A considerable portion of pterosaur sightings occur while driving. One of the older online reports involves a couple driving through the Trinity National Forest in the 1960′s. Another report involves two drivers in San Antonio, Texas, early in 1976. Another involves an ambulance driver in Los Fresnos, Texas, in 1982. In those reports, details are sparse, with no reference for interviewers, whether cryptozoologist or news reporter.
The second edition of this cryptozoology book gives many sighting reports of eyewitnesses who were driving.
I interviewed a young man who reported a long-tailed flying creature 117 miles to the northeast, on a hot summer day in Antwerp, Ohio. . . . “It was huge. . . . About 4.5 ft tall, 10 ft from head to end of tail. Long skinny tail with a spade about 3-4 [inches] from end of tail. It had a wing span of I would say 8-10 ft. Dark green skin sort of like an alligator. It had round long pointed teeth, jutting out in every direction and [its] snout was long and skinny . . . I was driving across a bridge out to my friend’s house, when the damn thing nearly ran into the side of my car. They fly so incredibly graceful. So much more than any kind of bird. Well anyway, it effortlessly flew over my car and that is when I stopped (in fear of having it hit my side window) and got out of my car to see it fly over the other side of the bridge.”
Coping With a Live Pterodactyl While Driving
Two weeks ago, Americans (at least a few Americans) observed Drive Safely Work Week; this week, it’s National Teen Driver Safety Week. I doubt we will ever have Drive Safely While Witnessing a Live Pterodactyl Week. But in the United States, driving may be the most common activity when someone sees an apparent living pterosaur (probably because most Americans are usually indoors when they’re not in an automobile). Within a period of about three years, I received reports of at least ten sightings in seven states: South Carolina, California, Wisconsin, Michigan, Kansas, Ohio (3), Georgia (2). With sighting dates from about 1980 to 2007, one involved driving a tractor, the rest involved driving a car.
Of course “pterodactyl” is not the word; “pterosaur” is what people actually mean. But those featherless flying creatures, differing from bats completely (only resembling them as flyers without feathers), and portrayed as ancient extinct flying creatures—those pterosaurs are appearing to human residents of Ohio; they have been appearing in Ohio for years.
Long-tailed pterosaur of Antwerp
The Antwerp Bee-Argus newspaper carried a front-page report of an apparent pterosaur sighting.
“He described it like a pterosaur, according to a recently-published book, Live Pterosaurs in America.” The creature was reported “chasing sparrows as it flew over the Route 49 bridge [Maumee River] near Antwerp, Ohio.” The author found credibility in the testimony.
Maumee River; photo by Andrew Whitis
Minister sees pterosaur in Mount Vernon, Ohio
I happened to notice a creature in the sky. . . . to my estimation it appeared to have no feathers. It was a leathery grayish color. . . . [very unusual] was the tail: longer than most bird tails . . . with a diamond shaped point at the end. . . . I have been careful not to tell many people.
Perhaps potential pterosaur food in a park in Mount Vernon, Ohio (photograph by J L Linko)