Tag: bioluminescent

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“Fiery flying serpent” (small) or giant bioluminescent Rhamphornynchoid pterosaur?

Eskin Kuhn drew this sketch one of the two pterosaurs he saw flying in Cuba

If my memory of a few Old Testament scriptures serves me correctly, I just realized something about comparing the “fiery flying serpent” of the Bible with the ropen of Papua New Guinea. Whatever the species of snake-like animal that terrorized the people of Moses long ago (I believe it was a Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur), it may be a different species than what has terrorized natives of Umboi Island in more recent years. Where in the Old Testament does it mention anything about a giant size?

The subject comes up because of this post on the Bible and Modern Pterosaurs blog: New View on the Fiery Flying Serpent. The ancient Israelites were terrorized because of the venom of this creature (something like a flying snake), not because of the size. (The giant size of the Galapagos Tortoise comes to mind, although this might not be directly related to the giant size of the ropen of Umboi.) Nevertheless, the combination of brilliant bioluminescence and winged flight ties together these two interpretations, this meaning of ancient scriptures and modern eyewitness testimonies.

For those interested less in biology and more in scriptural significance (quote from The Bible and Modern Pterosaurs):

“Another problem with the snake interpretation strikes me to the heart. What is the usual symbolism here? Who does the snake usually represent in the Old and New Testament?  Satan, of course. Does it seem likely that a true serpent would be used to symbolize Jesus Christ? If the “fiery flying serpent” were a snake, Moses would have killed one of them and dragged the dead snake on the ground, to symbolize God’s victory over Satan. He would not have given the Israelites the symbol for Satan, to look up to a common snake for healing or salvation.”

For those interested in flying glowing lights in Papua New Guinea: Pterosaur Interpretation of Cheesman Sightings

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First edition, nonfiction book "Live Pterosaurs in America"Did you know that living pterosaurs have been reported in North America, even in the United States? Read the many eyewitness sighting reports  by purchasing your own copy of this nonfiction book Live Pterosaurs in America. It explains the true nature of the controversay: not “science versus religion” but one philosophy versus another (in book appendix); nevertheless, this is a cryptozoology book, not a religious book. (Photo on the left is of the cover of the first edition. The book is now in its third edition, greatly expanded from the original.)

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Marfa Lights of Texas

I recently interviewed a man who observed several strange lights near Marfa, Texas. Driving across the country, two days earlier, Mr. Greene decided to stop at the Marfa observation station, having previously read of the strange lights. He watched the sky for hours, grateful that the flying lights were active that night. [details became available in late 2010, in the nonfiction book on cryptozoology: Live Pterosaurs in America.]

Why consider that American “ghost lights” relate to live pterosaurs? Consider the ropen light of Papua New Guinea. From them we can learn that at least some living pterosaurs are bioluminescent, in particular the apparent Rhamphorhynchoids of the Southwest Pacific. Now consider how many strange lights are reported across the United States: North Carolina (Brown Mountain Light), South Carolina (Bingham Lights), Arkansas (Dover Lights), Washington state (Yakima Lights)–those are only a sample. Strange lights have appeared across the United States for decades or centuries; apparent pterosaurs have also appeared across the United States for decades or centuries.

A bioluminescent flying creature much larger than a firefly I label “B.F.C.” Of course, not all strange flying lights are BFC, but I will also use this term to refer to ones with reasonable potential, from the perspective of my associates and I (who are convinced that the ropen is a bioluminescent Rhamphorhynchoid).

I took special interest in one of the lights that Mr. Greene described to me. It flew around for over two hours, until the sun was about to come up. At least once, it dived down, at a speed apparently consistant with what I would expect of a B.F.C. that is hunting bats, diving after one bat.

[The special characteristics of Marfa Lights should not be confused with ghost lights that may be barn owls.]

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cover, front and back of the nonfiction cryptozoology book "Live Pterosaurs in America" second edition