By the investigative journalist Jonathan Whitcomb
I submitted a new nonfiction book for publication today, although it may take a day or so to be available on Amazon: The Girl who saw a Flying Dinosaur. The suggested retail price is $7.80 (U.S. dollars), and it will at first only be in print format (paperback).
This is my first nonfiction cryptozoology book for children and teens, with a suggested reader age of 8-14 years. It has 56 printed pages. Here are some samples from the book:
Part of Title Page:
What the eyewitnesses have seen, in many areas of the world, are not literally flying dinosaurs. The correct name for this kind of flying creature is ‘pterosaur.’ How is that possible? All of them are said to have become extinct many millions of years ago. It takes a whole book to answer a question like, “Why do some people believe that some of them are still alive?” This is one of those books.
From the Introduction:
Of the hundreds of sighting reports examined by the author, only a small handful are mentioned here. This is a brief introduction to a new little branch of cryptozoology: reports of human encounters with modern pterosaurs.
From Chapter 1:
One day in 1965, a few children were walking near some tall grass in eastern Cuba. Patty was about six years old and was with her little brother. Suddenly an animal stuck its head up above the grass, about thirty feet away from Patty.
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Nonfiction for middle-grade kids and early teens
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The Girl who saw a Flying Dinosaur
Patty ran home, on the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to tell her family what she had seen come up out of the tall grass. She said it was a “pterodactyl,” but who would believe a six-year-old? (1965)
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Patty Carson sees a ropen (as have other eyewitnesses)
Around 1965, young Patty Carson, daughter of the commander of the Guantanamo base in Cuba, was walking home one day. She and her little brother were shocked to see a large winged creature pop up its head and upper body above the nearby tall grass.
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For generations, Americans and other people in Western nations have been indoctrinated into believing that all species of certain basic types of living things became extinct millions of years ago, the two most notable types being dinosaurs and pterosaurs. . . .
For generations, however, in various areas of the planet, eyewitnesses have reported living pterosaurs, although they have been called by a variety of names . . .
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A child saw a living pterosaur
Three of my children, [up to age eight] are quite sure that they observed a pterosaur above our home in Pottstown, PA, today, mid-afternoon. . . .
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I looked up to see a creature just slowly flying over the strip mall directly behind my house. I was so stunned . . . [It was] flapping pretty slowly . . . very short feet . . . I was so focused on its tail! Long and skinny with a spade shape on the end!!!
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Youtube interview of an American eyewitness: Duane Hodgkinson
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Seven boys saw a huge ropen in Papua New Guinea
The ropen sighting involved seven boys. They ran home in terror after the sighting. [which was at Lake Pung on Umboi Island, Papua New Guinea, around the end of the year 1993]