Investigating Reports of Living Pterosaurs in the Pacific

Interviews of Eyewitnesses

Michael, of Opai Village, “was one of the witnesses of a strange light that came to the grave . . . where the body of a man was buried [in Gomlongon Village]. The next day . . . the body was missing."

(Whitcomb interview, 2004, in Opai)

Gideon “saw a giant pterosaur-like creature when he was with several other boys years ago. There is nothing in the . . . interview that would suggest any dishonesty or gross errors in what this young man reported to Whitcomb.”

Pastor Jacob Kepas “saw a strange huge creature fly over his village. . . They know it as seklo-bali or ‘he who carries his bed around with him.’”

Perth, Australia: A couple “sighted a huge creature flying over a densely populated area . . . it had a long tail and a wingspan that we estimated at between 30-50 feet across. . . . never in my life have I ever seen anything that remotely resembled it until I found a page on Pterosaurs.”

On Umboi Island, an American saw what investigators believe was a ropen: a long-tailed {Rhamphorhynchoid} pterosaur. (Whitcomb interview)

A missionary in Papua New Guinea saw what may have been the creature that is called ropen on Umboi Island. The sighting itself was near Manus Island (Morobe Province).

The ropen was seen by Jonah Jim. The glowing creature flew near enough for him to be able to later describe it to Jonathan Whitcomb, an American investigator.

A large “pterodactyl” was seen by a World War II veteran. It was near Finschhafen on the mainland of Papua New Guinea. This eyewitness has maintained, for six decades, that he did see the “pterodactyl” as it flew up from a jungle clearing and circled back, giving him and his friend a fine view of it. Duane Hodgkinson lives in Montana.

He was interviewed several times by the cyptozoologist Jonathan Whitcomb, and a survey questionnaire he completed. It revealed details about the appearance of the flying creature.

Whitcomb found clear evidence that this World War II veteran had not seen any scientifically classified bird or bat. It was later obvious that the creature seen by Hodgkinson was quite similar to the one reported by the Australian psychologist Brian Hennessy.

Shape of the beak or mouth of the giant “pterodactyl” seen by the veteran---this is shown by Hodgkinson's choices in one section of the questionnaire.

Continued: Eyewitness Interviews

Length of the head appendage of the creature seen by Hodgkinson

Length of the neck of the creature seen by the veteran (again, Hodgkinson)

A Rhamphorhynchoid (long-tailed) pterosaur flies over Opai Village about once a month. It is seen by Leonard of Opai. (Guessman-Woetzel, 2004)

Apparent living pterosaurs have been seen by others on Umboi Island, including the interpreter on Jonathan Whitcomb’s expedition: Luke Paina, of Lae.

Two bioluminescent lights (called indava) cannot be the Flying Fox for that fruit bat has no bioluminescence. The video of the two lights was analyzed by a missile defense physicist.

Living Pterosaur Sighting Locations

At Lake Pung, a giant pterosaur flew over the water just minutes after seven island boys had arrived. (Umboi Island)

Gomlongon Village—Here, near Mount Bel, is where the ropen is seen at night, as it flies to or from the mountains.

Opai Village, near Gomlongon, on Umboi Island, is another place where the ropen is seen as it flies overhead at night.

Umboi Island “may be best known as the home of the ropen.” (Morobe Province)

Legend of giant “bat” in Venezuela

Other Resources: Living Pterosaurs

The book Searching for Ropens “examines the revolutionary idea that pterosaurs live in Papua New Guinea.”

Ropens: “Live Pterosaurs in Papua New Guinea,” contains information on sightings, expeditions, and a response to objections based on the “Mesozoic strata.”

Are the “pterodactyl” sightings related to the Flying Fox fruit bat? No, this outdated notion is countered by eyewitnesses: The ropen of Papua New Guinea is much larger and has a long tail.

Glen Kuban and the fruit bat explanation (The Flying Fox fails to explain things.)

Credibility of ropen eyewitnesses

“Flying Dinosaurs” in Papua New Guinea

2004 Expeditions to Umboi Island

“Pterosaurs Still Living” home page

Related to Live Pterosaurs

Creation, evolution, and living pterosaurs

More on Creation and evolution and how they relate to living pterodactyls

Have dinosaurs lived alongside humans?

Ogopogo lake monster and cryptozoology

(This cryptid lives in Canada.)

Cryptozoology and Pterodactyls

More on cryptozoology and living pterosaurs and dinosaurs (creationist)

Pterosaur extinction or supposed

universal extinction

Dragon legends and living pterosaurs

Why it’s hard to videotape ropens

Bioluminescence and the ropen

Charles Darwin and the nonfiction cryptid book Searching for Ropens

Sightings in Australia

From an anonymous eyewitness, BLP, who reported her sighting to Jonathan Whitcomb in mid-2010:

"We saw it at Mt Coolum Sunshine Coast of Australia. . . . I was traveling towards the ocean . . . We heard it . . . the swoosh noise . [We were driving] a modern car, the windows were up, so that is a loud sound. All we saw was a black shape coming from the trees; the next thing we saw was one wing over the windscreen,
. . . 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; all we could only see the wing: bat-like leather, veins and leather stretched over a bone structure."

From an eyewitness (sighting in Sydney, Australia) known here as "JBS:"

"We were playing [as children] . . .
basically chasing each other; one of my friends . . . saw it the sky and we quickly noticed it as well . . . we noticed it was BIG, not the normal Magpie you see around the school . . . Secondly, it had a tail that was long, about one or two meters. [It] looked like something out of a dinosaur movie." (They had immediately searched in the school library, where they compared what they had seen with the images in books, concluding that they had seen a pterosaur.)

For more online information on pterosaur sightings in Australia, try terms like "Perth" and "Australia" and "pterosaur," on an internet search engine.