Until the middle of January, it seems that nobody would question Wikipedia’s assertion that worldwide sales of the fiction book The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho, had reached 65 million. It now seems that 65 million was the total for all Coelho’s books, up until a few years ago; the total sales for The Alchemist is more like 23 million.

The Alchemist and the Cryptozoologist

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.

A Popular Review of The Alchemist

Yes, much of what negative reviewers of this book have to say is true: the writing is blunt and simple, the characters lack depth and complexity . . . And yet, I have to say . . . that I found it meaningful, even profound at times. How can I say this, given my criticisms? First of all, unlike many reviewers, I did not approach this book with great expectations. No one told me that this was Shakespeare or Tolstoy . . . The characters deliver their statements without subtlety, but subtlety is more a literary virtue than a philosophical one. In fact, I essentially came to view this work as a life philosophy expressed as a fable, so I didn’t particularly mind that its messages were not buried far beneath the surface. . . . I suspect that through his simple tale, he [Coelho] is trying to provide some kind of argument against the kind of cynicism or fear that the world can sometimes instill in us, and encourage us to keep diving into that “strong current” to see where it takes us.

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The Bible and Modern Pterosaurs

Kindergartner to a grownup: “How much is a hundred plus a hundred plus a million plus a hundred plus a million.”

Grownup, after using his hands to keep track: “Two million, three hundred.”

Kindergartner: “How did you do that?”

Grownup: “I used my hands.”

Kindergartner: “This time, don’t use your hands. How much is a million plus a million plus a hundred plus a million plus a hundred plus a hundred?”

Grownup makes an estimate.

Kindergarner: “How did you do that?”

Grownup: “I used my head.”

Kindergartner: “This time, don’t use your head.”

This is a true story, happening at a BurgerKing, in December of 2011, in Lakewood, California.

In 2009 and 2010, in a remote area of northeast Mexico, a man examined some large tracks of what he believes is a flying creature; in 2010, he took photographs. He even suspects that they may have come from one or more living pterosaurs; at least they were fresh tracks, in at least one case being left soon after a lot of rain had fallen. In this part of Mexico, some residents have reported strange flying creatures, large ones.

Recent Pterosaur Tracks or Monster Tracks?

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.

Pterosaur Tracks in Mexico, Maybe

This area is between 7000 and 8000 feet above sea level, according to the eyewitness. Although the tracks do not show the toe-claw marks that would be expected of pterosaur footprints, it is possible for some species of modern pterosaur to leave prints without toe marks.

 

In Papua New Guinea there seems to live a strange flying creature of the night. Some call it “demon flyer,” although the native names for it are “ropen,” and “seklo-bali,” and “kor,” and “duwas,” and “indava.” Most people in developed countries, those who have heard about the nocturnal flying creature, call it “ropen,” or “pterodactyl,” or “pterosaur,” or “dinosaur bird.” There now seems to be another opinion about “demon flyer.”

Demon Flyer of Papua New Guinea

Interviews with native eyewitnesses, including the 2004 interview with Mesa Agustin, can reveal a fear that natives have of the ropen, but that does not necessarily mean that those eyewitnesses believe that the creature is an evil spirit or monster.

It seems that a more recent opinion is that the early origin of this name is not literally translated into the English “demon flyer.” It is more likely just “flyer,” for one meaning in one language, is simply a common bird, while in another language (Kovai) it means a large nocturnal flying creature that sometimes glows brightly.

Pterosaur News

. . . in southwest Greensburg, Pennsylvaniva, a karate teacher and two of his students were talking outside . . . they saw something that at first could have been mistaken for a large bird. . . . [The karate teacher said:] it caught my eye. Being that far up the “birds” body still appeared to be much larger than my 100 pound dog . . .

This past November, the news in New Zealand was on the rescue of miners. Now reports of strange flying creatures, perhaps nocturnal and living in caves, relate to some of the countryside of New Zealand.

Pterosaur in Australia and New Zealand

Across New Zealand, North Islands farmland and countryside, there have been for almost a century tales from farmers and hunters, of a horrid winged beast, with long sharp fangs lining its narrow, beak-like jaws. Its eyes gleam in the night, where it can be seen flying overhead, silhouetted in the moon. Farmers despise it because it tears chunks from their cattle in the nighttime. It is called “The Flying Slasher.”

It seems that not all pterosaurs found in Australia are fossil bones in the ground. Some of these flying creatures, the ones associated with dinosaurs and ancient extinctions, are still observed in various parts of Australia. Apparent giant pterosaurs have been reported in the west, east, south, and interior: the Outback.

Pterosaur in Australia - East Coast

“We saw it at Mt Coolum . . . I was [driving] towards the ocean . . . We heard . . . the swoosh noise . . . [we saw] a black shape coming from the trees; the next thing we saw was one wing over the windscreen. It crossed our path . . . I couldn’t see the road for a moment, just wing covering the entire windscreen. The body was over the car and it’s other wing, over the back . . . we could not see the body . . . [only] the wing: bat like leather, veins and leather stretched over a bone structure. That was dinosaur era.

Pterosaur Sightings in Australia

“I live . . . in the state of Victoria near the Dandenong Ranges about 25 klms east of Melbourne.

“I think it would have been around the late 1990′s. . . . I was standing outside about nine o’clock one night. It was full moon and very bright with a cloud bank to the south east extending to and over the Ranges. Mt. Dandenong is about 2000 feet high and the clouds were much higher . . .

“[I saw] something flying that appeared to be at the height of light planes that fly around here as Moorabbin Airport is not far away. This thing was at least as large as a light plane, say a Cesna.  It was about 5 klms away and was lazily flapping it’s wings . . . It appeared to be lit up by the moonlight and shining as if it had no feathers. . . . I could see it quite clearly. . . . for about 5 mins whence it disappeared into the cloud bank. I estimate it was flying at a height higher than Mt Dandenong.”

What about those Marfa Lights? They’ve been shoved aside as misidentified car headlights, atmospheric energies, dancing devils, and “ghost lights.” But the mysterious flying lights around Marfa, Texas, now have a new interpretation: bioluminescent flying predators, perhaps even modern pterosaurs. It comes down to temperatures at night.

The really strange mystery lights, not the misidentified car headlights but the flying lights that appear to involve countless mini-explosions—those Marfa Lights prefer warmer nights or at least milder temperatures than average for this high desert area of southwest Texas. This has been suggested as evidence that the lights are the bioluminescent glow of nocturnal flying predators.

Marfa Lights Miracle

A new explanation for the mysterious flying Marfa Lights comes from a strange source: a cryptozoologist in California, who writes nonfiction books about modern living pterosaurs. Jonathan Whitcomb, of Long Beach, CA, wrote a press release about Marfa Lights, suggesting they might be related to the ropen lights of Papua New Guinea, what some cryptozoologists believe are from long-tailed bioluminescent pterosaurs.

The Smithsonian, in general, seems unfriendly to the existence of a living God; that is hardly news. But what about attacking the civil and constitutional rights of a human and the existence of a living pterosaur? Those two cases also seem related to belief in God, albeit indirectly related.

“Smithsonian Appears Guilty”

Dr. Richard Sternberg was a “Research Associate in good standing,” apparently, when he was disciplined for allowing publication of an article going against unspoken policy of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History. It also seems that Dr. Sternberg’s civil and constitutional rights, in 2004, were violated in that process.

According to December, 2006, investigation by the United States House of Representatives Committee of Government Reform:

INTOLERANCE AND THE POLITICIZATION OF SCIENCE AT THE SMITHSONIAN

SMITHSONIAN’S TOP OFFICIALS PERMIT THE DEMOTION AND HARASSMENT OF SCIENTIST SKEPTICAL OF DARWINIAN EVOLUTION

Given the attitudes expressed in these emails, scientists who are known to be skeptical of Darwinian theory, whatever their qualifications or research record, cannot expect to receive equal treatment or consideration by NMNH officials. As a taxpayer-funded institution, such blatant discrimination against otherwise qualified individuals based on their outside activities raises serious free speech and civil rights concerns.

Smithsonian Attacks Ropen “Myth”

A blog post by Eric Switek  seems highly critical of any person involved with searching for living dinosaurs or living pterosaurs. The author of the post, mentions “hucksters,” “overly-credulous wildlife enthusiasts,” and “showmen,” not mentioning names, at least at first. But that post, when examined carefully, seems to be directed as an attack against any traditional religious belief that connects with science. What Switek fails to mention, however, is that Charles Darwin himself had a religious foundation for his writings, notwithstanding it seems to have been an atheistic religion.

How to Hand out Criticism

When we find that a person is really in error, we must remember this is a real person, someone whose life in general may have only limited relevance to that error. Consider the alternative you have to offer, and be willing to acknowledge how he may be correct in some detail, in spite of his mistake.

Reports of long-tailed “pterodactyls” or pterosaurs have come from Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia, over the past few years. Regarding Georgia, the book Live Pterosaurs in America says:

“Good evening, Mr Whitcomb . . . I live in a small town in northeast Georgia, called Winder . . .” She had driven less than ten miles, just leaving an area of pasture, entering an area of thick woods, around a mild downhill curve . . . when an animal suddenly flew from the right, just over the front of her car. . . . She was stunned [and] told me what made her yell out loud: It was the tail; she looked up at a “very long” tail that had a strange shape at the end. . . . “Dive-bombing my car,” is how she described the flight path, as it crossed the highway in front of and slightly above her. “Curved, like a hammer,” is how she described the head, which had a crest that she thought was “solid, not feathery at all.”

A pack of wolves can be vicious, for they must live up to their name, but sixty-seven sheep killed from one herd? It’s a bit too much. Here is the question: When and where did this wolf rampage take place?

1. 1867 in Southern California
2. 1898 in Central Texas
3. 1902 in Southern Wyoming
4. 1917 just a few miles north of Buenos Aires
5. 1943 within seventeen miles of Salt Lake City
6. 1987 within eight miles of Billings, Montana
7. Recently in northern Europe
8. Two weeks ago within 49  miles of New York City

To learn the answer, go to: Wolves kill sheep.