The Dracula / vampire legend in some parts of Europe are deep-seated traditions. Some Europeans still believe that a particular bat can transform itself into a man and back again. Now a press release ties the old Dracula of Europe to the modern pterodactyl of Texas.
Do tales of Dracula come from an animal?
A nonfiction author suggests that the European Dracula legend may have originated from observations of a large nocturnal pterosaur. Jonathan Whitcomb, who writes cryptozoology books, relates that legend to sightings of apparent pterosaurs in Texas.
Although the cryptozoologist Jonathan Whitcomb may be now suggesting the Dracula-pterosaur relationship, the seed of that idea comes from expeditions in Papua New Guinea, in the 1990′s, before he became involved. Carl Baugh and Paul Nation, by coincidence both from Texas, interviewed natives on Umboi Island. On one expedition, two natives testified that they saw a ropen holding itself upright on the trunk of a tree. Whitcomb believes that may relate to the Umboi legend of the ropen transforming itself between a winged animal and a man. That gave Whitcomb the idea of a relationship with the Dracula superstition of Europe.
In his press release, he mentions two sightings in Texas. In both of the reports, eyewitness’s use of the word “Dracula” is noted. In one report, the creature is flying around in the dark of night; in the other, the creature is standing in a backyard in daylight. Both sightings freaked out the eyewitnesses.
. . . in southwest Greensburg, Pennsylvaniva, a karate teacher and two of his students were talking outside . . . they saw something that at first could have been mistaken for a large bird. . . . Being that far up the “birds” body still appeared to be much larger than my 100 pound dog . . .
Questions and Answers on Live Pterosaurs
Peter Wellnhofer, generally recognized in the scientific community as the world’s leading expert on pterosaurs, admits the “paucity of the fossil record” regarding pterosaurs. Paleontologists believe there were many species of pterosaurs for which we do not have fossil evidence. But few paleontologists, if any, have acknowledged what that implies regarding extinction: The few species for which we have fossils can give no evidence for any extinctions of the many species that left no fossils; we therefore must admit that some species of pterosaurs may have survived.
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