Translators of the King James Version of the Bible, centuries ago, lived before the English language had the words “dinosaur” and “pterosaur,” so don’t expect to find either word in an old Bible. The translators did their best in translating an interesting Old Testament phrase into English: “fiery flying serpent.” Some Bible commentators have suggested that the animals that were called by that title were actually venomous snakes whose bite caused a burning sensation in the wound of the victim and whose strike was so fast that it was called “flying.” There are serious problems, however, with that interpretation. It assumes that two of the three words were ill-chosen. But what if “serpent” was the inaccurate word? What if a venomous bioluminescent flying creature was called by the ancient Israelites “serpents” (snakes) because their long featherless tails made them somewhat snake-like when their wings were curled up during non-flight, when they were at rest? It is a simpler interpretation to assume only one of three words is very imprecise, rather than two.
What about the Fiery Flying Serpent? For Moses, when the Israelites needed to be healed from venom, what would have been the worst possible choice of an animal image to use as a symbol, to strengthen the faith of the people of God? How obvious! Use anything except the image of a snake, for that animal relates to Satan in the Garden of Eden.
I’ve written much about my investigations over the past eight years, much of it concerning the testimonies of eyewitnesses whom I have interviewed (more recently concerning conjectures about Marfa Lights). From various countries, various languages, various cultures, and various religions, these common persons simply tell me about their encounters with flying creatures that have various names. Most of the flying creatures are described with long tails, and most eyewitnesses have various degrees of certainty about the absence of feathers. Those two factors alone suggest living pterosaurs.
In our modern technical world, we are struck by an ancient Hebrew phrase. “Fiery flying serpent,” directly interpreted, appears unconnected with any living thing, or at least unclassified by modern standard biology as living at the time of Moses. Some Bible scholars have assumed that a story of anything like a flying fire-breathing dragon could not have come from any real animal. Thus, to avoid a strange direct interpretation, we’ve been fed indirect meanings for “fiery” and “flying.”
I sometimes come across the word “dragon” in a communication with an eyewitness of what I suspect or believe was a live pterosaur, for example, the glowing dragon observed in England in 1987 or 1988 (I received an email from the eyewitness). In 2004, during my expedition trip to Papua New Guinea, I heard about the dragon called “Wawanar” by an old sailor. But most eyewitness use another word, like “dinosaur bird.” Of course, eyewitnesses usually mean neither a dinosaur nor a bird, but that’s a phrase that may come to mind.
Of course “dinosaur bird” is incorrect in a scientific sense, for a pterosaur is neither dinosaur nor bird. But an eyewitness like Patty Carson probably said something similar when she, as a child who had just seen a live pterosaur in Cuba, reported her encounter to her family. In more recent years, a man in Richmond, Virginia, reported a “dinosaur bird” after he looked through a telescope; of course any critic can insinuate that the man had been drinking before he looked through that telescope, but critics probably said something similar about Galileo, after he looked through his telescope and then talked about four moons circling Jupiter.
A few months ago, the Houston Chronicle dismissed the possibility that any “dinosaur” is now flying in Texas, ending their newspaper article with, “I encourage Mr. Whitcomb to come to Marfa and spend six months there before he says anything more about dinosaurs.” The problem with that “encouragement” is simple: My press release that sparked the Houston Chronicle article said nothing about dinosaurs; it mentioned the possibility that Marfa Lights are caused by bioluminescent flying predators and that maybe those creatures are like the ropen of Papua New Guinea, which is believed by some to be a live pterosaur.
I don’t bemoan the popularity of “dinosaur bird” in place of “pterosaur,” for the correct word is hard to spell, as is “psychologist” (which is what some critics insinuate is needed for those of us who choose to promote the politically incorrect belief in live pterosaurs). I do regret that few newspapers publish anything that might seem to threaten official Western dogma about dinosaur and pterosaur extinction, what I call “universal extinctions.” I also regret that some skeptics resort to using the word “dinosaur” to ridicule those who promote the uncommon concept that some pterosaurs still live on this planet, however uncommon (and probably mostly nocturnal) those flying creatures may be.
Regardless of whether an eyewitness called a flying creature “dinosaur bird” or “pterodactyl” or “ropen,” the description the person gives of what was observed—that should determine how we interpret what was observed. Ridicule and official dogma should not be given first priority in evaluating sighting reports of live pterosaurs.
Of course we can be grateful that a dissenting scientist, in modern Western societies, is not put under house arrest for the rest of his life, like Galileo. But the Paleochronology group is in fact a group, and if they had made some serious error in their presentation, why not just point out the problem at the top and bottom of the online report? Why make it appear like nobody had even given a lecture about carbon-14 dating of dinosaur fossils?
Pterosaurs have been called “dinosaur birds” by some Americans, although “pterodactyl” is also common. From what we have learned from many fossils, those flying creatures used to be common. Not any more. But according to certain eyewitnesses, they are not extinct. According to certain cryptozoologists, they are alive but uncommon.
I delight in eyewitness corroboration of a testimony of a live pterosaur. On Umboi Island, in 2004, I was finishing my interview of the eyewitness Gideon Koro when I received the pleasant surprise. He and six of his boyhood friends had hiked up to the crater lake Pung, about ten years earlier, when they were terrified at the giant ropen that flew over the surface of that lake. Those boys (or teenagers) ran home. As I was about to run out of questions for Gideon, somebody told me that two other eyewitnesses were present: Mesa Augustin, and Wesley Koro (brother of Gideon). Three of those seven eyewitnesses were available for me to interview on that day, and the encounter at Lake Pung was confirmed.
Today I sat in front of my computer, delighted at the detailed sighting report in an email from a lady who, as a child, had observed a “pterodactyl,” around 1965, at the Guantanamo Bay military station in Cuba. Her email indirectly confirmed the 1971 sighting, at Guantanamo, by Eskin Kuhn, directly corroborating the concept that live pterosaurs can be found in the Caribbean, even at a particular shoreline of Cuba, at least in the mid-twentieth century.
Pterosaur in Cuba in 1965
In the words of the eyewitness
I was around six years old. . . . We were walking down near the boat yards, headed home. . . . where it was sandy underfoot, sparse scrub vegetation around four feet tall . . . suddenly it sat up, as if it had been eating something or resting. . . . It was at about 2 o’clock [probably meaning to the right of where they were heading] right in front of us about thirty feet away. All of us froze for about five seconds, then it leaned to its left and took off with a fwap fwap fwap sound . . . and flew to its left and disappeared behind trees and terrain.
It did have a tail and it had a diamond shaped tip . . . The skin was a leathery, brownish reddish color. It had little teeth, a LOT of them . . . It was as tall as a man when it stood up on it haunches.
This lady has seen the sketch by Eskin Kuhn and she told me it is very close to the appearance of what she had seen; she told me that she would not make any major change to that sketch other than shortening the tail slightly and lengthening the wings slightly and making the head slightly curved.
One of two pterosaurs that the U. S. Marine Eskin Kuhn saw in Cuba in 1971
“I did interview him [Eskin Kuhn, eyewitness who had drawn this sketched] by phone just a few weeks ago, and I found his response to my surprise phone call truly enlightening: He was highly credible in his manner of speaking and his answers to my unexpected questions. This mature man has not been playing a hoax for four decades, for everything points to an honest reporting of a real experience. In light of many other sightings, by many other eyewitnesses, Mr. Kuhn’s sketch now deserves serious attention.”
Eskin Kuhn at Guantanamo Bay, 1971
Gitmo Pterosaur Seen by Kuhn
“I was not stationed to the barracks; but to 2nd Battallion, 8th Regiment (reinforced), H&S Co., 106mm recoiless rifle platoon. . . . It was a beautiful, clear summer day . . . most of the platoon was in the new barracks “hanging out”. I was looking in the direction of the ocean when I saw an incredible sight. It mesmerized me! . . . I saw two Pterosaurs . . . flying together at low altitude, perhaps 100 feet, very close in range from where I was standing, so that I had a perfectly clear view . . .
“. . . the texture of the wings appeared to be very similar to that of bats . . . they had a long tail trailing behind with a tuft of hair at the end.”
Recently, two glowing pterosaurs were observed flying together in the Caribbean, between Cuba and Haiti. The lady who reported those two flying creatures was not alone in being an eyewitness on that night on her cruise ship; her daughter can corroborate that sighting. At other times, and in other areas of North America, other eyewitnesses have seen large flying creatures that glow at night. At least some of these may relate to the Marfa Light of southwest Texas, for many sightings of apparent pterosaurs come from various parts of Texas.
Live Pterosaurs in America, third edition, nonfiction
Read the amazing stories that newspaper editors rarely tell the public: eyewitness accounts of living pterosaurs in the United States of America. Learn for yourself the astonishing secret: These flying creature, many of them huge and featherless and with long tails, are not extinct but still living in North America. How amazing! Live Pterosaurs in America.
This nonfiction cryptozoology book will enlighten you about these living “pterodactyls” that sometimes are seen to fly at night. One chapter is devoted to the Marfa Lights of Texas, but many of the 48 contiguous states of the U.S.A. are included: California, New Mexico, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Wisconsin, Kansas, etc. Find out for yourself about the sighting by Eskin Kuhn, the U.S. Marine who witnessed those two pterosaurs in Cuba, in 1971.
In a recent post, “Ropens, Pterosaurian Sightings And Manta Rays,” a skeptic of the possibility of living pterosaurs gave half a sentence to the subject of Hornbill birds as the cause of sighting reports of live pterosaurs (misidentification conjecture). The problem with that suggestion? Details in the sighting reports bear no resemblance to anything like a Hornbill.
Before getting into the appearance of hornbill birds, note the post on pterosaur bioluminescence, a response to the skeptics post on ropens and Manra rays.
I found a serious problem with the reasoning of that critic. What if it is true that “‘Spook lights’ otherwise occur world-wide without any connection to supposed pterosaurian sightings?” Does that really mean that we should dismiss all eyewitness accounts of apparent bioluminescent pterosaurs? That is what the critic believes. But when somebody, many years ago, decided to name a particular Ford automobile a “Mustang,” did that make all Mustang horses nonexistant? . . .
During my 2004 expedition on Umboi Island, Papua New Guinea, I interviewed many eyewitnesses. . . . I also interviewed Jonah Jim, and he witnessed, one night, a giant flying creature that was glowing as it flew nearly over his head. . . . two other American cryptozoologists [interviewed] . . . Jonathan Ragu [who had seen a glowing pterosaur flying in another part of Umboi Island].
Now to the appearance of the Hornbill bird:
[Photo by Lip Kee; Hornbill bird in Malasia]
The skeptic mentions both the 1944 sighting by Duane Hodgkinson and the 1971 sighting by Brian Hennessy. Look at the above photograph and consider the following descriptions of the flying creature seen by Hodgkinson (DH) and Hennessy (BH):
DH: No feathers observed (BH said, “Not a feather in sight”)
DH: Tail at least 10-15 feet long (BH said it was a long thin tail)
Both said: Long pointed head crest coming out the back of the head
DH: Wingspan similar to that of a Piper Tri-Pacer airplane
BH said the beak and head were one structure
Both said it was dark (not colored)
Now consider the sketch approved by Hodgkinson himself:
In the two sketches shown side-by-side, below, the head-sketch approved by Brian Hennessy is similar (top is Hennessy’s approval in the sketches below):
Look at another photo of a Hornbill bird (below):
[Another photograph by Lip Kee; a Hornbill bird in Malasia]
There’s a different angle, and an apparently darker color, but there are still many significant problems with trying to tie this into the Hodgkinson and Hennessy sightings. The above Hornbill has obvious primary feathers. The beak and head are clearly distinguished; it’s hard to imagine how they could be more distinguished from each other in this photo. The tail is not long-thin. And there is nothing like a long thin horn like appendage coming out the back of the head, pointed towards the trunk of the body.
Hodgkinson and his army buddy were in a small clearing, in 1944, when the “pterodactyl” the size of a Piper Tri-Pacer flew up into the air (obviously a short distance away for the men and flying creature were together in that small clearing). That alone, the description of a wingspan close to thirty feet when seen about a hundred feet away, can eliminate the Hornbill explanation. All the other differences are a confirmation that Hodgkinson saw nothing like a Hornbill.
So the skeptic is mistaken about Hodgkinson and Hennessy mistaking a Hornbill bird for a pterosaur. But what about other eyewitnesses, unnamed by the skeptic? What about the detailed survey form used in interviews conducted by Guessman and Woetzel on Umboi Island, Papua New Guinea, in 2004, in which the Sordes pilosus Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur was chosen by eyewitnesses Jonah Jim and Jonathan Ragu? The skeptic seems fond of generalities rather than relevant details.
silhouettes of birds, bats, and pterosaurs
The Sordes pilosus, #13, was chosen, by both Jonah Jim and Jonathan Ragu, from among the many choices shown above.
Those islanders, who were eyewitnesses of the ropen, could have chosen one of the bird silhouettes, if they had actually seen a bird. Compare this image on the left, of the Sordes pilosus Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur, with the previous photographs of Hornbill birds. That bird appears completely different. How easy it would have been for the eyewitnesses to have chosen one of those bird-images, but they did not. They saw something very different from any bird, for the ropen of Umboi Island differs greatly from any bird or bat.
What about the details in the testimony by the eyewitness Gideon Koro, whom I interviewed in 2004? He and his six friends were terrified at the giant ropen that flew over Lake Pung. He described a creature with a tail that was “seven meter” long, a creature with no feathers but a mouth “like a crocodile.” Those seven teenagers did not run home in terror because they had seen a common bird flying over a lake.
In addition, the Hornbill (to the best of my knowledge) does not glow brightly as it flies at night. It also does not dig up the body of an adult human and carry that native’s body up to a mountain to feed on human flesh. No, the Hornbill is not the same thing as the ropen, also known as “indava,” “seklo-bali,” “kor,” and “duwas.” Modern living pterosaurs are not birds.
He mentions “broad diamond-shaped wings,” as if eyewitnesses have reported that feature. I don’t recall even one eyewitness using the word “diamond” when referring to wings. Many sighting reports (in which a tail is mentioned) include the word “diamond” or “triangle” (or a similar word) when referring to the END OF THE TAIL. That in itself eliminates the Manta ray fish from consideration.
During those years of expeditions in the southwest Pacific, reports in our own country became impossible to ignore; I received many emails from eyewitnesses across the United States, and the reports kept coming in. Pterosaur-like creatures are not all confined to the tropics. As we began to listen to those Americans, we noticed report-similarities: long tails (often) and apparent bioluminescence (sometimes). We began to believe.
