Ropen Credibility
copyright 2007-2017 Jonathan David Whitcomb
The credibility of eyewitness reports of the ropen, an apparent long-tailed pterosaur
Two Other Eyewitnesses Interviewed
Is the ropen a real animal, not just a legend but an actual flying
creature in Papua New Guinea and elsewhere? According to
Jonathan David Whitcomb, the ropen is indeed real:
“Soon after interviewing Gideon Koro, during my expedition on
Umboi Island in 2004, I learned that two of the other witnesses
were also present. I was a forensic videographer at the time and
knew that this was not ideal: It would have been better if those
other two men had not listened to my interview with Gideon, for
I now wanted to interview them. Nonetheless, we do what we can
with the challenges of working in a remote jungle village.
“Wesley is a brother to Gideon and answered my questions with-
out hesitating. He displayed a swaying motion as he replied to two
or three of my questions, but this was not any sign of dishonesty:
He swayed before answering “yes” to my question about if he were
a brother to Gideon, in the same manner as he swayed while he
responded to other questions. I felt that both his answers and his
mannerisms were highly credible.
“I then interviewed Mesa, another of the seven boys who had gone
up to the crater lake around early 1994 (or late 1993). He seems
nervous, likely because it was his first time to be questioned about
the sighting. Contrary to the interviews with Gideon and Wesley,
we used an interpreter this time.
“He agreed with what Gideon had said, and both Mesa and Wesley
reported to me that the tail of the creature had a “diamond” on it.
I believe this refers to the shape of the flange at the end of the
tail: a vane common in Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur fossils. I
found nothing in Mesa’s testimony to cause any doubt about his
honesty. He was uncomfortable talking about the ropen, so I did
not ask him as many questions.
“Regarding Mesa’s nervousness, some ropen legends may make
islanders fear the creature or feel it is bad luck to talk about it.
It’s not surprising that one of these three young men was still ill
at ease about the ropen encounter at that crater lake, even after
ten years. Those seven boys were surely terrorized.
“Note that these islanders are well aware of the bat we call the
‘flying fox.’ That nocturnal featherless flying animal is common
on that island. That fruit bat holds no fear for natives of Umboi,
and, in fact, it’s an ingredient of a soup they relish.
“Those islanders who received a sling-shot as a gift from me
were delighted, as this makes it much easier to catch that bat,
which, on Umboi, they call byung. How unbelievable that the
seven boys would run home in terror of an ingredient of soup!
“It’s also unbelievable that they mistook a byung (flying fox)
for a ropen with a seven-meter-long tail. Also keep in mind
that the creature was flying over the surface of a lake in the
middle of the day, a far cry from what some skeptics have
speculated about natives being startled at a bat in the dark
shadows of a jungle. There are no dark jungle canopies over
the surfaces of lakes. What terrorized those seven boys was
obviously no fruit bat.
“We also need to realize that the islanders-eyewitnesses who
answered our questions did not repeat the legends of the
ropen; almost without exception, almost none of them ever
did. They simply told us what they had seen.
“Apparently the legends or stories were enough to give the
young men a name for what they had encountered: ropen.
My associates and I believe it is a modern living pterosaur.”
See also Ropen Pterosaur
David Moke was interviewed by Whitcomb and told the American
explorer that he and his buddy were fishing one night when David
was startled by a bright light overhead (his buddy was under water).
Whitcomb believes David saw the bioluminescent glow of the ropen
of Umboi Island. Many other native eyewitnesses have also seen
the light over that island or over a reef near Umboi.
Gideon Koro described to Whitcomb how the ropen flew over the
surface of Lake Pung at mid-day. He and the six other boys could
not have mistaken a fruit bat, flying over a lake, for a flying creature
with a tail seven meters long (23 feet long).
The U. S. Marine Eskin C. Kuhn (right) was stationed at Gitmo in
1971 (Guantanamo Bay, Cuba) when he saw the two large flying
creatures at “close range.” Within minutes of his sighting, he made
a sketch of the two “pterodactyls” and has stood by his testimony
since that day, maintaining that he really did see them. Recent
research suggests he witness two American Hammerhead ropens.
“The Bible of modern pterosaurs,” the nonfiction
Searching for Ropens and Finding God, is in its
fourth edition, the ultimate authority in this new
field of cryptozoology: living pterosaurs.
copyright 2007-2017 Jonathan D. Whitcomb
The credibility of eyewitness reports of the ropen,
an apparent long-tailed pterosaur
Ropen Credibility
Two Other Eyewitnesses Interviewed
Is the ropen a real animal, not just a legend but an actual flying
creature in Papua New Guinea and elsewhere? According to
Jonathan David Whitcomb, the ropen is indeed real:
“Soon after interviewing Gideon Koro, during my expedition on
Umboi Island in 2004, I learned that two of the other witnesses
were also present. I was a forensic videographer at the time and
knew that this was not ideal: It would have been better if those
other two men had not listened to my interview with Gideon, for
I now wanted to interview them. Nonetheless, we do what we can
with the challenges of working in a remote jungle village.
“Wesley is a brother to Gideon and answered my questions with-
out hesitating. He displayed a swaying motion as he replied to two
or three of my questions, but this was not any sign of dishonesty:
He swayed before answering “yes” to my question about if he were
a brother to Gideon, in the same manner as he swayed while he
responded to other questions. I felt that both his answers and his
mannerisms were highly credible.
“I then interviewed Mesa, another of the seven boys who had gone
up to the crater lake around early 1994 (or late 1993). He seems
nervous, likely because it was his first time to be questioned about
the sighting. Contrary to the interviews with Gideon and Wesley,
we used an interpreter this time.
“He agreed with what Gideon had said, and both Mesa and Wesley
reported to me that the tail of the creature had a “diamond” on it.
I believe this refers to the shape of the flange at the end of the
tail: a vane common in Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur fossils. I
found nothing in Mesa’s testimony to cause any doubt about his
honesty. He was uncomfortable talking about the ropen, so I did
not ask him as many questions.
“Regarding Mesa’s nervousness, some ropen legends may make
islanders fear the creature or feel it is bad luck to talk about it.
It’s not surprising that one of these three young men was still ill
at ease about the ropen encounter at that crater lake, even after
ten years. Those seven boys were surely terrorized.
“Note that these islanders are well aware of the bat we call the
‘flying fox.’ That nocturnal featherless flying animal is common
on that island. That fruit bat holds no fear for natives of Umboi,
and, in fact, it’s an ingredient of a soup they relish.
“Those islanders who received a sling-shot as a gift from me
were delighted, as this makes it much easier to catch that bat,
which, on Umboi, they call byung. How unbelievable that the
seven boys would run home in terror of an ingredient of soup!
“It’s also unbelievable that they mistook a byung (flying fox)
for a ropen with a seven-meter-long tail. Also keep in mind
that the creature was flying over the surface of a lake in the
middle of the day, a far cry from what some skeptics have
speculated about natives being startled at a bat in the dark
shadows of a jungle. There are no dark jungle canopies over
the surfaces of lakes. What terrorized those seven boys was
obviously no fruit bat.
“We also need to realize that the islanders-eyewitnesses who
answered our questions did not repeat the legends of the
ropen; almost without exception, almost none of them ever
did. They simply told us what they had seen.
“Apparently the legends or stories were enough to give the
young men a name for what they had encountered: ropen.
My associates and I believe it is a modern living pterosaur.”
See also Ropen Pterosaur
David Moke was interviewed by Whitcomb and told the American
explorer that he and his buddy were fishing one night when David
was startled by a bright light overhead (his buddy was under water).
Whitcomb believes David saw the bioluminescent glow of the ropen
of Umboi Island. Many other native eyewitnesses have also seen
the light over that island or over a reef near Umboi.
Gideon Koro described to Whitcomb how the ropen flew over the
surface of Lake Pung at mid-day. He and the six other boys could
not have mistaken a fruit bat, flying over a lake, for a flying creature
with a tail seven meters long (23 feet long).
The U. S. Marine Eskin C. Kuhn (right) was stationed at Gitmo in
1971 (Guantanamo Bay, Cuba) when he saw the two large flying
creatures at “close range.” Within minutes of his sighting, he made
a sketch of the two “pterodactyls” and has stood by his testimony
since that day, maintaining that he really did see them. Recent
research suggests he witness two American Hammerhead ropens.
“The Bible of modern pterosaurs,” the nonfiction
Searching for Ropens and Finding God, is in its
fourth edition, the ultimate authority in this new
field of cryptozoology: living pterosaurs.
