You don’t need to go on an expedition to Papua New Guinea to see a modern pterosaur including a long-tailed featherless ropen. For generations, Americans have been encountering these shocking flying creatures, and the sightings continue. The following are a few of the recently reported encounters with pterosaurs in the USA. As has been usual, not all of the reports are of recent sightings; they’re just recently reported.
At least some of these sighting reports have been slightly edited for spelling, punctuation, etc., and at least most of them are here given only in part.
Pterosaur Sighting in Edgerton, Wisconsin, in 1996 (reported mid-July, 2016)
When I was about 8 years old, living on a farm in Edgerton, WI, I remember looking up and seeing a large flying creature. Something seemed odd about it and after a second or two I realized it had a long, whippy tail, not at all like a bird. I watched it fly across the sky until it was out of sight and will never forget what I saw. I know it wasn’t any bird I’ve heard of before, that tail was just, wrong. It had a bulb at the end of it . . . [Apparent ropen]
Mansfield, Ohio, area (sighting in late June of 2016)
. . . I was on Stiving Road [probably northwest of Mansfield]. It was [about] 4:10 to 4:20 a.m. The sky was still pretty dark. I saw on the left . . . a creature flying toward the Mansfield Airport area.
Its head shape was like a stick at [approximately] a 45° angle. I could see its body and feet but not its wings because of the side view and to me it looked like a petrasaur [pterosaur].
This was the first time I have ever seen anything like this. . . . Here’s a picture I drew of an [approximation] of what I saw.
Sketch drawn by the eyewitness – note unusual angle of the head/head-crest to the body
I (Jonathan Whitcomb) had a phone conversation with the eyewitness of the above flying creature and found no significant problem with his credibility. He was about 200-250 yards away from the apparent pterosaur. He could say nothing about the presence or absence of a tail.
Near Loganville, Georgia, around mid-June of 2016
Like many sighting reports, this one was sent to Jonathan Whitcomb by email.
[Received early on July 16, 2016] . . . very late about a month ago just outside of Loganville, Georgia. On Centerville/Rosebud Road. . . . we saw this huge bird fly from her side up and away to my side (driver side). It didn’t have any feathers or fur on the wings and you could see the bones in the wings like a bat only this was as large as the hood of my truck. It also appeared to have a tail that was kind of hanging down but slightly curled up as it flew.
. . . My wife said she immediately thought of Jurassic Park. We did not see the head as it was flying away at an angle. Researched a lot of birds on Google but a pterodactyl is the only thing that looks like it. [Possible ropen]
Pterosaur Sighting in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in early 1980’s
This report of a daytime sighting comes from a comment on one of my YouTube videos (only slightly edited).
One flew right over our heads and landed in my mom’s field across the creek. . . . He was no more than ten feet directly above us, but I think it was closer to five. [It] feels like I could have jumped and touched him! His wing span was 15-17 feet.
Very distinctive kite point on the end of his cat like tail. No feathers, fur or anything. Skin was like dusty black leather, feet were pulled up, black, long pointed black nails. I didn’t see the top of his head or his back well before he landed. . . . [Very likely a ropen]
Never really publicly posted my encounter before so I thought I should get the info out there so someone can use it.
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Live Pterosaurs in America and Searching for Ropens and Finding God—those are the two major nonfiction cryptozoology books about non-extinct “pterodactyls” that include the long-tailed ropen.
“Pterodactyl” was the word used for the ropen of Papua New Guinea. The American Duane Hodgkinson, a World War II veteran, gives us the shocking details about the encounter the two soldiers had with the huge flying creature in 1944. This professional-quality YouTube interview was done by the cryptozoology-explorer Garth Guessman and edited by Jonathan Whitcomb.
Frightening Pterosaur Sightings in the USA
California (two)
Oklahoma
Rhode Island
South Carolina
Texas (two)
Wisconsin
Fear of the flying creature is only one kind of terror with encounters between human and pterosaur in the United States of America. Sometimes the eyewitness is frightened not during but after the sighting and not for fear of the creature itself: It’s fear of personal insanity.
Peter Beach and Milt Marcy, both of the Portland area of Oregon, led an expedition in Papua New Guinea, in March and April of 2015, searching for a living pterosaur that previous American explorers had failed to see clearly. This time Americans did see, in daylight, the form and features of an apparent pterosaur.
“The Big Picture of Modern Pterosaurs”
“Reply to Misidentification Conjectures”
“Rhamphorhynchoid Pterosaurs and Ropens”
etc.
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