ropen | Live Pterosaur

June 3, 2021

Pterodactyl Sightings and Youtube Videos

By Jonathan Whitcomb

On the live-stream chat of the video “Youtube Pterodactyl Videos Success” (Youtube channel Protect Animal Life), on May 21, 2021, the American eyewitness Nicole Stanziale told of her sighting. Here is part of what she said:

I am 44 now. I live in South Carolina about 10 min away from Charlotte, North Carolina. When I was a senior in high school in 1993, my friend and I were driving down a dark road, in Fort Mill, S.C. . . .

. . . it was all wooded then, no houses or anything, just trees as far as you could see on both sides of the road . . . A huge black bird was flying ahead. It looked really big, but as it got closer I realized that this thing was massive! . . .

It swooped down. I was so scared it looked like it was going to crash into the windshield, but it didn’t. . . . I will never forget its face and eyes. Long face and beak, horn shape on the top of its head, a bit of a boxy horn, but a horn, a very long tail. The tail did have a shape at the end . . .

I had longer to look at the head and wings as it was headed strait towards the windshield. It did not have feathers. It was slick, like a bat. I would describe the wings and legs like a bats wings and legs.. but it was MUCH BIGGER! It glided. I actually never saw its wings flap.

long-tailed pterosaur seen by U.S. Marine in Cuba — pterosaur U. S. Marine Eskin Kuhn saw in Cuba in 1971

The S.C. creature may be related to the above

###

Pterosaur Sightings in South Carolina

Youtube video on the channel Protect Animal Life

Two Pterodactyls Chase a Bat

For many years, researchers have seen indirect evidence suggesting some modern pterosaurs feed on bats, at least as a part of their diet. Now we have direct eyewitness testimony that at least two apparent pterodactyls were chasing a bat at night in northern Alabama, in the spring of 2020.

The Strawman Argument with Worldwide Ropens

In a hypercritical Youtube video, a man attacks the idea that the ropen is a real animal, even potentially a modern pterosaur.

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. I believe this animal is at least related to the ropen, if it is not the same exact species.

South Carolina Pterosaur

. . . and it was flying north. It was huge, as big as a plane, and looked very similar to the sketch created by Susan Wooten on your website. . . . I saw a huge pterodactyl looking creature, flying very high in the sky. The strangest thing about the sighting was how slow the wings were flapping and how high it was flying.

January 21, 2021

Many Americans Have Seen a Modern Pterosaur – 300,000+

photo of young lady Cynthia Lee, a pterosaur eyewitness

By cryptozoologist Jonathan Whitcomb

During the past seventeen years, I’ve received hundreds of sighting reports from the United States; now very few states remain in which a “pterodactyl” has not been reported to me. As a result, I have been able to estimate a minimum number of Americans who have had a clear sighting of one of these flying creatures at some time in their human lifetimes. It is at least in the hundreds of thousands of Americans.

As far as I can see, it would have to be over 300,000 Americans, for anything less than that does not make sense with how many of them have contacted me about not only their sightings but about one or more friends or family members who have also had a similar sighting.

I could almost write a book just on those cases. For example, one of my sisters and I knew a teenager in the 1960’s who said for that she had seen a gigantic “pterodactyl” fly up into the mountains north of Pasadena, California; that flying creature was the “size of a bus.” Is it just a coincidence that decades later I would write several books about modern pterosaurs? When I learned about that reported sighting in the 1960’s, as best as I recall, I dismissed it as impossible and forgot about what that teenager had told my sister.

Of course that experience may have had a subliminal effect on me, helping me to take up this strange little branch of cryptozoology, but I don’t think so, at least not to any great degree.

Cynthia Lee, who was featured in newspaper articles in North Carolina three years ago this month, is an eyewitness. Yet her mother and uncle also had a sighting when they were kids, although Cynthia did not believe them before her own encounter.

Many pterosaur sightings in North Carolina

The list would go on and on, but the point is this: All those eyewitnesses who know other persons who saw the apparent same thing yet the others never contacted me—those quiet eyewitnesses cannot be explained within the idea that less than a tenth of 1% of Americans have had a good sighting. With about 300 million Americans, that makes at least 300 thousand good sightings of these flying creatures.

The only other possibility I see is this: The average American has thousands of first cousins and brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles and also has many thousands of friends who would freely admit to almost everyone they knew that they had observed a live pterodactyl, even before the other person did NOT first admit seeing one.

My experience communicating with hundreds of American eyewitnesses, over the past 17 years leads me to this: The average American eyewitness of a modern pterosaur might not tell anyone except one or two close friends or relatives, and in many cases that trusted one had no apparent confidence that the other person saw a living pterosaur. That’s why only a tiny fraction of eyewitnesses ever contacts me or one of my associates: If you cannot convince someone very close to you, why bother contacting a stranger?

Pterodactyl sightings in North Carolina

###

Living pterosaurs in the United States

Modern pterosaurs have been seen in many states of the USA, including California, Texas, Utah, South Carolina, North Carolina, etc.

How many Americans have seen a pterodactyl?

As of early December of 2017, it seems that no scientist has a body of a recently-deceased pterosaur to examine, or at least I have no knowledge of such a discovery and examination. That’s why my associates and I continue to work in the realm of cryptozoology, using whatever knowledge is available.

A new level of weirdness

This is a long online article related to the nonfiction book Live Pterosaurs in America. This could be considered a lengthy book review.

Pterodactyl sightings around the world

A Youtube video with sighting reports from Italy, Africa, Spain, England, and many encounters in North America.

Apparent pterodactyl in Utah

Over the past 16 years, hundreds of eyewitnesses have contacted Whitcomb from five continents, and some of those were from 41 states of the USA. Three of those states now stand out in the number of reported sightings of apparent pterosaurs in relation to each state’s human population: Hawaii, Utah and Arkansas, in that order.

Youtube videos on modern pterosaurs

This is no joke. I, Jonathan Whitcomb, began investigating eyewitness reports of apparent living pterosaurs in 2003. One year later, I led a brief expedition in Papua New Guinea, as our team searched for the nocturnal ropen of Umboi Island.

Video on Pterosaur Sightings in South Carolina

I uploaded this short video to my Youtube channel Protect Animal Life on January 6, 2020, and it was doing better than average up until about August 26th of that year. From August 27-28, however, it skyrocketed . . .

November 27, 2020

Popular PAL Videos on Modern Pterodactyls

banner for the Youtube channel "Protect Animal Life"

By the investigative journalist Jonathan David Whitcomb

For twenty months I’ve been producing and uploading to Youtube short videos about modern living pterosaurs, what many call “pterodactyls”. The following are some of the more-popular ones on my channel Protect Animal Life.

Pterosaur Sightings in 2020

Length: 2:40

Get details on two encounters with non-extinct “pterodactyls” in the year 2020 with this video: “Pterosaur Sightings in 2020”. It begins with a report from Manitoba, Canada. The second encounter was in the hills of North Carolina, USA. This was uploaded to Youtube on September 22, 2020. (This is video #89)

Pterodactyl Attack

Length: 6:09

This is nothing close to a first-hand account given to me, as is the usual with reports that I publicize, but perhaps third-hand at best. In Papua New Guinea, maybe a few decades ago, a native fisherman was attacked by a “kor”, which is probably related to the ropen of Umboi Island to the south, maybe even the same species. This is the story of a hard-fought battle between that fisherman and a possible non-extinct pterosaur.

Pterosaur Sightings in South Carolina

This Youtube video had the most views in the late summer and early fall of 2020, on the PAL channel (Protect Animal Life).

Sighting #1: The wingspan was estimated to be 10-14 feet and this report includes the words “no feathers”.

Sighting #2: This sighting by Susan Wooten is well known in this branch of cryptozoology. One phrase to consider is “had no feathers”.

Sighting #3: In the Clinton area of South Carolina was this encounter, and the phrase to remember is this: “as big as a plane”.

Sighting #4: The eyewitness used phrases like “made a terrifying call” and “we ran like lightning back to camp”.

###

Modern Pterosaurs

It did not appear to be covered with feathers but had a leathery texture. Soon after it passed us, it flew over a more brightly lit sports area which highlighted even more the leathery appearance, also bringing more detail to view. . . .

South Carolina pterodactyl sightings

Susan Wooten, of Greenville, South Carolina, was driving from home to Florence (about [1986]) when she saw a giant creature glide over the highway in front of the car.

Are all pterosaurs extinct?

. . . descriptions of these “flying dinosaurs,” commonly called by some people “pterodactyls,” make it obvious that they are non-fictional and very much non-extinct.

Are pterodactyls alive?

What amazing encounters! In California, New Mexico, Texas, Arkansas, Florida, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and many other states, eyewitnesses have seen strange featherless creatures flying overhead. These are not bats; most have long tails and are bigger than any bat. [the nonfiction book Live Pterosaurs in America by Jonathan David Whitcomb]

August 5, 2020

Pterodactyl Attack on a Fisherman

fisherman died after attack from a pterodacty

By the investigative journalist Jonathan Whitcomb

[Report a modern-pterosaur sighting]

About a tragic flying-cryptid encounter

On August 1, 2020, I uploaded to Youtube a video memorial for a native fisherman of the southwest Pacific who was attacked by an apparent living pterosaur. The man died three days later, yet he was able to kill the “kor” before it killed him. At least no other fisherman needs to worry about being attacked by that particular flying creature around the islands of northern Papua New Guinea at night.

Watch this video and see if it’s worth sharing with friends and family.

That attack against this fisherman could have been quite a few decades ago, perhaps in the middle of the 20th century. However that may be, it does seem to relate to other reports that large flying creatures sometimes attack people in other areas of Papua New Guinea.

Here is a still image from this mini-documentary:

The two pilots of this plane later told Whitcomb about the near collision

The following is taken from the description section of this video:

This second-or-third-hand account is not at all typical for videos on this channel, however. The vast majority of accounts of modern living pterosaurs, on “Protect Animal Life”, are first-hand accounts, when anyone is quoted regarding sightings. That’s part of why this encounter was included in this video number 77 rather than in one of the first videos created for this channel. Second-hand accounts are more likely to have become less accurate, in general, compared with first-hand ones.

That does not mean, however, that critically important points must be inaccurate in a second-hand account. Beware of assuming that the old Western dogma of universal extinctions of ALL species of pterosaurs can be adequately propped up by using old string and glue, so to speak: Systematically dismissing all accounts that are not first-hand and then rejecting first-hand accounts through a hodgepodge of unrelated excuses—That is hardly a scientific approach.

###

Pterosaurs dangerous to fisherman

The native who reported this to Jonathan Whitcomb is the same man who reported the death of the fisherman from an attack by a “kor” flying creature in northern Papua New Guinea.

Videos on Pterosaur Sightings (post on the blog PEGS)

Eyewitness accounts in the comments sections of videos on the Youtube channel “Protect Animal Life” (which channel has many videos on these astonishing flying creatures that have been seen worldwide)

flying cryptid encounter [blog post about a nonfiction book]

The Girl who saw a Flying Dinosaur introduces young readers (about 8-14 years old) to an exciting new branch of cryptozoology: eyewitness reports of apparent living pterosaurs, and most of these flying creatures appear to be ropens.

What is a Ropen?

This is the ultimate single-web-page on this astonishing featherless flying creature: the ropen. (by Jonathan D. Whitcomb)

Modern Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur

I gave a definition of ropen in the fourth edition of my nonfiction book Searching for Ropens and Finding God:
A modern pterosaur with Rhamphorhynchoid characteristics

Living long-tailed pterosaurs

Now take a whirlwind tour of many years of investigations in cryptozoology, and prepare for a shock: At least two species of pterosaurs have survived, uncommon, not so much rare as widely, thinly distributed. Nocturnal pterosaurs have always lived among us . . .

The reality of ropens

Years ago, some skeptics speculated that reports of the ropen of Papua New Guinea came from people misidentifying the common fruit bats found there. Those critics, however, appear to have failed to take into account exactly what people report observing: something much larger and looking much different.