Three Books by Independent Authors

Three nonfiction cryptozoology books on modern pterosaurs in North America are now available on Amazon. 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.

Each of these three nonfiction books contain eyewitness sighting reports of modern living pterosaurs, but there are significant differences in style and emphasis. I’ll do my best to explain.

Big Bird

Published February 1, 2007, Ken Gerhard’s book has too many English mistakes for my liking. If I recall correctly, for it’s been awhile since I’ve read Big Bird, there is also at least one sentence that was chopped off, with the second half missing, perhaps between pages, I don’t recall exactly. I also found a technical mistake that put into question, however slightly, the accuracy of the book as a whole. With that in mind, Big Bird has reports in Texas that may not be available from other sources, for Gerhard has traveled around and interviewed people who have seen what they believe were modern pterosaurs.

Live Pterosaurs in America — third edition

Published November 2, 2011, Jonathan Whitcomb’s book is likely the most extensive in eyewitnesses sightings across the U.S.A., and at 154 pages is more substantial than the other two books. His objectiveness has occasionally been brought into question by critics who bring up the religion question, to be precise the Creationist connection, but for those who have read both his books in their most recent editions, he is seen to be not a Young Earth Creationist in the usual sense, for he does not believe in a 6,000 universe or even a 6,000 year old earth.

Bird From Hell — second edition

Published April 21, 2011, McIsaac’s book may not be entirely about sightings of pterosaurs. I admit that I have not read the book in its entirety, however. But the “Look Inside” feature of Amazon has given me a peek into this nonficion book, and I like what I see. It probably has only a fraction of the number of sightings as Live Pterosaurs in America, but the old traditions of native Americans give this book a special flavor. Modern pterosaurs are supported by not only recent sightings in North America but by old traditions of American Indians. Like Big Bird, this book probably has reports that are not available from any other original source. But this book is only about cryptids in British Columbia, Canada.

Conclusion

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.

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Cover of the third edition of "Live Pterosaurs in America" by Whitcomb

From the Amazon page on the second edition of this book comes this review:

“I couldn’t put this book down. It is absolutely fascinating to read about eyewitness accounts of the people who have seen these creatures. To learn about these testimonies from such an open minded perspective is refreshing in the extreme! The way that our school systems and scientists alike are indoctrinated is sad. There is so much money out there being used for research, if only they would use it for good. I highly recommend this book to anyone! People should know the truth about what is going on. No one ever hears anything about this unless they conduct extremely specific internet searches, even then, information is minimal. Jonathan Whitcomb needs to write more books!”

More Recent Sighting Reports of Pterosaurs

The sightings themselves are not all recent, but the reports are

“Pterodactyl” in California

Well, I think it rather obvious what people mean when they describe the wings of a flying creature as like those of a bat: The wings have no feathers. The “long woolly tail” is interesting, perhaps meaning the creature’s tail had hair; some pterosaur fossils show evidence of hair. Is was obviously no bat, being described as the size of a horse.

New Pterosaur Sightings

North Carolina and Spain have had sightings, as indicated in this post.

New Zealand Pterosaurs

One or more species of pterosaur may live in New Zealand. Even though it is more than a thousand miles from Australia, where many eyewitnesses have seen apparent modern pterosaurs, those creatures would have little difficulty crossing that distance, over a number of centuries.

 “She became aware of a little creature sitting next to her,” but gave it little attention at first. She thought it to be just a small green bird with a long tail. When it became noisy, she tried to shoo it away, whereupon the creature bit her finger, spread its leathery wings, and flew away.

Pterosaurs in Canada

In British Columbia, to be specific.

The creature was larger than any bird the eyewitness had ever before seen. It had a long tail “with something on the end of it just like the Ropen. Then I couldn’t believe my eyes when I looked at the wings and they weren’t feathers, they were like huge bat wings.”

Another sighting mentioned there, was in the Cariboo area of British Columbia.

Significance of Recent Reports

I think that new sighting reports strongly support the work of cryptozoologist who believe in modern pterosaurs. If large pterosaurs live anywhere on the planet, in modern times, they should live all over the planet, should they not? How can they be confined to any one island? Recent reports support this: Those flying cryptids, I say “cryptids” because they are not yet acknowledged in traditional scientific culture, are now reported in various countries around the globe.

Pterosaurs in British Columbia, Canada

Canada might seem too cold, in winter, for flying pterosaurs, but British Columbia, at least, seems to have them, at least sometimes. Regarding the following two sightings, I don’t know if either one was of a living pterosaur, but I believe it likely enough that they should be examined for that possibility, in light of the many sighting reports from the U.S.A.

From the Blog “Live Pterosaur”

A lady in British Columbia saw what she thinks was a ropen. She told me, ”I don’t know what else it could have been. . . . I understand that the Ropen is nocturnal but I saw this creature during the day about 2:30 pm so maybe i’m wrong . . .”

The creature was larger than any bird the eyewitness had ever before seen. It had a long tail “with something on the end of it just like the Ropen. Then I couldn’t believe my eyes when I looked at the wings and they weren’t feathers, they were like huge bat wings.”

From “abovetopsecret.com”

When the eyewitness was about ten or twelve years old, his (or her) family was taking a camping trip in the Cariboo area of British Columbia.

As we drove along the highway, I saw something fly by, like three cars distance away. . . . Small parrot-like head, same body, but the one I saw had a long tail with a circular tail flap thing on the end.

I know that these two sighting accounts in British Columbia, Canada, are brief accounts. But they do seem to fit into the larger picture of pterosaur sightings in North America.

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