Category: North America

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Three Author “Witnesses” of Living Pterosaurs

Three books are said to be objective evidence that living pterosaurs in North America are a distinct possibility, or at least the flying creatures should be considered seriously as valid cryptids. 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.

Live Pterosaurs in America, third edition

This newest edition gives amazing eyewitness reports from across the forty-eight contiguous states of the USA: California, Texas, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Wisconsin, Kansas, and other states. Author: Jonathan Whitcomb.

Bird From Hell, Second Edition

This deals mainly with native American Indian traditions about strange cryptids in northern British Columbia, including a dangerous nocturnal flying creature that is said to have an arrow at the end of a long tail. But this book gives more than just stories: modern encounters with potentially (at least) man-eating flying creatures. Author: Gerald McIsaac.

Big Bird

No, not the Sesame Street character. Most, if not all, of the sightings of strange flying creatures are in Texas; the encounters are shocking. Author: Ken Gerhard.

Three Books by Independent Authors

The three authors, Ken Gerhard, Jonathan Whitcomb, and Gerald McIsaac, have independently written their books, with no apparent collaboration between them. I don’t claim complete objectiveness in evaluating these three publications, as evidenced by the ad below, but I would like to present these books in some degree of comparison in some ways . . .

For those new to this fascinating field of cryptozoology, I recomment purchasing all three books on Amazon.com, for you will probably get free shipping in the bargain.

Modern Pterosaur Expert

After an expedition on a remote island of Papua New Guinea, and after having written over a thousand blog posts and web pages, and after interviewing countless eyewitnesses from various countries of the world, Jonathan Whitcomb is a pterosaur expert in the cryptozoological sense.

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Pterosaurs in the News

For cryptid enthusiasts with a taste for pterosaurs, news is good, with news about sighting reports in New Jersey and Cuba, and a news release that suggests the old Dracula legends may have come from Europeans observing a living pterosaur standing on the ground at night. Perhaps vampires were not completely nonfictional after all. That press release seems to have been timed for the Halloween holiday.

Pterosaur News

While talking with Patty on the phone yesterday, I was impressed with what she told me about what the Gitmo Pterosaur might eat: She remembered how many large rats were in the coconut trees at Gitmo, when she and her family were there. She now believes that the creature may use its long beak to get into the foliage and snatch rats for snacks. Yummy! . . .

“In the summer of 2009, I saw . . . in the pinelands of New Jersey . . . a giant bat-like bird, dark brown without feathers, something prehistoric . . . a long thin head, a long tail, [and a] kind of leathery dark brown skin. The body seemed to be the size of a good-sized man; the wind span, maybe 12-15 feet across.”

Press Releases on Live Pterosaurs

“Hoaxes are disproved,” declares Jonathan Whitcomb . . . After compiling data from reports collected from early-2004 to mid-2009, from eyewitnesses across the United States, he found three kinds of evidence disproving any hoax- explanation.

. . . the mystery lights of Marfa, Texas, have entertained residents with their strange dancing. On some warmer nights, a ball of light [splits] into two, [then separates, flying] away from each other before turning around and flying back together.

Press Release ties Dracula to modern pterosaurs

“The longer we watched, the more spooked we became. It was as though a giant vampire bat (like Dracula-style) was there, but neither of us thought it really looked like a bat, either, even a big one.” . . .

According to most paleontologists, all pterosaurs, often called “pterodactyls” by Americans, became extinct millions of years ago. But Whitcomb disputes the idea that all species became extinct, citing recent eyewitness reports from Africa, Australia, Papua New Guinea, and North America.

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Scott Norman, Pterosaur Eyewitness

Scott T. Norman, American cryptozoologist and explorer, passed away on February 29, 2008, at the age of forty-three. He was a passionate investigator of cryptids, even taking part in an expedition in central Africa to search for the Mokele-Mbembe; he failed to see any sauropod dinosaur during that expedition, but just months before his untimely death, from natural causes, he experienced what may have been his greatest success in cryptozoology: He saw a living pterosaur.

Scott Norman Pterosaur Sighting

A few months after my late-2004 expedition in Papua New Guinea, I [Jonathan Whitcomb] met Scott Norman. My associate, Garth Guessman, introduced me to this cryptozoologist [Scott Norman, who] two years after I met him . . . became, I believe, the first American cryptozoologist to observe the clear form of a living pterosaur while searching for one.

Scott Norman’s Pterosaur Sighting

In the second half of 2007, living-pterosaur investigators were active in a new sighting area . . . [in the United States]. Some of the men had been on cryptozoological expeditions in Africa or Papua New Guinea, including Scott Norman.

Silent, with stars for a background, the dark creature flew twenty feet high, over a shed only twenty feet from Scott . . . there was no mistaking it: . . . a head three to four feet long, and a two-foot-long head-crest that reminded him of a Pteranodon. . . . [Wings] more bat-like than bird-like.

Cryptozoology Book

Scott wished that the creature had been glowing when it flew over the shed [unfortunately, it was not glowing, at least at that time], confirming the concept of large bioluminescent flying creatures. He felt . . . the wingspan was eight to ten feet. He was a bit perplexed that legs were not visible, but like other eyewitnesses of large flying creatures he was concentrating on one or two parts of the cryptid: Apparently Scott was concentrating on the creature’s head.

Other Cryptozoologists Searching for Extant Pterosaurs

It seems that most cryptozoologists who actively search for living pterosaurs are Americans: Garth Guessman, Paul Nation, Jonathan Whitcomb, David Woetzel, and a few others. Most, but not all, seem to be strict Young Earth Creationists; one of the most outspoken in YEC concepts may be Woetzel, with Guessman seeming to preach in a similar way. Whitcomb has gone on record as opposing the idea of a 6,000-year-old universe, but some of his writings have strongly supported traditional ideas in the Bible.

Garth Guessman

Guessman’s knowledge of Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur fossils allowed him to notice an important clue about the ropen’s classification. The two explorers learned that the native traditions describe the ropen’s tail as being stiff, never moving except near where it connects to the body. Guessman recognized that this relates to the stiffening extension rods of Rhamphorhynchoid vertebrae.

Paul Nation

Paul Nation’s short video of the two indavas was examined by Cliff Paiva, a missile defense physicist, who declared that the images of the two lights were not of meteors, camp fires, auto headlights, a paste-on-the-background hoax, or other common things.

Jonathan Whitcomb

What flies in the night
As it glows
Bigger than fireflies and bats
Who knows?
Bigger than barn owls
Dark as the crows
But never with feathers
Who knows?

David Woetzel

Woetzell is the second-most prolific writer on the subject of living pterosaurs (after Jonathan Whitcomb), with a web site titled “Genesis Park” and a more-recent scientific paper in a science journal.

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Cryptozoology Book LPA-2

The sightings reported in the second edition of the cryptozoology book Live Pterosaurs in America are almost entirely encounters in the United States, but there is a noteworthy exception, the sighting by Eskin Kuhn.

An excerpt from pages 123-124 of the book:

How fortunate that Eskin Kuhn was the marine who stood outside the new barracks on a particular sunny day around mid-July, 1971! While the other marines were hanging out inside, this talented artist was enjoying the lovely weather and looking out toward the ocean. . . .

“I am an artist with sharp eye for detail and was determined to drink in the visage before me for future recording on paper. I saw two pterosaurs (or pterodactyls . . . what’s in a name?) flying together at low altitude, perhaps 100 feet, very close in range from where I was standing, so that I had a perfectly clear view of them.

“The rhythm of their large wings was very graceful, slow, and yet they were flying and not merely gliding . . . The rate of their [wing flaps] was more like that of crows, perhaps a little slower, but very graceful.”

From the introduction of Live Pterosaurs in America (2nd ed, author: Jonathan Whitcomb):

If this book does nothing more than comfort the eyewitnesses of strange creatures, I would be grateful; but there’s much more. We need to understand why we believe what we believe. When I first began researching these eyewitness sightings, years ago, I mentioned a word to a kindergartner: “pterosaurs;” he said, “A comet.” Years later, while writing this book, I mentioned my work to a second-grader; she said, “Who will buy your book? Crazy people?” I think better of you. And I think, because of what she and many others have told me, that we must understand indoctrination, for it influences our beliefs; the extent of that influence discomforts me.

From page 27 (Scott Norman’s pterosaur sighting in the United States):

He saw the creature silhouetted against the stars of the sky; no color was visible. Lack of any sign of a tail interested me, for just a few years earlier a local man had seen, in daylight, what investigators assume was the local pterosaur; it had a tail. Maybe Scott missed the tail in the dark.

Scott wished that the creature had been glowing when it flew over the shed, confirming the concept of large bioluminescent flying creatures. He felt confident that the wingspan was eight to ten feet. He was a bit perplexed that legs were not visible, but like other eyewitnesses of large flying creatures he was concentrating on one or two parts of the cryptid: Apparently Scott was concentrating on the creature’s head.

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Bigfoot Sightings in Oregon

I just encountered a site devoted to sightings of the Bigfoot in Oregon. One eyewitness report is herein summarized, although this is apparently  just one of many.

Late in 1995, in Baker County, the eyewitness encountered the apparent Bigfoot. The following are quotations of the second-hand person who has been a close friend (20+ years) of the eyewitness.

I have never know him to tell tall tales. He is very respected in [his] community.

He said that he had been cutting a load of firewood and was coming down a dirt road that goes from the bottom of the canyon on the Snake River and goes up into the timber. He said that it was hunting season and from one place on this road he could look down the mountain and he thought he could see a bear by a salt box. . . . He said his intention was to shoot this bear so he hurried down the road in his pickup. There are many switch backs coming down this road and so at times he couldn’t see this thing. When he finally could see it again he was about 400 yards from it. He said that it stood up on its hind legs and quickly walked about 40 to 50 yards where it went down into a steep creek bottom. He said that if it was a person that the person would have been dressed in dark brown or black clothing from head to foot all in one color. He said that it was over 6 foot tall. He also said that there were no other vehicles in this area and no other roads into this area. He said that he didn’t stop and go look for foot prints and that he just kept on driving past the spot . . .

Oregon pyschologist observes a creature resembling Bigfoot

The sighting was in Josephine County, Oregon, in July of 2000 (words of the eyewitness).

Rochelle and I took our kids to the Oregon Caves National Park in southern Oregon.  We ate lunch at a picnic table and then took a tour of the caves. . . . Upon our exit of the cave, everyone usually turns to the right to go back down to the gift store and lodge. . . . We decided to go left  and hike up to see the Big Tree . . . We  hiked for about 2 miles into the forest up the mountain.  As we were hiking up the trail, we smelled a very strong pungent smell. It  was as strong as a skunk but it wasn’t a skunk (i.e., we know what a skunk smells like and it wasn’t a skunk even though it was as strong smelling as a skunk).

We continued to hike up the trail and the trail started to switch back to the right as we climbed the mountain.  There were plenty of tall trees and brush.  I heard a faint sound (i.e., “Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa!). . . . We all stopped and I asked, “Do you guys here that sound?”  Rochelle, Levi, Hannah, and Micah looked at me and nodded their heads in affirmation.

. . . I was scanning the woods down the mountain on the other side of the trail my family was standing on.  That’s when I saw it. I saw it come out from behind one tree to the left and walk to another tree to the right. Then it looked back and was watching my family while they were standing on the trail.

. . . I know what a grizzly bear looks like . . . [and] a  black bear. . . . What I  saw was not a grizzly bear or a black bear.  What I saw walked upright on two legs like a human and it was much taller than a grizzly bear or a black bear.  What I saw was Bigfoot (otherwise known as Sasquatch).

Eyewitness: Dr. Matthew A. Johnson

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Creature Near Pittsburgh

Pennsylviania has its cryptids, like other states.

Wild Creature Report (June 29, 2011)

On June 18, 2011, a witness reported the observation of a very strange animal not far from Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh near the Allegheny River. It was about 8 AM that morning as the witness stood on her back porch and observed an animal unlike anything she had ever seen before.

The witness is quite familiar with the wildlife in the area such as coyotes, and even fox. Her comment to me was, “This animal was so bizarre.” The animal was observed as it cantered down a road just a few yards above her nearby roadway. The woman explained that this animal’s movements were not that of a trot or gallop, but an actual canter like that of a horse.

The animal stood about 2 feet tall, and was “too big, for a cat”. The witness also stated that it was not a dog, and didn’t move like a fox or a coyote. The animal, which was observed for about 45 seconds, was estimated to weigh about 35 pounds . . .

Bigfoot Near Maryland-Pennsylvania Border

[At] a stream called Big Pipe Creek, which was adjacent from a soybean field in rural Carroll County, MD, close to the Carroll/Adams county border. This was around mid October . . . I found tracks going towards the stream, one in particular was in mud were there was no grass around. This track was about 14 inches long and about four inches wide and was sunk in about 2 to 3 inches in the ground. I weighed about 225 lbs at the time and did not sink in at all. Fallowing these footsteps I happened upon a huge pile of scat. Not sure how to describe it except it was black in color with a yellowish tint in large clumps making a large pile. It looked to be composed mainly of vegetable matter. . . . I contacted the bfro [Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization] and they explained there have been quite a few sightings in that area.

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