In the first five months of 2013, a total of four apparent pterosaurs have been reported in two separate sightings over the Interstate-5 Freeway, just east of Griffith Park. Both sightings were reported to me directly from each of the two eyewitnesses.
Early in the morning of March 3rd, a lady driving in a northbound lane saw three “dragons.” Ten weeks later, another lady, also driving in a northbound lane, saw a “pterosaur.” The second sighting, at 4:00 p.m. on May 13th, was only a mile and a half south of the first one.
Both eyewitnesses contacted me by email within hours of their sightings and answers my many questions over a period of several days. Although I found a number of differences in what they described, I found enough similarities to declare the two sightings involved the same species of ropen. My associates and I believe this kind of flying creature is an extant Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur.
The first eyewitness, who is anonymous, saw three long-tailed flying creatures, not far to the southeast of the Los Angeles Zoo; she noticed the tails were long, thin, and ended in some kind of thickness. The second eyewitness, Devin Rhodriquez, saw one flying creature, and noticed.
Rhodriquez said, “I did see its head crest and the membranous charcoal gray/teal undertone skin. No feathers, and the wings were pointed and never flapped. It glided through the air with its wings in an arched position.”
.
Los Angeles River, near where four apparent pterosaurs were observed in two sightings, ten weeks apart in 2013, over the I-5 and just east of Griffith Park (photo courtesy of DB’s Travels)
.
Possible Pterosaurs East and North of Griffith Park
These were not the first reported sightings around Griffith Park, although they might be the closest. San Fernando Valley has also had its share of sightings in recent years, with one in Sherman Oaks and one in Sun Valley.
From the third edition of Live Pterosaurs in America:
“I just wanted to let you know that my girlfriend and I saw a creature . . . that baffled us [on the night of Sep 21, 2009]. It was a very large, winged creature that was gliding maybe 100 yards above us. We stared at the creature in disbelief because it was so strange . . . it didn’t look like a bird really . . . my girlfriend has 20-20 vision and she told a few minutes later that it had lights on it. That didn’t strike me as right so I asked her if she was sure and she said they weren’t lights exactly, but that the wings had a glow or reflection.” [Sighting in or near Sherman Oaks, California]
“It was late in the evening, almost dark . . . I was walking from my car to my house (Sun Valley) and something in the sky caught my eye. My girlfriend also looked up and right away said, “Is that a bat?” But she wears glasses so she has trouble seeing how close objects are. What caught my eye was the bright radiation like light coming from the belly of this Pterodactyl looking animal. I seen it fly right above us maybe 150-200 feet and this thing wasn’t no bat; it was bigger with large wing span, and when it flapped its wings it was kind of a slow lazy flap kind of gliding through the air. The animal radiated light from the bottom like when something is wet and you flash a light on it the light reflects back and shimmers . . .” [Sun Valley, CA]
.
The point about this part of Los Angeles is the two sightings, ten weeks apart, over the Interstate-5 freeway that runs north-south on the east side of Griffith Park and the proximity to the Los Angeles River.
.
Non-Extinct Pterosaurs in Los Angeles
In the first sighting, three creatures were seen to have long tails with a structure at the tail end; no head crest was visible, probably because of a poor viewing angle for such. In the second sighting, one creature was seen with a head crest; no tail was noticed, probably because the eyewitness was concentrating on the head.
.
Recent Reports of Pterosaur Sightings
Reports of “flying dinosaurs” or “pterodactyls” have accelerated during the past year or so, probably because more and more eyewitnesses are becoming aware of the research of cryptozoologists like Garth Guessman and me, Jonathan Whitcomb. Some reports are of sightings that happened months ago or even years ago, accounts of flying creatures described like what scientists would call “pterosaurs.”
.
