Tag: Papua New Guinea

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Ropen Expedition Ten Years Ago

Glowing Pterosaurs in Papua New Guinea

I took the flight from Los Angeles International Airport ten years ago tomorrow, to eventually arrive in Papua New Guinea, to search for ropens. How did the living-pterosaur expeditions in those remote tropical rain forests promote awareness that similar flying creatures live in the Americas? That deserves attention.

That expedition in Papua New Guinea required many months of preparation, but when I returned to the United States, early in October of 2004, I was ill prepared for the next few years, when I would get many sighting reports of apparent American ropens. Few persons should have been less shocked than me, to learn that similar flying creatures live in the USA, yet it took some getting use to, for I was still a child of Western culture and our part of this wonderful world, the American part, appears so scientific, so undragonish.

How could it be possible for a real dragon, on any night it chooses, to fly over the Smithsonian castle in Washington D.C.? The most popular science fiction movies show pterodactyls (none of them glowing with any bioluminescence) flying over the most remote tropical rain forests of the planet. Nonetheless, which is more believable:

  1. Dinosaurs and pterosaurs from eggs laid in nests in wilderness areas?
  2. Dinosaurs and pterosaurs extracted from ancient blood in mosquitos?

I choose well-hidden eggs, for no miraculous DNA magic-manipulation is needed for those little darlings to hatch and grow. At least for some species of pterosaurs, it’s much easier to believe in natural nocturnal flying creatures, glowing in the sky and causing ancient people to write about fire-breathing dragons.

Kept in a Corner of Earth or Flying Around the World?

So how exactly do you prevent a large flying creature from spreading out across the globe over a period of thousands of years? You don’t. Some butterflies get blown across a sea or even an ocean on occasion, and some birds navigate across much of the earth, in extraordinary migrations. A large dragon can certainly do the same, and flying dragons have swept across worldwide human cultures, through countless stories, for countless centuries. Don’t even think about trying to hold one of them down on the ground in Papua New Guinea or in any other island or continent in the southwest Pacific.

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

 Sling shots on a table in a hotel in Papua New GuineaSling shots, gifts for villager leaders

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A Glowing Ropen in New Mexico

The moon had already gone behind the trees, by the middle of that night a week ago Monday, so Mr. Slack and his buddy searched the sky for the Andromeda Nebula. This required using a low-magnification eyepiece, fortunately, to locate that galaxy, allowing the amateur astronomer to see the flying creature sweep through the field of view.

Ropen Only Extinct on Wikipedia

Regarding the definition of “ropen,” that encyclopedia-dictionary quotation is outdated. In my nonfiction Searching for Ropens and Finding God, it is defined thus: “A modern pterosaur with Rhamphorhynchoid characteristics.”

Destination Truth Ropen Episode

These great winged beasts — which possess leathery wings, a flanged tail, teeth-lined beaks and razor-sharp claws — are reputedly nocturnal . . .

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Size of Pterosaur Head

The size of the head of a flying creature sometimes gives us a clue that neither bird nor bat was observed, but a living pterosaur, especially when the head appears to be three feet or more in length.

Scott Norman (the late cryptozoologist) observed an apparent Pteranodon, one night in 2007, as he sat alone watching the sky. He estimated the head of the huge flying creature at about four feet in length.

Duane Hodgkinson (the World War II veteran) observed an apparent Rhamphorhynchoid, one day in 1944, as he and his army buddy had been watching some large tropical ants in a jungle clearing in New Guinea. He estimated the head of the “pterodactyl” at about three to four feet.

A skeptic might suggest that Hodgkinson had observed a large bird that had a big head, but that suggestion runs into problems. The World War II veteran estimated the length of the tail at “at least” ten or fifteen feet, far too long to have been the tail of any bird known to science. The head crest was long and much more like a pterosaur’s than like any bird’s. There was no sign of feathers. The wingspan was similar to that of a Piper Tri-Pacer (a little less than thirty feet). And this sighting was in clear view, at only about 80-100 feet away, in the middle of the day. There was no misidentification of a bird.

Other details in an eyewitness reports can give clues that the flying creature was a modern living pterosaurs, but the size of the head may nonetheless be significant.

Scott Norman – Nocturnal Pterosaur Sighting

I give Scott high credibility in this night sighting, for he began his watch that night with honest skepticism. He suspected that his associates, may have been over-zealous in hoping that the nocturnal flyers in that area were pterosaurs.

Cryptozoologist Scott Norman Sees Pterosaur

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 . . .

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Cost of Child Care

Not only are California standards observed for safety of children, but addition measures are taken to keep kids safe and to let you feel at peace having your child cared for here.

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The Spaulding Family Heritage

Table of Contents

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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.

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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

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Eyewitness Fear

On pages 23 of my non-fiction book Live Pterosaurs in America, the eyewitness DF (anonymous) said, “The threat felt from this thing is what bothers me the most. Once . . . I encountered a cougar . . . That did not scare me. This thing did.” She is not alone.

In late 2004, I interviewed three eyewitnesses in a remote village near Lake Pung (Umboi Island, Papua New Guinea). Gideon Koro, and his brother Wesley, appeared calm during their interviews; they admitted that they were afraid during their sighting (they were with friends, including Mesa Augustin, at Lake Pung). Mesa, however, stood almost petrified as I videotaped and questioned him. I came to realize that he was still frightened, ten years after his encounter with the ropen.

But for most eyewitnesses of pterosaurs (or apparent pterosaurs) in the United States, the fear is not of the creature: People fear ridicule, for observing a living pterosaur, in our culture, is taboo. That makes the investigations challenging for me and my associates who interview eyewitnesses.