Strange
Hawaii Pterodactyl
by admin on Apr.16, 2012, under Strange
An eyewitness has reported a pterodactyl sighting (technically correct is the word “pterosaur”) northeast of Honolulu in Hawaii. The flying creature was flying about 100 feet above the ground, and it had a wingspan of about thirty feet, according to the man in the Maunawili Valley.
The wing span (again an estimate) seemed to be about 30 (if not more) feet across. It was light brown in color with canvas like skin and absolutely no feathers. . . . When it passed across to the right of me I then realized it was a living creature because it began to flap its wings and continued to flap its wings several times . . .
Pterosaur Head Size (general estimates in various sightings)
Duane Hodgkinson (the World War II veteran) observed an apparent Rhamphorhynchoid, one day in 1944, as he and his army buddy had been . . . in a jungle clearing in New Guinea. He estimated the head of the “pterodactyl” at about three to four feet.
Who can be a Pterodactyl Expert?
by admin on Feb.23, 2012, under Strange
Fossils experts know about the bones of pterodactyls, but can a cryptozoologist be an expert on modern pterodactyls? The nonfiction author Jonathan Whitcomb thinks it possible. He has responded to what he calls “attacks” from skeptics who object to his being given the title of “pterodactyl expert.” This particular cryptozoologist has interviewed eyewitnesses of strange flying creatures, many of which seem to be nocturnal, at least most of the time. Many of them have long tails and appear to be without any feathers.
But communicating with eyewitnesses—that in itself has helped me to learn how to get to the relevant truth about apparent pterosaurs that are observed by people around the world.
Attack on the Pterodactyl Expert
Where does he [“ape man”] get his concept of how much research I have done? How did I write over one thousand online pages (blog posts plus web pages)? How did I write two editions of one nonfiction book and three editions of another nonfiction book? How did I write a peer-reviewed scientific paper that was published in a journal of science?
How do we answer the question “Who can be a pterodactyl expert?” It depends on whether we refer to fossil bones or sighting of live pterodactyls. In the sense of the latter, Whitcomb seems qualified by his interviews with eyewitnesses; in the sense of the former, he seems unqualified, for he is no paleontologist.
“Big Bird” in Texas
by admin on Feb.13, 2012, under Strange
When somebody reports a “big bird,” it’s not necessarily a bird, at least when it’s in Texas.
Like many other writers on cryptozoology, Ken Gerhard has focused on outdated ideas regarding the names “ropen” and “duah,” without knowing or appreciating their relationship to the hundreds of languages spoken in Papua New Guinea. Regarding the word “ropen” in the Kovai language on Umboi Island, it surely does not come from any combination of words that separately mean “demon” and “flyer.”
From the cryptozoology book Live Pterosaurs in America (page 34 of third edition):
“I saw a featherless flying animal with a wingspan of about 4 1/2 to 5 feet and a long tail with a diamond type shape at the tip of it. No hair or feathers anywhere, just leathery reptile type skin . . . The animal had bumps down its back, feet with longish toes, and long black claws like an osprey has for grasping fish . . . a long mouth/beak full of long sharp teeth that somewhat protruded from the mouth like a crocodiles [mouth] when closed.
That sighting was in daylight, a sunny afternoon in Marion County, Texas, around 1995.
The Alchemist and the Cryptozoologist
by admin on Jan.21, 2012, under Strange
Two very different books have one thing in common. In the allegorical fiction book The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho, much of the story is about a shepherd boy’s travels far from his homeland; he returns to find his purpose fulfilled in his own country. In the nonfiction book Live Pterosaurs in America, by Jonathan Whitcomb, only a little is about the author’s travel to Papua New Guinea; he returns to find a possibility that his purpose may be fulfilled in his own country.
The Alchemist and Live Pterosaurs in America
. . . It’s in how something in a shepherd boy’s quest resembles something in the history of living-pterosaur investigations since the late twentieth century (traveling back and forth, literally).
But how strange it may strike readers when they realize that the non-fiction book is the one about modern pterosaurs—some would call them “dragons”—living in the United States of America, not the fictional story by Coelho.
Recent Pterosaur Tracks or Monster Tracks?
by admin on Jan.04, 2012, under Strange
In Mexico, an eyewitness of recent tracks believes they might have been made by living pterosaurs. When questioned by the American cryptozoologist Jonathan Whitcomb, however, the man admitted that he knew little about pterosaur footprints: He believed that the large tracks were made by one or more large flying creatures that have terrorized a few Mexican citizens in these remote areas, perhaps within 200-300 miles of the border with Texas; he suspects those flying creatures are pterosaurs, for he had once seen an apparent pterosaur. Some Mexicans consider the flying animals to be dangerous monsters, regardless of how scientists or cryptozoologists might classify them.
The man firmly believes it was a large flying creature . . . The impressions in the soil were one inch deep, and he could not make that deep of an impression, even after jumping on the soil nearby; it must have been a heavy animal. One of the kinds of footprints was about 18 inches by about 20 inches . . . that is a large foot. During the excursion in which he recorded the following photos, there had been much rain just before the impressions were discovered.
This brings to mind the sightings at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in the 1965-1971 time frame.
We were walking down near the boat yards, headed home . . . There were some stagnant pools here and there . . . We were walking through that scrub area, and suddenly it [the “pterodactyl”] sat up, as if it had been eating something or resting. . . . right in front of us about thirty feet away. All of us froze for about five seconds, then it leaned to its left and took off with a fwap fwap fwap sound, in a big hurry, more of a scramble . . . and disappeared behind trees and terrain.
