a living pterosaur? Do you know someone who saw a “pterodactyl” or “dinosaur bird?” Please contact me, Jonathan Whitcomb. You may remain anonymous; your privacy will be protected.

Read more about bats, ropens, and pterosaurs

This crude sketch relates to the realistic sketch done by Eskin Kuhn of two pterosaurs he saw in Cuba in 1971.

October 12, 2009April 12, 2018

Live Pterosaurs In America, nonfiction 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

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