Late in 2006, deep in the mainland interior of Papua New Guinea, Paul Nation (of Texas) and Jacob Kepas (of PNG) observed the indavas repeatedly. The nocturnal flying creatures appeared to be like the ropen of Umboi Island, glowing at night with apparent intrinsic bioluminescence. Paul recorded two of the lights with his video camcorder and the footage was later analyzed by a physicist, confirming that the lights were not from any car headlights, flashlights, meteors, airplanes, camp fires, or paste-on hoax. It was the first physical evidence (for modern living pterosaurs) brought back to the United States from Papua New Guinea.
But this remote mountainous area around Tawa village is inaccessible by road. How did the two cryptozoologists get there? They were flown there by the Baptist missionary James Blume. It was not the first time, however, that Blume had assisted Christian cryptozoologists.
Two years earlier, as Americans David Woetzel and Garth Guessman were in Lae (Papua New Guinea) preparing to explore Umboi Island, Jim and Mary Blume (along with Pastor Jacob Kepas) met with them. Mary and Garth interviewed Kepas, who had witnessed, as a child, a glowing seklo-bali that had flown over his village. Jim arranged for the flight that Woetzel, Guessman and Kepas later took to Umboi.
Jim Blume had previously helped Carl Baugh and Paul Nation, with expeditions on Umboi Island. This missionary and plane pilot has made major contributions, from 1994 (or earlier) to at least 2007, to the investigations of living pterosaurs in Papua New Guinea. Thank you, Jim, for your wonderful help.
Strange Flying Creatures and Bulverism (a reply to the critic Glen Kuban)
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Late in 2006, Pastor Jacob Kepas was interviewed by Paul Nation, in a hut in Tawa Village, deep in the mountainous interior of the mainland of Papua New Guinea. Kepas had recently climbed up a hill adjacent to a cliff where some of the nocturnal flying creatures sleep during the day. He was accompanied by a local villager who confirmed that what was on that cliff was indeed an indava, the creature that glows at night.
During the videotaped interview, Kepas and his guide described how they had observed the sleeping winged creature. They had tried to videotape it from the hill they had climbed, but the resulting footage was poor, perhaps from a combination of inexperience of the camera operators and the distance involved (Kepas was observing it through binoculars). But even with binoculars, Kepas had been uncertain that it was the creature that they sought until his guide climbed up higher for a better view, confirming that it was an indava.
But that was not the first time that Kepas had observed a strange flying creature. When he was a boy, in another area of the mainland of Papua New Guinea, he had seen a seklo-bali as the glowing creature had flown overhead. Researchers believe that the seklo-bali, ropen, and indava may be closely related or even the same species of bioluminescent flying creature, apparently living pterosaurs.
Regarding the objectiveness of Kepas, in his 2006 sighting of what was identified as an indava, consider this: Kepas himself voiced his uncertainty that what he was observing was the creature that they had sought; the distance and viewing angle made identification difficult. After the other man had climbed higher, obtaining a better viewing angle, it was confirmed to be an indava. This confirms that Kepas is capable of objectiveness in his observations, for he did not force a conclusion when the conditions were inadequate for certainty.
In this 2006 expedition, Nation and Kepas were flown into the remote mountainous area by missionary pilot Jim Blume, who has been a great help, for many years, in living-pterosaur investigations.
See also “Fight With a Kor in Northern Papua New Guinea”
How easy it is to snatch at anything that seems to support ones view! Galileo snatched hold of a tidal hypothesis that he hoped would be evidence for the Copernican model (sun-centered solar system); it was wrong. More recently, one living-pterosaur investigator tried to shore up the story of what I call the “Tunnel Pterodactyl.” It now seems obvious that signs of a hoax outweigh anything that may be said in favor of that story. But tunnel vision can be seen in the investigations and research of scientists and cryptozoologists of all fields and philosophies. Galileo’s mistake about tides does not mean that the sun revolves around the earth.
I recently came to the conclusion that the Naga Fireballs of the Mekong River (Southeast Asia) are probably the bioluminescent glow of large insects. I briefly researched a few reports of these glowing orbs with hope that they may be related to the kor of Northern Papua New Guinea or the ropen of Umboi Island. It now appears to be no close connection except that there is another not-yet-classified bioluminescent creature, a cryptid awaiting to graduate from cryptozoology into zoology.
Maintaining the quality of objectiveness in our investigations requires constant vigilance, regardless of how deeply we believe in the foundation of our work.
See also Objectiveness in Cheesman Sightings
Strange Flying Creatures and Bulverism
“Objective Ministries” seems to be a parody, and there is no such organization: “objectiveministries”
