Pterosaur Sightings in Spain

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By living-pterosaur expert and author Jonathan D. Whitcomb

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Sighting in Benicassim, Spain (mid-2007)

I received an email in 2008,  from a man living in England. Here’s part of his sighting report:

I hope you are the Jonathan Whitcomb . . . investigating pterodactyl like animals in Papua New Guinea?

I’m not sure who to tell this to, as it’s a bit strange, but I was researching ‘modern pterodactyls’ on the
internet, following something I saw a bit closer to home in Spain, and your name cropped up quite a lot, so
thought you might be interested in what I saw . . .

Apart  from the two people with me at the time, I haven’t mentioned this to anyone (bar yourself now), simply because I realise it sounds odd, and can’t be bothered to have to defend myself on this. . . .

. . . last summer, some friends and I drove from England . . . [to a desert in Spain] for a music festival. One night, [while] sitting on the ground . . . (a fair way from the noise and commotion of the festival), I saw . . . [something that] passed right over us, probably about 30-40 ft high, and as I watched it, I realised it was definitely no owl I’d ever seen before. It was the colour of suede/sand . . .

[The flying creature] had a long thin tail, and didn’t flap once. I only saw it for a few seconds (as the campsite was lit up, illuminating it from beneath), but it fairly quickly passed into the dark, out of the reach of the light. It wasn’t as big as the ones you describe from Papua New Guinea, but was 100% not a bird. . . . I haven’t been able to find any species of fruit bat ANYWHERE that has a long, straight tail, and I’m sure I’d recognise a fruitbat . . .

. . . wingspan I’d estimate to be only 2-3 feet tip to tip, and was gliding for the whole time I saw  it. The impression I got was a lot more bat-like than bird, except it had a beak- and I realise that owls have flat faces, and bats obviously don’t have beaks. The tail must have been close to a foot [long] I guess . . .  held out perfectly straight behind it.

Sightings in Barcelona, Spain

Let’s consider reports of the “giant winged cryptid” seen in Barcelona in 1990.

. . . the creature was seen (day and night) in various parts of the Catalonian capital and in locations such as Gavá, Sant Joan Despí, Salou, Bellvei del Penedés and the region of Empordá. According to eyewitness accounts, the bird ranged as far away as 100 kilometers distant from Barcelona.

According to witnesses, the animal was dark (mainly black or grey) with a wingspan of between 3 and 15 meters, making loud crowing sounds in three different tones, and whose membranous wings were reminiscent of a prehistoric pterodactyl. . . .

A few days after the apparition, the Police acknowledged in a story published in El Periodico de Cataluña that it had received hundreds of calls reporting the presence of the gigantic being, while the citizen hotline crashed as a result of the event. . . .

Conclusion

What are we to think about these sightings of strange flying creatures in Spain? Take them in context: sightings of apparent modern pterosaurs worldwide.

The following are only some of the nations where these “pterodactyls” or “dragons” are reported to fly, at least at some time within the past 100 years, and some of these countries have many sighting reports.

  • Australia
  • Canada
  • China
  • Cuba
  • Great Britain
  • Greece (island of Crete)
  • Mexico
  • Namibia (Africa)
  • Netherlands (Holland)
  • New Zealand
  • Papua New Guinea
  • Philippines
  • Singapore
  • Spain
  • Sudan (Africa)
  • United States of America (most states)

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Pterosaurs in Spain

With all the web pages, blogs, and forum postings about possible pterosaurs reported in Papua New Guinea, the United States, and Africa, what about other continents? Well, Europe has its share . . .

Giant Flying Creature in Spain

In Barcelona and surrounding areas in Spain, in 1990, a large or giant flying creature was reported by a number of eyewitnesses. Now some cryptozoologists and others are trying to explain what happened.

El Ropen de Papúa Nueva Guinea

El “ropen” es un cryptid de Papúa Nueva Guinea. Algunos investigadores creen que es un pterosauro que vive.

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