This morning I heard of a father who overheard his boy’s conversation with another little boy who had brought over a new pet: a small green turtle. The man’s son was overheard to say, “I wish I had a turtle. All I got is just a dog and a cat and a horse.” How enlightening! We need to be grateful for what we have, rather than dwell only on what we don’t have.
Are you wishing for a turtle?
We do not yet have any clear photograph of a living pterosaur, at least not a photo that we have felt comfortable is genuine. We do have many eyewitnesses, however, and for their testimonies we can feel grateful.
Last week we celebrated Veteran’s Day. Let us now observe a different perspective, feeling gratitude from a broader panorama but in a special focus. Consider now the soldiers, the sailors, and the airmen, from whatever nations, who have observed a living pterosaurs and reported the encounters. And may we be grateful, regardless of any lack of photos or lack of official reports, grateful for all those who risk doubt and ridicule by reporting to us those wonderful flying creatures.
Why should military personnel have any special opportunities for encountering modern pterosaurs? They often spend more hours outdoors than most of us. That’s why we should not be surprised that they sometimes report such sightings.
Long-necked bat seen by sailors
Last week I got an email from a biologist who told me about his uncle’s report of a “giant long-necked bat” in the Pacific Ocean during World War II. The old veteran once asked his nephew what kind of bat had been killed, in 1944, on the deck of the uncle’s ship.
The sailor was stationed on an American ship that was just a few days from Wake Island. For target practice, they opened fire on a large island. After about ten minutes, the crew saw what they first assumed was a Japanese plane. Then it flapped its wings and moved its head.
The giant “bat” approached the ship and landed on the deck. Badly injured, it was poked by oars held by some of the sailors. The commanding officer told everybody that it was just a bat and ordered a sailor to kill it and toss it overboard. That sailor was the uncle.
The creature was about the size of a modern-day hang glider and had a long neck like that of a crane bird. The tough hair on the wings felt like cactus needles, and the body of the creature had soft fluffy hair. It had yellow eyes and what appeared like an “elongated parrot beak.”
Two “Pterodactyls” in Cuba in 1971
Eskin Kuhn was on a break, one sunny day, during his military assignment at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, when the U.S. Marine saw two strange flying creatures near the coast. Soon after the sighting, he sketched what he had seen, opening himself up to decades of occasional ridicule and occasional praise. I am grateful for his bravery in telling the truth about what he encountered, even though his testimony has mostly been ignored by those who should have taken notice.
Finschhafen, New Guinea sighting in 1944
So much has been written about this encounter that it needs no great explanation here. Be aware that Garth Guessman and I have found this World War II veteran to be highly credible. We believe that he really did see a living pterosaur in that jungle clearing in 1944.
Ropen off the coast of Indonesia?
In June of 2008, H. (anonymous) was flying a small twin-engined plane with his co-pilot, B.; both are former navy pilots. They were mostly finished with the 700-mile flight from Broome, Australia, to Bali, Indonesia when H. saw what he at first assumed was another airplane flying in a head-on collision course.
Quoting from an upcoming nonfiction book
From the upcoming third edition of Searching for Ropens and Finding God, an eyewitness tells us about his sighting of three flying creatures in Texas, in the 1970’s, and about his encounter with a school teacher who was trying to teach the class about dinosaur extinctions.
The first one appeared to be trying to avoid the other two. The eyewitness told me, “I kept thinking that I could make out long tails.” It may have been some time after the encounter in the classroom, between the boy and his teacher, when he concluded that one female pterosaur had been chased by two males. I don’t know, I saw nothing. I have encountered, over the past ten years, skeptics who appear to outnumber eyewitnesses. I’ve learned how desperately some eyewitnesses have tried to avoid getting shot down by scoffers. I know something of pain, although I may have felt the sting less deeply than eyewitnesses who have spoken out. I have a suggestion.
You cannot soar higher than hot air. That’s what pushes you up above those tied to the ground. The moment you fold up your wings to avoid the blast of hot air—that’s when you begin to sink toward their level. If you have seen something like a living pterosaur, and you feel crazy telling anybody, tell me about it. If crazy is how you must feel, at least you’ll feel at home with me.
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Eyewitness Duane Hodgkinson
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