In Papua New Guinea, in 2004, I explored part of Umboi Island, Papua New Guinea, with my interpreter, Luke Paina. We were hoping to get photographs and video footage of a ropen, from Luke holding a film camera and me holding a video camcorder. Unfortunately, no ropen showed up for the cameras. We found many eyewitnesses and I interviewed them while videotaping them, but I longed to get a more.

But in 2009 I received an email from a young man from Tarawe Village, Umboi Island. He was a student at the time: business accounting at the University of Technology in Lae City. He did not get a photograph of the ropen, but he had a wonderful sighting:

I was on an outboard motor [probably a banana boat] as early as 9 am when we saw a giant creature floating along the coastline near Bunsil Bay [central-south coast of Umboi Island].  Its body was submerged under the sea but its tail was emerged. I saw that its tail is about 6-7 meters long [about twenty feet long] with sharp diamond shape. It was an awesome scenerio . . . It was floating 10 meters away from the boat . . .

Being in fear, we stopped the boat to let it pass by. . . . I wish I had a camera at that time because it was a frightening scene. Right now I’m looking for a camera to monitor this beast. . . .

Coastline just to the east of Bunsil Station, Umboi Island (that native fishing boat has one or two sails that may have originally been common bed sheets)

.

Flying Creature in Southern California

On June 19, 2012, an eyewitness saw, at close range and in clear daylight, in a residential neighborhood northeast of Long Beach, California, a “dragon-pterodactyl.” Details in the description . . . make it highly unlikely to be anything other than a ropen.

Ropen in California

Ropens, or “pterodactyls” or “dragons,” have also been reported in other states of the USA and in many other countries around the world.

Tags: ropen, Umboi