Oklahoma | Live Pterosaur

September 11, 2023September 11, 2023

Missing Persons in USA – Attack from a Ropen?

Jonathan Whitcomb with sketch of a pterosaur

By Jonathan David Whitcomb

The following Youtube video covers three possible “pterodactyl” attacks against children, during the past 80 years, in the United States. (Click the image below to watch the video while remaining on this blog post.) The states involved were Arizona, Oklahoma, and Texas.

Ropen Danger to Children – Big Flying Creature (Youtube site)

Western Oklahoma

The following are some of the words of the eyewitness (Sara) from Oklahoma. The encounter was a few miles south of Cordell. (edited slightly for English)

In 1977, in sw Oklahoma, . . . I was 4 years old. My older siblings just left off on the bus for school. I was heading to the house from the chicken house [at] about 8 a.m. when a large flying creature tried to grab me. The wings where slick like a bat. The body (about the size of a Volkswagen bug) was covered in hair. . . . It had a beak with teeth and I turned . . . and screamed. It missed me and it squawked a mean squawk. I kept looking up as I ran in the house.

Sara also reported to me that the huge flying creature had teeth in its beak, and she knew, even at only four years old, that it was not normal for a bird to have teeth.

Eastern Texas

Now for the words of a grandmother in Texas, a few years ago:

My grandchild was outside playing just before dark at twilight. This grey reddish, giant looking bird, with no feathers, tried to take him. I grabbed him and ran inside the house. My grandchild didn’t see the danger. He kept on playing inside. It’s been three years since that [happened]. I never mentioned it [until someone asked me if I had seen this kind of flying creature]. I thought, no one would believe it . . .

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Another Oklahoma Pterosaur Sighting

I’m a truck driver and I was headed eastbound [on July 17, 2012] on I-40 about 30 to 40 miles west of Oklahoma city around 2:30 p.m. I was [on] the phone with my wife when I saw something I had never seen before flying southward in front of me . . .

New Mexico and Texas

I live in central N.M.. Fourteen years ago, in [Socorro], N.M., me and a close friend, who now has a masters in biology, were hiking during the midday sun at [a] box canyon . . . and saw a large flying animal. . . . It had a 20-30 foot wingspan . . .

Missing Persons & Pterodactyl Sightings – Ropen?

This Youtube video, on the channel “Protect Animal Life”, features Frank Sicilia, who was attacked by an apparent “pterodactyl” while he was fishing on the bank of the Delaware River.

Missing persons and pterodactyls

From I can tell so far, from reading his book, most persons in these cases are never found, alive or dead. When a person or a body is found, it is often miles away and where that person or body should not have been found. It’s often at a much higher elevation, even on or near a mountain peak or ridge or it’s a body at the base of a cliff.

Pterodactyl Attacks in British Columbia

This horse was not killed by a bear, a wolf, or a cougar. . . . None of these animals carries part of their dinner to the top of nearby trees, and they certainly have no reason to break branches on those trees.

Modern pterodactyl danger

Almost never will a modern ropen or pterodactyl attack a person, yet those less-common times when someone is attacked—those deserve attention.

Declaration on Living Pterosaurs

Most of the following are from direct eyewitness testimony sent by email to the cryptozoologist Jonathan Whitcomb, who now lives in Murray, Utah. Some of the reports, however, involve more direct communication with the persons encountering the flying creatures: face-to-face interviews and phone conversations.

July 9, 2021

Potential Pterodactyl Attacks Against People

By the investigative journalist Jonathan Whitcomb

During the past couple of years or so, I have received reports that make it clear that some modern pterosaurs can be dangerous to humans. Here is one report from the past few weeks:

Attack in Florida

I saw two of them when I was seven with my two younger sisters on a beach in Florida at night. They hovered right over us in one spot silently looking at us like we were dinner. Only a few times their wings flapped down, making a shuddering sound, wuumph! and we could feel the vibrations from their flaps. I always wondered how they stayed in one spot hovering like that.

We backed away slowly keeping our eyes on them, then turned around and ran for our lives screaming back to the grownups. None of the grownups believed us. It was pitch black. I will never forget that sound of their wings.

Attack in Western Oklahoma

The following is from an eyewitness who was only four years old at the time:

I know what I saw, because it was less than six feet above me. This thing was huge. I liken his body size to a Volkswagen bug. [It was] covered completely with brown / blackish fur [and had] no feathers. . . . the wings [had the] same color but like a bat. . . .

I ducked down just enough, I guess, for it to be a miss for it. . . . It opened its beak . . . I see teeth and at four I knew that wasn’t right . . .

This woman reported that she believes that some cases of missing children in this area of the country could be from attacks from this kind of flying creature.

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Are Modern Pterosaurs Dangerous?

The following is not a first-hand account but from a native who contacted me by emails in 2010, and he got the story from the grandson of the native fisherman who died three days after being attacked by a kor.

A modern dragon in Papua New Guinea

This is a Youtube video showing three eyewitnesses who testify that they have encountered a huge flying creature (in the southwest Pacific).

Press release on flying creatures in Utah

A nonfiction-cryptozoology author has analyzed eyewitness accounts of apparent non-extinct pterosaurs, commonly called “pterodactyls” or “flying dinosaurs,” and found that several states in the USA stand out, including Utah. Jonathan Whitcomb, of Murray, Utah, has been receiving emails since 2004, from five continents, and most of those reported sightings, in recent years, have been in North America.

Eyewitness Reports of Apparent Living Pterosaurs

The following persons ask the general public to become aware of research into many eyewitness sightings of apparent extant pterosaurs, commonly called “pterodactyls,” and to consider the possibility that at least some of the accounts have been from actual encounters with flying creatures descended from animals closely related to pterosaurs known from fossils.

February 21, 2021

Pterodactyls vs Human Life

By the investigative journalist Jonathan Whitcomb

Over the past 18 years, I’ve encountered hundreds of reports of apparent modern pterosaurs, also called “flying dinosaurs” and “dragons”. Most of these have been direct contacts I’ve had with the eyewitnesses themselves, not the second-hand or third-hand accounts. Over many years, I’ve noticed that the vast majority of these encounters have been without any obvious evidences of ill intent on the part of the flying creatures: no apparent attacks or aborted attacks against people. Yet I have also noticed the exceptions, and this now troubles me. On occasion, a person is in danger, sometimes resulting in injury and even death, although the evidence has mostly been circumstantial and less often first-hand reports given to me.

From a Youtube video (Live Stream) about dangerous modern pterosaurs, especially about one attack in Oklahoma

Here’s part of a recent report I received regarding an attack against a four-year-old girl in western Oklahoma in 1977 (with minor editing for correct English and for keeping to the most important points):

I was four years old. My siblings (I am the last of five) just left for school. . . . no clouds . . . early fall. I was walking from the pumphouse/ chicken coop . . . I looked up behind me . . .

I know what I saw, because it was less than six feet above me. This thing was huge. I liken his body size to a Volkswagen bug. [It was] covered completely with brown / blackish fur [and had] no feathers. . . . the wings [had the] same color but like a bat.

I ducked down just enough, I guess, for it to be a miss for it. I stayed looking up [at it] this entire time. It opened its beak . . . I see teeth and at four I knew that wasn’t right . . .

That is a small part of the report that this lady sent me recently (early 2021), and she made it clear that this huge flying creature could easily have carried her away if it had gotten hold of her. She believes she is alive today because she ducked down close to the ground at the right time during that attack.

She mentioned something to me that led me to believe she thinks at least one other child in her area has been attacked and went missing without people realizing what happened.

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Attacks From a Ropen in New Mexico?

. . . when human lives are in danger we need action. . . . Those trying to make sense of those missing persons in New Mexico could have been completely ignorant of attacks from large flying creatures in Mexico and in British Columbia, Canada. Yet why should Americans be immune to similar attacks in wilderness areas of the United States?

“Pterodactyl Attacks are Dangerous“

Youtube video on the channel Protect Animal Life:

Modern pterosaurs, often called “pterodactyls” have been encountered by people around the world, and the vast majority of encounters have been without any apparent danger to the persons who have observed these featherless flying creatures, according to Jonathan Whitcomb. Unfortunately, there appear to be exceptions . . .

Missing Children

The case of missing-child Garrett Bardsley has barely enough evidence to even mention in regard to potential attacks from a North American ropen. But even if only one child can be saved from being a victim, it will be worth all the efforts we can muster.

Missing Children Found in Caves

Before getting into the missing-persons cases of Mike McDonald in Arizona and Timothy Farmer in Australia, consider other reports that tie caves to ropens (or other modern pterosaurs). . . .

Pterodactyl Attack

Many years ago, a native fisherman in Papua New Guinea was attacked by what his people call a “kor”. Many years before that attack, apparently, the natives stopped fishing at night because of the danger from those flying creatures.

Do flying creatures attack people in Yosemite?

. . . These weird disappearances are not confined to Yosemite, nor even to the United States. Several factors do seem to tie together cases that are separated by long distances and sometimes separated by decades. To understand what may be happening in Yosemite National Park, we need to see in a broader sense. Look to Canada and to Mexico.

Do modern pterosaurs attack people?

The ancient Israelites, at the time of Moses, were terrified by the fiery flying serpent that caused many human deaths. Recent investigations suggest the fiery flying serpent of the Old Testament was not actually a snake but a Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur. Even more recently, “pterodactyl attacks” against humans in Canada have been reported . . .

March 21, 2016March 21, 2016

Recent Sightings of Pterosaurs, Including Ropens (Long-Tailed “Pterodactyls”)

"Over 200,000 views of posts on this blog"

Before getting into these recent encounters with “pterodactyls” or “dragons,” as some call them, I’d like to express my gratitude that this blog now has received over 200,000 views worldwide, over the years. Over 100,000 of these have been from readers in the United States. That means the word is getting out about these sightings of strange featherless flying creatures. Please continue to contact me if you are one of those who has seen one of these flying creatures.

Some of the following excerpts from email reports have been edited for spelling and punctuation, etc. Each one appears to have significant potential as a valid sighting report of a modern pterosaur. Not all of these reports has been followed up by phone conversations, so credibility may be less certain than older reports that have passed the test of time and phone interviews and/or face-to-face interviewing. Nevertheless, as of mid-March of 2016, the following accounts each appear to be probably genuine encounters with a ropen or other type of pterosaur.

Oklahoma (Broken Arrow) early 2016

I was at a funeral that took place at Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, [at] around 2:05/2:10. While the pastor was speaking, I saw what I thought was a raven, crow or eagle. As I observed this I noticed it had a long neck, long tail and a ball at the end of the tail. I know it was not a know bird. . . .

. . . I searched for flying dragons in Oklahoma and this web site came up. I do not drink or do drugs!!! Plus my daughter also saw this thing too, so I was not seeing things.

Oklahoma City on February 2, 2016

This appears to have no direct relationship with the sighting in Broken Arrow. Both encounters just happen to have been in the same state, early in 2016.

I believe I saw one of these the other day. . . . I was driving down the highway and noticed what first looked like a big bird flying over lake Hefner in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The highway runs right along the lake. I was staring at it for a good three to five seconds before passing by it. . . . It looked way too big to be an eagle or hawk . . . I distinctly remember no feathers and it’s skin, which reminded me of one of those hairless cats it was all tan and wrinkly, and also the wings were like webbed to its body. . . .

I was in disbelief I remember saying out loud to myself, “did I just see a . . . dragon?” I was alone but it was right beside the highway so there had to be a few if not many others that saw it.

Oregon (Medford) in June of 2015

This encounter was not so recent (mid-2015), but I got the report in March of 2016. This is the first publication of this Oregon sighting report, to the best of my knowledge.

I wanted to let someone know that I saw one of these creatures last year at around 6:45 PM, in June, 2015. I’m positive it was not a bird because it had a long tail with a triangular thing on the end that bounced as it flapped it’s wings. My husband and I were standing outside. . . .

. . . this thing flew toward the house pretty high up. I could clearly see the protrusion on the back on the head from the angle we had, as well as the tail bouncing in flight. . . . this didn’t look like any feathered creature. It absorbed more light. I couldn’t tell exactly how big it was, but we have golden eagles out here and it was around 3 times as long as a golden eagle flying at the height I usually see them. The only other bird we have that is that size would be a buzzard, but they don’t look anything like this.

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Recent Pterosaur Sightings (including in Oklahoma)

This morning at around 8:30 it went from bright morning to a black sky in just a few minutes. . . . it was such a freaky change in weather . . . On my way back from the store, I was watching the sky and saw a few birds and this really big bird with leathery wings and a long tail with a lion tuft type of thing. This is what the shape suggested. I didn’t see any feathers.

Ropen Sighting in Oregon

Another report of flying lights has surfaced, this one from a wilderness area of Oregon. It seems that the mysterious lights that have been reported to fly over the Yakima River in the state of Washington—those are also seen to fly over a river in Oregon, reported by two cryptozoologists from the Portland area.

Sighting of a Ropen by an American

Video of an interview between cryptozoologist Garth Guessman and the pterosaur eyewitness Duane Hodgkinson (sighting itself was in 1944 in New Guinea)

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