Pterosaur Eyewitness

Brian Hennessy, an Australian who works at a medical university in China, I interviewed by email in 2006 (two years after my expedition in Papua New Guinea). His sighting, on the island of Bougainville in 1971, relates to the sighting by Duane Hodgkinson, in 1944, although the locations are many miles apart.

Hennessy told me, “The creature I saw one early morning . . . was so unusual. I actually heard it before I saw it. A slow flap…flap…[flapping] sound. The air was still, and our truck had stopped on our downward journey from the top of the range to the coast way below. . . . When I looked up, trying to see what was making this sound, I saw a very unusual creature. Firstly, it was very big (wingspan at least 2 metres, probably more … possibly much, much more).” [the distance was difficult to judge and distance is critical when estimating size. JW]

“It certainly looked prehistoric, in that it did not look like any other bird that I have seen before or since. Why prehistoric? Well, maybe my memory has been influenced by the intervening years, but I recall seeing this creature with a longish narrow tail . . . the head was disproportionately large compared to the body (no feathers in sight). The wingspan was large. . . . and not a feather in sight (and that is not to say that there weren’t feathers…maybe I could not discern them).”

His objectiveness becomes obvious when we consider his comments about the featherless appearance, for he admitted the possibility of feathers that he did not see. Nevertheless, the absence of visible feathers suggests that it was no bird. Could this have been a strange large bird with feathers not easily visible? Mr. Hennessy also mentioned something on the back of the head of the creature; he used the word “horn.” That horn and the long tail suggest a ropen or at least a large flying creature similar to the one seen by Hodgkinson.

I am very grateful that he gave us permission to use his name and quote his comments on what he had seen, for it demonstrates the credibility of living-pterosaur investigations. Why? For one thing, the possibility of a hoax is practically nil, because of the lack of any motivation for a hoax and because of the eyewitness’s profession. What about insanity? Ask him to see a psychologist; it’s easy for him to look in a mirror, for Mr. Hennessy is himself a professional psychologist.

More resources:

Pterosaur Hoax Idea Itself Refuted

Giant Pterodactyl of 1944 (sighting by Hodgkinson)

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.]