U.S.A. Sightings | Live Pterosaur

April 28, 2017May 30, 2017

A Reply to an Attack Against the Pterosaur Photograph

By the living-pterosaur expert Jonathan Whitcomb

I will not here mention the name of the critic or of his web page. Anyone who is determined to see it can find it easily enough by an online search. I here make a partial answer to some of the unjust criticisms he has made against the apparent Civil War “pterodactyl” photo that is now called “Ptp.”

The Wings of the Animal in the Ptp Photograph

According to the physicist who has examined this old photo in detail, Clifford Paiva, the apparent pterosaur has a head that suggests it was a Pteranodon. He told me that the wings are inverted, meaning that what appears to be the top of the wings, in the photo, would be the underside of the wings in flight. I assume that is why we see that strange angled area of the wing, with a border between very dark and very light areas.

(Click on the above pterosaur image to magnify it.)

In other words, the wing edges closest to the camera would be the trailing edges of the wings in flight. That answers the following criticism: “There are no signs of the lesser digits on the forearms.” In reality, we should not see any finger-like claws on the closer part of wings in the above photograph because Pteranodons did not have digits on the trailing edge (in flight) of the wings. The digits should be unseen, for they would be out of the camera’s view, to the back.

If I am not mistaken, Pteranodons folded their wings while walking, but I am open to being corrected on this. Keep in mind, however, that the wings seen in the Ptp photo were surely positioned by the soldiers or the photographer, and they simply wanted them to be seen in their entirety. In other words, we need to remember that the persons involved in placing that animal in that clearing were not attempting to recreate how it would have walked. Nevertheless, it appears that those wings naturally folded around when the men were moving them to be photographed.

The critic says that the animal in Ptp has teeth. He should have looked closer, for a simple magnification of the image shows that those are NOT teeth, although it does suggest the beak may have been different from what has so far been discovered in Pteranodon fossils. The beak seems to have an irregular shape, possible like pseudo-teeth. In other words, the statement about teeth is not actual evidence that this was not any kind of Pteranodon. It very well could have been that type of pterosaur, or at least related to it.

Careless Reading

The skeptic says, “Whitcomb goes so far as to propose that the FreakyLinks producers engaged in a pre-meditated, anti-YEC plot,” but I have never said anything of the kind. I have never written anything like that. He may have assumed that anyone who has written anything supporting the Ptp photograph as genuine must be me. I have seen one or two web sites that promote that conspiracy theory, but I was never involved in writing anything on those sites.

Science and Changing Ideas

Progress in real science often involves changing your mind. When new information comes in, we change our opinions about what we used to believe, or we should be open to that. This skeptic, however, appears determined to shoot down anything that appears to threaten the 19th century dogma about universal extinctions of all species of pterosaurs.

This critic does not mention the name of Tom Payne, yet that canoe expert is the person who, in January of 2017, convinced me that those wings in the photo definitely have nothing to do with any canoe. That was the main reason I had doubts, in 2013, about Ptp: For many years, I had an idea in the back of my mind that those wings resembled two halves of a canoe. Once that doubt was eliminated, I was open to examining Ptp more closely and with a mind open to the possibility that it may be authentic: a real photograph of an extant pterosaur that was living in the 19th century.

More than once, the critic mentions my former reservations (in 2013) about Ptp, but if he had looked more carefully and read, with an open mind, my recent writings, he would have realized that it was perfectly natural that a canoe expert could lead me to think differently about the photo.

Conclusion

The clear preponderance of evidence supports the idea that Ptp has an image of a real animal and that it was some kind of pterosaur that was living in the 19th century.

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Supporting the old Civil War Pterosaur Photograph

Last month, I contacted the writer Glen Kuban, informing him of his long-standing mistake in assuming that there was only one Civil-War-soldiers-with-a-dead-pterodactyl photograph.

Old Photo of a Pterosaur Declared Genuine

Declaration of Universal Pterosaur Extinction

We’ll call this “DUPE.” It’s not only assuming that all species of pterosaurs must have become extinct long ago; it’s declaring that idea as if it were a fact. The person who declares that all of them must have died out millions of years ago—that person then becomes part of the force that indoctrinates others into believing it.

Civil War Pteranodon Photograph

Over the past few days (mid-January, 2017), the physicist Clifford Paiva, of Central California, spoke with me twice by phone. He’s looking again at the old photograph that appears to be from around the late-Civil-War period, although I’ve been told it could have been from a little after the end of the war. Paiva has found new evidence that this has an image of a genuine modern pterosaur. The solar shadows tie the soldier’s boot to the animal, and a number of details in the head, neck, and other areas—those correlate well with the anatomy of a Pteranodon.

Pterodactyl photo – Civil War

The photograph now called “Ptp” has been around for a long time, possibly in one or more books in the mid-20th century, according to a number of persons who report remembering it.

Fake pterodactyl in Civil War photo

The photo shown here, recently given the label of “Ptp,” has been declared to have a genuine image of a modern pterosaur. The proclamation was given by the physicist Clifford Paiva and the cryptozoology author Jonathan Whitcomb on January 14, 2017.

Civil War Soldiers and a Pterodactyl

Much confusion has come from publicity involving two photographs that, on the surface, greatly resemble each other. The following shows them side by side for comparison . . .

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Modern Pterosaurs – Human encounters with living ‘pterodactyls’

From the back cover of the nonfiction book:

On January 14, 2017, a physicist and a forensic videographer announced their joint findings on an old photograph: “a genuine image of a real animal . . . six men . . . were standing near the body of that animal when the photo was taken . . .”

April 21, 2017May 30, 2017

Scott Norman and the “Pterodactyl” Photograph

This coming July will be the ten-year anniversary of Scott Norman’s sighting of an apparent nocturnal Pteranodon in California. Scott passed away, half a year later, from natural causes, yet the large sizes of apparent extant pterosaurs, reported by some eyewitnesses in North America, may be connected to some of the more mysterious missing-persons cases that have never been solved.

The Civil War “Pterodactyl” Photo

I don’t recall talking with Scott about the old photograph, while we sat in my backyard in Long Beach, California, with Garth Guessman in 2005. But he used the word “Pteranodon” in his report of his mid-2007 sighting, and the head of the animal in the Ptp photograph definitely looks like it belongs to a Pteranodon or a similar pterosaur.

Of course many persons who have seen that “pterodactyl” photo will think how dangerous humans can be to wild animals. After all, that dead creature is lying on the ground, surrounded by apparent Civil War soldiers, each of whom is holding a rifle. The apparent pterosaur, however, is so large that it takes little imagination to realize it could be dangerous to people.

Ptp has been called the “Civil War Pterodactyl” photograph

Skeptics and living-pterosaur critics now have a problem. If they say that Scott Norman’s sighting report is invalid because nobody has a photo of a modern Pteranodon, what about Ptp? And if they say that the Civil War photo of an obvious Pteranodon must be fake because people don’t see those animals, what about Scott Norman?

It seems that skeptics have been mostly silent since the mid-January-2017 announcement by the physicist Clifford Paiva and me (Jonathan Whitcomb): the proclamation that this photo has a genuine image of a real animal, apparently a Pteranodon. Dozens of blog posts and web pages have been published since that proclamation. Where is the response?

In fact, a new nonfiction cryptozoology book has been published on this photo: Modern Pterosaurs, which is surely the latest word on the authenticity of Ptp, and definitely the most thorough examination of it. Why not get your own copy of this cryptozoology book?

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American Civil War Soldiers and a Monster

What a gruesome head! I don’t recall when I first saw the monster photo, perhaps as long ago as 1968, but that long beak and head appendage made me uneasy.

Pterosaur Sighting by Scott Norman

Let’s consider the sighting by Scott Thomas Norman, as it’s a few days after his birthday (March 15, 1964) and a month after the anniversary of his death (February 29, 2008). His encounter deserves another look, in light of earlier sightings in Papua New Guinea and recent sightings in North America.

Mysterious Missing Persons

This past Monday, April 4, I was interviewed at Bass Lake, south of Yosemite, for a Travel Channel episode of “Mysteries at the National Parks.”

More Evidence for the Civil War Pterodactyl Photograph

Paiva has done a detailed analysis of the image. He found that the shadow under the boot of one soldier (he’s now known as “FS” for front-soldier) is consistent with shadows under and on the animal. Paiva also found details in the head, neck, and shoulder of the animal, details that closely correlate with the anatomy of the Pteranodon. Please be aware that we do not declare that this animal must have been of some species of Pteranodon, but we point out that it appears to be at least similar to that type of pterosaur.

Possible Pteranodon in an old Photograph

On January 14, 2017, Clifford Paiva (a physicist in California) and I spoke by phone and agreed that the following photo has an image of a real animal, with real wings. . . . What we now call “Ptp” has been around for a long time, with some persons reporting that they saw it in a mid-20th-century book, possibly a Ripley’s “Believe it or Not.”

The Pteranodon Photo and Religion

An old photograph has been bouncing around the internet for quite some time, with many persons giving it a careless glance but very few indeed examining it closely and with an open mind. In the first few months of 2017, however, that changed.

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Modern Pterosaurs – exciting new discovery of an extant pterosaur in the 19th century

From the Introduction in the book:

This book . . . [has] an analysis of an old photograph of a huge flying creature, with reasons for believing the photo is genuine evidence for a modern pterosaur. Yet eyewitness testimonies have been the heart of our investigations, so you need at least the summaries of some of the more important reports of encounters between ordinary persons and the larger apparent pterosaurs.

March 27, 2017May 30, 2017

Book About the Pteranodon Photograph

apparent photos of modern pterosaurs - The left photo might be genuine; the right one is a hoax

Before getting into the new book, Modern Pterosaurs, about the Ptp photograph, let’s consider the hoax image that has caused confusion: The Freakylinks photo.

Glen Kuban, a critic of living-pterosaur investigators for years, made a mistake regarding Ptp in his long online publication “Living Pterodactyls.” (He also made many other errors in that page, so it will not here be linked to.) As recently as March 26, 2017, one paragraph includes, “Alas, the photo has since been exposed as a hoax—a promotional stunt for a Fox television series.” Alas, that paragraph is next to a small image of Ptp, the photograph that is NOT associated with that television series (Freakylinks) [that it, Ptp was NOT created by that TV production company].

Compare the two photos side-by-side:

Figure-1: Ptp is on the left; the television-show hoax is on the right

If Kuban had included the correct image (Haxan Films photo for Freakylinks), he would have been correct when he said, “exposed as a hoax.” Unfortunately, he put the following text under the Ptp photo: “widely acknowledged as a hoax.” How many persons could have been misled by that statement in the web page “Living Pterodactyls!” Of course, it would have been better if Kuban had researched those two images before displaying Ptp with a caption that included “hoax.”

Apparently the Haxan Films photo was a Civil War reenactment kind of staging, in imitation of the older Ptp photo. Look at the way the soldier in front, in both photos, places his left foot. Also notice that the other “soldiers,” in the hoax photo, stand right behind the “animal,” similar to the Ptp photo. That is highly unlikely to be a coincidence, extremely likely to be this: In around the year 2000, persons associated with Haxan Films created their hoax photo in imitation of the older one. Notice also how vague the animal looks in the hoax photo on the right.

Modern Pterosaurs Cryptozoology Book

In addition to direct evidences of authenticity, in the Ptp photograph, we also have indirect evidences. Consider the following, taken from page 100 in the book Modern Pterosaurs:

One day, early in 2017, I realized it would be unlikely for a large animal to die in a perfect place for it to be photographed. How much more likely for the animal to have died in the underbrush or in the woods than in a small clearing, an ideal place for photography!

I looked for a drag mark and there it was, running from around the lower right of the photo to near the end of that beak. That drag mark is exactly what we should find in a photo of a large animal that was dragged out from underbrush to a clearing where the whole thing could be photographed well.

Figure-2: Mark on the ground: apparently where the animal had been dragged

Notice the drag mark on the ground in Figure-2. Apparently the creature had fallen somewhere else, quite possibly among bushes or trees, and needed to be moved into a better place for photography.

Also notice the small tree that was broken down. This is most likely from one of the men stepping on it, breaking it down to the ground so that they could drag the “monster” onto the spot where we now see it.

Of course those two evidences do not, in themselves, prove that Pteranodons lived in the 19th century, yet they do support the other evidences uncovered by the scientist Clifford Paiva: evidences that a real animal was photographed alongside real men, and that this was before about the year 1870.

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Pteranodon photograph of the Civil War

The dead flying creature seen in the “Pteranodon photograph,” (Ptp) although it may be called a “pterodactyl” by some Americans and a “ropen” by others, could be a pterodactyloid pterosaur, possibly without the long tail that ropens are seen to have.

Photographie d’un ptérosaure moderne

La photographie plus ancienne est appelée “Ptp”. Celui de droite a été réalisé pour une émission de télévision. La similitude a causé de la confusion. Certaines personnes ont pensé que Ptp est un canular.

The old Pteranodon photograph

Answering skeptical comments and criticisms of a direct interpretation of a photograph that some persons report remembering from the middle of the 20th century, long before Photoshop digital imaging processing was generally available.

Pterosaur photo in Civil War

The pterosaur-image in the Ptp photo has enough evidence of authenticity to justify closer examinations. But critics appear to be so biased in favor of universal extinctions of all species of pterosaurs that they will not look where they should: at the image of the apparent pterosaur itself.

Pterodactyl in Civil War photo

. . . a scientist (Clifford Paiva, a physicist) has found a number of evidences for the authenticity of the image of the apparent Pteranodon in the older Ptp photo.

The beginning of what may be the most exciting discovery in the history of science

Modern Pterosaurs – nonfiction adventure in an astonishing scientific discovery

February 11, 2017November 6, 2018

More Evidence for the “Civil War Pterodactyl Photo”

Ptp photograph of an apparent modern pterosaur - pixel-width sizes of belt buckles and buttons were measured

By Jonathan D. Whitcomb, expert on sighting reports of apparent modern pterosaurs

Update: On November 4, 2018, I began apologizing for a mistake that I had made, for I failed to patiently wait for evidence of adequate provenance for this apparent 19th-century “photograph.” I even published a book whose content was largely related to this Ptp image. I am sorry for any and all problems that this may have caused.

I still fully support the many eyewitness testimonies, the great majority of which were of encounters in the 20th and 21st centuries. I only withdraw my support for this (Ptp) image.

I have stopped publication (print-on-demand) of my book Modern Pterosaurs because of this “problem,” or whatever people want to call it. That book was mostly about this apparently old photo. I take responsibility for my own mistakes; I blame nobody else.

I am going ahead with publication of another book, The Girl who saw a Flying Dinosaur, for it is about eyewitness encounters with these flying creatures (nothing about Ptp). In addition, my other books about modern living pterosaurs should not be in any way related to this error of judgment of mine, regarding Ptp. Those other nonfiction books do not mention Ptp.

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[Original post on Live Pterosaur]

Background

On January 14, 2017, Clifford Paiva (physicist) and I agreed that this photograph (now labeled “Ptp”) contains a genuine photographic image of a modern pterosaur. Criticisms by skeptics have been answered, and we found additional evidence for the veracity of this photo.

Paiva has done a detailed analysis of the image. He found that the shadow under the boot of one soldier (he’s now known as “FS” for front-soldier) is consistent with shadows under and on the animal. Paiva also found details in the head, neck, and shoulder of the animal, details that closely correlate with the anatomy of the Pteranodon. Please be aware that we do not declare that this animal must have been of some species of Pteranodon, but we point out that it appears to be at least similar to that type of pterosaur.

In recent weeks, we have found other evidence that supports the theory that this photograph is what it appears to be, that six men were standing, in the 19th century, next to the body of the recently-deceased animal that is shown. I have pointed out the apparent drag-mark on the ground, showing the direction from which the body was dragged; Paiva then pointed out the very small tree that appears to have been broken down to allow the animal to be dragged to the place where it was photographed. We do not proclaim that none of the body of the animal was lifted when it was moved, but it does appear that some dragging took place.

Introduction to Belt-Buckles and Buttons

Over the past few weeks, I have come to better appreciate the importance of the animal shown in Ptp, the details in the soldiers being much less important. But on February 10, 2017, I decided to test the idea that the six men were standing as they appeared to have stood, for some skeptics have suggested ideas related to digital image manipulation of those human figures. Apparently those skeptics were thinking that if the soldiers were not what they appeared to be, the animal shown could be dismissed as well.

One soldier caught my attention: the man with his boot on the beak of the apparent Pteranodon. If this is a genuine photograph of six men, the one appearing in front would be closer to the camera. I then decided to measure the widths of belt buckles on those men in Ptp. Belt buckles appeared to be much better than other details of the men’s bodies and clothing, for they’re much more likely to have been of the same size. I later decided to also measure buttons.

Distances of the Apparent Civil War Soldiers From the Camera

The five soldiers standing behind the apparent pterosaur were named for “back-soldier,” and the man in front for “front-soldier.” The following shows what was measured:

BS1 belt-buckle and button
BS2 ” ” ” “
BS3 (nothing)
BS4 belt-buckle
BS5 belt-buckle and button
FS ” ” ” “

I magnified the original image until the pixels could be counted on the belt buckles. The man BS3 is turned to one side, so I did not try to measure anything on him. Here are the results for buckle width in pixels:

BS1: 8
BS2: 9
BS4: 10
BS5: 9
FS: 11

Notice that the man who appears to have been closer to the camera has the greatest pixel-width of his belt buckle. That is consistent with the idea that he was actually standing a bit closer to the camera than were the other men.

It could be argued that FS has his hip turned, because of one foot being raised higher than the other: That alone could easily make his buckle at least one pixel wider. But notice soldier BS4: his buckle is turned in the same way, yet the pixel count is smaller than for FS. And look at the count for BS1: 3 pixels smaller than for FS. The twisting of the buckle on FS might make a difference of up to two pixels when compared with BS1, but not likely three pixels.

A skeptic may declare that those differences are small. Consider this: Compared with the distance from the camera to the animal shown, the differences involving the soldiers is also small. For the image to be genuine, you would expect FS to have only a slightly wider belt buckle pixel-width, and that is exactly what we find.

I then measured pixel widths of buttons, finding this:

BS1: 3
BS2: 3
BS5: 3
FS: 4

Buttons are consistent with belt buckles, supporting the idea that the men were actually standing as they appear to be, with one soldier measurably closer to the camera than the other men are from the camera.

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Old photo of a pterosaur was declared genuine (but no more)

“Support Removed for Ptp Photograph”

Civil War “dinosaur” photo

Years ago, a scientist in California began noticing details in a photograph, clues that the image of an apparent modern pterosaur was genuine. On January 14, 2017, I spoke with Clifford Paiva (a physicist) by phone. We agreed that the photo (now labeled “Ptp”) has a genuine photographic image of a modern pterosaur.

The Girl who saw a Flying Dinosaur

Nonfiction book for readers 8-14 years old (by Whitcomb)

Scientific Paper on Living Pterosaurs

The peer-reviewed Creation Research Society Quarterly (CRSQ), Volume 45, Number 3, contains the article “Reports of Living Pterosaurs in the Southwest Pacific,” by Jonathan D. Whitcomb.

Modern Pterosaurs – this book has been removed from publication

From the first chapter of this nonfiction book:

In the summer of 2014, a well-known biology professor at a Midwestern university wrote a scathing blog post about my online writings concerning apparent modern pterosaurs. It included ridiculing the lack of photos of the creatures on my web pages. Whatever pages he had seen, it appears he failed to notice the ones that examined the photo now called Ptp.