I recently received an eyewitness report from a man who was one of many children, many years ago, who had seen a giant flying creature in Canada. Please consider some of what this anonymous eyewitness reports, and believe what you will about the possibility that these children saw a large ropen.

Gigantic flying creature in Canada

I also saw a “giant” pterodactyl! Actually most of the senior students of our public school saw it too. This was back in about 1960 when I was 12 years old. . . . Since I am now almost 67 yrs old, I would like to find anyone else who might have seen one too.

Year: … 1960-1961
Date: … sometime in the fall.
Location:… Kitchener, Ontario, Canada,
Address:… King Edward Public School,

It was a dull and rainy fall morning. The rain had just stopped so we kids were forced to go outside during our morning recess. . . . it was cold and wet and a low hanging fog hovered about 20 feet above the ground.

Us guys started a ball game, but quickly gave up because the ball kept disappearing into the overhead fog . . . So, we decided to quit and just wait for the bell.

Suddenly, we heard screams . . . We looked up the field at the girls and the ones farthest away from us were pointing into the overhead fog bank and screaming. Then the girls below them started screaming and pointing into the fog. . . .

I was curious, as were all the other boys, so we positioned ourselves under the fog, hoping we would get to see whatever it was they were screaming at. I can still remember me bracing my legs apart, so as not to lose my balance as I looked up into a grey cloud.

Suddenly, It appeared! . . . An airplane-sized black bird was silently gliding just at the bottom of the fog bank. It must have been that low, so it could see where it was going by looking at the ground. It appeared to be only maybe 20 feet over my head and I could see it as clear as a bell.

The first thing I noticed was obviously its size. I was directly under one wing and it was much wider than myself and a group of my buddies put together. . . . I would estimate “one” wing to be 20 feet in length. Then I noticed a good 3 foot long pointed beak and a shorter 2 footish bump on the back of its head which was not as pointed as its beak.

Do ropens ever attack people?

Unfortunately, yes, although human victims are much more rare than the fish, birds, and bats that are usually hunted by these flying creatures.

I have seen reports, not first hand, of large flying creatures killing people on the mainland of Papua New Guinea. In villages around the cities of Lae and Finschhafen, adult humans have been carried away, apparently, although news like that rarely gets into any Western newspapers. In the remote village of Tawa, many years ago, a number of indavas used to attack natives, sometimes carrying away a child or a pig, according to Paul Nation.

In the United States and Canada, we have indirect and not-so-indirect evidence that unidentified flying creatures (UFC) sometimes attack people and may be the cause of a considerable percentage of the most mysterious cases for missing persons.

In particular, when you visit a wilderness area in North America, try not to be alone for long, and keep an eye on what may be flying overhead. Enjoy the scenery, of course, just don’t let yourself get carried away.

Ropen of eastern Cuba, mid-20th century (sketch by Patty Carson)

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Can Ropens Hide in Caves?

Last month, I learned about multi-eyewitness sightings of flying lights in the northwestern United States, lights that the observers believe are bioluminescent pterosaurs, possibly ropens. Its seems these lights fly over at least two rivers in this part of the country and near one particular river the lights enter and exit nearby caves.

Ropens are pterosaurs

The men soon realized that it was no bird that started to circle the clearing. It  had a tail “at least ten to fifteen feet long.”

Three native eyewitnesses of the ropen

Last week’s “Flying Monsters” episode of MonsterQuest had major problems. For one thing, the producers included almost no detail on the eyewitness sightings.

Ropen – a living pterosaur?

How often we’ve been taught that all dinosaurs  and pterosaurs became extinct millions of years  ago, as if that were proven! But what if some are  still living?

Credibility of native eyewitnesses

“Note that these islanders [of Umboi know about] . . . the bat we call “Flying Fox.” That nocturnal featherless flying animal  is common on that island. The Flying Fox holds no fear for the native. In fact, it’s an ingredient in a soup they  relish.

Bioluminescent ropen of Papua New Guinea

American cryptozoology author Jonathan Whitcomb believes the ropen of Umboi is related to the “Gitmo Pterosaur” of Cuba.

About the flying ropen

Brian Hennessy saw a “prehistoric” flying creature on Bougainville Island, in 1971. About twenty-three years later, the Umboi Island native Gideon Koro saw a similar creature,  many miles to the west of Hennessy’s ropen sighting.

Destination Truth Ropen Episode

Just before Eric Wing and Neil [Mandt] interviewed me in their Hollywood office, I had received news that Paul [Nation] had videotaped some ropen lights (also called indava lights: the first video footage of its kind that would enter the United States).

A modern live pterosaur

What is this flying creature called “ropen?”  Countless eyewitnesses, in many countries  across the planet, have pondered what it  was they had seen. But ropens continue to  fly overhead, continuing to shock humans  who had assumed that all pterosaurs had  become extinct millions of years ago.

Flying Fox Bat Versus Ropen

Up until the late 20th Century, the flying fox explanation was used to dismiss reports of large flying  creatures in Papua New Guinea, nocturnal creatures that some people called pterodactyls.

Attack in the Dead of Winter – Nightmare

Remember your worst nightmare? Were you glad to wake up? Be grateful. In the early morning hours of February 23, 2010, a few miles or so southwest of Marfa, Texas, the victims were terrified by what awakened them. I am not the eyewitness . . . I interviewed my friend James, who had been driving through Southern Texas . . .

Searching for Ropens and Finding God (nonfiction)

During those fourteen months of failure to get a ropen’s photograph,  I did get many precious sighting reports from across the United States.

El Ropen de Papúa Nueva Guinea

El “ropen” es un cryptid de Papúa Nueva Guinea. Algunos investigadores creen que es un pterosauro que vive.

Jonathan Whitcomb’s Ropen Research

I have admired Jonathan Whitcomb’s Ropen / Pterosaur research for many years. I have posted a few of Jonathan’s offerings from recent years, which includes an article he wrote for Phantoms & Monsters.

Flying Dinosaurs—Alive?

Do you believe in the possibility that long-tailed featherless flying creatures, much larger than any fruit bat, live in the jungles of Papua New Guinea? Your belief depends a great deal on where you lived your childhood: in a village like Gomlongon on Umboi Island or in a western country like the United States.

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Some of the strangest missing-persons cases may relate to a few individual animals of one species of ropen in North America, according to what I have read so far in the book Missing 411 Western United States & Canada, by David Paulides.

Please keep in mind that I have read nothing that even hints that Mr. Paulides has considered the possibility of large modern pterosaurs in regard to any disappearance of any missing person. I take full responsibility for the following model, and the evidences, so far, are circumstantial, for such attacks in the forty-eight contiguous states of the USA.

Model of a Ropen Attack (Theoretical)

When a person is alone in a wilderness area in the United States, a large hungry ropen may attack, subduing the human by a mist or vapor that is debilitating when inhaled by prey. This may explain why human victims, when found alive, are asleep or unconscious or in a state that rescuers may describe as “confused” or “disoriented.”

The ropen may grab the person by the coat or pants or shirt or even by the shoes. That is why the body or living person found by rescuers has such clothing missing. It also explains why such clothing is found in other locations and why the pants are sometimes found inside out. The victim falls out of the clothing sometimes but not always.

The ropen flies away with the human victim but not high above the ground. Why not high? It would take more energy and time to ascend high above the ground. This explains why tracking dogs sometimes cannot find a scent and when they do track, it’s only for a limited distance, for the victim may have had limited contact with bushes or even the ground, during the low-level flight.

This low-level flight also explains why people nearby do not see the victim being carried away, for the abduction is obscured by trees or vegetation or by the hills surrounding the creeks or creek beds that ropens use for navigation.

When a body or living victim is found by rescuers, scratches may be found on the person. Those are from the claws or talons of the ropen. When scratches are absent, the victim was fortunate the creature had been holding onto the clothing only or the shoes only.

Falling out of clothing/shoes also explains why living victims may be found in bushes like berry bushes: The fall was cushioned by the vegetation. Remember it’s low-level flight.

This model also explains why children, even toddlers less than three years old, are often found miles away from where they disappeared. Two-year-olds do not climb high mountains and hike many miles across barriers like a river or a fence or a steep cliff. They are carried over all those obstacles through the air.

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Some ropens are large enough to be dangerous to people

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Sketch by the eyewitness Patty Carson: a flying creature seen in Eastern Cuba

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Missing Children

The case of missing-child Garrett Bardsley has barely enough evidence to even mention in regard to potential attacks from a North American ropen. But even if only one child can be saved from being a victim, it will be worth all the efforts we can muster.

Missing Persons – Coast to Coast

David Paulides was interviewed on Coast-to-Coast on May 18, 2014

“Pterodactyl Attacks”

. . . it brings to mind native accounts from Papua New Guinea, but this is far closer to home, in British Columbia, Canada. For many years, there have been reports of people being attacked in Africa and in Papua New Guinea. I have only recently noticed this news about flying creatures attacking people in British Columbia at night.

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A recent post on the “Live Pterosaur” blog was about the credibility of sightings at night. I will not quote much of that post here, but I would like to add more ammunition, more eyewitness sightings.

Two Eyewitnesses See Two Pterosaurs in Florida

According to the nonfiction book Live Pterosaurs in America, a man in Florida saw, in 2008, at about 2:30 a.m., two small pterosaurs flying over houses in the neighborhood. The man’s friend also saw the creatures that had no feathers, a pointed beak, and a “long pointed thing protruding from the back of its head.”

What is not mentioned in that post is that the first flying creature was illuminated by a flood light, making it clearly visible at a close distance.

“Pterdactyl Attacks”

Regarding the report mentioned in the above link, why believe that modern pterosaurs were involved in these attacks? For one thing, birds and bats don’t usually attack people at night. For another, the pterosaurs that attack people in British Columbia do not always kill people. Some victims survive to tell other people about the attacks. The closeness of the encounters, involving attacks, goes without saying, and closeness means the person being attacked gets a close view of the attacker.

San Antonio, Texas, Pterosaur at Night

I quote from the book Live Pterosaurs in America:

“One evening, I was outside my apartment building . . . talking to my brother. . . . We were very used to the normal nightly activities of the area. We knew what the local birds and bats looked like . . . My dad and I had, on several occasions, noticed bats flying right near our heads . . . Neither my brother or I was prone to being scared by anything outside at night. This night was different. We noticed something flying around across the road from where we were . . . the creature was flying just above the phone lines. It would go one direction, turn, and swoop back. The shape was wrong for any large bird of the area, and the size was much too large to be any bat I have ever seen (I have seen a flying fox in a zoo, too, once with wings spread). The wingspan was huge, anywhere from 6-10 feet across. We watched the thing for maybe twenty minutes or so . . .

This sighting in San Antonio is important, for two eyewitnesses, familiar with local birds and bats, realized that a flying creature was too much unlike any bird or bat. I sense that this sighting may not have as high a credibility as other sightings at night, but should be considered more than zero credibility, when taken in context with the many other sightings of modern pterosaurs, in Texas and out, in the night and in the daytime.

Flying Creature of the Night

I recall part of a comment from a critic, some years ago, ridiculing the credibility of eyewitnesses who “misidentify” birds or bats at night. But he was only tossing out a generalization, assuming that all reported sightings (those encounters that serious invesigators publicize) all fit neatly into his mental image of a dark landscape where people imagine that birds and bats are pterosaurs. Science thrives on details of human experience, so let’s examine particular sightings.

The above blog post mentions night sightings in Sudan, Africa, in San Diego, California, and in Ohio. More could be said about more sightings in other areas of the world.