So why is it so interesting that biology professors would rate the probability at 1.5%? Those who responded were ignorant of the research and expeditions in Papua New Guinea. If they had been knowledgeable, they might have given it a much higher rating.

Sighting Reports Analyzed

Recently analysis was done on eyewitness accounts of pterosaur sightings, even though some of the persons involved called the flying creatures “pterodactyls.” The purpose of the work was to get a handle on how much the influence of time had on the memories of the eyewitnesses.

It turned out that those who had reported their sightings many years afterwards had no major problem with memory influencing their accounts of long tails. Those who reported long tails soon after their sightings were just as common as those who took years to report their sightings.

With head crests, it was different, at least to some degree. There may have been some eyewitnesses who had some problem with memory over the years. But even in that subject of head crests not all eyewitnesses had a problem with memory. Eskin Kuhn in particular was a big exception. He drew a good sketch of the two “pterodactyls” he had seen in Cuba in 1971. What makes this interesting is that he drew the sketch within just minutes of the sighting, and it shows a big head crest.

“Rhamphorhynchus” Sighting by a Professor

This professor in western Florida may not be a biology professor, but whatever he teaches in a classroom he learned something from the school of life experiences this past November. Here are some of his own words.

Today, I was blessed with a sight that will never be forgotton. It was 11:45 A.M. today, solid grey dim overcast- about 60 degrees out-Wednesday November 14 2012- Crestview, Florida

Sitting at table with back door open when a Huge rhamphorhynchus like flying entity blatently grabbed my attention, It was flying west to northeast close enough it could’ve been shot down. . .

Had an estimated wingspan of 8-12 feet and a tail as long as its torso with a large bulb or lump at the tail very diamond shaped, no feathers

Scientific Analysis of Sighting Reports

To be sure, very few Rhamphorhynchoid fossils include a head crest, but that structure in not entirely unknown on “basal” long-tailed pterosaurs. Many modern pterosaurs, according to many eyewitnesses worldwide, have both horn-like (or cone-like) head crests and long tails.

Science and Marfa Lights of Texas

What should science predict for nocturnal group-hunters that have had a successful hunt on a particular night? Would they not try again the next night? Is it not likely that they might go to the same area at about the same time, on the next night? Of course. According to the post “A Scientific Look at Marfa Lights,” (April 8, 2011) on the blog Live Pterosaur, this relates to data gathered by the scientist James Bunnell and published in his book Hunting Marfa Lights.

Pterosaur Sightings in Papua New Guinea

After he and his buddy walked into a clearing, they were amazed as a large creature flew up into the air. The men soon realized that it was no bird that started to circle the clearing. It had a tail “at least ten to fifteen feet long,” (book Searching for Ropens, 2007) and a long appendage at the back of its head: apparently, a live pterosaur.

Long Tails Wipe Away the Competition

The same analysis reveals how much long-tailed pterosaurs seem to dominate reports. Of those eyewitnesses who reported a long tail or the lack thereof, the ratio was 95% to 5% in favor of long tails, suggesting most of the creatures are basal, or Rhamphorhynchoid, pterosaurs. This is not restricted to any particular part of the world, but is common worldwide.

Sighting in Spain, 2007 (“a long thin tail”)

Firstly, I assure you I am NOT LYING- I’ve got literally no interest in making something like this up. Apart from the two people with me at the time, I haven’t mentioned this to anyone . . . simply because I realise it sounds odd, and can’t be bothered to have to defend myself on this. . . .

I’ll get to the point- last summer, some friends and I drove from England (where I live) to Benecassim (in East Spain-near los desert del palmas I think) for a music festival. 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. . . .

Sudan, Africa, 1988 (“Its tail . . . was very long”)

In Sudan, the classic house is one level, made of mud bricks and walls, 3-5 rooms . . . each room being a separate unit, but connected by a roofless hallway that leads to the patios.

One evening in July of 1988, we had some guest over . . . the guest were in the living room which was @ one end of the house, and my aunt was in the kitchen preparing the tea and cookies, which was @ the far end on the other side of the house. She asked me to bring the tray of tea, cookies, sugar & spoons to the guest. So I took the tray walked through the open hallway and proceeded to the living room.

When I got to the patio, I noticed something on the roof of my uncle’s room. Mind u it was night time but the patio has one of those long cylinder like light bulbs that light up the whole patio & the roof is only 10 feet or less from the ground. I was standing by the bathroom, about 10 feet away from it. It was perched about 5 feet from the light bulb. I seen it very clearly and got a good look @ it.

It was very large, about 4 or 5 feet in height . . . no feathers . . . leathery looking. It had a large long, wide beak & the classic appendage (the long bone looking thing sticking out the back of its head). it was perched on the edge of the roof . . . Its tail looked like a lions tail; it was very long & had a bushy or hairy tip.

Pterodactyl Sighting in Canada (“ long, skinny, pointed tail”)

. . . In Brampton, Ontario, Canada, while driving to work . . . with my mother at about 8:00 a.m. EST, my mother and I saw a strange bird-like creature flying low and close to the car about 20 feet away from us. . . . exactly like a miniature pterodactyl like you see in the movies like Jurassic Park . . . The only difference is that it was much smaller, having a wingspan of about four feet.

It was gray and did not appear to have any feathers . . .  It had a long, skinny, pointed tail extended straight behind it that had sort of a diamond shape at the tip. It also had a long neck extended out in front of it as it flew.

Two Pterodactyls in Cuba

The U. S. Marine Eskin C. Kuhn observed two similar flying creatures, at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in 1971. He sketched what he had seen, within minutes of the encounter, giving us details of the appearance of those two ”pterodactyls.”

Sketch by the eyewitness Eskin Kuhn (Cuba, 1971)

Worldwide Sightings of Pterosaurs

The pilot put the plane into a dive to avoid a collision with what he at first assumed was another airplane. As it passed, it became obvious that it was no plane.

Pterodactyl Sightings not From a Fish

But why should modern creatures conform precisely, in a few arbitrarily-chosen details, to those that we know from fossils? How absurd!

Other areas in Georgia where people have seen the flying creatures in recent years include the towns of Canton, Lithonia, and Franklin, and a highway between Winder and Athens.

Sighting in Franklin, Georgia

A lady and her two sons were driving on Highway 27, at about 8:15 am, on July 18, 2012, when they saw a “flyin dinosaur.” After yelling at her boys to look at it, she heard confirmation from her older son: It was a pterodactyl. As it glided across the road, they could see that it had a long tail.

Sighting in Northern Georgia

In Towns County, northern Georgia, David Schroder has had two sightings within the past few years. His July 2010 encounter was with two flying creatures with wingspans possibly as great at twenty feet. The man’s wife also witnessed them.

“They had a tail of sorts, it looked like it was maybe 1/4 the length of the body and had something on the end that was a little bigger than the tail itself. The body of the birds looked to be a dark gray.”

Schroder also has stated:

“To me, this is wonderful news, something that should be celebrated, and of course studied within the scientific community . . . I would think that even the slightest possibility of these birds still existing would make every paleontologist in the world as giddy as a school child, but it is avoided as though it were a plague. This amazes me to no limits. This is why I am attempting to aid in their discovery being accepted, because they are real.”

Pterosaur Sightings in Georgia, USA

Both birds had what 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

Pterodactyls in Georgia

She told me what made her yell out loud: It was the tail; she looked up at a “very long” tail that had a strange shape at the end.

“Flying Dinosaur” in Georgia

The dark gray flying creature had a long tail but no neck was visible. The woman said, “I don’t remember seeing feets . . . just its long tail, wings, n kinda long face.” She was directed to many photos of Frigate birds, but she was sure that what she and her oldest son had seen was nothing like any of those birds.

Living Pterosaurs in Georgia?

Reports of living “pterodactyls” in Georgia, during the past seven years, probably relate to sightings of some flying creatures in South Carolina and Florida, according to author Jonathan Whitcomb, of California.

Advertisement:

Nonfiction cryptozoology book, third edition: Live Pterosaurs in America

From an Amazon.com book review of the second edition:

I remember stumbling on this subject (cryptozoology, living dinosaurs, extinct animals) in recent years. I always find myself fascinated by the subject. I remember hearing stories for the first time. . . .

I highly recommend this. You may find yourself almost believing in it, although that is not even the authors intent! Whitcomb painstakingly reviews every account for credibility and reason. This man is not a crank. He tries to weed out would be hoaxes and miss-identification. This is not a guy looking to create evidence to confirm his own beliefs. . . .

Now, if the creature exists, it could be more close to home than currently imagined. Yes, it as a lot to take in. My first thought about these creatures was, “Well, I guess it could be possible because new guinea is very secluded and actually one of the few remaining lost worlds”. Whitcomb will have you suspending disbelief again as he shares his collection of personal accounts from Americans. . . .

If you are interested in reading about this subject, this is definitely the book to get . . .  I like how the author is not out to prove every story in the book and takes great care to make sure he has the best ones. He tries hard to make sure there are not other explanations for sightings. . . .

I do believe the author tried hard to deliver these stories and was very good at it. This is well written and very hard to put down.

Parts of two Amazon reviews of the latest third edition of the book:

“Opens Minds and Questions Indoctrination”

Whitcomb does a thorough job questioning indoctrination and the close-mindedness of the Western world. . . . mind-opening, to say the least. . . .  The passion that Whitcomb and the pterosaur witnesses feel about these investigations make this book a great read and keep the pages turning. If you are prepared to question the indoctrination society has imposed on you since childhood, you are ready for Live Pterosaurs in America.

“Live Pterosaurs in America”

This book is one of the best books that I have ever read! . . . a very interesting and educational book . . . may change the way you see the world around you.

That strange interpretation of pterodactyl sightings was suggested by a skeptic who believes that modern pterosaurs must be precisely like those known from fossils of creatures that lived in the past. But why should modern creatures conform precisely, in a few arbitrarily-chosen details, to those that we know from fossils? How absurd!

Many things count against the idea that people are seeing fish that jump out of the sea.

Altitude of Flight Wrong for Manta Rays

A Manta ray jumping out of the sea cannot attain any height above about ten feet or so. Here is a small sampling of sightings of what seem to be pterosaurs, flying higher than ten feet:

• Windhoek, Namibia – 2011 – altitude at least 600 feet (above land)
• Orange County, California – 1989 – altitude about 120 feet (above land)
• San Diego, California – 2011 – altitude about 90-120 feet (above land)
• Canada (near Detroit) - 2012 -  altitude 20 feet (above land)
• Florida – 2002 – small pterosaur flew over a house
• Georgia (USA) – 2011 – two sightings, both above tree-top altitude
• Canton, Georgia – 1997 – about 1000 feet high
• Big Island of Hawaii – 2012 – about 100 feet high
• Big Island of Hawaii – 2008 – 60-100 feet above the two eyewitnesses
• Oahu, Hawaii – 1971 – about 100 feet high
• Idaho – 1991 – “at least” 200-300 feet high (above a forest)
• Hudson, Kansas – 2012 – it took to the air from trees (above-ground takeoff)
• Louisiana – 2012 – the creature went over some trees
• Meridian, Mississippi - about 2001 – creature flew over trees that were about 75 feet high
• New Jersey - 2009 – “it landed on the tree tops”
• Charlotte, North Carolina – 2009 – “[it flew] directly over the 3 story building I was standing next to”
• Sea between Australia and Indonesia – 2008 – seen from airplane: creature at altitude of 6500 feet

Location Unfriendly to Manta Rays

• Bougainville, New Guinea – 1971 – It flew over a  mountain road
• Umboi Island, Papua New Guinea – 1994 – Ropen flew over an inland crater lake
• Mainland of Papua New Guinea – 2006 – Indava seen sleeping high on a mountain cliff
• Southern California – 1987 – flying over a desert
• Wisconsin – about 1980 – flying over a cucumber farm
• Winder, Georgia – 2008 – two sightings of two different creatures over farmlands

Behavior Unlike a Manta Ray

• Maryland-Virginia border – 1990 – flew over a river to perch in a tree
• Orange County, California – 2007 – giant flying creature was chasing birds
• Southern California – 2005 – giant flying creature was drinking from swimming pool
• San Antonio, Texas – 1986 – flying creature that swooped back and forth
• Antwerp, Ohio – 2003 – after flying over a bridge, it caught a sparrow in its mouth

Misidentifications are possibile in many aspects of life, not just in eyewitness sighting reports of extant pterosaurs. But the idea is ridiculous, that Manta rays jumping out of the sea cause people to cry “pterodactyl.” People are smarter than that.

More on Manta ray Misidentification

The example given by Drinnon, in his recent post, was a sighting in the Philippines. He said, “The Philippines sighting in specific lends itself to the Manta ray hypothesis most readily.” But when he wrote that article he had very limited information on it. Critical details then came forward, which showed clearly that the sighting was not of a Manta ray fish jumping out of the water.

Strange Ideas About Live Pterodactyls

The cryptozoologist Dale A. Drinnon has come up with some strange ideas to try to explain away accounts of live pterodactyls in Africa and in Papua New Guinea: stingrays, Manta rays, and Hornbill birds. But his ideas fail when details are taken into account.

Manta Rays or Modern Pterosaurs?

The critical point is that the man who witnessed the sighting of two apparent pterosaurs was in a CITY, not in a boat. And he saw two of the creatures flying together.

And ultimately, I am afraid I still doubt it is true. However, I am more open to Pterosaurs in other parts of the world than I was before, and I am much more open to the possibility of live Pterosaurs. I actually find it hard to type those those three words together “possibility” + “live” + “pterosaurs”, so strong is my ingrained prejudice against the case. After all, during my dinosaur phase (aged 5-10 roughly) the one thing I knew absolutely was that they were all extinct.

This is the “normal” perspective in developed countries like the USA, where dinosaur extinction and pterosaur extinction is taught as if scientific fact. But as readers, and in this case a blog writer, become exposed to the idea of non-extinction of pterosaurs, some of them start to consider that possibility, even though it runs counter to their cultural beliefs.

But when we look at some of the eyewitness reports from the United States, we sometimes read that the eyewitnesses themselves have great difficulty believing that they saw what they saw. Some people even come to doubt their sanity, and not for any reason except that they saw something that they had been taught is impossible to see.

Weird Appearance of Live Pterosaurs

Whitcomb’s eyewitnesses don’t really convince me greatly, though they are at the heart of his case.

Actually, the book in question was not written mainly to convince skeptics that pterosaurs are still alive. It was written for the eyewitnesses themselves, so that they would know the big picture and not doubt their own sanity, although there were doubtless other purposes in its writing and publication.

Three Cryptozoology Books

Would you like to read a non-fiction cryptozoology book about modern “pterodactyls” in North America? You now have three choices, at least, and they are not at all similar in style or sighting locations or anything else, except in emphasizing the possibility of modern pterosaurs living in North America.

Advertisement:

Nonfiction book on modern living pterodactyls: “Live Pterosaurs in America,” third edition

From the book Live Pterosaurs in America, third edition, page 38-39:

“The [animal] had two small claw-like feet on the underside that looked like they would be useless.” A day earlier, she had sent me an email with a general account of what she had experienced: “. . . I heard a loud whooshing noise moving in the air to my right. I saw a huge pterodactyl. It circled my house six times and once it turned its head and looked at me. By the sixth time, it was somewhat lower; it definitely was interested in me. I am not a nut; I’m a mother of two and work in a hospital.”

Sighting on an Island in Greece

My friend told me that when they were doing the walk about four years ago, they heard a very loud breathing-like sound coming from under the bridge, and they could hear it some 10 or 20 minutes before they even got to it. Apparently it sort of resonated in the small valley-like area. It was constant and sounded like a shushing sound.

Sighting in North Carolina

The following is from an email sent by an eyewitness to the cryptozoologist Jonathan Whitcomb, in 2012:

I saw what I saw in October 2009 in Charlotte, NC . . . it was at night. I was standing outside my car on the phone when I saw the creature emerge directly over the three story building I was standing next to. The creature was so close my reflex was to duck. It looked like what I had seen in a Jurassic Park movie . . . My instant reaction was to get my cousin, who was in my passenger seat, out the car so I didn’t see it alone. He did, and that is how I know I’m not crazy. I know what we saw.

Excerpts From a Cryptozoology Book

In the new e-book Live Pterosaurs in Australia and in Papua New Guinea, the author referred to an email he had received from Queensland:

The report had only a few details but enough to catch my attention. Kathy was driving [at about 8:30] at night, with her thirteen-year-old daughter, when the huge creature flew over the car:

“We both saw it appear from the side of the road as a black big shape moving fast.

“The wings were so big. Black bat leather like.

“One wing covered the car . . . As it [bent its] wing to continue flight you could see how strong it was, so big.”

The author also referred to a 2009 sighting off the coast of Umboi Island, Papua New Guinea:

“I just want to [tell] you of the current sighting of the dragon named “ropen.” I was on an outboard motor [boat] as early as 9 am when we saw a giant creature floating along the coastline near Bunsil Bay. Its body was submerged under the sea but its tail was emerged. I saw that its tail is about 6-7 meters long with sharp diamond shape.”

Living Pterosaurs in the SW Pacific

Apparent living pterosaurs have been seen by others on Umboi Island, including the interpreter  on  Jonathan  Whitcomb’s expedition: Luke Paina, of Lae.

Giant Pterodactyls in Australia

It was on the roof of the shed . . . the boy had a brief view of the body and wings of the creature. It was larger than an average man six feet tall, with wings that folded to the side and back, reminiscent of bat wings

From the Chapter “Other Sightings in Australia”

“[In November or December of 2002, in Perth] I heard my dogs just go nuts one night so I looked out of my window . . . just in time I saw a huge shadow glide over it. It was at least 4m [four meters] in wingspan and distinctly had a head. It glided like a sting ray and there was no noise. Naturally I was freaked out.

“Only this year I tried to find some information on the internet and I [read] what those [two persons in Perth] wrote. This is where it gets freaky because I saw they had seen it along Marmion between suburbs Ocean Reef and Heathridge. I live in Beldon which is the following suburb to the two mentioned and my street comes off Marmion Ave and is only a few hundred metres from where they saw a similar thing five years earlier. . . .”

Ebook Completed: Live Pterosaurs in Australia and in Papua New Guinea

Featherless creatures fly overhead, in Papua New Guinea and in Australia. This nonfiction gives you up-to-date eyewitness reports, informing you why these creatures are still alive and why they are so rarely reported in newspapers.

New Cryptozoology Book

About 20,000 words: a medium-length book, smaller than the largest Kindle Singles ebooks

Ropen Page on the Book

“Have you never seen anything like a living pterosaur? Have you never before even thought about that possibility? This can still benefit you.”

One statement keeps coming up, something like this: “If pterosaurs were found to be still alive, it would not disprove evolution.” That statement, however, is overly simplistic. Galileo did not prove the earth moved around the sun by demonstrating the movement of four possible moons orbiting Jupiter, yet that discovery paved the way for the overthrow of the old Greek idea about earth-centeredness. It opened the door.

Young earth creationists may be wrong about a six thousand year old universe, but some of them are correct about live pterodactyls. When those flying creatures are discovered to be still living, it will open the door to more open-minded consideration of ideas opposed to those taken for granted about evolution, ideas promoted by creationists about how life originated on this earth.

Galileo and Live Pterosaurs

Did Galileo’s discovery prove that the earth revolves around the sun? Did it disprove the old earth-centered philosophy? No, on both points.

Pterodactyl Expert “Attacked”

He was accused of “leading a charge against evolution on the back of a flying reptile.” But the original accusations were an attack on Whitcomb’s qualifications as an expert, not on the eyewitnesses who report to him and to other cryptozoologists their sightings of live pterodactyls.

Here’s a new cryptozoology blog in French (modern pterosaurs):

Cryptozoologie et le Ropen

The teenaged girl was alone one afternoon in the late 1960′s, in her home on Altadena Drive, against the foothills north of Pasadena. Just before sunset, she was amazed to see a giant “pterodactyl” fly “straight up” over a mountain ridge, perhaps in the Henneger Flats area. She later told her friend about her encounter, but the other girl suggested that it must have been something else. The eyewitness later told a cryptozoologist that the dark-colored creature had a wingspan as long as a bus.

One of the trails north of Altadena and Pasadena, California, in the San Gabriel Mountains

______________________________________________________________________________________________

Strange Flying Creature Around Pico Rivera

The eyewitness described to the cryptozoologist Jonathan Whitcomb what he had seen west of Whittier, California, around 2006. At first he thought it was a bird, but it really looked more like a bat. This flying creature, however, was too big to be any bat and it had a long tail that flopped around like it was useless to flight. At the end of the tail was something furry or hairy, a very strange sight.

From the late nineteenth century to the early twenty-first century, eyewitnesses in California testify of “dragons” or “pterodactyls” that are very much non-extinct, real creatures that fly around, sometimes chasing, and even catching, birds for snacks.

Daylight Sighting in Lakewood, California

I saw this huge dragon pteradactal looking thing. . . . he jumped off the telephone wires . . . and when he opened his huge wings they sounded like heavy fabric . . . a Frigate Bird [misidentification potential] was dismissed when the lady described the long neck and the “triangle” at the end of the creature’s long tail.

Sun Valley, California, Pterodactyl Sighting

The woman said that it was a bat, but the man saw a “bright radiation like light coming from the belly of this Pterodactyl looking animal.”