Ropens Over San Diego

Flyover in Southern California was no Joke

An eyewitness in San Diego, California, reported to me a sighting of two large flying creatures, apparent ropens, that he and his friend saw flying overhead on November 4, 2011. I believe that this is no joke, that they were pterosaurs. I quote some of what he wrote to me (with spelling and other corrections):

It was about 8 pm. I was at my friend’s house. The sky was super clear. We were standing on the street. I was watching the stars when from the west came this large dark object overhead. As it got closer, we noticed its huge wingspan; each wing was about 10 to 15 ft. It was gliding right above us . . . about 40 yards above us [but he said, “thirty yards” later, in a phone interview]. I began yelling at it to get its attention. We actually were excited; we had never seen anything like it. Then it suddenly stopped and turned around. . . . Then . . . we saw another one above us. It was like it was waiting for the other one to catch up, then they both left east.

He sent me more information by email, and I phoned him two days ago, asking questions and assessing his credibility. His phone demeanor and answers led me to believe that he was telling the truth, with no sign of any hoax. What he said and did not say were highly in his favor, and I have enough experience (over the past eight years of interviews) to make a judgement. I hope to soon talk by phone with the other eyewitness.

The man did not say explicitly that there were no feathers on the flying creatures, but some of his other descriptions suggest that they were featherless. There was enough moonlight and they were close enough: The eyewitnesses had a good view, considering it was at night.

Pterodactyl Joke North of San Diego

Here is the big problem. In August, three months before the sighting in San Diego, somebody in northern San Diego County played a dramatic joke with a statue. Tourists and others found a giant model “pterodactyl” grabbing the body of a surfer (the statue). Now I find it can be practically impossible to get any newspaper reporter in San Diego County to take me seriously. Who would now believe that two giant pterodactyls had flown over San Diego?

Prehistoric flying creature lands on Cardiff surfer statue

. . . on Saturday, early-morning joggers, surfers and power walkers spotted the most elaborate redesign yet: a huge prehistoric flying creature, a pterosaur maybe, swooping down over the surfer, with a painted backdrop of a volcanic eruption for context. Also, small palm trees and two velociraptors.

Hoax Potential – Pterosaur Wingspan

No hoax or combination of hoaxes played any significant part in ninety-eight eyewitness accounts of apparent pterosaurs. Those reports came from decades of records, taken mostly from my own interviews and accounts given to me directly from eyewitnesses.