I’ve received many emails, over the past nine years, regarding apparent pterosaurs in Southern California. This deserves a brief overview, before we consider those sightings that surround that huge city park: Griffith Park in Los Angeles. But let’s confine ourselves to just a few sightings in Southern California.
High school soccer field in Southern California, 2004
I did not interview the eyewitness, so this is of limited value. It’s from an old book-of-thoth page, in the cryptozoology section (and the original page lacked the name of the eyewitness):
. . . a large bird-like creature, silhouetted against the sky, was sighted flying over suburban residences. . . . the flying creature reported had a wingspan of around twenty-five feet.
Desert in Anza Borrego state park, about 1987
I’ll let the pterosaur eyewitness tell this in her own words but I’ll summarize:
We did four-wheel-drive everywhere we went in the three days we were out there. We would pack our provisions and head out at dawn and would not return to base until close to sundown. . . .
The day we saw the animal I believe we were somewhere between Old Kane Springs and the Badlands. . . . it was soaring along the side of a plateau not far from us. We [knew] what it looked like. In fact I remember saying, “. . . That looks just like a Taradactyl.” My friend looked in the binoculars and said it looked like one but it had to be a kite or something because they were extinct.
What I saw was large and very much alive. . . . It’s skin, I say skin because there were no feathers. The skin looked like dull leather sort of dusty looking. It seemed to soar like a large raptor. The back of the head was pointed.
Altadena, California, around 1968
This pterosaur sighting is unique to me, for my sister and I knew the person involved, at the time of the sighting, when we were all teenagers. I was unprepared to objectively consider the girl’s experience at that time, but I am older and wiser now.
The wingspan was the length of a bus. The dark-colored creature flew “straight up” and over a mountain ridge north of Pasadena, near the corner of Altadena Drive and Allen Avenue.
Pterosaur Sighting in Modesto
In the words of the eyewitness (spelling corrections):
The one I saw was the size of a Doberman, but with large wings and dull black, no feathers or fur. Its tail was almost as long as its body . . . It turned and looked right at me, while in mid-flight, not more than . . . about 100 – 150 ft away from me. . . . it flew from a forested area (dry creek) which is nestled right in the middle of Modesto . . . over to a cemetery.
Orange County, California, 1989
Good afternoon,
I came across numerous websites with your name on them today while looking up pictures of pterosaurs. Two of my co-workers were having a conversation yesterday about the earth not being billions of years old as many atheists and science-types believe. This prompted my search for pictures this afternoon, which then prompted me to write you an e-mail regarding a pterosaur sighting I had in 1989. . . .
. . . Coming from Santa Ana, we [boy of about seven years old and his father] took the 55 South to the 405 North to the Bristol exit. . . . I looked up to see what the hold-up was. Bristol St. was congested, which meant that the 405 North was congested. After another moment that felt like minutes (could have easily been about 15 seconds), I looked up again at traffic and there was no change. Some movement further up in the air caught my attention. My jaw dropped.
Soaring in the sky without flapping its wings was a flying creature. It may have been about 500 feet from our car . . . Its wingspan seemed to be about 8-12 feet. Its color was a dark brown . . . The legs did not seem very long and it had a tail
about the length of its body from the torso to the top of its head. . . . There were no feathers or plumage, but its skin was not smooth – it looked like rough leather. . . . At the end of its tail was triangular, almost like a cartoonish devil’s tail.
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Pterosaur Sightings Near Griffith Park
“Three Dragons” over I-5 Freeway (March 3, 2013)
This morning at about 6am I saw three “dragons” flying over the 5-North freeway between Griffith Park and Glendale. They appeared to be several feet long, with a head:body:tail ratio that was certainly not that of a bird. Their wings were long, angular and pointed and their tails had triangular points.
“Pterosaur” over I-5 Freeway (May 13, 2013)
I’m almost positive what I saw fly over the freeway in Los Angeles WAS NOT a bird of any kind. and matches the exact descriptions of a pterosaur except for the tail. I didn’t actually look for a tail. I was too in shock by the head crest and the wings.
Comparing the two Sightings Near Griffith Park
Both observations involved a lady alone in a vehicle in a northbound lane of the Interstate-5 Freeway between Griffith Park and Glendale. Both eyewitnesses sent me an email soon after a sighting. Both believed no bird misidentification was involved.
The first sighting was of three flying creatures soaring or gliding at 6:10 a.m.; the second, one flying creature soaring or gliding at 4:00 p.m. The first involved a flight direction of south; the second, northeast.
The first eyewitness saw long thin tails with structure at tail ends of the three creatures; the second took no notice of that, for she was concentrating on the head.
The first sighting involved a viewing angle that prevented noticing the presence or absence of a head crest; the second sighting involved an observation of a head crest.
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Dragons Flying over Los Angeles?
Twice in the first five months of 2013 has an eyewitness reported something like a pterosaur or dragon flying over Los Angeles, both times over the I-5 between Griffith Park and Glendale. Those two sightings were less than two miles apart, near the Los Angeles River . . .
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Modern Pterosaur in California
A lady in her backyard in Lakewood, California, had no desire to see a “dragon pterodactyl” when she walked out from under her gazebo, at 11:45 a.m., on June 19, 2012, but that’s what she saw. Yell at your dog for barking too much, but beware of the ropen that may be perched on the telephone cable, eighteen feet from your forehead. Sometimes dogs bark for a reason.
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“Dragon-Pterodactyl” Living in California
A 38-year-old woman in a residential neighborhood of Lakewood, California, just northeast of Long Beach, reported a “dragon-pterodactyl” that had no feathers but a long tail with a “dragon” “triangle” at the of that tail.
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