Whitcomb's Book, Searching For Ropens, Asserts Pterodactyl Reported in Papua New Guinea
An investigator who explored Umboi Island, Papua New Guinea, declares that a large flying creature reported
by an American WWII soldier, in 1944, is the same species of long-tailed featherless creature called “ropen.”
The original news release, dated
August 14, 2006, was published by
PRFree and by EWorldWire. This
revised version is expanded and
has updated contact information.
Contact: KSN News Release
Jonathan Whitcomb
5347 South New Hampton Dr
Murray, Utah 84123
PHONE: 801 590-9692
EMAIL FORM
PDF of this News Release
Web Page: Ropens
Blog: Live Pterosaur
For Immediate Release
LONG BEACH, Calif/KSN/Sep 13, 2011 --- A study by an American cryptozoologist
suggests that the "pterodactyl" described by the World War II veteran
Duane Hodgkinson was a real creature, of a species living in coastal areas
of Papua New Guinea. Jonathan Whitcomb, of Long Beach, California,
analyzed a videotaped testimony of Hodgkinson in 2005 and concluded
that the veteran saw, near Finschhafen, New Guinea, in 1944, the same
species of flying creature that natives of nearby Umboi Island call “ropen.”
Whitcomb had previously interviewed Hodgkinson, by phone and email,
in August of 2004, and concluded that what he had seen was probably
related to what some islanders of Umboi are reported to still see on
occasion. A few weeks after communicating with the veteran, Whitcomb
(a forensic videographer at that time) visited Umboi Island and
interviewed native eyewitnesses. He returned to the United States, in
October of 2004, convinced that one large nocturnal long-tailed pterosaur
lives on that island. After analyzing reports from another expedition that
year, he concluded that the ropen of Umboi is protecting its territory from
smaller ones of its species that live on surrounding islands.
From 2005 to 2006, he wrote of his experiences, and of eyewitness
accounts, in his nonfiction book Searching for Ropens, asserting that the
nocturnal creature of Umboi Island is a Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur,
commonly called "pterodactyl." (The third edition of the book, to be
published in 2012, will be retitled “Searching for Dragons.”)
Whitcomb disputes the idea that sightings of giant “pterodactyls” are
only misidentifications of Flying Fox fruit bats. A few years before his
2004 expedition, other Americans interviewed two Umboi Island natives
who described how one ropen held itself upright on a tree trunk; fruit bats,
on the other hand, hang upside down from branches. In addition, the
ropen is said to eat fish and to have a long tail, unlike the Flying Fox.
According to standard models of biology, all pterosaurs had become
extinct by about 65-million years ago. Although Whitcomb admits having
no photograph to disprove textbook declarations that all pterosaurs are
extinct, he disputes the idea that the ropen is a bat still undiscovered by
science. His book examines an investigation by the explorers Garth
Guessman, a Southern California firefighter; and David Woetzel, a New
Hampshire businessman. Their 2004 expedition on Umboi Island, a few
weeks after Whitcomb’s expedition, uncovered a native tradition about
the ropen’s tail: It moves only near the tail’s base. According to Guessman,
that relates to pterosaur anatomy, based upon fossil evidence.
James Blume, a Baptist missionary in Wau, on the mainland of Papua
New Guinea, has also investigated reports of the giant flying creatures.
According to his interviews with natives, the tails of the nocturnal
creatures have flanges that natives compare to eel tails. Around Manus
Island the wingspan is said to be three to four feet but in other areas may
reach ten to fifteen feet. Whitcomb’s book mentions a few ropens that are
even larger, including the one seen by Hodgkinson.
Whitcomb found no evidence of any hallucination or hoax related to the
American veteran’s account of the 1944 encounter. He also noted that the
native eyewitnesses he interviewed in Papua New Guinea mentioned no
supernatural elements (with only one exception: a native who was trying
to get paid for his testimony). Also, natives who had a clear view of the
ropen gave American cryptozoologists details similar to details given by
Hodgkinson: a large size, a long tail, and no sign of feathers.
On September 13, 2011, Whitcomb invited Hodgkinson to be interviewed
for a documentary film being produced by Christopher Maloney, to be
released in some theaters in 2012.
###
KSN News Release
Finschhafen Harbor,
Papua New Guinea
Abram of Opai Village describes
ropen appearing to be catching fish
on a reef of Umboi Island (Youtube;
interview by Jonathan Whitcomb)
Gideon Koro and six other boys
saw the giant ropen in daylight,
around 1994, as it flew over
Lake Pung on Umboi Island
(interview by Whitcomb)