Ropen Close to Bunsil Station, Umboi Island

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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. . . .

reef area off the coast of Umboi Island, Papua New Guinea

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)

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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.