Tag: cryptozoology book

image_pdfimage_print
Posted on

In the Mouth of Three Witnesses

In II Corinthians 13:1, we read (King James Version), “In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.” We now have three nonfiction cryptozoology books, three witnesses of living pterosaurs in North America. The three authors, each with his own philosophy or religious inclination, independently wrote about sightings of apparent pterosaurs in North America, even though the three books give three different perspectives. What do they have in common? They provide readers with eyewitness accounts that clearly suggest pterosaurs are not extinct but living, even in North America. How are they different? In part, they concentrate on different sources and at least somewhat on different locations of sightings.

Let’s take a glance at these three cryptozoology books about modern living pterosaurs in North America, including some key positive reviews.

Live Pterosaurs in America (third edition) by Jonathan David Whitcomb

My third edition of Live Pterosaurs in America mentions the word “Bible” only four times, for this really is a cryptozoology book, not a religious book. Nevertheless, a few sentences mention the contributions of Biblical Creationists whose faith in the Divine preservation of species has made possible their explorations and research in the hope of the discovery of living pterosaurs. But those few sentences make up less than one percent of the book. Since writing the first edition of my first book (Searching for Ropens), I have decided to keep religious ideas mostly in religious books, not in publications that are primarily of the cryptozoology genre.

Part of one of the Amazon reviews of Live Pterosaurs in America:

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! . . . 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! (Review of second edition by StrangeDream)

Bird From Hell (second edition) by Gerald McIsaac

The author seems to have no problem with ideas about pterosaurs living millions of years ago, so I doubt that he is a Young Earth Creationist. Not every page is directly related to sightings of living pterosaurs, but the book is mostly related to sightings of apparent pterosaurs in Canada.

A five-star Amazon review of Bird From Hell, first edition:

There’s something out there and this guy knows it! Won’t be long before he finds a live specimen.

Big Bird by Ken Gerhard

Although this book is not limited to apparent pterosaurs, much of it is about possible pterosaurs in Texas. I don’t recall anything in Big Bird related to religion or the Bible, but that is not a judgement call, only an observation that living-pterosaur investigations can be done by cryptozoologists of various origin-beliefs, not just by Biblical Creationists.

One of the five-star reviews of Big Bird:

I was thoroughly intrigued by the author’s account of sightings and other evidence of the existence of these fascinating creatures. A highly enjoyable reading experience!

Religious Bias?

The scientific works of Isaac Newton are not dismissed because of his belief in the Bible; why dismiss the work of modern cryptozoologists who investigate eyewitness accounts of apparent living pterosaurs?

New Form of Living-Pterosaur Investigation

Now, at the dawn of 2012, it is becoming obvious that cryptozoological investigations of reports of living pterosaurs is no longer just a YEC quest. The eyewitness sighting reports from North America alone have resulted in three nonfiction cryptozoology books being written by three authors, apparently none of whom is a YEC Creationist, at least in the strict sense.

New Form of Living Pterosaur Investigation

Now, at the dawn of 2012, it is becoming obvious that cryptozoological investigations of reports of living pterosaurs is no longer just a YEC quest. The eyewitness sighting reports from North America alone have resulted in three nonfiction cryptozoology books being written by three authors, apparently none of whom is a YEC Creationist, at least in the strict sense.

Modern pterosaurs living in North America - three nonfiction books by three authors

Posted on

Let us be Fair to the Young Earth Creationist

For years I have worked with Young Earth Creationists in bringing to light evidence for modern living pterosaurs. For years critics have dismissed the possibility of live pterosaurs because the idea is promoted by YEC’s who believe in the Bible. This unfair approach, commonly accompanied by bulverism, now deserves attention.

Cryptozoology Book

Although the third edition (like the previous two) of Live Pterosaurs in America is not a YEC book but a cryptozoology book, it extols the accomplishments of Bible-believing Christian explorers who searched jungles in Papua New Guinea and interviewed many native eyewitnesses of flying creatures whose descriptions make them obvious candidates for living pterosaurs.

Page 111:

That multi-critic reasoning seems to have created circularity with the reputation my associates and I have in some online forums. A vicious web site includes these key words: “Creationist Claims, Fabrications, Falsehoods, Idiocy . . . Stupid Lies, hoax. . . .” The body of the web page refers to our “delusional eyes.” I find that combination of insults interesting, for one definition of “delusion” is “a false belief or opinion,” and telling a lie means communicating something contrary to what the deceiver believes: an unlikely combination.

Page 113:

We creationist living-pterosaur investigators, although mostly belonging to different churches, agree that the hand of an intelligent Creator can be recognized in the life of this world and in the life of God’s word in scripture.

Page 114:

Expeditions to find living pterosaurs have been creationist expeditions, with few exceptions. A creationist believes that God created the universe, including this world of life. (I believe earth-age is secondary, at most, notwithstanding what is written under “Ropen” on Wikipedia) Most of us who have explored tropical rain forests in Papua New Guinea, searching for pterosaur-like animals, have done so with hope that humans will find God, even if we fail to find overwhelming proof of living pterosaurs.

Page 115:

Our greatest opposition has come from outspoken critics who have been offended by our creationism. But why should those with different religious beliefs deride our efforts? Without cryptid-hunting creationists, little progress would have been made: no investigations in the southwest Pacific or in North America. Nothing would have happened; nobody else cared.

Not all Christian creationists have identical beliefs. I am one of a minority who believes in both a young life on earth (regardless of earth age) and an old universe. A common ground for Christian creationists, however, is the Biblical account of Noah: a world-wide flood. This I too believe.

Special Thanks

I now give credit to several YEC Christians who have helped me over the past nine years, helping make possible my successes in the investigation of eyewitness accounts of modern living pterosaurs. Special thanks I give to Carl Baugh, Paul Nation, Garth Guessman, David Woetzel, Peter Beach, Phillip O’Donnell. These brave men have given their names to the world, in spite of ridicule, and have searched for living pterosaurs.

I have also received special encouragement and consultation from Scott Norman, James Greene, and others who have made a positive difference in bringing the truth to light.

Young Earth Creationism Writings

I now direct attention to some writings of YEC Christians (while ignoring “Yukon Energy Corporation,” “Youth Employment Commission,” “Young Entrepreneur Club,” and “Yoga Event Calendar”). I do not necessarily agree with everything said in the following, but I feel that at least much of it deserves consideration and appreciation.

Utah’s Testimony to Catastrophe

In July 2006 I had the privilege of visiting Utah and wandering through some of the amazing geological formations there. The dry conditions and immense heat (regularly high temperatures of 100°F—about 38°C) make it harsh by European standards. . . .

. . . The apparent evidence of vast deposition followed by vast erosion speaks of catastrophic floodwaters. The ground rises dramatically on the west of the state toward south-central Utah to “younger” (in evolutionary explanations) Cenozoic formations in the regions of Cedar City and Cedar Breaks National Monument and Bryce and Zion National Parks. . . .

All over Utah there is evidence of Indian culture in the past: petroglyphs (drawings) inscribed on the rocks. Such rock art found all over Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, and other western states is not fully understood. . . .

. . . We hiked down to the bottom of the valley to see it close up, and sure enough, there were a number of fading-but-still-visible petroglyphs including one of a sauropod dinosaur. The dinosaur image was in the same style as all the other petroglyphs on the rock near Kachina bridge.

Creation of a Bacterial Cell Controlled by a Chemically Synthesized Genome

I think the media is more about sensationalized entertainment than informative reporting, but you would expect them to at least accurately report the facts somewhere in their reporting. I shouldn’t be surprise at the exaggerated claims from the popular press, except over time we have become desensitized to this misreporting and we are being collectively brainwashed to believe the popular press rather than reality.

This is why I laugh at anti-dam idiots!

Read more here: Can salmon evolve to survive among fish-killing dams? | OregonLive.com

No, I do not believe in evolution! I do believe that God gave animals the ability to adapt to survive in many environments!

Louisiana Education Legislation

In 2008 Louisiana passed the “Louisiana Science Education Act,” marking the only legislative success that creationists have had in recent times. . . . to “help students understand, analyze, critique, and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of existing scientific theories pertinent to the course being taught.”

Building the Right Foundation in Asia

“We really need to reeducate ourselves because we have always been indoctrinated with Darwin’s evolution and millions of years theories and it’s not going to be easy; we have always assumed that Discovery Channel and National Geographic is right!”  Hope you can assist to fill this vacuum.

_____________________________________________________________________

From the Introduction in the nonfiction cryptozoology book Live Pterosaurs in America (third edition; author: Jonathan David Whitcomb), we read:

During those years of expeditions in the southwest Pacific, reports in our own country became impossible to ignore; I received many emails from eyewitnesses across the United States, and the reports kept coming in. Pterosaur-like creatures are not all confined to the tropics. As we began to listen to those Americans, we noticed report-similarities: long tails (often) and apparent bioluminescence (sometimes). We began to believe.

Posted on

New Cryptozoology Book on Modern Pterosaurs

The third edition of my cryptozoology book Searching for Ropens (which will be retitled “Searching for Dragons”) should be published by around November of this year [postponed because of the publication of the third edition of Live Pterosaurs in America]. Like earlier editions, many eyewitness sightings of pterosaurs or the ropen of Papua New Guinea are included. But this new edition will be more in the cryptozoology genre rather than religious-cryptozoological. Nevertheless, it will be clear about the religious beliefs of the cryptozoologists who explored remote tropical rain forests in Papua New Guinea, searching for the elusive nocturnal flying creatures that we feel sure are modern pterosaurs.

Although the upcoming third edition will have many additions and improvements, it seems appropriate to quote a bit from the second edition.

Searching for Ropens

The investigators interviewed Dickson Nolo, a man from Mararamu Village. He saw a ropen a few days earlier, on October 22, at 10 p.m., as it flew over a beach (something like “Makopit” Beach) from the direction of Mount Tolo. Glowing brightly, the skinny creature was between two and three meters long, from nose to tail.

Before leaving this part of the island, the men found Jonah Jim, the same young man I had met south of Lake Pung a few weeks earlier. Guessman’s interview was more thorough. Jonah’s sighting, in July of 2001, between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m., revealed that the creature was flying between 500 and 550 feet high, coming from the sea and heading for Tanglup or Tolo. All six members of his family were together when the ropen, without wing flapping, flew “directly overhead.” . . . The “wingspan” was six to seven meters; tail length, two-and-a-half to three meters . . .

###

The Dangerous Kongamato

The book In Witchbound Africa (by Frank Melland) “describes it as living along certain rivers, and very dangerous, often attacking small boats, and anybody who disturbed the creature. They are typically described as either red or black in color, with a wingspan of four to seven feet.

Giant Pterosaur in New Mexico

“It had a 20-30 foot wingspan and was about the same length long. It had a long tail with [a] seeming spike at the end. Its head was very pterodactyl shape with a fluted back pointy head. It glided at about 700 feet in a westward direction . . . We watched it glide . . . and land somewhere on the southern expanse of Magdalena Mountains.”

One man, Leroy Jones, used to talk about area ranchers in the late-1800s who swore they had seen pterosaurs — reptilian and enormous and startlingly alive — swooping over the desert hills and scrub brush of New Mexico’s southwestern Boot Heel.

What is a Ropen?

The following compilations of eyewitness testimonies [about ropens] and second-hand accounts, are supplemented by the conclusions of Jonathan Whitcomb. It seems that at least two types of long-tailed modern pterosaurs live in the Southwest Pacific, although there may be sub-species variations. Reports of smaller creatures (under three meters wingspan) in the Manus Island area of Papua New Guinea might be juveniles of the same species as the larger creatures to the south.

An Evolutionary Boundary

This simulation is with a hypothetical planet with at least the water content of the earth. Beginning with simple one-celled organisms (relying on sunlight for energy) as the only life forms, simulations are made on the growths of sub-populations. These groups are characterized by several general types of non-harmful mutations. They are categorized by the general effects of those mutations. . . .

Evolutionary Boundary Conclusions:

These simulations have been done using the assumption that increases in the useful-information content of DNA might result in evolutionary creation of a multi-cellular structure absent in the ancestors. I know of no evidence for any such case in the real world. The simulations show that should such increases occur in nature, within a very large sample of competing organisms natural selection would eliminate those organisms that might show potential for major evolutionary change. Should any such potential changes occur in a smaller environment, the plausibility is even weaker.

Post on the Evolutionary Boundary

“An Evolutionary Boundary” involves simple math, for a biologically saturated environment is the normal condition to be expected, and the population calculations are simple. I’ll get to the point. After about six months of calculations, using computer programs I wrote myself, the original population of organisms of 10e29 (the number having “1″ followed by twenty-nine zeros), after only a few generations, had only a minute fraction of viable candidates for macro-evolutionary change. But the critical point is this: Those competitive populations that did not have any macro-evolutionary potential vastly outnumbered those that did, and their competitiveness was at least equal to the “Darwinian” candidates.

My investigations of reports of living pterosaurs (including the ropen of Papua New Guinea) came after I had completed my Evolutionary Boundary study, for I then had scientific evidence, clear mathematical evidence, against Darwin’s General Theory of Evolution.

___________________________________________________________________

cover of nonfiction cryptozoology book "Live Pterosaurs in America"Third edition of the nonfiction book Live Pterosaurs in America

From an Amazon review of the second edition (“stevie”): “. . . this author has really done a lot of work researching this issue. . . . the author tried hard to deliver these stories and was very good at it. This is well written and very hard to put down.”

From another Amazon review of the second edition: “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! . . . 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!” (“StrangeDream” awarded five stars out of five on Amazon.com)

From a reader of a preliminary version of the third edition: “. . . there is something here for everyone, whether you are a child or adult . . . once you start reading it you won’t want to put it down . . . based on years of research it is that much more amazing and awe inspiring. Out of five stars I’ll give it all five” (Isaac Elekom, Milwaukee, Wisconsin)

From a reader of the first edition: “He has focused on the accounts of witnesses who saw something, and that adds credibility. The writing is easy to read and he adds comments and analysis to make it all more useful. Mostly, the author lets the sightings speak for themselves, which is good. A worthwhile book.” (Red Rabbit, Cleveland, Ohio, awarded the book five stars out of five)

Posted on

Science and Clear Thinking

“The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite insane.” I believe Nikola Tesla was thinking clearly when he said that. I also believe that we need clear thinking in the scientists of today, at least as much as in the time of Tesla. It appears to me difficult to define, although its opposite appears easy to expose. Perhaps we should be grateful for extremes that help us to distinguish between foggy and clear thinking. I suggest a couple of examples.

A few years ago, a critic of living-pterosaurs investigations appeared offended that I had, on one of my own web pages, included a link to a creationist site; he demanded that I remove that link, insinuating that I should not be taken seriously because of that link. I now suggest that those who can be offended by such a thing should consider this: Bias is not necessarily confined to those who disagree with you.

I later found a site produced by another critic; he used the words “lies” and “stupid” in his URL, with the content of his site ridiculing me and my associates. Not to repeat much of the content, I simply refer to part of it: He declared that “John Whitcomb” had been sponsored by Carl Baugh and led a group of creationists in an expedition in Africa; I have never gone by the name of “John,” have never been sponsored by Carl Baugh for anything, have never led any group of creationists on any expedition anywhere, and have never set foot in Africa.

Regarding his URL, I have told the truth, not lies; I hope that he was simply ignorant of my intentions. I make no comment about “stupid,” although I sometimes admit that my general intelligence may be inferior to that of some of my readers and my education may seem less impressive than that of some of my critics (not, it seems, this one), but let’s return to “clear thinking,” for that is the subject.

I admit this subject cries for me to dig more deeply and learn more about human thinking, but one thing is obvious: We need to listen to each other, regardless of previous disagreements and regardless of differing labels. Truth can be found in the thoughts of those appearing to be most ignorant and foolish. Even my own most vehement critic did reveal some truth about me: My last name is “Whitcomb” and I am active in promoting the concept of modern living pterosaurs; this critic may have actually helped promote awareness of the case for living pterosaurs.

By the way, I did explore a remote island in Papua New Guinea (north of Australia) in 2004. I traveled to P.N.G. alone and found an interpreter on the mainland, before taking a small ship to Umboi Island. I interviewed many eyewitnesses of the ropen. My associates and I are convinced that this nocturnal flying creature is a modern Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur.

My critic may have confused Papua New Guinea with a small country in Western Africa. He may also have confused me with John C. Whitcomb who wrote The Genesis Flood many years ago. He may also have been confused by my assistance from Paul Nation, who was once a close associate of Carl Baugh. He may also have been confused about the two expeditions of 2004, for the second one was led by two American creationists and they followed my expedition by only a few weeks.

After I had replied to this web site, stating the inaccuracies, changes were made, including the correct spelling of my name: “Jonathan Whitcomb.” The newer page mentions nothing about my being in Africa. I appreciate that correction.

But many other inaccuracies were added, related to sightings and the living-pterosaur investigations. For example, the two indava lights videotaped by Paul Nation in 2006 were compared with high-speed UFO’s (the two lights were actually sitting motionless on the top of a nearby ridge). The critic mentioned those videotaped lights “flying in the sky above the peaks of volcanoes located on Umboi Island created by creationists possessing fake credentials.” (I suspect he was trying too hard to cram too many criticisms into one sentence.) At any rate, the videotaped lights were on the mainland of Papua New Guinea, nowhere near Umboi Island. I’m afraid that the critic has a problem with clear thinking, for he still tends to become confused.

I don’t know why this critic uses the words “lies” and “stupid” for me and my associates; I assume that it is also from some kind of confusion.

More: objective evaluation of eyewitness reports and the nonfiction book Live Pterosaurs in America (published by Createspace; written by Jonathan David Whitcomb) This is a cryptozoology book.

Objective interview methods of Guessman & Woetzel (2nd Umboi Island expedition of 2004)

“Objective Ministries” is a parody or hoax. The university is nonexistent. There’s no “objectiveministries.”