Tag: Bunnell

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Bunnell’s Investigation of Marfa Lights

The Marfa Lights have captivated the scientist James Bunnell, who has lived much of his life in this part of southwest Texas. For at least eight years, he has searched for them, photographed them, and analyzed the images captured; but a clear understanding of the more mysterious lights has evaded capture. I recommend his book, Hunting Marfa Lights, for anyone interested in the scientific analysis of relevant data.

Amazon.com Review by Whitcomb (first paragraph; under reviews, see “By jdw”)

Mr. Bunnell has spent years of work and considerable expense (purchasing and putting together equipment and housing for it) investigating the mysterious lights (“ML”) around Marfa, Texas. This book gives more than just a description of his experiences, interesting as they are: It gives us an objective evaluation of some of the most popular hyphtheses on the what and why of these lights. The pros and cons of different origination-suggestions do not give us a precise and undisputed explanation for what causes them, but it shows us how mysterious they really are.

Although I have not yet received any indication that Mr. Bunnell has reconsidered the possibility of bioluminescent predators in southwest Texas, his book (Hunting Marfa Lights) continues to provide me with hints that this biological explanation is the correct interpretation.

Now to other writings on the living-pterosaur possibility:

Indava of Papua New Guinea and Marfa Lights

Paul Nation’s two expeditions deep into the interior of the mainland of Papua New Guinea, in late 2006 and in 2007—those have given new knowledge of the indava, although he was not able to personally see any detailed features of the creatures he observed at night; he saw only the lights produced by those creatures. But his associate, Jacob Kepas, did see one of the creatures and in daylight: The large indava was sleeping high up on a cliff, near Tawa Village. . . .

. . . Have you noticed anyone comment on Jacob Kepas’s sighting in late 2006? It reminds me of a recent article printed in the Houston Chronicle, in which the things I have not experienced personally are emphasized and all the eyewitness sighting reports, seven years of investigations and eyewitness interviews, are completely ignored. What difference does it make that I, Jonathan Whitcomb, have not yet seen a living pterosaur, when countless people around the world see these creatures?

Marfa Light Encounter

. . . the Marfa mystery lights “have exhibited . . bobbing up and down, splitting and changing colors with occasional retrograde motion . . . Most of them have been red, occasionally fading to orange . . . I have seen individual ones split into as many as three, dance around each other and recombine.”

This behavior is easier to understand in terms of a group of bioluminescent flying predators, rather than non-living sources. Why would balls of energy fly in such complex ways, splitting and later rejoining? Without any reference to living organisms, all previous explanations for these truly mysterious flying lights have failed miserably to account for this complex behavior. But a group of intelligent . . . nocturnal flying predators could have a number of reasons for hunting with complex coordinated flights. Whales have shown remarkable intelligence in coordinated hunting behavior; why should not a species of intelligent flying creatures coordinate their hunting?

Old Accounts of Marfa Lights

. . . [Brian] Dunning does go into one detail about written histories in this part of Texas. He mentions the memoirs of Robert Ellison, whose descendants declare that he told them about the lights appearing in old times; but Dunning says that the memoirs mention nothing about those lights. Dunning says, “Curious that he would leave that out.” Why should that be curious? To those who have lived many years around Marfa, in old times (before Marfa Lights became famous), what is so special about those lights? Why should any of the old timers have written anything about those lights long ago, before any outsiders took notice? Those lights rarely had more than a gram’s weight of importance to old timers.

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Biological Marfa Lights

How do Marfa Lights relate to biology, in particular to sightings of living pterosaurs? Not by a direct correlation, such as an eyewitness discerning wings while looking at a Marfa Light through a telescope, at least not yet. But there are indirect correlations.

While reading Hunting Marfa Lights (for the second time, it’s a great book), I was struck by an account of a flying “ML” (mystery light) that Mr. Bunnell witnessed in November of 2002. The light was flying where there was no road, and fast enough that it could not have been any vehicle off-road. He noticed that the light went out two or three times, remaining off for a few seconds at a time. What caught my attention was Bunnell’s impression (on page 67) of the reappearance of the light: It “would begin with a brilliant flash of light as if the ML was somehow recharged while in an off state.”

How telling! That reminded me of the light from the ropen of Umboi Island, Papua New Guinea, and the flying lights seen by the British biologist Evelyn Cheesman, on the mainland, west of Umboi. Those lights are very limited in how long they remain on, only a few seconds. We believe the flying creatures recharge their intrinsic bioluminescent capacity during the off-state; it could be the production of a secretion involved with the bioluminescence. (When I say “we,” I refer to my associates in cryptozoology, not Bunnell or Cheesman.)

Marfa Lights to Monstrous Heights

A newspaper reporter seemed to have rejected my opinion about Marfa Lights, because of my apparent lack of relevant scientific training, at least when compared with the education of Mr. Bunnell. She missed the point.

. . . since Ms Feldman has written an article, giving an obvious opinion (that Marfa Lights are not caused by bioluminescent flying predators), what scientific training has she had? Has she ever seen any Marfa Lights? Her indirect experience (interviewing those with certain experiences) do not cause us to question her opinions; why should my indirect experience (interviewing those with certain experiences) cause her to question my opinions? She seems to have missed the critical point that my position as a writer is similar to her position as a writer: We both interview persons, then write about what we have learned. The main difference may be this: I have years of experience researching reports of living pterosaurs and flying lights that are coorelated to some of those apparent pterosaurs (and a few months experience researching Marfa Lights); Ms Feldman has a few days of experience researching Marfa Lights.

Bioluminescent Pterosaurs in America

How critical is this to the possibility that Marfa Lights are caused by bioluminescent flying predators! Some eyewitnesses see living pterosaurs and a few see glowing pterosaurs.

. . . a lady who was on a cruise in the Caribbean, with family members. Her daughter brought her onto the deck one night, anxious for her to see what was flying over the sea. The mother . . . saw two apparent pterosaurs, glowing and flying back and forth . . .

Flying Under the Radar in Marfa, Texas

What is the best hiding place for what may be living pterosaurs near Marfa? It’s probably not the caves that are said to be scattered around the old volcanic landscape, nor the suspicions of ranchers who don’t like trespassers, nor the dark of night, nor low flights of the predators. What best hides possible pterosaurs near Marfa is Western dogma about dinosaurs and pterosaurs becoming extinct millions of years ago: universal extinction dogma.

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Flying Under the Radar in Marfa, Texas

Why does it seem so difficult for some Marfa Light investigators to accept obvious evidence of a biological source for the ghost lights of southwest Texas? It seems that nocturnal flying predators are literally and figuratively flying under the radar near Marfa. What is the best hiding place for what may be living pterosaurs near Marfa? It’s probably not the caves that are said to be scattered around the old volcanic landscape, nor the suspicions of ranchers who don’t like trespassers, nor the dark of night, nor low flights of the predators. What best hides possible pterosaurs near Marfa is Western dogma about dinosaurs and pterosaurs becoming extinct millions of years ago: universal extinction dogma.

A recent newspaper article (by Claudia Feldman, Houston Chronicle) is indirectly instructive:

. . . the Marfa Lights, a very occasional, naturally occurring and much-discussed light show in the vast night sky. . . . “Here is a real scientific puzzle that still exists in this modern day and age, and nobody has solved it yet,” says retired aerospace engineer James Bunnell. . . . There’s no shortage, however, of theories. . . . Just the other day reporters and editors around the country received an e-mail about California videographer and self-described cryptozoologist Jonathan Whitcomb. [the press release itself is not quoted by Feldman] . . . Whitcomb’s theory about the lights? He thinks they may be flying dinosaurs.

Feldman’s article gives limited little attention to my ideas (and no mention is made of any of my books), giving much more attention to Mr. Bunnell’s investigation of the Marfa Lights. I suspect this was probably for the best, since my ideas could seem like the epitome of the ridiculous if it were not for Mr. Bunnell’s years of research, an investigation that has proven that some of those mystery lights around Marfa are extraordinary, not from any common source, some of them differing greatly from car headlights.

That’s not to say that Bunnell has given any serious thought to my pterosaur interpretation. But his countless hours of work, including photographing low-flying mystery lights (with automatic cameras), have given us much valuable data, and I have found a number of details that suggest flying predators cause some of the Marfa Lights.

But why is that Houston Chronicle newspaper article indirectly instructive? The writer makes no examination of the possibility or impossibility of a biological interpretation. The opinions of two non-biologists (James Bunnell and Karl Stephan) receive most of the attention, concluding with a quote from Stephan:

 I encourage Mr. Whitcomb to come to Marfa and spend six months there before he says anything more about dinosaurs.

That seems to close the door to any further consideration of “dinosaurs” flying around Marfa, Texas. But do we really need another tourist from California visiting the Marfa Lights Viewing Platform? We have had distant sightings enough. It seems to me that more productive would be for Mr. Stephan to spend (not six months) a few minutes talking openly with the respectable citizens of Texas who have told me about their encounters with obvious living pterosaurs. Would it not be easier for Mr. Stephan to stay in Texas and do that than for me to travel to Marfa, Texas, and duplicate what other scientists have already done?

I will continue to write about the possibility of pterosaurs flying around Marfa, Texas, as long as the scientific data from scientists like James Bunnell continue to point to the possibility of that conclusion and as long as respectable citizens of Texas continue to report to me their encounters with obvious living pterosaurs. I suggest that Mr. Stephan look objectively at the data that may be staring him in the face.