Something strange flies over the night sky of Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea, that is, if it's no hoax. But it would have to be a hoax larger than the giant pterosaur-like creature called, on Umboi Island, the "ropen." Any hoax carried out for over fourteen years, and by several Americans, and several Australians, and by many natives of remote villages--that would be a hoax almost as amazing as the discovery of a modern pterosaur.

 

I'll give one example of a native who described his encounter with a ropen. Gideon Koro is said to have been interviewed by an American who visited Umboi Island in 2004 to look for ropens; Whitcomb found no ropen but

found many natives who had seen one, according to them. Gideon told the American that the tail of the ropen was seven meters long; yea, I know that's twenty-two feet, and some Americans would dismiss the story just because of that. But what about the other eyewitnesses, Americans and Australians? Why would a flight instructor describe a tail length of ten-to-fifteen feet--on a "pterodactyl," what's more--when he could lose clients by talking that way? But getting back to Gideon, his account was supported 

by two other natives who'd been there when the ropen flew overhead; their accounts, with Gideon's, resembled that of the American flight instructor:

a giant long-tailed flying creature with no feathers. Hoaxes they are not.

 

Press releases on pterosaurs (but mostly on an article in a newspaper)

Ropen: cryptid of Papua New Guinea (on Wikipedia)

 

Hoax explanation (for "indava" video footage) has been refuted

 

Modern Pterosaur: What Is a Ropen? (detailed analysis)

 

Gideon Koro: Native eyewitness on Umboi Island, Papua New Guinea

 

Tail length of the "pterodactyl" seen by American World War II veteran

 

No feathers: (or no sign of feathers) This is a common description

 

Hoax Explanations for Living Pterosaurs (". . . not all accounts of living

     pterosaurs can be easily dismissed as hoaxes.")