Press Releases on Living Pterosaurs

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Let’s pause from examining reports of Marfa Lights and examine press releases related to reports of living pterosaurs. Some relate to Papau New Guinea, others to the United States.

Apparent Living Pterosaurs Seen By 1400 Americans (Aug 19, 2009)

The “1400” is nothing like a count of eyewitnesses, merely a rough estimate based upon a few, so this is speculative. Nevertheless, the reasoning itself, though crude, strongly suggests that more eyewitnesses of living pterosaurs exist than the number who are brave enough to admit that they saw a living pterosaur.

Whitcomb found that eyewitnesses are hesitant to report their experiences; many are afraid of ridicule or afraid people would think them “crazy.” Most of those who reported their sightings to him remain anonymous in his book; an exception is Susan Wooten . . .

Hoaxes Did Not Produce Reports of Living Pterosaurs in the United States (July 31, 2009)

No hoax or combination of hoaxes caused the overall reports of living pterosaurs in the United States, at least not those reports included in the book Live Pterosaurs in America.

[Whitcomb] found three kinds of evidence disproving any hoax-explanation. . . . estimated wingspan . . . how certain they [the eyewitnesses] were about the absence of feathers. He found that ‘probably’ outnumbered ‘definitely’ by about two-to-one . . . ‘about 80 percent of sighting reports in the United States include a long tail.’ [wingspan, certainty-factor with featherlessness, tail-length]

Psychologist Saw a Living Pterosaur (June 8, 2007)

Brian Hennessy (an Australian who has adopted China or at least their people and culture) sometimes works for the Chongqing University of Medical Sciences, as a psychology consultant. In 1971, he witnessed a large or giant flying creature on Bougainville Island, New Guinea (now part of the nation of Papua New Guinea). The creature had no sign of any feather on its body.

[Hennessy} described the creature as black or dark brown with a “longish narrow tail” and a beak that was “indistinguishable from the head.” . . .  Hennessy [in 1971] was . . . unaware that many natives have names for giant flying creatures: One of those names is “ropen.”

Pterodactyl Reported in Papua New Guinea (Aug 14, 2006)

The World War II veteran Duane Hodgkinson had seen, in 1944, a ropen, although he called the giant long-tailed flying creature a “pterodactyl.” This was just west of Finschhafen, in what was then called “New Guinea.”

 Jonathan Whitcomb, of Long Beach, analyzed a videotaped testimony of Hodgkinson in 2005 and maintains that the veteran saw, near Finschhafen, New Guinea, in 1944, what natives of nearby Umboi Island call a ropen.

I also interviewed Hodgkinson extensively in 2004, before my expedition in Papua New Guinea. He is a highly credible eyewitness.

Unmasking a Flying Predator in Texas (Dec 6, 2010)

OK, I can hardly stop gazing into reports of Marfa Lights. This particular press release is based on the conjecture that bioluminescent flying predators are hunting the Big Brown Bat. This is a highly specific conjecture, and seems speculative; but the overall idea of nocturnal flying predators actually makes better sense than many ideas such as “ball lightning” or “earth energies.” Why would non-living flying lights behave so much like a group of predators?

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