Strange Lights | Live Pterosaur

May 18, 2015

More Pterosaur Sightings in Mexico

Within the past few weeks, I’ve received two reports of apparent pterosaurs in Mexico, one in the north and one around Mexico City. Both reports were in Spanish. Here’s part of the report from northern Mexico. I wonder if it relates to the Marfa Lights.

Chihuahua, Mexico, Sighting (Spanish)

. . . el motivo de este mensaje es para informar de un avistamiento de un animal . . . lo que he investigando es un ropen o un pterodactido, los hechos ocurrieron hace aproximadamente 10 años, en una presa cerca de mi ciudad, la cual se encuentra en el estado de chihuahua en Mexico . . . . . . ese día nos encontrábamos en ella porque fuimos a pasar el día pescando pero por la descompostura de la lancha mi familia nos dejo en la orilla de la presa a mi primo Daniel y a un señor amigo de mi papa, en ese tiempo yo tenia 15 años y mi primo 14, pasaron las horas y oscureció . . . . . . de pronto escuchamos un fuerte aleteo a lo lejos, lo cual en su momento pensamos que fue el viento . . . cuando de pronto frente a nosotros aproximadamente a 500 metros de distancia sobre el agua, una luz verde fosforescente comenzó a destellar . . . El animal tenia forma de dinosaurio, sin plumas y volaba de una manera extraña, no como un ave, la impression que tuvimos los 3 fue muy grande . . . el animal de pronto dejo de brillar.

Rough English Translation (sighting in Chihuahua)

. . . the reason for this message is to report a sighting of an animal . . . [I wonder if] what I have investigated is a ropen or pterodactyl. It happened about 10 years old at a dam near my city, which is in the state of Chihuahua in Mexico . . . That day we were in it [in or near the water behind the dam] because we went out for the day fishing. But the breakdown of the boat [left] my family . . . on the shore of the dam. My cousin Daniel and a gentleman friend [of?] my father (at that time I was fifteen and my cousin fourteen) spent the hours [in the dark]. . . . suddenly heard a loud flapping in the distance, which, at the time, we [thought] was the wind . . . when suddenly in front of us, about 500 meters away on the water, a phosphorescent green light began to flash . . . The animal was shaped like a dinosaur and featherless, flying in a strange way, not like a bird. The three of us had the impression that it was very large . . . the animal suddenly stopped shining.

Chihuahua, Mexico

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Living Pterosaur in Mexico

A live pterosaur is hardly restricted to the USA. Large flying creatures fly wherever they choose, regardless of political boundaries. With reports of living pterosaurs in Americans states like California, Arizona, Texas, and Arkansas, it is no wonder that people in Mexico also report those same strange featherless “birds.”

Ancient Pterosaur Depictions

“An ancient Mayan relief sculpture of a peculiar bird with reptilian characteristics has been discovered in Totonacapan, in northeastern section of Veracruz, Mexico. José Diaz-Bolio, a Mexican archaeologist-journalist responsible for the discovery, says there is evidence that the serpent-bird sculpture, located in the ruins of Tajín, is not merely the product of Mayan flights of fancy, but a realistic representation of an animal that lived during the period of the ancient Mayans – 1,000 to 5,000 years ago. . . .”

Sightings in Mexico

. . . about one and a half miles away, a huge black bird-like creature came from the more mountainous region to my left, and flew toward the ocean . . . wingspan about equal to the length of the taller palm trees, I thought about 30 to 40 feet. The wings moved very slowly, almost touching on the downward swing . . .

Ropens and Marfa Lights in Texas

Reports of apparent living pterosaurs also come from Mexico and the Cuba. In fact, one sighting was of two glowing flying pterodactyls seen by two women from a cruise ship in the Caribbean.

January 29, 2015March 3, 2015

More on the Scientific Paper “Reports of Living Pterosaurs in the Southwest Pacific”

Scientific paper by J. D. Whitcomb, top of 1st page

The following are brief excerpts from my scientific paper, published in the Creation Research Society Quarterly (Volume 45, Winter 2009, pages 200-212):

Most ropen sightings are of a bright but brief glow that moves approximately horizontally at about 330 ft (100 m) above ground level, often against a mountain background. . . . Of the nine American expeditions (1994–2007), six resulted in at least one sighting of the light. . . .

While both ropen lights and meteors are fast-moving flashes of lights in the sky, several characteristics distinguish them (Whitcomb, 2007). For example, Abram of Opai Village, Umboi Island, described a ropen light that flew down to a reef and stayed at or near the surface of the sea before flying back toward Mount Bel (Whitcomb interview) . . . Analysis of 2004-expedition records suggest that many suspected ropen lights move away from Mount Bel early at night but toward it late at night.

. . . Kuban (2007) suggests that rather than “ropen” being a pterosaur, it is likely a creature such as a bat. However, villagers have another term for the flying fox fruit bat—“byung” (Whitcomb, 2007). . . . one description that suggests a structure at the end of the tail . . . similar to that found on fossil Rhamphorhynchoids. Information also was obtained about what we believe is bioluminescence emitted by the creature. Both 2004 expeditions included interviews designed to avoid leading the witnesses and to elicit answers revealing sighting experience rather than interviewer bias. . . .

Guessman and Woetzel prepared and administered formal interview procedures with a two-page questionnaire and a sketch page of 34 silhouettes of bats, birds, and pterosaurs, although the formal process was not used for all eyewitnesses. My interviews were less formal, relying on opportunities that arose with each eyewitness. For future work, I recommend beginning with this open-format questioning to take advantage of unique opportunities with eyewitnesses (the interviewer using a foreign language) and then following up promising leads with a questionnaire and sketch page (using interpreters). . . .

At about the time I was interviewing Hodgkinson in 2004, I found an old Internet forum posting in which an Australian lady was trying to persuade participants in a cryptozoology forum that she had seen a giant, living creature that looked like a pterosaur. . . . The couple was walking together between two suburbs at about 10:00 p.m. when they first noticed the flying creature. As its gliding brought it closer, the couple was shocked, for it had a “lizard appearance” and a reported “size” between 30 and 50 ft (9–15 m). The lady declared, “It was definitely a living creature . . . We would not have been able to see what it was if the ground lighting had not lit its underside.” . . .

At least one species of rare nocturnal flying creature—the ropen—lives in the southwest Pacific. Fossils of long-tailed pterosaurs show features similar to those related by some eyewitnesses, especially of the ropen’s tail: a “diamond” that may be a tail-end flange and the reported motion of those tails, also similar to Rhamphorhynchoid tails. The largest ropens, probably extremely rare, may attain sizes up to 50 ft in wingspan. Those size descriptions alone, from credible eyewitnesses of three nationalities, make it unlikely that the sightings were misidentifications of birds or bats.

[The above are scattered excerpts from the scientific article written by Jonathan David Whitcomb: “Reports of Living Pterosaurs in the Southwest Pacific”]

Page 206 (top) in Volume 45 of the Creation Research Society Quarterly

This scientific paper also mentions the sighting by the eyewitness Brian Hennessy.

Article by David Woetzel: “The Fiery Flying Serpent” (Volume 42 of CRSQ)

Over the years Biblical scholars have speculated about the nature of the creature described in the Authorized Version as “the fiery flying serpent.” The nexus of modern archaeological discoveries, ancient historical accounts, and recent cryptozoological research provides new insights into the identification and characteristics of this creature. Moreover interviews and personal observations from the 2004 expedition that I led to Papua New Guinea convinced me that a fiery flying serpent still survives on a remote island there.

. . . It should be noted that some commentators have held that the flying serpent is merely a snake that springs from the high branches of a tree and then glides through the air like a flying squirrel (Wiseman, 1972, pp. 108-110). These flying snakes are mentioned by the 18th century author Niebuhr as he traveled through Arabia (Niebuhr, 1792, p. 334) and are still known today through southeast Asia (Roach, 2002). Modern species are not particularly venomous, nor are they remarkably bright in coloration, so it is unclear why they would have been called “fiery” if this were the actual creature referenced. From a creationist perspective, it would seem that the pterosaur interpretation of these verses is at least as reasonable as the alternatives.

. . . The traditional interpretation of attacking venomous snakes (Edersheim, 1995, p. 133) faces another challenge. The biblical account indicates that many of the Jews died (probably many thousands). Obviously, God could miraculously do whatever He wishes, but one has a hard time envisioning the people being pursued across the wilderness by slithering poisonous snakes. Common snakes should have easily been avoided.

[The above are scattered excerpts from the scientific article (also in CRSQ) written by David Woetzel: “The Fiery Flying Serpent”]

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Scientific Papers on Living Pterosaurs

Most ropen sightings are of a bright but brief glow that moves approximately horizontally at about 330 ft (100 m) above ground level, often against a mountain background. Based on interviews from the 2004 expeditions (Tables I and II), an estimated several hundred Umboi Islanders have seen this light.

Living Pterosaurs and Paleontology

David Woetzel led the second 2004 Umboi Island expedition, with Garth Guessman and native interpreter Jacob Kepas. He had previously been on an expedition in central Africa, in a search for evidence for a living dinosaur.

Scientific Paper on Living Pterosaurs

“According to Gideon Koro, who speaks some English, a few minutes after they had arrived at the lake, ‘it came down.’ . . . When I asked about the tail length, he pondered, seeming to recall and estimate; then he said, “seven meetuh.” [seven meters . . .]

Science and Pterosaurs

The names of eyewitnesses include Mesa Augustin, Cottingham, William Gima, Brian Hennessy, Duane Hodgkinson, Jonah Jim, Mark Kau, Jacob Kepas, Gideon Koro, Wesley Koro, David Moke, Paul Nation, Jonathan Ragu, and David Woetzel.

Marfa Lights in Relation to Bioluminescence

Before we begin, be aware that James Bunnell, a retired NASA engineer, has given countless hours during eight years of his life (2001-2009) to investigating the more mysterious types of Marfa Lights, the glowing objects that cannot reasonably be explained away as car headlights or ranch lights or any other common glow at night.

January 22, 2015

Lights in Mississippi Deer Camera Images

deer at night is in light - Possible bioluminescence in a flying predator?

I have no clear estimate for the probability that strange lights in deer camera photos, from the state of Mississippi, are from bioluminescent ropens, to the best of my knowledge as of early January 22, 2015. The honesty-credibility of the couple who own the property in Jackson County, Mississippi, however, demands that I present to you what I do know about the ropen possibility.

Credibility of Rainer and Edith Shattles

Both husband and wife appeared to me to be highly credible, as I watched (on Youtube) the television news examination of their deer camera photos. Neither of them appeared to have any interest in promoting the concept of ET’s from another planet. In fact, Mr. Shattles suggested the possibility that the light may have come from a government drone, although he showed little conviction for that speculation. The point, however, is clear: neither Rainer nor Edith appeared to have any motivation for playing any hoax.

Criticism and speculation of a hoax

From what I have seen, critics dismiss these game-camera photos as worthless for giving credence to extra-terrestrial aliens shining lights on earthly deer in Jackson County, Mississippi. But those critics fail to realize that the two persons who present these photos have not suggested the lights come from any beings from any other planet. They simply show us what their game camera photographed one night in February of 2014.

Sighting by Garth Guessman in Papua New Guinea

Consider the following, from page 317 of the fourth edition of Searching for Ropens and Finding God, regarding the Monsterquest expedition on New Britain Island, Papua New Guinea, in which my friend and associate Garth Guessman participated:

After returning from the expedition, Guessman gave me many details. The hike exhausted all of them, so they welcomed sleep on that first night . . . with one exception. My friend knew the importance of nightly observations—he had been searching for ropens on Umboi Island in 2004—so he stayed up while everybody else went to bed. When he suggested they watch the sky, they told him they were there to make a show, not to conduct a scientific investigation.

While the others slept, Guessman saw a highly directional light that illuminated clouds. In daylight, no campfire was seen where that light had appeared, yet the other members of the team gave little attention to my friend’s report. That’s hardly surprising, for they were there to make a show and none of them had seen any strange light while they slept.

The point of that sighting of a strange light on New Britain Island is this: Something caused that directional light, and maybe, just maybe, it was a bioluminescent pterosaur, perhaps even a ropen. If so, why could not the directional light in the game camera photo from Jackson County, Mississippi, have also been from a similar flying creature?

Directional light seems to center on a deer (Jackson County, Mississippi, Feb-2014)

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Deer camera photos in Mississippi

Multiple Deer cam images from the 150 acres that Rainer and Edith Shattles call home in the Cumbest Bluff area of Jackson County show at least one UFO . . .

Ropen Attacks

“I also saw a ‘giant’ pterodactyl! Actually most of the senior students of our public school saw it too. This was back in about 1960 when I was 12 years old. . . . Since I am now almost 67 yrs old, I would like to find anyone else who might have seen one too.”

Bioluminescence of the ropen

The British biologist and explorer Lucy Evelyn Cheesman was the first woman ever hired as a curator at the Regent’s Park Zoo, in London. She traveled in the south Pacific prior to World War II, discovering a number of new species of small creatures and writing several books.

Umboi Island government official sees ropen light

At about 7:00 p.m., after fishing off the reef, Cottingham saw the glow: a light moving horizontally “across the top of the coconut palms.” The object’s slow wavelike motion was unlike any other light he had ever seen.

Ropen Lights in Southern California?

The ghost lights first came to the public attention in the “early” 1900’s, when John D. Spreckels [born in 1853] began construction on the impossible San Diego and Arizona Railways, through the treacherous Carrizo Gorge. . . . on moonless nights the camps were plagued by mysterious hovering balls of colored light. At least one worker was driven mad by fear.

Ropen sighting in Mississippi

“I was in Meridian, Mississippi [about 2001]. I was outside . . . around 9 pm . . . It’s a full moon . . . when I turned my head to look to the right, I caught this shadow of a figure floating over the top of my sisters apartment building. . . . The wing span had to be 25 ft across and from head to toe at least the same. I was yelling and screaming for my brother-in-law or nephews to look . . .”

November 11, 2014November 28, 2014

Ropen Lights in Southern California?

Ghost Lights of Anza Borrego State Park—that video appears to be no longer available online except for the first few minutes of the documentary, which introduction enlightens us on how the mysterious flying lights terrified railway workers in the nineteenth century, in a desert in Southern California. The video calls the flying lights “a large number of unexplained floating orbs of light.” I believe those luminous nocturnal entities may be a species of ropen, a bioluminescent long-tailed pterosaur.

Called “ghost lights,” they’ve been explained as everything from “ball lightning” to “spirits of Native Americans long since dead.” The ghost lights first came to the public attention in the “early” 1900’s, when John D. Spreckels [born in 1853] began construction on the impossible San Diego and Arizona Railways, through the treacherous Carrizo Gorge. Working conditions were both uncomfortable and terrifying . . . and on moonless nights the camps were plagued by mysterious hovering balls of colored light. At least one worker was driven mad by fear.

Railroad workers, 19th century, possibly in Southern California

To interject, I am impressed with the documentary, notwithstanding it’s less than nine minutes long. Regarding that one man who was thought to have been driven mad, I’m not so sure. From my eleven years of investigating eyewitness accounts of apparent living pterosaurs, I have seen the insanity accusation thrown at anybody who reports such flying creatures. Did the man report seeing a dragon? That would do it. I’m aware that a limited number of barn owls have been reported, at least under some conditions, to glow. I learned about that apparent bioluminescence from the Australian researcher and nonfiction author Fred Silcock. But I doubt that any barn owls would congregate enough, while glowing, to give railway workers an impression of “a large number” of lights; perhaps the video exaggerates the quantity. But the many sighting reports of apparent pterosaurs flying in Southern California—that suggests those flying lights of the Anza Borrego desert may be creatures related to the ropen of Papua New Guinea or the bioluminescent flying predators called Marfa Lights in Texas.

People thought it impossible, until railroad workers finished that line to San Diego

Half way through the Ghost Lights of Anza Borrego State Park documentary, the mud caves of the Badlands are exposed. Some of the caves, according to the video, are “more than a mile” long. Yet even if that length is exaggerated, many openings, including ceiling holes, would make the caves ideal for a family of nocturnal flying predators or scavengers, an ideal bedroom to hide in the daylight. ### . Arroyo Tapiado Carrizo Badlands Mud Caves

One of the most fascinating points of interest in the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is the system of caves known as the Arroyo Tapiado Mud Caves. . . . The mud caves are found along the walls of this wash canyon. One of the most extensive mud cave systems in the world, they contain approximately 22 known caves and 9 slot canyons.

Marfa Lights

I communicated with Mr. Bunnell early in 2010, by emails, telling him about my ideas about nocturnal bioluminescent flying predators that intelligently hunt bats in southwest Texas.

Ropen Lights

David Woetzel saw the ropen-light briefly in 2004 [in Papua New Guinea]. He saw no shape to the glowing object, but it was heading towards the Lake Pung area [on Umboi Island], where several eyewitnesses had previously seen a giant featherless flying creature.

. Quoting from this nonfiction live-pterosaur book:

Grave robbery in both Africa and Papua New Guinea—it looked like too much for a coincidence. Both ropens and kongamatos appeared to be real creatures. The authenticity of an old photograph in a library book became irrelevant. Those flying creatures, more than legends, might be pterosaurs. [from page 17] In one of the interviews, Eunice, a school teacher’s wife, described to Carl Baugh an attempted grave robbery. One night, in April of 1993, near the northwest coast of Umboi Island, after a large funeral procession arrived at the burial location, from the sea approached a flying creature with a tail that glowed red like burning embers glow. About two hundred mourners were awake when it flew overhead. The islanders banged pots and yelled, whereupon the intruder flew into a nearby swamp and the light disappeared. [from page 19] Let’s be clear: No flying fox can terrify a group of islanders by flying over a lake. Furthermore, fruit bats never grow long tails, never eat fish, never glow at night, and never dig up the grave of a recently-deceased human to carry away the body. What do fruit bats eat? Fruit. Think of a miracle of science fiction: If a fruit bat grew to become longer than a village hut, it might devour the garden—but not the gardener. Now think of reality: A fruit bat never impersonates a giant long-tailed Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur. [from page 24] Other villagers saw the ropen light fly to or from Mount Bel. John Anton, of Gomlongon, on September 19, 2004, at 8:00 p.m., saw what he described as rainbow colors flying from Mount Talnok (near Bel) toward the south beach. Dianne Aisi, of Opai, in 2001, between 8:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., saw the light flying from the Tarawe Village area toward Mount Bel. Jefron Ambalis, of Opai, saw it four years earlier, at about 9:00 p.m., flying from Bel toward Lake Pung. A few days after these interviews, three eyewitnesses would describe to me a ropen that had flown, in clear daylight, over that crater lake. [from page 60]