North America – Page 3 – Cryptid Eyewitness

March 11, 2013May 28, 2013

Dragons of Los Angeles

Do you believe in flying dragons? Have you ever seen a large long-tailed featherless flying creature? If so, you’re not alone.

For several days, I questioned the eyewitness by emails, and I interviewed her by phone three days after the sighting. She admitted that she did not have time to determine if the three “dragons” had no feathers, for they flew over her car while she was driving on a freeway. Her first impression was that they were large and not birds, assuming it was some kind of stunt, perhaps with kites. She realized they were not kites when she saw their tails move.

She was driving north on the Interstate 5, just east of a golf course on the east side of Griffith Park, in Los Angeles, on Sunday, March 3, 2013. The flying creatures flew almost exactly over her car in the opposite direction. It was just minutes before sunrise, so the sky was no longer dark and she could see the undersides of the “dragons.” They were light colored and had a peculiar shape.

She admitted that she had no confidence in estimating how high they were flying or how large they were. She mentioned nothing to me about the nearby Los Angeles River, but I was struck by its proximity. It’s common for a sighting in Southern California to be near a storm channel or river bed (see “San Fernando Valley Sighting” below). In this case, the creatures were only 150 feet away from the Los Angeles River, a major storm drainage channel, flying parallel to it.

Question: “Did you see any neck on any of them?”

Answer: “Yes, that was another thing that tipped me off that they were not birds. They each had a distinct neck between body and head, that was more narrow and clearly visible.”

Question: “Did you see any feet on any of them?”

Answer: “I did not notice their feet.”

Question: “Is it possible that what appeared to have been tails were actually their feet held behind them?”

Answer: “I suppose it’s possible but they looked a lot like tails to me. Long and thin with a bigger point at the tip.”

Approximate location of sighting of three "dragons" - satellite image of a portion of Griffith Park (golf course) and Los Angeles River

Approximate location of sighting near Colorado Street overpass

satellite image of a part of Griffith Park, Los Angeles, including I-5 freeway and river

Top arrow: direction of “dragon” flight — bottom arrow: direction of car — blue: banks of L. A. River

Griffith Park Dragons?

This morning . . . [within five minutes of 6:10 a.m.] I saw three “dragons” flying over the 5-North freeway between Griffith Park and Glendale. They appeared to be several feet long, with a head:body:tail ratio that was certainly not that of a bird.

Sightings of Pterosaurs

A few years ago, a psychologist, Brian Hennessy, was interviewed concerning a reported sighting of a large “prehistoric” creature seen on Bougainville Island, Papua New Guinea. The psychologist was not analyzing the mental health of the eyewitness; that psychologist, Brian Hennessy, was himself the eyewitness.

Pterosaur Sighting in South Carolina

The huge featherless creature swooped down over the highway, maybe only “twenty feet” high and only “twenty five” feet in front of the car.

Are bats Food for Pterodactyls in Los Angeles?

During my teenaged years in Pasadena, when I enjoyed watching small bats at night, my younger sister had a friend, Dianne. She told my sister about the big “pterodactyl” she had seen flying around the mountains north of Pasadena.

San Fernando Valley Sighting

Only a little over a mile north of the Los Angeles River

A couple was walking their dog at about 10:30 p.m., near the corner of Burbank Blvd and Woodman in the city of Sherman Oaks, California, when they saw a “very large, winged creature” gliding about 300 feet overhead. The woman described glowing or reflective portions of the wings; she described them to me in a way that suggested they were much dimmer than the bright flashes of ropens.

January 3, 2013

Pterodactyl in Georgia

Two eyewitnesses reported sightings of pterosaurs or “pterodactyls,” in Georgia, encounters in December of 2012. Other citizens of Georgia have recently reported older sightings.

If we combine recent reports with those of Sandra Paradise, it may eventually make enough material for somebody to write a book about this subject: modern pterosaurs in Georgia.

Loganville, Georgia, Sighting

“On Dec 10, 2012, myself and wife were driving home at around 1:30 am on Briscoe Rd in Loganville, Ga. As we crested a hill, our light came down across a large flying animal that I instantly thought looked like a pterodactyl . . . I saw what I saw and I feel odd posting this . . . but . . .”

I asked the Loganville eyewitness three questions:

Was it flying over the road or just on one side of the road? It was crossing about 30 ft in front of us over the road
About how high was it flying above the ground? It was about 10 feet off the road
Did you or your wife notice any tail on the creature? [Yes]

Towns County, Georgia, Sightings

“I don’t know how to say this any other way except that I have seen these very large birds that don’t even come close to looking like anything else I’ve ever seen. I believe them to be Pterosaurs or something similar to them. Yes, I know it sounds crazy, and I know they went extinct a log time age, but the fact remains that I have seen three of these birds in the past year and a half, I have also heard them.”

American “Dragon Pterodactyl”

I was driving the same road, had just passed the point of my second sighting. Looking ahead and up a hill, I saw a flock of crows cross the road, from right to left, followed by . . . The pterosaur was in perfect silhouette, wings outstretched, distinctive head in full view, pad on the tail. [similar to previous two sightings in this part of Georgia]

Georgia Sightings by Sandra Paradise

Sandra Paradise has released her name and is no longer anonymous. She was previously known simply as the lady who had seen two long-tailed pterosaurs in daylight east of Winder, Georgia, as she was driving to work on highway 82, east of the Barrow County Airport.

Living Pterosaur

Throughout human history, and more recently, come fascinating reports of what may have been living pterosaurs.

July 27, 2012July 28, 2012

Best Selling Cryptozoology Books

It’s difficult to compile a list of books by sales ranking on Amazon, when “cryptozoology” is the search word used on that book-seller site. Some obvious cryptozoology books do not have that word in their title or subtitle, so they are probably left out of the search results. The following are paperback and hardback, from top to bottom by sales ranking, the apparent top twenty on the evening of July 27, 2012, although it is very possible that important books may have been missed.

Looking for Bigfoot, by Bonnie Worth
Destination Truth: Memoirs of a Monster Hunter, by Josh Gates
Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science, by Jeff Meldrum
Tales of the Cryptids: Mysterious Creatures, by Kelly Milner Halls and others
DK Readers: Beastly Tales, by Malcolm Yorke and Lee Davis
Live Pterosaurs in America (third edition), by Jonathan Whitcomb
Biblical Cryptozoology Revealed Cryptids of The Bible, by Dale Stuckwish
Cryptozoology A to Z, by Loren Coleman and Jerome Clark
Field Guide to Lake Monsters, Sea Serpents, by Loren Coleman and others
Real Monsters, Gruesome Critters, and Beasts from the Darkside, by Brad Steiger
Bigfoot Observer’s Field Manual, by Robert W. Morgan
The Beasts that Hide from Man, by Karl Shuker
Tom Slick: True Life Encounters in Cryptozoology, by Loren Coleman
The Michigan Dogman, by Linda S. Godfrey
Bigfoot! – The True Story of Apes in America, by Loren Coleman
Claw, Jaws, and Dinosaurs, by Kent Hovind, William Gibbons, and others
Hunting the American Werewolf, by Linda S. Godfrey
Monsters of Texas, by Ken Gerhard and Nick Redfern
In Search of Sasquatch, by Kelly Milner Halls
Monsters of West Virginia: Mysterious Creatures, by Rosemary Ellen Guiley

Books on the Loch Ness creature seem to have less selling depth than they once did. Bigfoot is still strong. The old standard Cryptozoology A to Z is no longer number one in this genre, although it was on the top for years.

Popular Cryptozoology Books

Leaving aside fictions and e-books (including Kindle) here’s a listing of many cryptozoology books that are best selling on Amazon

Three Author “Eyewitnesses”

The three authors, from British Columbia in Canada, Texas, and California, have each written at least one edition of a nonfiction book that primarily deals with sightings of possible pterosaurs in North America.

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Live Pterosaurs in America - front cover of nonfiction book, third edition

Live Pterosaurs in America (third edition), cryptozoology, nonfiction

The second paragraph of the introduction of the book:

This book might discomfort, even offend, a few readers; please consider the feelings of those who have revealed to us their encounters with what seem to be live pterosaurs, for some of them have suffered more than discomfort. I intend to comfort those innocent victims who have been ridiculed or ostracized because of a cultural weakness, for each has seen something unaccepted by their society. Each eyewitness deserves listeners who will open their minds, really listen. Consider their experiences.

From Page 70:

The cryptozoologists were not disappointed, with many sightings of the flying lights and a few sightings of the forms of large flying creatures that were unlike bats. One of them flew close enough that one man almost fell over. The men stayed only a few nights, but the investigation continued into 2008, with a number of visits to this location.

From Page 71 (another expedition in North America):

Late in 2007, I received an email from Peter Beach, a biology professor. He had gone on two expeditions into Africa (searching for the Mokele-mbembe cryptid), before becoming involved in living-pterosaur research.

“I went on a short trip to the Yakima River this summer . . . because there was a [sighting]. We were unable to get a picture but we saw many . . . flashing lights. I would have assumed that [they] were fireflies but we [don’t] have them in Washington. One of the flashes took off from a big tree overhanging the river and made a kind of flashing coma turn. Many flashes were parallel to the river. The river at that point [has] a crook . . . and there were many fish . . . Prime hunting grounds for fish-eating birds. Only these things fish at night with bioluminescence.”

July 13, 2012

Lakewood, California, has a Flying Predator

An apparent ropen was seen by a 38-year-old lady in her backyard, in Lakewood, California, on June 19, 2012, at about noon. She at first estimated the wingspan at about five to six feet, later revising her estimate to at least six feet. The tail was long, perhaps four feet long, and the end of the tail had a triangular appearance that caused the lady to think “dragon.”

The lady’s husband told me that he had noticed an absence of possums in the past twelve months; they used to run along the phone lines often, but they seem to have almost disappeared. The only he has seen in recent months was not on the phone line but on a fence. The eyewitness saw the flying creature sitting on the phone line, so it seems likely to be a predator that eats possums and probably rats.

I found it significant that the sighting was above a storm channel that is about twenty feet wide and almost as deep. The size of the flying predator described by the eyewitness makes it seem reasonable that it could easily fly in that storm channel at night, provided it could see well in the dark, as some nocturnal animals can. In other parts of the world, the ropen is said to fly at night.

drainage canal where a living pterosaur was observed in Southern California

Nocturnal Ropen Appears in Daylight in Southern California

. . . over a storm drain in Lakewood, California, in clear daylight at about noon, a long-tailed featherless creature sat on a telephone line, making strange . . . noises.

January 27, 2012February 17, 2012

“Pterodactyl Attacks” in British Columbia

It has long been known that some people in Africa and Papua New Guinea have been attacked by flying creatures that have been described like pterosaurs. Many of the eyewitnesses, from around the world, have seen the creatures and some of the wingspan estimates have topped twenty feet. In Canada, Gerald McIsaac has investigated reports of attacks from the nocturnal “devil bird,” and the number of reports makes it questionable that all of them would be hoaxes. If that were not enough, other investigators, in the United States, have spent years searching for living pterosaurs, and eyewitness reports from the 48 contiguous states have continued to accumulate.

Pterodactyl Attacks and Human Deaths

Chapter Eight, “Highway of Tears,” in Bird From Hell [nonfiction book by Gerald McIsaac] reveals, “Amnesty International estimates that since 1969, thirty-two women and girls, most of them Aboriginal, have disappeared along that highway.” [northern British Columbia] Nobody denies that some women and girls in this part of Canada are victims of abuse at home and that some of them hitchhike on this highway, making themselves vulnerable at night. But the general human population, at least the Native Americans, keep indoors at night to avoid the “devil bird,” and some eyewitnesses of that flying creature have been attacked by a flying creature, when those persons have stayed outside after sunset.

Modern Pterosaur Expert

Whitcomb has received many emails and occasional phone calls from ordinary persons who have seen extraordinary animals: apparent pterosaurs. On August 18, 2008, he received a phone call from a man in England, a plane pilot who recently had a near-collision with a large creature flying 6500 feet above the sea, 150 miles from Bali, Indonesia . . .

Although cryptozoologists have not previously thought of Gerald McIsaac as a pterosaur expert, his recent nonfiction book makes it clear that his has actively searched for the pterosaur-like flying creature that is called “devil bird” in this part of British Columbia. Modern-pterosaur experts and researchers should be interested in the progress of McIsaac’s searching and researching, for there is still much to be discovered in this wonderful world.

January 24, 2012March 8, 2012

“Big Bird” in San Diego, California?

The two men first assumed that it was a bird flying inland from the west, at low altitude over the city of San Diego, California. This was at about 8:00 p.m., on November 4, 2011. As it got closer, things became stranger: The flying creature was huge and had a long tail. Stranger still, it stopped nearly over the men’s heads and hovered while another apparent pterosaur joined up with the first one. The two of them flew away to the east.

One of the eyewitnesses reported to me, by emails and a phone conversation, more details, although he did not often use the word “bird.” The tail was long and straight. Each wing was 10-15 feet long (making a wingspan about 20-30 feet long). Where color was discernable, on the belly, it was somewhat golden brown.

Pterosaurs in San Diego

The problem with notifying the news media, in this case, was that just three months previously somebody had played a practical joke. A statue in northern San Diego County was found to have a model “pterodactyl” fixed onto the top. This was carried in the news, becoming well-known in the San Diego area. What news reporter would thereafter give serious consideration to a report of two giant pterodactyls flying over the middle of San Diego?

Buy your own copy of this cryptozoology book on Amazon.com