Pterosaur Eyewitness

Why should only adults see apparent living pterosaurs? In fact, some of the eyewitnesses of “pterodactyls” are children. How often is a child seen to spend much time outdoors! Outside is where people need to be, if they are to have any reasonable chance of observing a living pterosaur in their life times. Those who care about the truth about reports of apparent living pterosaurs will not be so concerned about the age of an eyewitness. This is a good opportunity to list some of the sightings in which a child was an eyewitness, although not necessarily the only one who saw a “flying dinosaur.”

Sudan, Africa

The boy was taking a tray of food from one mud hut to another one night, when he was startled to see a strange winged creature.

Gitmo, Cuba, “Dinosaur”

Patty Carson was only a small child, when she and her brother saw a Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur in clear daylight, at the Guantanamo Bay military station in eastern Cuba, around 1965. Note that in 1971, a U.S. Marine, Eskin C. Kuhn, also saw two very similar creatures in clear daylight. He used the word “pterodactyl.” Both Carson and Kuhn, fortunately, are talented artists and have sketched what they observed.

Sketch by eyewitness Eskin Kuhn

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Sketch by eyewitness Patty Carson (sighting about 1965, Cuba)

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Why should an objective person care whether or not an eyewitness is a child?

“Dragon” in England (ten-year-old child)

“I just wanted to tell someone about my sighting of a flying creature whilst in my childhood. . . .

“It was either 1987 or 88, when my mother used to work an evening shift at our local superstore . . . I was too young to be left at home (aged 10 then). The sky was clear and I was watching the stars when something caught my eye. It was a glowing object which seemed to open up to what I thought looked like a dragon. I was too shocked to tell my father . . . and I never told anyone about this until I met [my husband].”

The strange phrase “dinosaur bird” or “flying dinosaur” may easily through off an adult who hears an excited child try to explain what was encountered. But the age of the eyewitness does not in itself invalidate a sighting.

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Pterosaur Flying in Texas

. . . only eight years old when he encountered what could only be called a “pterosaur,” in northeastern Texas, in 1995.

California Child Care Backyard

These photos were recorded in May of 2012, after spring cleaning in preparation for the summer play times

I rarely mention jaws that snap or claws that scratch. I write more on featherless features of long-tailed creatures, emphasizing both non-bird and non-bat evidence from eyewitnesses, and  I warn against a weakness in Western mentality, pleading for self-inoculation against the intellectual danger of bulverism. Laying aside those points, I’ve recently read the cryptozoology book Bird From Hell, not the best or second-best living-pterosaur nonfiction but it warns us of a more down-to-earth danger. It’s now time to mention what often captivates readers: teeth with an appetite to bite.

I hope that no pterosaur was responsible for any of the human deaths in British Columbia, Canada, along the 500-mile stretch of highway from Prince George to Prince Rupert, but I also hope that all attacks from irresponsible humans, against innocent human victims, will cease, and that this world will become a paradise in which death itself will cease. Notwithstanding all our hopes for the future, however, we now face a present danger, a warning from Gerald McIsaac, author of Bird From Hell, who believes that “most of the hitchhikers [on this highway at night] who disappear have been killed by this animal. It is also my opinion that many of the people who have disappeared have not been reported.”

Chapter Eight, “Highway of Tears,” in Bird From Hell reveals, “Amnesty International estimates that since 1969, thirty-two women and girls, most of them Aboriginal, have disappeared along that highway.” Nobody denies that some women and girls in this part of Canada are victims of abuse at home and that some of them hitchhike on this highway, making themselves vulnerable at night. But the general human population, at least the Native Americans in one area of northern British Columbia, keep indoors at night to avoid the “devil bird,” and some eyewitnesses of that flying creature have been attacked by an animal with wings, when those persons have stayed outside after sunset.

Of course it is possible that aboriginals are superstitious and that all the missing persons, over the decades, who have walked that long highway at night were attacked by human rapists and murderers; that seems possible on the surface. But animalistic humans do not fit all the reported encounters at night in British Columbia, according to the book Bird From Hell.

What about the dead horse mentioned in that book? Much of its body was found by a tree. Of course ordinary non-human predators could be responsible, or so it seems. But why were parts of its body in the top of that tree, with some of the branches broken?

What about the girl in Kwadacha (northern British Columbia)? She was outside one dark night, when it seemed that “one of the boys” was spying on her. She was big for her age, and decided to teach him a lesson by charging him. At the end of the charge, she came to a stop. It was not one of the boys . . . She was facing a creature that she later called the “devil bird.” It released a “cloud of smoke” and flew away. Whatever the species of that flying creature, pterosaur, whatever, it was not one of the boys or one of the animalistic humans who have attacked girls on the Highway of Tears.

I don’t believe everything that I’ve read in Bird From Hell, but other cryptozoology books mention “pterodactyl attacks,” even when a different name is used for the flying creature. Take one account in the pioneering nonfiction On the Track of Unknown Animals, by Bernard Heuvelmans:

Coming straight at me only a few feet above the water was a black thing the size of an eagle. . . . its lower jaw hung open and bore a semicircle of pointed white teeth set about their own width apart from each other. . . .  And just before it became too dark to see, it came again, hurtling back down the river, its teeth chattering, the air “shss-shssing” as it was cleft by the great, black, dracula-like wings. . . . the brute made straight for George. He ducked.

Those are the words of the well-known biologist-explorer Ivan T. Sanderson (1911-1973). Within minutes, a large flying creature had dived straight at a human twice; I would call that behavior “attacking.”

I have read other reports of early-to-mid twentieth-century attacks, in Africa, from pterosaur-like flying creatures; but in late-2004 I did more than read: I led a small expedition on Umboi Island, Papua New Guinea, where I interviewed an old villager who encountered a strange flying creature. Micheal told me that he had witnessed, in 1949, the glowing ropen one night, when it dug up and carried away a human body that had just been buried in a grave in Gomlongon Village. I would not call that behavior “attacking,” for the man was already dead, but it was extremely rude to the family and friends of the deceased. If I were a resident of Umboi Island, I would not allow my children to wander too far, alone at night. And if I were a resident of northern British Columbia, I would avoid a long walk at night.

Three years ago, I received a long email from an Englishman who had a sighting of a pterosaur in Spain, just a few months earlier. This flying creature may be related to the kongamato of Africa, or at least to some pterosaur-like creatures seen in Africa.

. . . I assure you I am NOT LYING- I’ve got literally no interest in making something like this up. Apart from the two people with me at the time, I haven’t mentioned this to anyone (bar yourself now), simply because I realise it sounds odd, and can’t be bothered to have to defend myself on this. However, I firmly believe that anyone seeing something generally considered unbelievable should mention it to people who are actively researching the field . . .

. . . last summer, some friends and I drove from England . . . to Benecassim (in East Spain—near los desert del palmas I think) for a music festival. One night, whilst sitting on the ground by the tents . . . I saw what I at first assumed was an owl gliding over the campsite (I assumed that because it was night time, and obviously no other birds would be out-bar things like nightjars-which this was not!) – it passed right over us, probably about 30-40ft high, and as I watched it, I realised it was definitely no owl I’d ever seen before. It was the colour of suede/sand, looked like the same sort of texture as suede (i.e no feathers), had a long thin tail, and didn’t flap once. I only saw it for a few seconds . . . it fairly quickly passed into the dark . . .

. . . wingspan I’d estimate to be only 2-3 feet tip to tip, and was gliding for the whole time I saw it. The impression I got was a lot more bat-like than bird, except it had a beak, and I realise that owls have flat faces, and bats obviously don’t have beaks.

The eyewitness could not tell whether or not the creature had a head crest, for it flew directly overhead. Several aspects of his report caused me to rate his account highly credible.

My associates and I, including Garth Guessman and David Woetzel, have no confidence in Darwin’s philosopohy of unlimited evolution. In fact, we actively point out weaknesses in that idea. We do not portray a modern living pterosaur as disproof, by itself, of the General Theory of Evolution (unlimited common ancestry); but I believe that it will become part of the evidence that will eventually make it obvious that Darwin’s basic concept was incorrect. The eventual official scientific discovery of modern living pterosaurs will be part of a larger picture of life on earth, a life that did not originate by accident.

My associates and I do not dispute the obvious cases of limited evolution, for example the outward changes that have resulted in many breeds of domesticated animals or the different shapes or sizes of beaks of finches. We do dispute molecules-to-man evolution.

Evolution, Religion, and Extinction of Pterosaurs

“An Evolutionary Boundary” involves simple math, for a biologically saturated environment . . . the population calculations are simple. . . . After about six months of calculations, using computer programs I wrote myself, the original population of organisms of 10e29 (the number having “1″ followed by twenty-nine zeros), after only a few generations, had only a minute fraction of viable candidates for macro-evolutionary change.

Extinguishing Pterosaur Extinction

Examine the Western textbooks in detail. Where do you find any reference to any human experience regarding the extinction of even one species of pterosaur? Such a human experience is completely lacking, and the objection that it is impossible for humans to have witnessed any extinction of any pterosaur—that objection is irrelevant: The assumption of universal pterosaur extinctions comes not from any human experience. The point? How foolish to dismiss all human experiences, from around the world, that contradict a dogma of Western textbooks!

Live Pterosaurs in New Mexico

“It had a 20-30 foot wingspan and was about the same length long. It had a long tail with [a] seeming spike at the end. Its head was very pterodactyl shape with a fluted back pointy head. It glided at about 700 feet . . . and [it landed] somewhere on the southern expanse of Magdalena Mountains.” [in New Mexico]

Pterosaur in Arkansas

“It was probably 1982 when me and my older brother were sitting in our carport [in Texarkana, Arkansas] It was getting dark but there was plenty of light in the sky when we saw what we believe to be a pterodactyle [pterosaur]. The wingspan seemed to be about 25’ to 30’ ft wide. . . . an awesome sight to see.”

Kongamato Cryptid

The boy was walking from one mud-brick hut to another, one night in 1988, carrying a tray of food for family members. As he walked between the huts, he noticed something on the roof of his uncle’s hut. A creature was perched on the edge of the roof, lit up by the nearby porth light. The winged creature appeared to be four-to-five feet tall, olive brown, and leathery with no feathers. A “long bone looking thing” stuck out the back of its head . . .

Lack of Evidence for Extinction

Nothing in any scientific study or in any organized research of science has uncovered any evidence for the universal extinction of all species of pterosaurs. That idea is only a working assumption, regardless of fossils. On the other hand, the many eyewitnesses, from around the world, give evidence for several species of modern living pterosaurs, although most clear sightings involve a long tail like that of a Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur.

A common misunderstanding, even among paleontologists, is that fossils of pterosaurs can be taken as if evidence for universal extinction. In fact, fossils are evidence of life in the past, not extinctions. And no combination of fossils, however they have been dated and however reliable that dating, can ever prove the universal extinction of a group of unlimited numbers of species, such as pterosaurs. That is unscientific dogma.

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From readers of first edition of non-fiction cryptozoology book Live Pterosaurs in America (note this is now in the second edition, published late in 2010):

“[The] new book arrived today! . . . a wonderful job!!! . . . more sightings than they can dispute (21 states!!!) . . . a descriptive and engaging ongoing investigation . . .” Susan Wooten, who lives in South Carolina.

“This seems to be the author’s second book on the subject, and this one is worth the effort. He has focused on the accounts of witnesses who saw something, and that adds credibility. The writing is easy to read and he adds comments and analysis . . . more useful.” Red Rabbit, Cleveland, Ohio. [Five stars for the first edition]

“The problem with science is that we think we know it all and that is far from reality. This book shows courage to continue the search. If you have an interest in cryptozoology you should read this.” Dale Reeder, PA.

“This book is a great book! This book contains a lot of sightings and information on living pterosaurs. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in living pterosaurs.” [from Amazon-anonymous child] A Kid’s Review [Five stars for the first edition]