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The Girl who saw a Pterodactyl

Sketches by Eskin Kuhn and Patty Carson

By the investigative journalist Jonathan Whitcomb

I’m writing a nonfiction book for children, which should be in print in November of 2018: The Girl who saw a Flying Dinosaur. [Addendum: This cryptozoology book was published on Nov 8th] It covers far more than just the true story of Patty Carson. It compares her sighting to the one by the US Marine Eskin Kuhn, who encountered two “pterodactyls” at that same area in Cuba but six years later.

Two Important Sightings at Guantanamo Bay

One critic might dismiss the report by Patty Carson, saying it was just the imagination of a small girl. But why would that US Marine see two flying creatures that were so similar to the one seen by that child? Keep in mind that both reports come from Guantanamo Bay, and the sightings were only six years apart.

A critic might dismiss the sketch by Patty Carson, saying it was drawn decades after the event. But look at the sketch by Eskin Kuhn: It was drawn within minutes of his sighting of two large pterosaurs that he originally called “pterodactyls.” Compare those two drawing and notice important similarities:

Sketches by Eskin Kuhn and Patty Carson

Drawn by Eskin Kuhn (left) and by Patty Carson (right)

A critic might dismiss Kuhn’s sighting as just a misidentification of two birds flying together. But be aware that Patty saw many small teeth in the beak of the flying creature she saw. Birds do not have teeth.

A critic might dismiss the US Marines sighting, for those two things were flying by him, leaving him limited opportunity to look closely. But Patty Carson was staring at that flying creature for some time, as it stood there for some time. She had ample opportunity to examine details in its appearance.

Why did Kuhn not report seeing any teeth in the two “pterodactyls” he saw? They were flying with their mouths shut. Why did Carson not report any hair on the tail flange of the flying creature she saw? Kuhn noticed that hair. The girl probably paid less attention to the end of the tail, or perhaps the tail was moving a bit too much to notice that detail. She did see the tail clearly enough to see that the tail end had a flange that she described as “diamond” shaped.

Why do not more people report seeing these living pterosaurs, if they exist? I, Jonathan Whitcomb, have received hundreds of eyewitness reports, over the past 15 years, reports from five continents. From examining those accounts and comparing them to each other, I have concluded the following: The total number of persons now living, worldwide, who have had some kind of encounter with a living pterosaur—those persons number at least in the range of between 7 million and 128 million, although we need to keep in mind that this estimate includes encounters that were brief and many were at night, when few, if any, details could have been seen.

Check out the book The Girl who saw a Flying Dinosaur, available soon on Amazon and other online retail book sellers. Give a copy as a gift to a child.

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The Girl who saw a Flying Dinosaur

What a wonderful world we live in, a world filled with an astonishing variety of life! If all those varied forms known to Western science are not enough, we now have worldwide confirmations, from many eyewitnesses, that a long-tailed pterosaur species is still living among us . . .

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Pterodactyl Sighting

How big are modern pterosaurs? Choose almost any wingspan; we’ve got it. Here are the eyewitness estimates for wingspan, in feet, from smallest to largest . . .

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I saw a Flying Dinosaur

Although it’s more common, in the United States, for an eyewitness of an apparent living pterosaur to use the word pterodactyl, I sometimes come across the phrase “flying dinosaur.”

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The girl who saw a modern pterosaur

[what a girl saw in Texas] . . .  I was about 11-12 yrs old I went outside around late morning . . . In the open backyard next door was what looked like a 9 or 10 ft tall man . . . then the man turned and I realized that this man didn’t have a face like a man . . .

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“Dinosaur birds” are still flying

We have been taught that giant flying creatures soared overhead long ago. We could call them “dinosaur birds,” but that would be technically incorrect: They were pterosaurs . . .

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The true story of Patty Carson and others

Patty Carson, of Southern California, said, “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.

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They are not extinct – “dinosaur birds”

Who could organize any expedition to search for living pterosaurs? Only an official discovery could awaken Western scientists so they could search for extant pterosaurs, but discovery normally comes after searching, not before. Looking back at this problem, from the time of Darwin until 1990 it appears to have been an almost hopeless atmosphere for a discovery. But a solution eventually appeared . . . from an unexpected source.

New Book on Ropens – Live Pterosaurs Worldwide

"Searching for Ropens and Finding God" - 4th edition of nonfiction book

At 360 pages in a 6-inch by 9-inch book—Searching for Ropens and Finding God may look heavy, but it’s sprinkled with humor and crafted for reading enjoyment. The fourth edition should be available on Amazon by about November 7, 2014. The following quotations are from the early part of this nonfiction book.

First part of the Title Page

This overshadows common true-life adventures, revealing the early stages of what may become the most unsettling scientific discovery since Galileo and Copernicus. It soars above disputes about religion, revealing why an official discovery of an extraordinary animal was delayed for so long. Above all, this explores human experiences—of eyewitnesses and those who interviewed them. People have become connected by common encounters: Persons of various faiths, with various levels of education, from various countries and cultures, have seen a living pterosaur.

From the Introduction

Expect references to the Biblical fiery flying serpent and the Flood of Noah. I added “finding God” to the title of the third edition to avoid offending anyone wanting only cryptozoology, a reader who would be offended to find a little religion, however limited; it’s continued in this fourth edition: finding God. Yet this is not mainly about religion, not in the usual sense. It’s less likely to take you to church than into the lives of ordinary persons who have encountered extraordinary flying creatures, and into the lives of Christians who have risked their health, even their lives, in searching for living pterosaurs. Our disbelief in the General Theory of Evolution has freed us to search far and near, and for years, with a firm belief that God’s purposes will prevail.

Beginning of Chapter 1

It looked like a dead pterodactyl; not fossil bones but with skin, like it had died recently. Could those creatures, non-extinct, still fly? Although I could not verify the photo was genuine, the idea within that image in a soon-forgotten book would be awakened four decades later, to plunge me into the most dramatic adventure of my life: exploring a remote tropical island, searching for giant living pterosaurs.

My first exposure to a remote tropical island with a giant reptile—when my younger sister Cindy and I were infants—came from Mommy reading Peter Pan. When I was four, the new sister was born, not to the name chosen by Cindy and me, “Captain Hook,” but to a name chosen by compromising parents: Wendy.

I came to regard the Peter Pan story a practical fiction, useful in more than just providing names for new babies. Each character had a role; the crocodile, however, at first puzzled me. In time, it resolved into both good and bad: useful to Peter Pan as true enemy to Hook but dangerous when out of place. Perhaps that was the seed of my understanding that a general principal can be complex, both true and false, useful sometimes but false when out of place, even dangerous.

From Chapter 3

“. . . in 1944 . . . I was stationed in Finschhafen, New Guinea, with the U.S. military. While there, I made several trips into some of the surrounding native villages with a friend of mine and a native guide (provided by the Australian government). On this one particular trip, we had the wonderful opportunity to witness a pterodactyl take off from the ground and then circle back overhead and to the side, giving us a perfect side view which clearly showed the long beak and appendage protruding from the back of its head . . . It was a big one! I have a Piper Tri-Pacer airplane [wingspan twenty nine feet] and it appeared to be about that size.

“The frequency of its wing flaps was . . . about one or two seconds. With each flap, we could hear a loud ‘swish, swish’ and the plants and brush immediately beneath its take off path were deflected by the down rush of air. I have not told many people about this as, of course, prehistoric creatures simply don’t exist!”

By telephone and letter, Hodgkinson told me more. Before spotting the creature, while the native guide was ahead of them on the trail, he and his friend stopped in a clearing. The two soldiers heard a “crashing” noise in the brush, and when they looked toward the uphill side of the clearing they saw the creature take off into the air. Before this takeoff, it was unseen. A wild pig, which had caused the noise, then ran to the downhill side of the clearing, into the taller brush; apparently, it had startled the “pterodactyl,” which then circled above the clearing. Hodgkinson didn’t remember much about the tail, for he was focusing on the head; after the creature had flown out of sight for the second time, however, the men did remember that they carried a military camera.

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"Searching for Ropens and Finding God" - 4th edition of nonfiction book

Searching for Ropens and Finding God, fourth edition, by Jonathan Whitcomb

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Fourth Edition of Ropen Book

“I have been reading some of your recent updates about ropens eating bats. That brought to mind a story I heard earlier this year by someone in my organization who served as a missionary in the Congo for some time. . . .”

Thank you to Eyewitnesses of Pterosaurs

. . . Eyewitness testimonies of natives, Australians, and the American veteran Duane Hodgkinson contributed, in the early years, priceless evidence. Reports from other areas of the world later supported our strange theory of modern living pterosaurs, including reported sightings in England, Spain, the Netherlands, various parts of Africa, Singapore, the Philippines, and other countries.

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Which Book is for You?

related to living pterosaurs, covers of six nonfiction books

Modern pterosaurs, live “pterodactyls,” nonfiction flying dragons—those are heavy concepts, too heavy to be carried only by blog posts or forum discussions. We need a nonfiction book, indeed at least one or two books, to lift us out of the doldrums of extinction indoctrination. But which is best for you?

Let’s now examine what’s available, in paperback, hardcover, and Kindle digital formats, first noting the various genres and cross-genres related to nonfiction cryptozoology. Not every book is included here, for such a review (if done in depth) would almost demand a small book of its own. I now summarize and include those books I know best and that are most relevant to sightings of modern pterosaurs, by alphabetical order of the titles. Be aware that I have written three nonfictions (in seven editions) on this subject, and am probably the most prolific author on modern pterosaurs, yet I will try to be objective, even though three of these six books I wrote myself.

related to living pterosaurs, covers of six nonfiction books

Big Bird

The reports in this book are mostly from Texas, and some of them are really interesting. The lack of editing, however, is displeasing to some readers, including me, at least for some pages. I gave it three stars on Amazon, partly because of the imperfections in basic written English. With that said, some of the reports are unavailable in other cryptozoological sources, for the author has interviewed at least some of the eyewitnesses himself. The author seems to have been careless about the accuracy of some of the data, although this is probably a limited problem. If you like to read about strange flying cryptids that hide from biology professors, this book may please you, especially if you live in Texas.

The author seems to assume a standard-model perspective regarding evolution, if you’re interested.

Bird From Hell (second edition)

Keep in mind that a third edition of Bird From Hell has many more pages than the second edition that I have read. Like Big Bird, this book needs professional English editing yet contains accounts not easily obtained in other books or other sources. If you are a cryptozoology fan living in or near British Columbia, Canada, this nonfiction I highly recommend, but I suspect the third edition may be improved, so buy that one.

Yet even for those who would be interested in reports of living pterosaurs in Canada, be aware: In the second edition, much of the content is about other cryptids, non-flying creatures, NOT possible pterosaurs. Now beware: Anybody who considers exploring in British Columbia, searching for any cryptid—that persons needs to read this book (or the third edition) before traveling to that part of Canada, for the dangers need to be known and understood. Especially, do not wander around at night in northern British Columbia, without much preparation and advanced warnings; the devil bird by itself is dangerous enough. Here’s the link to the THIRD edition: Bird From Hell

This author also seems to assume a standard-model perspective for evolution.

Chronicles of Dinosauria

This Biblical young-earth-creation (YEC)/cryptozoology cross-genre nonfiction is popular with those holding to particular beliefs in the Bible (recent origins of life and recent creation of everything in the universe). How popular? It’s not a best-seller in a broad sense, but of the 51 Amazon reader reviews, as of June 3, 2014, 49 gave it five stars out of five and the other two gave it four stars, and those are not just from friends and relatives who are biased in their praise.

Of those 51 reviews, mine was the longest, and I gave the book five stars. The author is one of my associates, as both of us explored the same remote tropical island in Papua New Guinea, searching for ropens, which we believe are living pterosaurs. So how am I unbiased in my praise? I wrote my review for Chronicles of Dinosauria soon after the publication of my most-recent nonfiction, Searching for Ropens and Finding God, and those two books compete with each other, although to only a limited degree. The point? My long review might persuade one or two readers to buy Woetzel’s book instead of my book: I am was not writing that five-star review out of bias in favor of a book written by my associate.

Setting aside the YEC genre for a moment, how does Chronicles of Dinosauria rate as a nonfiction modern-pterosaur book? Alas, it competes poorly in that sense, with only a few pages relating to those featherless flying creatures. This book really is mostly about modern dinosaurs and how they relate to faith in the Bible.

Live Pterosaurs in America (third edition)

I consider this a nonfiction in pure cryptozoology genre, even with two pages (in the appendix) dealing with concepts of origin philosophies. If you want a book only about cryptozoology and only about sightings of apparent pterosaurs in the 48 contiguous states of the USA, this is for you. The only serious competition in that narrow sense would be from the third edition of Searching for Ropens and Finding God, which has a 100-page chapter about sighting in the USA. By the way, sighting-report overlapping is minimal between these two books.

What else can I say except to quote from the Introduction?

This book might make a few Americans uneasy to walk alone at night; my intention, however, is not to frighten but to enlighten as many readers as possible to know about live-pterosaur investigations. Those who’ve been shocked at the sight of a flying creature that “should” be extinct—those eyewitnesses, more numerous than most Americans would guess, need no longer be afraid that everyone will think them crazy, and no longer need they feel alone. Those of us who’ve listened to the American eyewitnesses, we who have interviewed them, we now believe. So, if you will, consider the experiences of these ordinary persons (I’ve interviewed most of them myself) and accept whatever enlightenment you may.

Live Pterosaurs in Australia and in Papua New Guinea

This Kindle digital book could be compared to Big Bird and Bird From Hell, in the sense that it deals with potential modern pterosaurs in one part of the world, yet it actually resembles Live Pterosaurs in America in more respects; that’s not surprising, since I’m the author of both “Live Pterosaurs” books.

This is not a simple digest from an earlier version of Searching for Ropens, although much of the information is contained in those earlier print books; but if you have read any edition of Searching for Ropens, you will find much of the expedition accounts redundant.

This is for those who have not read any version of the longer print book, readers who would like a short digital book for a low cost: a quick introduction to non-extinct pterosaurs in the southwest Pacific.

Searching for Ropens and Finding God (third edition)

I recently got a Facebook message from a lady who had learned how much another lady had enjoyed my most recent book, Searching for Ropens and Finding God. The second lady said that it was the best book she had ever read . . . then I got to the next part of the sentence: the best book that was written by me. Oh well, I can still dream.

I strongly feel this is indeed the best book I have ever written, but let’s keep to the facts.

  • It is my longest book, with 353 printed pages
  • It is the biggest nonfiction on living pterosaurs, that I know of
  • It has the worst sales record of any of my books, in the first few weeks after publication, at least in the American Amazon sales, but I see an explanation

I have not yet gotten noticed by the larger group of nonfiction readers, compared with those who have already read an earlier edition of Searching for Ropens. This third edition is a spiritual true-life adventure as much as a cryptozoology book. It can be enjoyed by those of different faiths, not just by those who hold similar beliefs as me and my associates. But as of the beginning of June, 2014, I just have not found a way to contact those many readers who would enjoy and benefic from this large book on a strange subject that most Americans have not even imagined: modern pterosaurs.

With that said, here is a comment from one of the first readers, Racel Sopoco of Ontario, Canada:

Hi Jonathan,

I just finished your book. Came just in time as I had a week off to do nothing but travel to Papua New Guinea with you [through reading the book]! What an adventure you went on, you’re very brave. I enjoyed the book . . . your writing seems genuine and from the heart which is most important in my opinion. I could see the challenges you might face with a strictly science based audience so maybe writing an edition which mentions nothing but facts could help gain some support? Then again, it’s your book and you can’t please everyone. I suppose it depends on what you’re hoping to accomplish. I myself look to science to answer questions but I keep an open mind because if there’s one solid belief that I have, it is of how little we really know. Life is such a magical mystery, I just keep looking for clues and following my heart. . . .

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