Live Pterosaur
Media Center
News Media Center
Hodgkinson “Pterodactyl” Sighting
Finschhafen Pterosaur
Deadly Attacks on Natives in Morobe Province
According to the second edition of the book Searching for Ropens: “West
of Finschhafen, in about 1985, a man was attacked while working in his
garden. The villagers heard the noise but came too late. The huge creature
lifted the man off the ground, dropping him before picking him up again,
then carrying his body into a large tree. The villagers were terrified as they
watched the creature eat the man’s body.”
This attack near Finschhafen was not an isolated event. According to the
same book, a man was attacked and died near Lae (west of Finschhafen).
“An old man who, crippled with cancer in about 1995, was attacked by
one of the creatures. In daylight, in a village near the city of Lae, thirty
eyewitnesses saw the creature carry the man into the air and then drop
him; this happened three times before the creature finally carried off the
body to eat it.”
Pterodactyl Sighting of 1944
In recent years, Duane Hodgkinson has been a flight instructor at a small
airport near Livingston, Montana. In 1944, during a quieter period of
World War II around Finschhafen, New Guinea, he and his army buddy
were taking a hike to a village. They stopped at a clearing that was about a
hundred feet in diameter. As they watched some large ants, a wild pig ran
through the clearing, catching their attention. But as soon as it ran past, a
large winged creature took off into the air, running to get airborne.
According to a scientific paper titled “Reports of Living Pterosaurs in the
Southwest Pacific,” Hodgkinson “estimated the legs to be 3–4 ft (1–1.2
m) long.’ He also estimated “the top of the back was 5–6 ft (1.5–1.8 m)
above the ground just before takeoff.” The length of the head he estimated
“not counting the appendage, was about 3–4 ft (1–1.2 m).” In addition
with a tail length that Hodgkinson estimated to be “at least ten or fifteen
feet,” the flying creature was not a misidentified fruit bat.
The cryptozoologist Jonathan Whitcomb, who has interviewed many
eyewitnesses, including Hodgkinson, believes the World War II veteran
saw the saw kind of featherless flying creature that natives of nearby
Umboi Island call “ropen.”
###
Other Online Resources
Cheesman Lights
Lucy Evelyn Cheesman wrote The
Two Roads of Papua (Published by
Jarrolds, Limited, in 1935), in which
she described the strange lights that
defied any explanation related to
human origin. She saw that it would
be unreasonable to suppose that the
natives could have produced the lights.
Eventually she gave up on any clear
explanation for them.
Flying Dinosaurs in New Guinea
Cryptozoological investigations, like
ropen hunting in Papua New Guinea,
seem to resemble the evidence
gathering of detectives or the early
work of a scientific investigation.
Critics seem to have overlooked this,
for they insist on physical evidence
such as a living or dead ropen, or a
photograph of one. According to
Jonathan Whitcomb, (the author of
"Searching for Ropens" and "Live
Pterosaurs in America"), however,
the purpose is to promote a major
expedition, so that ropens (or "flying
dinosaurs") may be videotaped. The
“light expeditions” have been the
cryptozoological preliminary
investigations.
The opinions expressed are those of Jonathan David Whitcomb. Media professionals may
use these paragraphs in whole or in part for news distribution. All of the images on this page
may also be used by the news media
The “Gitmo Pterosaur” of Cuba may be like
the ropen of Papua New Guinea: an apparent
Rhamphornynchoid pterosaur
Gideon Koro probably saw the same species
of flying creature seen by Hodgkinson. See
Umboi Island Ropen
This World War II veteran stands by
his testimony that he saw a big flying
creature in 1944, a creature with a wing-
span similar to that of a Piper Tri-Pacer
airplane and a tail at least 10’-15’ long.
Finschhafen Harbor, Morobe Province, PNG
(Photograph by Jonathan David Whitcomb)