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Gideon Koro, 2004 interview
(click image)
Gideon Koro
In the early 1990’s seven native boys on Umboi Island, Papua New
Guinea, climbed up to a crater lake near their village. Within minutes of
their arrival, their joy at the beautiful sight of Lake Pung turned into
horror as the legendary flying creature of the night came down in daylight
to fly a hundred feet above the surface of the lake. The boys ran home in
terror. One of them, Gideon Koro, in 1994 was interviewed by an
American visitor, Carl Baugh, and a missionary, James Blume, for they
were interested in the possibility of living pterosaurs.
In 2004, the American forensic videographer Jonathan Whitcomb found
Gideon on Umboi Island and interviewed him, along with two other men
who were boys with Gideon when they saw the ropen fly over Lake Pung.
The other four eyewitnesses were unavailable for interviews.
Whitcomb returned to the United States convinced that one large
pterosaurs lives on Umboi Island. He concluded that it protects its
territory from smaller ones of its species that sometimes visit that island.
From a Paper in a Journal of Science:
“According to Gideon Koro, who speaks some English, a few minutes
after they had arrived at the lake, ‘it came down.’ I tried to ask about
wingspan but at that point had to rely on an interpreter (using the Kovai
language), and only later did I realize that he probably thought that I
meant the length of one wing. In either case, his answer is astonishing:
‘seven meetuh’ (seven meters). When I asked about the tail length, he
pondered, seeming to recall and estimate; then he said, ‘seven meetuh.’
“Gideon was sure that the creature was a ropen. He hesitated before giving
the color (probably searching for the English word): ‘brown.’ When I
asked about feathers, he at first appeared to be puzzled; his answer and
mannerisms then seemed to me to reveal that he was surprised that I
should ask that question: ‘There’s no feathers.’ I then asked, ‘Was there
just skin?’ The Kovai word ‘byung’ came up as did the English term
‘flying fox.’ Gideon agreed that the skin was like that of a fruit bat.
“When I asked about the back of the head (hoping for information on a
head crest), another villager interpreted: Gideon had not seen the head
clearly enough to answer that question. I asked about the mouth, and
Gideon thought for a while before answering, ‘Its mouth like a crocodile.’
“Soon thereafter I made three drawings in the dirt. I drew two similar
versions of the creature’s head; one with crocodilian-like eye sockets and
the other without the eyes at the top of the head. Gideon immediately
chose the non-crocodilian head. I also started a drawing of a large head
(with a long snout), which Gideon completed by drawing the body, wings,
and tail. His drawing suggested a tail length of about half the wingspan, or
about the length of one wing.”
Creation Research Society Quarterly
Volume 45, Winter 2009
“Reports of Living Pterosaurs in the Southwest Pacific”
by Jonathan D. Whitcomb
Other Online Resources
Villagers Near Lake Pung
Hills Near Lake Pung
Whitcomb, 2004
(expedition on Umboi Island)
Press Release: Expeditions on
Umboi Island, Papua New Guinea
Wesley Koro interview
Mesa Agustin interview
Photographs by Jonathan Whitcomb
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