newspaper – Pterosaur Eyewitness

January 28, 2013January 28, 2013

Newspaper Coverage of Pterosaur Sightings

Newspapers do, on occasion, publish reports of encounters with flying creatures described like pterosaurs, although eyewitnesses may use words like “pterodactyl” or “flying dinosaur.” Let’s begin with a 2004 article in the Papua New Guinea newspaper Post-Courier.

COULD humble Siassi Islands in Morobe Province hold the answer to studies into prehistoric times? Many in the scientific community would like to know the answer to this question. [When I was interviewed by the newspaper reporter, I did not bring up the word “prehistoric” or the concept of old-age creatures; she must have done some research after our interview.]

Among them is Jonathan Whitcomb, an American forensic videographer, who arrived on Siassi to investigate the Ropen — perhaps the only surviving pre-historic animal to be found in the world. [The reporter definitely did not get that idea from me.] Mr Whitcomb has been on Umboi Island, the main island of the Siassi Islands, trying to capture on film the creature.

. . . “Ropen” is the local *Kowai (Siassi) name for the creature and is also the name known for the animal among the [paleontology] and the general scientific communities [I never told her that]. * [“Kovai” is a more common spelling.]

. . . Yesterday, Mr Whitcomb and his local guide showed up at the Post Courier office in Lae to tell of his study. He said the stories were not just myth but actual sightings of a real animal and he was there to try to capture it on film. Mr Whitcomb said the creature had features of a giant flying fox, with a mouth like that of a crocodile and wings that span up to 7m. It has been sighted by many of the islanders, he said, and he had travelled there after hearing about it.

Antwerp, Ohio, Pterosaur Sighting

The Antwerp Bee-Argus weekly newspaper (Antwerp) published the following on Aug 5, 2009:

Special to Antwerp Bee-Argus from author in Long Beach, California [Whitcomb]

Strange Flying Creature Seen Near Antwerp

A young man was reported to have seen something strange flying over the Maumee River in the summer of 2003; he described it like a pterosaur, according to a recently-published book, “Live Pterosaurs in America.” It was reported to be chasing sparrows as it flew over the Route 49 bridge near Antwerp, Ohio.

Jonathan Whitcomb, author of the book, interviewed the young man . . . The animal appeared to be ten feet long, including a long tail. Whitcomb asked him about feathers, but he replied, “absolutely no feathers.” But something else made it different from any bird: It had teeth.

. . . Pterosaurs are sometimes called “pterodactyls” and have been thought by many scientists to have gone extinct many millions of years ago. Whitcomb believes the Maumee River creature may be like the ropen of Papua New Guinea, north of Australia.

California Pterosaur in a Newspaper

. . . reports of “dragons” flying over an area south of Fresno [CA], around Selma.

Statistics on Pterosaur Sightings

I know this could seem impossible to many paleontologists: “basal” pterosaurs that fly over our heads at night, sometimes flying in daylight; but consider now the reports of long tails on these flying creatures. Of the total sightings, a long tail was reported in 41% of the reports and no-long-tail in 2%.

Pterosaur Sighting in South Carolina

Susan Wooten’s shocking encounter, in daylight, while she was driving on a country highway

July 19, 2012July 20, 2012

California Pterosaur in a Newspaper

An 1891 issue of the Los Angeles Herald newspaper had an article from an earlier California news publication, about reports of “dragons” flying over an area south of Fresno, around Selma. The main headline of the article read “pterodactyls.”

(“stewn with feathers” refers to the place where “dragons” attacked birds)

Central California "dragons" reported in an old newspaper article

According to the Los Angeles Herald version, several men, including J. D. Daniels of Sanger, spent two nights trying to catch the flying creatures. According to Daniels, on the first night they enountered nothing unusual. Daniels reported on what happened the second night:

“About 11 o’clock the cries were heard in the direction of King’s River, seeming two or three miles away. The ominous yells drew nearer, and in a few moments we heard the rush and roar of wings, so hideous that our hair almost stood on end. The two dragons came swooping down and circled round and round the pond in rapid whirls, screaming hideously all the while. We had a good view of them while [they were] flying. Two or three times they passed within a few yards of us, and their eyes were plainly visible . . .”

Pterosaurs, or Flying Dragons, in California

[FRESNO, July 31, 1891] The report that two strange dragons with wings have recently appeared in the swamps east of Selma was at first regarded by many as a sensational story without foundation in fact, but after different persons at different places had claimed to have seen the strange creatures it began to be thought worth investigating.

Pterosaur Sighting in Lakewood, California

. . . the flying creature she had recently observed had a long tail and a horizontal tail vane at tail’s end.

(The Lakewood sighting, 121 years later, was in June of 2012, in a different part of California, much further south.)

December 27, 2010December 27, 2010

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.