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Marine Observes Two Pterosaurs

Kuhn pterosaurs
Sketch by Eskin C. Kuhn, 1971

While stationed at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in 1971, Eskin Kuhn saw, in daylight, two pterosaurs flying about 100 feet above the ground. They were close enough for Kuhn to notice details, and, being talented in realistic drawing, he soon sketched what he had observed. That sketch has been around for many years, but it deserves a closer look, for other eyewitnesses have seen a similar creature.

I spoke with Mr. Kuhn by phone, briefly, late in February of 2010. His manner of speech and substance of conversation convinced me that he had not played any hoax; he had honestly reported a pterosaur sighting. He soon wrote me a letter, part of which I now relate.

“It had a bony protuberance at the chest . . . and the neck was crooked (at what in a man would be the Adam’s apple). The head was disproportionately large with a long beak and long crest behind. The spine had clear vertebrae at the shoulder diminishing in size as it went lower. It had a kite-like wing structure where the bat-skin type of membrane was stretched over what appeared to be extensions of the hand. . .”

The head of the Kuhn pterosaur bears some resemblance to the pterosaur head drawn by an eyewitness of what I have labeled “Hammerhead Ropen” (seen in the Eastern United States in 2008). That eyewitness is also talented in realistic drawing, being a professional artist. Unfortunately, she has not yet given permission for her sketches to be published.

Another resource: Living Pterosaurs in Cuba

Pterosaur Eyewitnesses Not Playing Hoaxes

Research that I’ve done over the past ten months has convinced me that the American eyewitnesses of apparent living pterosaurs have not been playing practical jokes. Several separate characteristics of the data from across the United States demonstrate that hoaxes could not be a significant factor in the testimonies.

When an eyewitness estimates wingspan (not all eyewitnesses estimate it), I record it and later compare it with other estimates. After several years of interviewing eyewitnesses of apparent pterosaurs in the United States, I found a peak at 8-10 feet; in fact, 27% are in that range, with a wide variety of other estimates falling off on both sides. This size is far too small or too big for hoaxers, for standard models suggest Rhamphorhynchoids were much smaller but cryptozoological reports from Papua New Guinea suggest ropens can get much larger. A combination of hoaxes would not produce this peak.

When I questioned eyewitnesses in detail about featherless appearance, most of them admitted some doubt about what seemed like a lack of feathers. Hoaxers who wanted to convince somebody that they had seen a living pterosaur would not have left any doubt about that.

The great majority of eyewitnesses report a long tail. This would not be a common lie from hoaxers, as this is not what is portrayed in movies and on television. In addition, if hoaxers were acquainted with standard-model teachings about pterosaurs, they would have lied with a Pterodactyloid (short-tailed) pterosaur-description, for those were the ones said to have lived more recently.

No, hoaxes did not cause the many reports of living pterosaurs seen from the West Coast to the East Coast and from the deep South to New England. [Note the comments regarding the book Hunting Marfa Lights, on the Post “Living Nightmare: Attack in the Dead of Winter. The author never suggested living pterosaurs but published a book with data that seems to validate the possibility. Obviously this author is not playing a joke to promote the idea of living pterosaurs.]

Who Sees a Pterosaur?

Look at the eyewitnesses. They’re from Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Australia, the Philippines, the United States, Great Britain, Sudan, and many other countries around the world. What do you see? Common (and sometimes uncommon) persons of many occupations, languages, and beliefs. They seem to have nothing in common except that they have seen a pterosaur or pterosaur-like creature and they have spoken to someone about what they have seen.

Consider Papua New Guinea. For Umboi Island, eyewitnesses have included an Australian who served in a government position there, a native government leader, many common villagers, and a visiting cryptozoogist. For other areas of P.N.G., they have included an Australian psychologist, American expedition members of a television true-life adventure series, an American World War II soldier, a British entomoligist (biologist), missionaries, a non-missionary visiting a mission, many common villagers, a minister, and a visiting cryptozoologist.

Consider other areas of the Southwest Pacific. Eyewitnesses have included an Australian scientist and his wife, an Australian farm boy, a real estate agent, school-aged children, a pilot and co-pilot of a small plane, sailors on an American military ship, and common villagers.

Consider the United States. Eyewitnesses have included an attorney, a business owner, a hospital lab employee, an artist working for a silkscreening company, farmers, a fireman, teenagers, school-aged children, elementary school teachers, an ambulance driver, a minister, a plane pilot, and several cryptozoologists.

The eyewitnesses are as varied as we would expect of persons who each just happened to be in the right place at the right time, to witness a living creature rare enough and usually-reclusive enough to remain undiscovered by Western science.

More Resources:

Australian eyewitness: the psychologist Brian Hennessy

Analysis of two interviews of Gideon Koro on Umboi Island: How many ropens?