When someone says “pterodactyl”, they probably mean
“pterosaur.” Are they flying dinosaurs? Not technically
dinosaurs but they do fly. The scientists know they differ
from dinosaurs. Almost all biology text books (that
mention the creatures) proclaim that dinosaurs and
pterosaurs became extinct millions of years ago;
nevertheless, some people believe in the possibility of
survivors. The following are possible misspellings:
•
pteradactyl
•
teradactile
•
teridactile
Although some web pages refer to a pterodactyl-like
creature found in a tunnel in France in the 1800’s, and
another to cowboys who shot a giant pterodactyl near
Tombstone, Arizona, these stories left behind no carcass,
even if they’re based on some truth, on some previous
stories that were more factual.
Could pterosaurs live in remote areas of the earth?
According to some cryptozoologists, some of these
featherless flying creatures live in at least some areas of
Papua New Guinea. American explorers who have
searched for them there include the following:
•
Paul Nation of Texas
•
Carl Baugh of Texas
•
Jonathan Whitcomb (now living in Utah)
•
David Woetzel of New Hampshire
•
Garth Guessman of California
All five of those cryptozoologist-explorers returned to the
United States believing that large nocturnal living
pterosaurs inhabit at least some of the jungles. Most (if
not all of them) became convinced that at least one
species of long-tailed pterosaur flies at night in this area
of the southwest Pacific.
Before dismissing these men as fanatics, remember that
many important scientific breakthroughs became
recognized only after the initial shock had worn away or
some kind of evidence was found to support the new
ideas. Only a few generations ago, most people in
Western societies would have scoffed at reports of gorillas
in Africa. Hairy human-like monsters in far- away jungles
sounded like fairy tales.
Are huge hairy human-like animals in Africa fictional, like
another version of the bogeyman story? We now know
that African gorillas are just as real as lions and other
animals of that continent. In the same way, the ropen and
other modern pterosaurs will someday be acknowledged
as real animals.
Are huge long-tailed flying creatures, unlike any known
bird or bat, fictional, like another version of the dragon
story? Those who have seriously investigated the sighting
reports now know that the ropen is just as real as birds
and bats. Someday they will be classified in scientific
books, including admission into biology textbooks.
The following is not an attempt at analyzing scientific history
about assumptions of universal extinctions of both dinosaurs
and pterosaurs. Yet the belief that all pterosaurs became
extinct many millions of years ago is not based on sound
objective evidence but on a number of assumptions.
We need to be open-minded when a number of eyewitnesses
describe flying creatures that are not bats but also do not have
feathers. We need to support expeditions and research into
what these strange creatures are. When many of the
eyewitnesses agree on details that suggest these creatures are
pterosaurs, we need to listen.
In fact, that is precisely the case with eyewitnesses from
around the world. Featherless flying creatures that have long
tails, often described with a Rhamphorynchoid-like flange at
the end of the tail—those are common things in descriptions
given by eyewitnesses.
Examples of Investigations in Cryptozoology
Cryptozoology seems like a new field of science, but it’s more
of an open-minded approach to investigating eyewitness
testimonies of creatures not classified (in the Western scientific
community) or not recognized as presently living. How is this
done? Consider the following.
1.
Expedition by Carl Baugh in 1994
2.
Two more expeditions: in 1996 and 2002
3.
Whitcomb-Paina expedition of 2004
4.
Woetzel-Guessman expedition of 2004
5.
Paul Nation’s expedition in 2006
Since the first of the two expeditions of 2004, Americans have
tried giving away cameras to local natives in Papua New
Guinea, hoping it would result in photographs of the flying
bioluminescent creatures known by names like the following:
•
Ropen (Umboi Island, Papua New Guinea)
•
Wawanar (small island near New Britain)
•
Seklo-bali (Morobe Province, mainland PNG)
•
Indava (deep in mainland of PNG)
•
Duwas (on or near Umboi Island)
•
Kor (north of Umboi, near Manus Island)
Contrary to what some outdated web pages and books declare,
apparently there is no flying creature in Papua New Guinea
that is called “duah.” This may have been an error with an
early explorer who mistook the word “duwas” as a plural. This
is now known to be a mistake. “Duwas” is a different name
(singular) for the same creature that glows as it flies over
Umboi at night: the nocturnal ropen.
Cryptozoology and Pterodactyls
A Live Pterosaur Page
Introduction
“Live Pterosaurs in America” is
in its third edition - nonfiction
The above image is taken from a sketch drawn
by the U. S. Marine Eskin Kuhn, an eyewitness
of two “pterodactyls” flying in daylight in 1971
and observed at close range at Guantanamo Bay
Copyright 2006-2016 Jonathan David Whitcomb
Photograph by Jonathan Whitcomb
Paul Nation describes one of his sightings in Papua
New Guinea. His expedition in 2006 resulted in the
first video evidence brought back to the USA of the
glow of the flying creature that some call “ropen.” In
this part of PNG, however, it’s called “indava.”
The video footage was analyzed by the missile defense
physicist Clifford Paiva. He wrote an unpublished
scientific paper on his findings in 2007, and Jonathan
Whitcomb published much of it online. Paiva found
that the two flying lights were not from any camp fire,
flashlights, car headlights. Nor were they from meteors
or any other common sources.
Searching for Ropens and
Finding God (nonfiction)
Thank God for creationist cryptozoologists and their helpers
like Jacob Kepas (left) and American missionary Jim Blume
(Thanks to Garth Guessman and David Woetzel for photo)
More Details in Cryptozoology Expeditions
By 1993, Carl Baugh, of Texas, had heard of islanders in
Papua New Guinea who reported flying creatures (ropens)
that catch fish at night. The descriptions suggested
something like pterosaurs or creatures very much like
pterosaurs, not Flying fox fruit bats.
His two expeditions in 1994 and 1996 led the way for
other explorers to search the jungles of Papua New
Guinea, hoping to see and photograph the ropen.
Paul Nation, also from Texas, participated in the 1994
expedition on Umboi Island, and he returned with his son
Nathanael in 2002, but they were unable to get a sighting
of the elusive nocturnal ropen, although a number of the
native eyewitnesses were interviewed.
The forensic videographer Jonathan Whitcomb (who was
working with video for legal cases or attorney firms),
examined the video-taped testimonies of the local
eyewitnesses and concluded that they were telling the
truth about what they had seen.
He went to Umboi Island in 2004 and interviewed eye-
witnesses of the ropen, though he did not see the
creature himself. (But his interpreter did see it one night
after the American had gone to bed.) Before leaving the
island, Whitcomb gave a one-time-use camera to one of
the leaders of Umboi Island (Mark Kau).
Later in 2004, two more Americans, Garth Guessman and
David Woetzel, went to Umboi and searched for the
ropen. Woetzel saw the ropen briefly one night. The two
investigators interviewed villagers who had seen the
nocturnal flying creature, and more cameras were given
out to local natives who wanted to photograph the ropen.
Other expeditions followed, including two more by Paul
Nation, in 2006 and in 2007.
Cryptozoologist Scott Norman speaks about his remarkable
sighting of an apparent pterosaur on the west coast of the
United States, in 2007. It had a wingspan of 8-10 feet.
Mesa Augustin, who lives in a remote village in the
interior of Umboi Island, describes to cryptozoologist
Jonathan Whitcomb the end of the tail of the gigantic
ropen that he and six other natives saw flying over the
crater lake Pung ~1994: Tail end was like “diamond.”