Live Pterosaur Seen by a Child

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Sometimes the eyewitness of an apparent modern pterosaur was a child at the time of the sighting—Patty Carson saw one in Cuba around 1965. What do you think is the normal response from a parent or other adult? Remember, this often would be something like an excited recitation of an encounter with a “flying dinosaur.” Now you see the problem with credibility.

But a typical sighting report from a child’s encounter is actually similar in details to that of a typical adult’s report. So why should we punish a kid by dismissing a report that otherwise appears valid? Why should we seriously care about the child’s age? I don’t. If there is a real problem with a report, it will appear in the report itself.

In Context

A teenager, Muhammed Edh-Dhib, discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947. But how many younger children have made discoveries out of doors! Kids often stay outside for long hours, all over the world. Why should we be shocked at their discoveries?

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pterosaur seen by Aaron Tullock in Texas in about 1995

An eight-year-old witnessed a pterosaur in Marion County, Texas

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small pile of books: "Searching for Ropens and Finding God" by Jonathan Whitcomb

Non-fiction book: modern non-extinct pterosaurs: Searching for Ropens and Finding God

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When a Child is the Eyewitness

Are children less dependable? What difference does it make, for many of the reports are given to me by adults who were children when the sighting occurred. How rare are the children who contact me while they are still kids!

A Child Sees a Pterosaur

Here are brief overviews of pterosaur sighting reports in which a child was an eyewitness, taken from the third edition of my nonfiction cryptozoology book Live Pterosaurs in America.

Modern Pterosaur in China?

I recently got a tip from my associate Richard Muirhead, who referred me to a forum post in the Mandarin Chinese language. . . . The eyewitness was a child at the time. The flying creature was very big, and it had a horn (or more than one horn) on its head. It also had a tail.

Dinosaur Books and Searching for Ropens

Nobody who understands the distinction between dinosaurs and pterosaurs thinks of the ropen as a dinosaur. But whether or not it’s a pterosaur—that has been controversial. My first book, Searching for Ropens, a spiritual-cryptozoology cross-genre, is now in its second edition, with a revised and expanded third edition in preparation.