Destination Truth - Ropen Pterosaur

When an assistant from Neil Mandt’s people phoned me, late in 2006, my associate, Paul Nation, was in the middle of his expedition in a remote mountainous area of the mainland of Papua New Guinea. Just before Eric Wing and Neil interviewed me in their Hollywood office,

I had received news that Paul had videotaped some ropen lights (also called indava lights: the first video footage of its kind that would enter the United States). I told Neil about Paul’s success, just before the Destination Truth group left for Papua New Guinea, and I then assured him that the ropen was a real creature, not just a legend. I also warned him of the dangers (humans in cities, ropens in jungles).

Adventure, danger, enlightenment—these I experienced half a year later, sitting in my living room, delighting in the dramatic ropen-edition of Destination Truth. I thought I remembered advising the production team “do not” enter a cave that might contain a ropen; oh well, it is a Hollywood production: Risk is just what the audience enjoys.

I believe that the video footage obtained from this team, together with Paul Nation’s video footage, are the first two visual evidences, to enter the United States, of living pterosaurs in Papua New Guinea.

Although any nature documentary is far removed from an episode of Destination Truth, both can benefit with eyewitness accounts; the Mandt Brother’s production handled this well. I did not expect that the episode would include details about Jacob Kepas’s childhood ropen-encounter; it did not. But I was pleasantly surprised that the minister was allowed to voice his opinions about the creature; religious opinions are too infrequently heard or considered.

I believe that Josh Gates did very well in

the limited time his team had in their ropen search. The team was successful in video-
taping what most other adventurers had failed to videotape. Except for the cave adventure, I recommend Josh’s good

judgment to future explorers: He made some good decisions, in general.

Without access to the original video footage obtained by the team, I hesitate guaranteeing that the glowing orb must be a ropen light, but it does resemble Paul Nation’s video, an obvious resemblance for investigators who have seen both. Unless someone comes up with a better explanation, I will continue to hold up this Destination Truth video footage as evidence for the reality of the ropen of Papua New Guinea and for the reality of its extraordinary bioluminescence.

Jonathan Whitcomb has written extensively about the ropen of Papua New Guinea and was the first Western explorer to interview three native witnesses of the Lake Pung ropen sighting on Umboi Island, Papua New Guinea (Whitcomb 2004 expedition). He has

shown why this is not a Flying Fox fruit bat.

He is the author of the nonfiction book "Live Pterosaurs in America."