Live Pterosaur Media Center Live Pterosaur Media Center Home Eyewitness of the Ropen Light Video Analysis In the fall of 2006, Paul Nation left his home in Texas to go on his third  expedition in Papua New Guinea. This time he and the ropen searcher  Jacob Kepas (an interpreter) chose a remote mountainous area deep in the  mainland, where villagers often see flying lights that may be related to the  ropen of Umboi Island, Papua New Guinea. But in Tawa Village, the name  for the glowing flying creature is “indava.”   Natives in Tawa say that the indavas used to attack their village on  occasion, sometimes carrying away a child or pig. But the flying creatures  have left them alone since villagers learned to scare them away by making  noise. Now they see the indavas mostly as flying lights at night.   The following is taken from the second edition of the nonfiction book  Searching for Ropens, by Jonathan Whitcomb:   “In a clearing near the Tawa airstrip, Paul watched and videotaped  the two lights. . . . [Paul Nation said] ‘I was able to watch the two on  the mountain range, right here at this little saddle. . . . the lower one  . . . appeared first. About a minute or so later, the higher one (the  second one) appeared, and the first one disappeared.’   “Thrilled at the success of Paul’s expedition, I flew to Texas on  November 20th and drove to his home for an interview. . . . He  allowed me to make digital copies of his videos . . . Back in  California, Guessman found a physicist, Cliff Paiva, who agreed to  analyze the video footage of the two lights. His preliminary findings  included the surety that the video images were not made by meteors  or campfires or an airplane.”   Early in 2007, after extensive analysis, the missile defense physicist  Clifford Paiva, of BSM Associates in California, with the assistance of  Harold S Slusher (professor, physics department, University of Texas at El  Paso), wrote a detailed report of his findings: “Results of Investigations  Concerning Pterosaur Sightings in Papua New Guinea.”   Although the video recorded by Paul Nation showed little more than the  two lights, Paiva found that they were uncommon. They were not from any  camera artifacts, paste-on hoax, meteors, camp fires, flash lights, airplane  lights, or automobile headlights. Nothing was found to discredit the idea  that they were from some kind of bioluminescence.                                                          ### Other Online Resources Mount Bel, Umboi Island Government official sees flying ropen light on Umboi Luke Paina (left), Whitcomb’s interpreter, saw the flying ropen light on Umboi Island Mount Bel, near Gomlongon Village, just  hours after two men saw the glowing ropen  with that mountain as a background.  Whitcomb’s interpreter, Luke Paina, and a   local leader, Mark Kau, saw the ropen for    for only a few seconds, with no features or shape observed: only the flying light.  Bioluminescent Ropen Pterosaur Interpretation of Cheesman Lights One of many images from Clifford Paiva’s analysis of the two lights that Paul Nation recorded on his 2006 expedition in Papua New Guinea 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.  Flying Lights Videotaped in Papua New Guinea More Images for Media Eyewitness of ropen light flying down to reef, “catching fish” Flying Fox and Pterosaurs On Paul Nation’s late-2006 expedition, his  interpreter, Jacob Kepas, observed a large  winged creature sleeping on a cliff one day.  This supported the hypothesis that large  nocturnal flying creatures cause the sightings  of flying lights that natives call “indava.”