Virginia | Live Pterosaur

December 19, 2012May 29, 2014

Virginia Pterosaurs

I recently began extensive email communications with an eyewitness of a huge flying creature in eastern Virginia, years ago. I name this sighting “TV-12.” Here is a small part of our conversation:

Whitcomb: I would be grateful for whatever you would like to tell me.

Anon: Thank you, Jonathan. The following is what I wrote a couple months back after reading through your website and before I read your book. I was 17 at the time of this encounter. It was very late at night. . . . [possibly around] somewhere between 10 and midnight. . . . I went swimming with a friend at a local reservoir . . . I was standing straight up in the middle of the [U-shaped body of water] with the water about as high as my hips and I was making some splashing I remember, rather loudly, right before I saw it.

It came from the direction of the moon . . . all I saw was its silhouette. I could see it was big even before it was close. . . . I have not before nor since ever been so petrified in my life. . . . I felt incapable of moving my legs. I just stood there, facing it until it literally got about 20 to 30 feet away and it “stopped” and hovered mid-air.

The wings were somewhere between 15 and 20 feet wide and they covered the entire opening to the U-shaped inlet when they were open. The wings were bat shaped without feathers, the head’s silhouette looked like a point (again, could not see facial features as it had the moon behind it) like a head crest . . .

I thought it was going to attack me. I was thinking about whether or not I could fight it off . . . when it hovered there mid air 20 to 30 feet away directly in front of me about 15 to 20 feet above the water level, it moved its wings from wide outside to inside in front of its body twice which made a big “Whoosh!” sound both times and the wind it created made waves in the water coming towards me and blew my hair back and then it flew off. . . .

I think almost immediately the word “pterodactyl” came to mind. . . . Incidentally, the largest known bat in Virginia has a wingspan measured in mere inches–not feet. And the largest known wingspan for them in the world is six to seven feet: again, not nearly large enough. Plus, bats fly rather erratically, not at all like the slow, deliberate flaps and glides of the creature I had seen so bats were pretty easy to rule out . . .

Whitcomb: Thank you . . . for your detailed account.

. . . regarding holding your position when you felt paralyzed with fear . . . [I believe] it was the best thing that you could have done in the [awkward] circumstances of the moment.

Rural highway in Virginia

Flying Creatures in North Carolina and Virginia

It was at night. I was standing outside my car [talking on the phone] when I saw the creature emerge directly over the three-story building I was standing next to. The creature was so close [that] my reflex was to duck.

Live Pterosaur Sightings in Virginia

The most obvious feature was the diamond or spade tipped tail, I have not found any creature that compares. My first sighting was far enough away that I couldn’t rule out man made gliders, imitation, but the last sighting moved in such a way that it was highly unlikely to be fake.

Flying Creature

You have seen a flying creature unlike any bird or bat. It’s more like a pterosaur but alive, a “flying dinosaur.” What do you do? [Don’t bother calling animal control, the police, or a big newspaper.]

November 29, 2012January 19, 2018

Flying Creatures in North Carolina and Virginia

non-fiction 360-page paperback "Searching for Ropens and Finding God"

Early this year I received an email from an eyewitness of a pterosaur-like flying creature in North Carolina. (The following is English-corrected from the email-style spelling and grammar.)

I saw what I saw in October 2009, in Charlotte, North Carolina. When [we were] searching the internet for other accounts, I was amazed to see and hear witnesses describing details exactly the way I described them.

It was at night. I was standing outside my car [talking on the phone] when I saw the creature emerge directly over the three-story building I was standing next to. The creature was so close [that] my reflex was to duck.

It looked like what I had seen in a Jurassic Park movie. The only reason I didn’t think dragon was that it didn’t [have] any fire. My instant reaction was to get my cousin, who was in my passenger seat, out [of] the car so I [would not] see it alone. He did, and that [confirms] I’m not crazy. I know what we saw.

Two years ago, I received an email from a lady who was driving in Jacksonville, North Carolina, when she saw a flying creature:

. . . I saw something HUGE above me in the sky. It looked like a pale greenish white and smooth-skinned. It didn’t appear to have any feathers, and it had the tail with the diamond shape on the end. . . . It was probably . . . 100 ft away. I just looked up the Rhamphorhynchus and it was definitely similar to what I saw.

Virginia Flying Creature

Earlier this year, I communicated by email with an eyewitness in Virginia, who told me a little about his encounter with an apparent pterosaur:

I live in Hampton, Virginia, and approximately ten years ago I had a sighting of a huge bird here in Hampton, and I do mean “huge”. I was just wondering if the sighting you wrote about was anywhere near my area? The drawings reminded me so much of what I saw, only the bird (?) I saw was much bigger and looked like a pterodactyl.

Update (January 19, 2018) on Apparent Pterosaurs in North Carolina

From the cryptozoologist Jonathan Whitcomb

More reports of what I believe are living pterosaurs have been sent to me from N.C. since late 2012. Consider what the eyewitnesses themselves have to say (here are some brief excerpts from five reports):

My brother and I spotted a Pterodactyl flying maybe 25 feet above tree level in Conover, North Carolina. This hairless, birdlike creature looked exactly like a Pterodactyl. If I had to put a guess on it’s wing span, I’d say 10 ft. [reported to Whitcomb on January 12, 2018]

I just wanted to contact you to let you know, me and two of my friends saw one at different times in NC, Durham [email sent to Whitcomb on December 8, 2017, although one sighting was in 1993]

Subject: Durham sighting around 2003 . . . While I am unable to verify what I saw as an actual pterosaur, I don’t
see any other way to explain it . . . [wingspan] estimate . . . 17-23 feet [emails sent in January of 2018]

I was driving in eastern Guilford County, NC. Stopped at an intersection . . . I just caught a glimpse of the big dark mass and what appeared to be a long, dangling tail. [email sent to Whitcomb on December 24, 2017]

I saw one at Murray’s Mill in NC. I was walking with my sister . . . I stopped telling people about it because they think I’m crazy. [email sent on January 16, 2018]

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More Virginia Pterosaur Sightings

“I know what it was. It wasn’t a heron; it wasn’t a vulture; it wasn’t an albatross. I had spent countless hours as a child studying dinosaurs and playing with dinosaur models. I know what I saw.”

Flying Creature in North Carolina

She told me of an experience she had while driving on a major highway near Asheville, NC when a HUGE winged black creature flew very low over her car. [her friend mentioned “flying dinosaurs” still surviving]

Flying Creature Identification

I have over a hundred sighting reports compiled in a data base that includes many details (wingspan estimate, surety of featherlessness, location of sighting, time of day, presence or absence of tail, etc); [The skeptic gives not even one detail and not even one sighting report] it is still expanding, now with year-2012 reports being entered. Let’s consider the skeptic’s remark about ducks . . .

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August 18, 2012

More Virginia Pterosaur Sightings

I just received another email regarding a pterosaur sighting in Virginia. The eyewitness was traveling from Texas to Vermont. I hope to get more details soon.

Camping Trip in Chesapeake Area

In the third edition of my nonfiction book Live Pterosaurs in America, an encounter in the Chesapeake area, near the border between Maryland and Virginia, may relate to other sighting reports that I have received from Virginia:

“I was twenty years old, taking a camping trip with my boss and his friends, and I believe it was near the Maryland-Virginia line in the Chesapeake area. We were tubing [inner-tube] in the river, some time in the morning or early afternoon.

“My boss and I suddenly saw, parallel with the water, quite a distance away, a flying object . . . we knew it was quite far away, but it was as big as a regular bird would appear up close. It was gliding, with an occasional slow, smooth flap. . . . It flew directly over us, about twenty yards above us, and as I turned my inner tube along its path, it perched on a tree about fifty yards past us.

“I know what it was. It wasn’t a heron; it wasn’t a vulture; it wasn’t an albatross. I had spent countless hours as a child studying dinosaurs and playing with dinosaur models. I know what I saw.”

photo of Chesapeake area of Eastern USA - photo by shell game

Pterosaurs Near Water

I have noticed that some sightings of apparent pterosaurs are on or near water. Driving a car may be the most common human activity during a sighting, but water activities, including fishing and boating, keep coming up in the reports. I quote again from my book:

“I was walking to the small river [near Woodward, Oklahoma] where I usually caught carp fish. . . . a large animal took off into the air. At first I thought it was an eagle. . . . it was a dinosaur. I went to my knees so that it would not see me. I was afraid it would eat me. I stared at the back part of the head because it was exactly like the ones depicted in books. . . . had a long neck and wide wings just like in the movies or in books. It had no feathers . . .”

Live Pterosaur Sightings in Virginia

The most obvious feature was the diamond or spade tipped tail, I have not found any creature that compares.

Thunderbird of Crytozoology

If the thunderbird were the giant extinct teratorn Argentavis, this is how it would compare in size with a human [with illustration]

August 6, 2012August 7, 2012

Live Pterosaur Sightings in Virginia

Last month, a man had two sightings, in the same area of Virginia, of an apparent pterosaur with a long tail. Let’s consider details about the second sighting. On July 29th, the man, Brian, sent me an email:

[After the first sighting] this Sunday, in about the same place, my daughter and I saw one fairly close up flying in the opposite direction. These were [both] seen while [I was] traveling on a highway.

The most obvious feature was the diamond or spade tipped tail, I have not found any creature that compares. My first sighting was far enough away that I couldn’t rule out man made gliders, imitation, but the last sighting moved in such a way that it was highly unlikely to be fake.

In the second sighting, Brian’s daughter, Brianna, also saw the flying creature. She drew two sketches, the above representing what she saw when the pterosaur was furthest away.

underside of the pterosaur seen in Virginia, including tail with heart-shaped ending

Brianna drew the above sketch to represent what she saw when it was closest.

I asked Brian about the second sighting, how high it was flying above the ground:

The height above the ground was about a tree level or more higher than the area. (estimate as low as 150 feet as high as 200+ feet to the valley stucture bottom.) Based on my personal readings concerning hawks and eagles and their size and general flight patterns I would estimate the creature we saw as having 6 foot wing span minimum with a maximum of 10 foot if it was actually higher than I have imagined.

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Cover, back and front, of Live Pterosaurs in America - nonfiction book

From the cryptozoology book Live Pterosaurs in America (3rd ed.):

In 2007, I received an email from a young lady in Richmond, Virginia.

“My father has been the subject of much ridicule after claiming to have seen a “dinosaur bird” fly across the moon. His neighbor has a telescope and they’d been watching the sky when they saw it. My sister and I dismissed it, although I couldn’t think of anything he could have seen and mistook for a “dinosaur bird.” My father later told me that he’d done some research and learned that they were called “ropen.” I went online, and to my surprise, Dad wasn’t making it up.