Modern-pterosaur research
in cryptozoology and science
Living Pterosaurs
An investigation by the cryptozoologist and forensic videographer
Jonathan David Whitcomb and the work of his associates
Luke Paina, left,
became the interpreter
and bodyguard for the
American explorer
Jonathan Whitcomb.
Here, they wait in Lae
for a small ship to take
them to Umboi Island
(Papua New Guinea).
Ropen Expeditions
In five expeditions, from 1994 through 2004, several
Americans have explored *Umboi Island in search of
the nocturnal ropen. *(Natives of Papua New Guinea
call this island Siasi.) On this island, eyewitnesses
report that the glowing ropen flies between the sea
and the island interior or between one mountain and
another. Many report the glow of the flying creature,
which lasts about five or six seconds, but few natives
have gotten a good view of the ropen. The exceptions
include Jonah Jim, Jonathan Ragu, Wesley Koro,
Mesa Augustin, and Gideon Koro. Investigators believe
the ropen is a long-tailed animal. They conclude that
it is a Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur, in spite of the
skeptics who declare that all those animals are extinct.
Paul Nation, of Granbury, Texas, crosses a river
on Umboi Island, during his expedition in 2002
A native eyewitness
shows how the ropen
held itself to the trunk
of a tree, keeping an
upright position. This is
far different from how
the flying fox bat holds
itself upside down
from a tree branch.
Duane Hodgkinson was a soldier in 1944, in New Guinea,
when he saw a giant "pterodactyl" with a long tail. The World
War II veteran was, over a period of years, interviewed a
number of times by Jonathan Whitcomb, beginning in 2004.
Garth Guessman also interviewed Hodgkinson and one
interview was videotaped. See:
Living pterosaur interview
Take this ropen sighting in context: Mr. Brian Hennessy also
saw a flying creature that brought to his mind the word
“prehistoric.” That was in 1971 and many miles southeast
of Umboi Island.
Duane Hodgkinson saw a long-tailed “pterodactyl” in
a jungle clearing, in daylight, in New Guinea in 1944.
Brian Hennessy was one of
several men who were in a
truck driving down a moun-
tain on Bougainville Island,
New Guinea, in 1971. He
heard the wing flapping of
the flying creature before he
saw it. Jonathan Whitcomb,
after interviewing Brian, con-
cluded that the Australian
had witnessed a ropen, but
that conclusion was made
more sure after he gave both
Hennessy and Duane
Hodgkinson a series of
silhouette-sketch choices.
Brian Hennessy, from Australia,
in recent years worked in China
as a professional psychologist.
Here are some of the words of Mr. Hennessy:
“It was black or dark brown. I had never seen anything like it
before. It certainly looked prehistoric, in that it did not look
like any other bird that I have seen before or since. Why
prehistoric? Well, maybe my memory has been influenced
by the intervening years, but I recall seeing this creature with
a longish narrow tail . . . . almost like a counterweight that a
kangaroo has, although not as large.”
From a group of images
with various lengths of
beak and head crest,
Brian Hennessy chose
the top image shown
here. From a number
of similar sketches,
Duane Hodgkinson
(World War II veteran)
chose the bottom image.
Jonathan Whitcomb,
near Gomlongon
Village, Umboi Island,
Papua New Guinea,
during his expedition
in 2004. He interviewed
many native eyewit-
nesses of the nocturnal
ropen, and he became
convinced that those
islanders were, with
almost no exception,
in complete honesty
in what they reported
to him.
Neither man was aware what the other one had chosen.
Whitcomb concluded that both men had encountered a
nocturnal ropen in daylight and for the same reason: noise
that woke up a flying creature from sleep during the day.
Clear thinking—that's
what we need. When
a critic of living-ptero-
saur investigations
says something like,
"They could not be
alive today or some-
body would have seen
them," the statement
itself is not strictly
circular reasoning.
But the thought behind
it usually is, because
critics are trying to
dismiss the sightings
of those reported
living pterosaurs.
In other words, restate
it a little: “Pterosaurs
are not alive because
if they were alive then
people would see
them. Since pterosaurs
are not alive, those
who report seeing them
could not have seen
them.” Now the circular
reasoning is obvious.
David Woetzel (left/standing) and Garth Guessman
(lower right) also explored Umboi Island, in the
second ropen expedition of 2004, a few weeks after
the Whitcomb-Paina expedition. They were able to
interview a number of important native eyewitnesses
of the ropen, including Jonah Jim and Jonathan Ragu.
Woetzel and Guessman were able to camp out a few
nights above Lake Pung, where seven boys had, in
daylight, encountered the large ropen. Unfortunately,
the two Americans did not have there own sighting
while camped out here, although Woetzel did see
what we believe was the ropen at a distance, a few
days earlier, as it flew towards this crater lake.
copyright 2006-2018 Jonathan Whitcomb