Ropen: a Demon Flyer?

. . . a brief Google search makes me suspect that the island of ”Rambunzo,” by that spelling, does not exist in Papua New Guinea; perhaps it is a misspelling, for the first few pages of Google searching refer [only] to cryptozoology sites and Wikipedia has nothing by that spelling. But if this is a misspelling of “Rambutyo,” (near Manus Island) we need to consider what at least some of the people of the northern islands of Papua New Guinea call the large nocturnal flying creature : “kor.” My contact person in that part of PNG is clear about that word for what Umboi Islanders (to the south) call “ropen.” “Kor” is their word, which I suspect is used by the people of Rambutyo.

That post gives many more details on this use of the phrase “demon flyer” in referring to the flying creature that is called by a number of names in Papua New Guinea. I’ll add here what was left out there.

On Umboi Island, at least some of the villagers have a different perspective on the concept of spiritual beings, at least different from many Americans. An intelligent being need not be either 100% spirit or 100% physical. The ropen of Umboi, according to Darius (who recited native traditions to the American explorer Paul Nation, in 2002), is like a spirit but also like a man. It flies around at night and sometimes comes down from a mountain to hunt game animals. To many islanders, this being may appear to be both spiritual (flying) and human (hunting animals for food).

In addition, natives may have a more complex concept of spirits than most Westerners have. A spirit, to them, need not be either 100% good or 100% bad. In that sense, at least, “demon flyer” seems a poor translation for a word that probably does not have a purely negative connotation for them.

Addendum

Marfa Lights Explanation

We need to consider the apparent intelligence in the movements of those CE-III Marfa Lights, for sometimes some things are exactly as they appear to be, in this case, intelligent.

The third edition of Live Pterosaurs in America (published in this version in November of 2011) is available on Amazon.com and from some other book sellers.

From the third paragraph of the back cover:

Americans, for years, have reported obvious living pterosaurs, with sightings in Washington state, California, New Mexico, Texas, Ohio, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Rhode Island, Maine, New York, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Virginia, Kansas, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Missouri.

That may also explain the many old legends of flying dragons, said to “breath fire.” To peoples living centuries ago, giant bioluminescent Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaurs would have been called “dragons.” Even the Biblical account of “fiery flying serpents” may have its origins in venomous long-tailed pterosaurs, for the glow would have been attributed to fire (what else could make light at night?) and with wings coiled up in repose the creatures would have resembled snakes.

But what creatures are recognized, by modern science, as capable of extremely brilliant bioluminescence? Well . . .  none, at least not yet, for bioluminescent organisms, like the firefly, give off a rather dim light, at least compared with what has been reported in some of the ghost lights or ropen lights. But real science is not a static regiment of recited facts; it is methodical progress in obtaining more information and coming to better understand it.

The cryptid seen in New Guinea, by Duane Hodgkinson in 1944 and by Brian Hennessy in 1971, I have named “Hodgkinson-Hennessy Ropen.” Similarities between the descriptions given to me by these two eyewitnesses struck me as too much for coincidence. . . .

As I mentioned in my scientific paper (in The Creation Research Society Quarterly, Volume 45, Number 3, “Reports of Living Pterosaurs in the Southwest Pacific”), these different lengths of head crest I believe fall within the range of eyewitness error. In other words, the creatures observed by these two men could very well have had the same length of head crest (relative to the size of the head) . . .  it seems likely that the species is the same for the 1944 and 1971 sightings.

I have interviewed both of these eyewitnesses, finding both of them to be highly credible. Nothing in either the substance of their testimonies or in the way they communicated with me gave any hint of any hoax or any reasonable possibility of any misidentification error.

Pterosaurs are sometimes called “dinosaur birds,” even though they are neither dinosaurs nor birds.

When I got to the tail-length of the ropen, Gideon said, “sefan meetuh.” “Seven meters?” I asked. “Yea.” Only later did I tie this length-estimate to the puzzle of the “ten or twenty” comment in an interview many years earlier. That first interview with Gideon (around 1994) involved a question about the size of the creature. When the two interviewers looked away at a nearby house (to get an idea of ropen-size), Gideon said something about “ten or twenty.” The interviewers thought that he meant the numbers of creatures. He must, however, have still been talking about size, for fifteen meters (the medium of ten and twenty) is roughly similar to the length of a ropen that has a tail length of seven meters.

An article in the Creation Research Society Quarterly (Volume 45, Number 3, “Reports of Living Pterosaurs in the Southwest Pacific”) states:

The first American to bring back video evidence for the bioluminescence of the ropen was Paul Nation, who explored near Tawa Village in late 2006. He saw a number of flying lights on several nights and videotaped, for about fifteen seconds, two lights that were on a ridge where there were no roads, cars, or campfires.

According to Wikipedia (English Wikipedia: “ropen”):

In late 2006, Paul Nation, of Texas, explored a remote mountainous area on the mainland of Papua New Guinea. He videotaped two lights that the local natives called ‘indava.’ Nation believed the lights were from the bioluminescence of creatures similar to the ropen of Umboi Island.

From Searching for Ropens (second edition, nonfiction book):

[We] “saw one yellow glow start from a small glow to a bright glow and then a second appearance start and increase in intensity. The second and higher up the mountain glow, flew up and over the ridge and out of sight. While the first glow went out. 10 pm saw a single yellow glow flying along the mountain ridge to the east of our location following the terrain up and down going south to north.”

From Live Pterosaurs in America (nonfiction book, published in 2009):

On the Papua New Guinea mainland, in 2006, Paul Nation and his associate, native minister Jacob Kepas, explored deep in the highland interior. One night, Paul videotaped two glowing objects at the top of a ridge. The natives attribute this kind of light to large flying creatures that used to carry away animals and children from their village.

More resources:

Giant Bat and ropen of Papua New Guinea

Problems with a bat interpretation (this blog site)

Paul Nation, the most active LP explorer (another blog on living 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

But what about the “flying snake” of Namibia? According to research done by the British cryptozoologist Richard Muirhead, one of these creatures “swooped down” from a cave near Kirris West, in 1942, (sixty miles east of Keetmanshoop, south-west Namibia.) It left a trace of something on the ground and a burning smell. Could that burning smell be related to the cause of death of a fisherman who was killed by a kor (northern Papua New Guinea, 1960′s)? The man died three days after being attacked by the pterosaur-like animal; his body was not just torn: It was also burned. In at least one other area of Papua New Guinea, the creatures are said to drip a liquid that can burn human skin.

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?