image_pdfimage_print

Owls or Pterosaurs for Marfa Lights?

Last week’s press release “Unmasking a Flying Predator in Texas” briefly mentions bats as prey for a nocturnal flying creature in Texas. Pterosaurs similar to the ropen of Papua New Guinea are mentioned only a bit more than bats. But owls have not a word of coverage, notwithstanding barn owls are said, by a researcher in Australia (Fred Silcock) to sometimes emit a bioluminescent glow, albeit perhaps only rarely. So why is nothing said about barn owls as candidates for what causes Marfa Lights?

I relates to one of the behaviors of those mystery lights:

. . . when one of the bioluminescent predators has been glowing for awhile, not far above the ground, it will be joined by another of its kind, which will then turn on its own glow. After insects have been attracted to that area, the two creatures will separate, which appears to distant human observers to be one light splitting into two. The predators will fly away from each other for some distance, then turn back and fly together. During the separation, bats may begin feeding on the concentration of insects before being caught from two sides by the larger predators.

Barn owls are not thought to be intelligent enough to coordinate multi-predator trapping of prey on the wing.

*************************************************************

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

Hunting Marfa Lights Book

I now refer to an Amazon.com book review that I wrote for Hunting Marfa Lights (book by James Bunnell, published by Lacey Publishing Company, December, 2009). For the complete review, see the Amazon page.

. . . Many eyewitness reports are included and examined. This includes about three of the reports in light of the possibility of night-mirages, which are demonstrated in pictures. And there are many pictures of the lights and the equipment and much else. This is a deep study.

. . . I did not expect Mr. Bunnell to have researched the ropen light of Papua New Guinea; that would have been extraordinary, beyond reasonable expectations. But I believe that most of the Marfa Lights are caused by animals related to the ropen (apparently a bioluminescent living pterosaur). I was delighted that much of the data in “Hunting Marfa Lights” supports the ropen-light interpretation (I expect he’ll be amused at my suggestion). Some natives in Papua New Guinea have reported something like the dripping of glowing material that falls from the large ropens as they glow during flight. The dynamic pulsating glow of ropens (also the brighter flashes and more than one brightness level) relates to some observations of Marfa Lights.

I did not expect the author to consider the revolutionary idea that the splitting of one Marfa Light into two (with a bright flash) was a ropen-partner turning on its bioluminescence while close to a glowing ropen. They would be coordinating a hunt, perhaps for the Big Brown Bat or for owls or other prey.

I did not expect him to consider that the reason Marfa Lights are rare (only a few event-nights per year in the Marfa area) are because flying bioluminescent creatures in Southwest Texas and Mexico cover a wide area. They search far and wide for easy prey at night, similar to other large predators that hunt on the ground.

I did not expect him to know about the many eyewitness testimonies of ropens in Papua New Guinea. But I was delighted with his thorough examination of much data, showing the difficulties in many other interpretations. It confirmed my belief in the ropen hypothesis, for no other hypothesis seems to match the detailed descriptions of some of these Marfa Lights.

Notwithstanding my opinions about Bunnell’s research and investigations, my last communication with him, in mid-2010, should be noted. At that time, the author of Hunting Marfa Lights found my hypothesis interesting (a number of bioluminescene flying predators), but he told me about several points that he felt did not fit it. I have since found explanations for his points, explanations that would allow for a bioluminescent-flying-predator interpretation. As of October 11, 2010, however, I have not given him those counter-suggestions.

A side note: Bioluminescence is more common with sea creatures than with land creatures, notwithstanding fire flies. But there is nothing unscientific about the possibility of large unclassified bioluminescent flying creatures.

Pterosaur Book About to be Published

front cover of nonfiction book Live Pterosaurs in AmericaThe second edition of a nonfiction book on pterosaurs, Live Pterosaurs in America, is nearing completion, probably becoming available on Amazon in November, 2010. Several additions to this cryptozoology book make this revised edition more valuable.

Sighting in Cuba

Although the Guantanamo Bay military station in Cuba is not part of the United States, the 1971 sighting report of two long-tailed pterosaurs will be included in the book, for those two flying creatures were very similar to some of those reported by eyewitnesses in the United States, and Cuba is just to the south.

Although the marine, Eskin Kuhn, saw bats in caves, on other days, the two pterosaurs he saw in daylight, on one particular day, were not anything like any giant bat. They had long tails and head crests, an unusual combination according to fossil records of pterosaurs, but similar to many descriptions in reports of sightings worldwide.

Texas Pterosaur

For many years, eyewitnesses have reported live pterosaurs in Texas, and the new edition of Live Pterosaurs in America has new sighting reports from that state. Most extraordinary, one chapter, new to this edition of the book, is titled “Marfa Lights of Texas.” How do those strange dancing lights in southwest Texas relate to sightings of apparent pterosaurs? Consider these brief excerpts from the book.

Mr. Bunnell the scientist, has lived around Marfa, Texas, for much of his life. . . . (James Bunnell, apparently, knew nothing about ropens in New Guinea; he considered only Marfa Lights interpretations involving light-sources non-living. I communicated with him by emails, early in 2010.)

[His automatic camera] recorded time-exposed photographs of a light flying west . . . The light resembled rapid on-off states of chemical combustion: starting to burn, almost dying off, then starting up again, with occasional outbursts of greater intensity. Nothing in Bunnell’s description of this event contradicted what might be expected of a ropen-like flying creature periodically secreting something that causes extreme bioluminescence.

On May 7th and 8th, 2003, extraordinary events were photographed . . . I was intrigued at Bunnell’s description of how those two lights behaved, for it seemed consistent with my hypothesis that Marfa Lights are made by flying predators with extreme bioluminescence like the ropen of the Southwest Pacific but used for a different purpose: to attract insects that attract the Big Brown Bat.

Third edition of "Live Pterosaurs in America"
Live Pterosaurs in America, third edition, nonfiction

The third edition of Live Pterosaurs in America was published early in November, 2011: updated and with a wonderful new sighting report from Cuba. Buy your own copy of this incredible nonfiction cryptozoology book.

American ghost lights — what are they?

The Gurdon Light (Arkansas), the Chapel Hill Light (Tennessee), the Cohoke Light (Virginia), the Gonzales Light (Louisiana), the Hornet Light (Missouri)–Each has a legend of a headless ghost with a lantern; other places have similar lights with similar legends. What are these strange lights? Let’s find out with a fictional court interrogation of Mr. Gurdon Light (GL) (but the mystery lights themselves are nonfiction).

**********

Prosecution: Mr. GL, do you live in Gurdon, Arkansas?

GL: In that neighborhood, yeah.

Prosecution: Have you ever been around Chapel Hill, Tennessee?

GL: No, sir. But I have relatives there.

Prosecution: Have you ever been in Gonzales, Louisiana, or in Missouri, or in Virginia?

GL: No, sir. Funny thing you should ask; I have relatives in them places, too.

Prosecution: To get to the point, some time ago you scared some people in Gurdon.

GL: Sorry, sir. I meant no harm.

Prosecution: Did you know that they thought they’d seen a ghost?

GL: Heck, I aint no ghost. I didn’t even see ’em ’til they started a-hollerin’.

Prosecution: But just one night earlier, in that same neighborhood, near the railroad tracks, you were involved in a killing weren’t you?

Defense Attorney: Objection: irrevelant.

Judge: Sustained.

Prosecution: You heard the previous testimony, about how you rushed at these people?

GL: It was an accident. I didn’t see ’em.

Prosecution: What exactly do you do for a living?

GL: Every night I look for food.

Prosecution: Why at night?

GL: It’s what my family’s always done. It’s all we know.

Prosecution: But not always totally in the dark, is it?

GL: No, sir. Sometimes I glow. It runs in the family.

Prosecution: Just how do you make yourself glow?

GL: Heck, I don’t know. It happens sometimes when I’m a-huntin’.

Prosecution: And what it is you hunt?

GL: Whatever I can catch. Sometimes I’m lucky to find a rat.

Prosecution: Did you know that your family is in some biology textbooks?

GL: I don’t read. I don’t know nothin’ about tax books. But my lawyer told me about one book.

Prosecution: What book was that?

GL: A Mr. Silcock in Australia wrote a book. It’s about my relatives there. They can glow, too . . .

Prosecution: But my question is about textbooks. Are you aware of any textbook that has anything about any member of your family glowing?

GL: No, sir. I don’t know nothin’ exceptin’ that one book in Australia.

Prosecution: Did you know that some of your relatives are behind bars?

GL: I heard about ’em, yeah. But it weren’t from the killin’s.

Prosecution: Thank you.

GL: In the killin’s, no people were hurt.

Prosecution: So all of your relatives are innocent?

GL: Yes, sir. Just huntin’.

Prosecution: Did you know that not one of your relatives has ever been seen to glow while behind bars?

GL: Funny thing you should ask. We often glow when we’re hungry. Behind bars, vittles are handy. So I was a-thinkin’ maybe they don’t glow ’cause they’re a-feedin’ good.

Prosecution: But are you aware that no scientist has ever said anything about you or your relatives glowing?

GL: Exceptin’ Mr. Silcock.

Prosecution: Getting back to the point, you flew at these poor terrified people, did you not?

GL: Flyin’s how we get around. I meant no harm.

Prosecution: One more thing: Did we get your name for the record, your official name?

GL: Tyto. Tyto Alba.

Prosecution: Do you have a nickname?

GL: Barney. Some folk call me “barn owl.”

************

According to the Australian author Fred Silcock, some barn owls glow, sometimes. The strange bobbing lights are often called Min Min lights. It appears to be an intrinsic bioluminescence that may be triggered by hunger. At any rate, not all barn owls glow and those that do glow do so only sometimes. Some observations in Australia reveal one cause for the glow: Hungry owls can catch insects when rodents are scarce. Bioluminescence in some barn owls appears to be the cause of the whiteness of the underside feathers: More light passes through white feathers.

The Gurdon Light, Chapel Hill Light, Cohoke Light, Gonzales Light, and Hornet Light (and others) resemble the movement of a lantern being carried by someone who is searching for something. The light bobs up and down a bit and flies back and forth because a barn owl is searching for food. It may be rare enough that rodents have not developed any fear of it; insects are attracted to it.

How do glowing barn owls relate to modern living pterosaurs? When a strange light behaves like a hunting barn owl, it may be just that. But when it flies too fast and glows too brightly, it may be related to the ropen light of Papua New Guinea: It may be a bioluminescent pterosaur.

The Marfa Lights, of Texas, appear so different from many “ghost lights” that a ropen-light interpretation has been suggested, for they sometimes coordinate their glowing flights in what seems to be a complex hunting technique. And they flash too brightly and fly too fast to be barn owls. They do not suggest a headless ghost looking for its head, but a shrewd predator looking for bats: perhaps a predator with a head for hunting the Big Brown Bat, common in that part of Texas.

*************************************************************

book cover of Live Pterosaurs in America - second editionDid you know that living pterosaurs have been reported in North America, even in the United States? Read the many eyewitness sighting reports  by purchasing a nonfiction book on Amazon or from the publisher—Live Pterosaurs in America.

This cryptozoology book has now been published in its third edition, greatly expanded from the original.