Report Pterodactyl Sighting

Whitcomb's nonfiction book "Live Pterosaurs in America"

By Jonathan Whitcomb

I encourage people around the world to report their sightings of apparent living pterosaurs to me or to one of my associates. Why tell someone about your sighting? It helps bring the world closer to officially discovering these amazing flying creatures.

A number of dedicated cryptozoologists and eyewitnesses have made this field their specialty: modern non-extinct pterodactyls, in other words “flying dinosaurs”, although these flying creatures are not really dinosaurs.

The following email form will make it easy for you to contact me:

→ Report Pterodactyl Sighting ←

You may remain anonymous if you so choose. On the other hand, I will be delighted if you allow your name to be connected to your report. Yet at least until you grant me permission to use your name, your report will be kept in the most secret confidence. If you never choose to allow your name to be revealed then I will continue to keep your name away from the public eye: always secret.

The following is an example of an anonymous reported sighting, given here as only an excerpt of the original email:

Pterosaur Sighting Report Example

[email sent to me in the middle of 2021]

Dear Mr. Whitcomb, I hope you and yours are doing well in these crazy times. Anyway, I just wanted to relate a personal story that happened to me and my husband almost five years ago. Briefly, we had just finished a 10 mile bike ride around the perimeter of Foster City here in California. . . .

. . . this was between 8:15 and 8:30 pm. We were standing with our bikes at the edge of the bay on the path which is about 7-8 feet above the water looking out over towards the east bay. . . .

I looked to our right . . . this large creature . . . I am sure there were two of them flying in close proximity together towards the north just above the surf line. . . . they were maybe 10-15 feet in front of us . . .

It didn’t click with me what I was looking at until I saw the picture of the sketch on the front of your book. When I got home I recorded the whole event on the calendar . . . the skin of the creature was dark and textured . . . I would say the length and width was about 10-12 feet maybe slightly more. Thanks for hearing me out.

Here is the front cover of my book Live Pterosaurs in America (third edition):

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New Pterodactyl Sighting Report From Colorado

Youtube video on a pterosaur encounter in Colorado

Eyewitness Reports of Living Pterosaurs

. . . research into many eyewitness sightings of apparent extant pterosaurs, commonly called “pterodactyls,” . . .

Pterodactyl Sighting Reports

Jonathan Whitcomb, author of the nonfiction book “Live Pterosaurs in America,” interviewed, from 2005 to 2009, eyewitnesses from 19 states: California, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, New York, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Kansas, and Washington State. The sightings themselves were from 1980 through 2008.

Report a flying dinosaur encounter

Blog related to the book “The Girl who saw a Flying Dinosaur”, which has a link for reporting a pterodactyl sighting

Prehistoric flying creature report

Nonfiction cryptozoology paperback “Live Pterosaurs in America”—this has been a leading online book about non-extinct pterodactyls in the United States. This is here offered on Barnes & Noble.

Report seeing a pterodactyl

Reports of “flying dinosaurs” or “pterodactyls” have accelerated during the past year or so, probably because more and more eyewitnesses are becoming aware of the research of cryptozoologists like Garth Guessman and me, Jonathan Whitcomb. Some reports are of sightings that happened months ago or even years ago, accounts of flying creatures described like what scientists would call “pterosaurs.”

Press Releases on Pterodactyl Sightings

“Some people in Western countries like the United States do not belief everything that is said by natives in Papua New Guinea” [That is truly unfortunate, for the great majority of natives have told the truth.]

Youtube Videos on Pterodactyl Sightings

The eyewitness said, “I was horseback riding when suddenly my horse stopped dead in her tracks then began to tremble violently . . . I saw it. This thing was huge and gliding rather than flying, and it was very close to the ground.”

May 11, 2021

Pterodactyl Talk in mid-2021

pterodactyl sketch and an old newspaper article on a monster in Utah

By cryptozoology author Jonathan Whitcomb

The following are comments viewers have made on Youtube videos of the channel Protect Animal Life:

Pterodactyl Sightings

(eyewitness interviewed by Whitcomb)

From Poppins:
Wow this is incredible great video !!!

From Mary Land:
Fascinating encounter. Thank you so much for your passionate work, PAL.

From Bandit Quest: [slightly edited for English]
About 3 weeks ago, A friend and I were on my back porch here in Rural Covington, Louisiana when we both saw a huge bird that looked like a Pterodactyl fly over my property at about 200 feet elevation. It had a long beak with a rear ward protruding crest behind its head, the wings were very bat like and I could see two feet extending rearwards behind the bird. I would estimate the wingspan to be approx. 8 to 10 feet across. I could not see any feathers on it. . . .

Pterodactyl Sightings in Utah – an introduction

From Jordan Henrichs:
Wow! Those are the stories that I like when more than one person sees the same pterosaur! I really like it when you do a video interview, you can see the person’s expressions and emotions that help to authenticate the sighting.

From Static X:
I had a sighting in Oklahoma. I researched to make sure I didn’t see a large crane know in these parts. It was NOTHING close to a bird. It flapped twice though… once to get in the air and once to disappear in the trees. . . .

Pterosaur Sightings in South Carolina

From Stetson Gray: [slightly edited for English]
I got my own story: My dad and I were driving down this back road in SC and we saw these gigantic bird things. Let me add we were like half a mile away, maybe a little further, but they had to be like almost 10 feet tall because it was just so easy to see them from far away. We stopped in the road because we were shocked seeing a bird so huge. We got closer. It was like a greyish brown, and had some blue on its head. Its head was long and its wings were really skinny but it was shaped like a stretched M. It wasn’t flailing them around but just opening and closing the wings. It looked like it was eating something. I vividly remember they were on top of this huge tree, and every time they moved their wings the tree moved . . .

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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.

Dangerous modern pterodactyl

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 in a nonfiction cryptozoology book, Bird From Hell, by Gerald McIsaac. This author believes that many human deaths may have been caused by attacks from what some Native Americans in British Columbia call the “devil bird.”

Pterodactyl attack in Oklahoma

I was four years old. . . . 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. . . . 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 . . .

December 26, 2017March 19, 2018

Where to Find a Living Pterosaur in the USA

ropen sketch over the Continental USA map

By the modern pterosaur expert Jonathan Whitcomb

Where in the United States would you be most likely to see a non-extinct pterosaur, what many Americans might call a “pterodactyl sighting?” Before Christmas day of 2017, I would’t have had an answer for you. I’ve been receiving emails and phone calls from across the country for 13 years, and it seemed like almost any state of the USA would be almost as good as any other state. But the Living Pterosaurs Declaration page gives 161 sightings (as of December 25, 2017) in 34 areas where persons have seen these flying creatures across the country: It lists thirty-three states and Washington D.C.

Surprises for Jonathan Whitcomb

I had long known that California and Texas have been hot spots for pterosaur sightings, including encounters with ropens, some of which have been large flying creatures. But when I did simple statistical analysis based upon human populations, I found that California was only slightly above average for LP sightings and Texas was only slightly below average. Considering how many humans live in those two states, the number of sighting reports of apparent living pterosaurs is nothing extraordinary for those two states.

Correlated with human populations, the hot spots are in Hawaii and Utah. I was not expecting that. Third place goes to Oklahoma, a state with fewer humans than average in the USA but apparently a good share of “pterodactyls.” It seems that the state of New York is at the bottom of the barrel for the number of persons who send in reports to cryptozoologists, but on looking a little deeper, I see that five pterosaur sightings in New York state were not included in the declaration page. If those other five are added to the one, it gives a ration of 1.9 sighting reports per 6-million humans: well below average (3.1) but far above the bottom. Not surprisingly, while working in an office in a skyscraper in Manhattan, nobody reports a pterodactyl flying by the window. Like the rest of the country, the best place to be for a sighting of a pterosaur in New York state is out of doors.

Listing of Statistics as of December 25, 2017

Number of reported sightings per 6-million humans living in the USA (average across the country = 3.1):

Hawaii (ten) = 44.1

Utah (nine) = 19.5

Oklahoma (seven) = 11.2

Washington D.C. (one) = 10.0

Kansas (four) = 8.4

Arkansas (four) = 8.3

Virginia (ten) = 7.5

Georgia (twelve) = 7.4

West Virginia (two) = 6.5

Washington state (seven) = 6.2

Montana (one) = 6.1

South Carolina (four) = 5.2

Oregon (three) = 4.7

Maine (one) = 4.5

California (twenty-seven) = 4.3

Louisiana (three) = 4.0

Mississippi (two) = 4.0

Idaho (one) = 3.8

North Carolina (six) = 3.8

Ohio (seven) = 3.6

Wisconsin (three) = 3.2

Missouri (three) = 3.0

New Mexico (one) = 2.9

Arizona (three) = 2.8

Pennsylvania (six) = 2.8

Texas (eleven) = 2.6

Minnesota (two) = 2.3

Florida (five) = 1.6

Kentucky (one) = 1.4

Alabama (one) = 1.3

Massachusetts (one) = 0.9

New Jersey (one) = 0.7

Michigan (one) = 0.6

New York (one) = 0.3 (*but when updated to six sightings it is 1.9)

*Additional notes on these statistics

The above comparisons are based upon version 056 of the “Declaration on Eyewitness Reports of Apparent Living Pterosaurs” (published on flying-creature.com), dated December 14, 2017. Revisions are expected in 2018, and probably after that, which may change at least some of the above numbers. With that said, it seems unlikely that the dominant states, like Hawaii and Utah, will be unlikely to change drastically in their positions during the updating which is expected in the year 2018. Please be aware of the following:

New sighting reports come in
Old reports that were not included in version-056 may be added

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Pterosaur sightings in Hawaii

I have encountered several sighting reports from Hawaii this year [2012] (mostly either email or blog-post comment I’ve received from eyewitnesses). But the encounter described in a post of the s8intcom blog now deserves attention and comparison with other sightings in Hawaii.

Living pterosaur in Utah

On August 13, 2015, I received an email from an eyewitness living South of Provo, Utah. It confirms earlier reports of apparent pterosaurs in Utah, especially nocturnal flying creatures that are very large.

Pterosaur sighting in Oklahoma

. . . a truck driver who witnessed what seems to have been a ropen, in Oklahoma, just yesterday.

Pterodactyl encounter in Kansas

I have a feeling we’re not in Papua New Guinea anymore

Living pterosaur in Arkansas

. . . we have two sightings, separated by about five years.

November 25, 2014November 2, 2017

“No New Evidence” for Living Pterosaurs?

Whitcomb's nonfiction "Searching for Ropens and Finding God" 3rd ed.

I’ve just been notified of a post on “Doubtful News” in which I am accused of deceiving people and then admitting the deceit. What nonsense! For the moment, set aside the “sock puppet” accusation, reference to the self-publishing of one of my books, and my religious beliefs; just look at what’s in the third sentence of that post:

“… the same stories get recirculated repeatedly to make up for no new evidence …”

I continue to receive eyewitness reports of apparent living pterosaurs, as I have for the past eleven years. The following are some of the more recent emails:

West Virginia, October of 2014

Ricky Kearns and family members witnessed a large flying creature at night, and it had wings that were glowing. This was in Point Pleasant, although Ricky mentioned to me that what he saw did not look like what the Mothman is reported to look like. Nevertheless, there may be a relationship with some sightings of what has been labeled “Mothman.”

Notice that this is not a repeated sighting report. The flying creature appeared on a night in October of 2014 and was immediately reported to cryptozoologists who specialize in modern-pterosaur accounts. It has limited resemblance, in the details, with other records in previous sightings, yet the glowing wings suggest a connection with ropen sightings.

Ricky reported, “. . . I’m still bugged by all this [trying to learn what he saw]. . . . having the Mothman and festivals and stuff being the only tourist attraction for my small community, it’s hard to tell. But it was way high up, definitely bioluminescent, a light orange.”

Minnesota, reported in early November of 2014

The sighting itself was about twenty years ago; eyewitnesses sometimes don’t report an encounter until years later. Here’s a bit of the email:

I don’t want to sound crazy, and I know you will keep an open mind about it, but it still seems crazy after 20 years. . . . In 1995 I had a very close encounter with something similar to a Pterosaur in southern Minnesota. The day started off as a normal summer day for us kids. My older brother went out fishing early in the morning and came home about noon, but for some reason I decided to try to one up him that day.

. . . I headed down to “my” fishing spot. After several small fish and a decent sized bass I decided to call it a day. . . . I decided to head back home there was an outcropping or a cave (you could honestly classify it as either it was either a shallow cave or a deep outcropping) on my way back home and as I got near it I heard something . . .

I got within 15 feet of the mouth of the cave I see this beautiful burgundy thing standing near the opening. It was smooth with no feathers, and a large horn out of the back of it’s head. I could see that as it was pulling meat off of a fish it’s beak was making the tapping noise I heard.

Why does that “Doubtful News” bog post say “no new evidence?” I got up early this morning, as usual, and before 6:00 a.m. I had found three separate online sighting evidences: Florida, Illinois, and Minnesota (not the report mentioned above about a boy who had seen a flying creature in something like a cave in Minnesota but another sighting in that state). I had no previous knowledge of any of those three encounters with apparent pterosaurs; each of the three reports was completely new to me.

Dubious “Doubtful News” Post

That post by someone calling herself “idoubtit” quotes Donald Prothero, who wrote the post “Fake Pterosaurs and Sock Puppets.” I found many errors in Prothero’s accusations. He said, “Whitcomb admitted the deception in July, 2014.” I’m glad he included a link for that sentence; if only every reader would click on that link and read my own words! It’s my explanation for why I was HONEST, not an admission of dishonesty. I explained why I used two pseudonyms in a minority of my online writings. Reading only that skeptic’s post—that can easily lead readers into thinking I tried to deceive people. It was, in reality, the only way I could find to emphasize the eyewitness testimonies, for my name was already becoming a target for mud-slinging in 2005, after my expedition in Papua New Guinea. Perhaps I made a mistake in using two pseudonyms for several years, but then it would be an honest mistake. The point about honesty is leading people to the truth, not in technical definitions of sock puppet and pen name; the point about dishonesty is leading people away from the truth, even when a few accurate statements may be inserted.

In other words, Donald Prothero properly linked to the relevant web page where I explained my use of pseudonyms, yet he proclaimed the opposite of what I thought I had clearly stated. Why become overly focused on the possibility that a person one disagrees with is a liar?

I am not accusing idoubtit or Donald Prothero of intentionally deceiving their readers; it’s quite likely that those two were somehow deceived themselves. Please read the words of the more credible eyewitnesses, for the truth will eventually come to light, regardless of what some skeptics say about my honesty and my religious beliefs.

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Cross-genre: cryptozoology, true-life adventure, spiritual, inspirational

Pure cryptozoology and more compact than Searching for Ropens and Finding God