The two American cryptozoologists Jonathan Whitcomb and David Woetzel make an interesting contrast. Both explored Umboi Island, Papua New Guinea, late in 2004. Neither has returned since then. Both have written scientific papers, on modern living pterosaurs, in the peer-reviewed journal Creation Research Society Quarterly. Both believe that the official discovery of living pterosaurs would cast severe doubt on Darwin’s basic concept of evolutionary change, the concept that Whitcomb calls “unlimited common ancestry.” Both have been closely associated with the cryptozoologist Garth Guessman. All three of these Americans are Christians. With all their similarities, however, Whitcomb and Woetzel have not yet met face to face.
There are some differences between Whitcomb, who lives in California, and Woetzel, who lives in New Hampshire. Whitcomb believes in a recent arrival of life on earth but not necessarily in a very young earth. Woetzel is a strict Young Earth Creationist, believing in a six-thousand-year-old earth.
Who’s Who Investigating Living Pterosaurs
According to Jonathan Whitcomb:
David Woetzel accompanied Guessman on the second 2004 expedition on Umboi Island (a few weeks after my expedition there). He has also written a paper for a scientific journal, an article about living pterosaurs in history and in the present. He has accompanied exploreres on an expedition in central Africa, as they searched for the dinosaur Mokele-Mbembe.
I, Jonathan Whitcomb, have less direct-experience in Papua New Guinea than some of my associates, with only one expedition, which I led in 2004. My work mostly involves writing about the encounters eyewitnesses have had with living pterosaurs. I have written two nonfiction books (each published in two editions, with more books on the way), one paper in a scientific journal, and hundreds of web pages and blog posts . . .
In recent months, Whitcomb has actively promoted the idea that the Marfa Lights in southwest Texas may be from bioluminescent predators related to the ropen of Papua New Guinea. Woetzel has continued actively promoting expeditions that he hopes will result in the official discovery of living pterosaurs. Whitcomb writes more than he travels; Woetzel does the reverse.