By the living-pterosaur investigator Jonathan Whitcomb
Years ago, some skeptics speculated that reports of the ropen of Papua New Guinea came from people misidentifying the common fruit bats found there. Those critics, however, appear to have failed to take into account exactly what people report observing: something much larger and looking much different.
I received an email, in August of 2009, from a native of Papua New Guinea. Here is most of it, slightly edited into more standard English:
Hi my name is Rex Yapi. I’m a 2nd Year Business Accounting Student at the PNG University of Technology in Lae City.
I just want to remind you of the current sighting of the dragon named Ropen. I was on an out board motor as early as 9 am when we saw a giant creature floating along the coast line near Bunsil Bay. Its body was submerged under the sea but its tail was emerged. I saw that its tail is about 6-7 meters long with sharp diamond shape. It was an awesome scenerio and I started pointing to the others towards the object. It was floating 10 meters away from the boat and its color was
brownish-dark without any form of hair.
Being in fear, we stopped the boat to let it pass by. Later I was told that, Bunsil Bay Coast Line up the Goosh River is the normal route which Ropen takes when it’s coming into Umboi Island from the mainland of PNG. It could not fly during sunlight hours so it has to at least swim and come into the island.
I wish I had a camera at that time because it was a frightening scene. Right now I’m looking for a camera to monitor this beast. I’m planning to take shots basing along the coastline in early hours between 5:00-6:00 am.
In addition, some of my relatives also spotted it a month ago.
Expeditions on Umboi Island
Rex got in touch with Luke Paina, who was my interpreter and body guard during my two-week expedition on Umboi Island (Siasi) in 2004. Yet other Americans have explored that tropical island, searching for the ropen, and other natives have guided them in their expeditions.
Expeditions there have included these (but not limited to them):
In the 1990’s, several Americans searched for the elusive ropen of Umboi, including Carl Baugh, Jim Blume, and Paul Nation. In 2004, I spent two weeks there searching for this apparent nocturnal pterosaur, but my success was in the interviews I was fortunate to get with important eyewitnesses, for I was not able to see the animal itself. A few weeks later, two other Americans, Garth Guessman and David Woetzel explored on Umboi, much of it being in other parts of the island than I had been in.
For several months now, as of early June of 2018, Rex Yapi Epa (the same native who wrote the eyewitness report near the top of this post), has been on an expedition with several other natives of PNG, as they have searched for the ropen. Yesterday was the official prayer day for their success, although I will continue to pray for them. They need to get good photographs of the ropen.
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Rex (left, with camera) and other expedition team members
I don’t know of anyone who has disputed the reality of my expedition on Umboi Island in 2004, but a few skeptics have tried to pin the label “deception” on me and my associates or on those we have interviewed, and many Westerners have a tendency to come to disbelieve in historical events as time carries us further away from the past.
Three Americans explored a tropical rain forest in Papua New Guinea, within the past few weeks, and two of them succeeded in observing an apparent living pterosaur. That’s better than the previous ten expeditions, over the past 21 years, at least in regard to direct observations of a flying creature . . .
The following are the words of a native of Papua New Guinea. He will begin leading an expedition, we hope within a few weeks, on Umboi Island. The ropen search will probably last longer than any previous living-pterosaur expedition ever conducted in this area of the world.
Be aware that what follows are answers to specific questions regarding health precautions for expedition members, videotaping times, and getting local village permission to search particular jungle locations.
Also be aware that not all of these plans and ideas are necessarily completely what I would agree with or with what my own priorities would be if I were leading a ropen expedition on Umboi Island. With that said, I expect that this native will have more success than I had when I searched for ropens on that tropical island.
1: Health=health & safety are paramount issues in any field related physical or chemical tasks. Thus, my boys have to know how to get right dose based on prescriptions. So 4 able young men who have a fair bit of education will be entrusted to do this job in 4 different expedition camps. THERE ARE MANY PRIMARY AND HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUTS IN TARAWE VILLAGE ON UMBOI ISLAND, WHO WILL BE NOMINATED TO DO THIS JOB.
Tropical jungle diseases like malaria, cold, fever and flu are common and their symptoms are quit easy to detect and will direct the boys on what drugs to take for cure.
Remember, any serious casualties and serious illnesses which we can not interpret will be referred straight to German built health center to Finchaffen across Vitiaz Strait through rough seas. If that referral needs serious medical treatment or operation, then the patient will be transported further to Lae city on the same speed boat.
2: Filming times=
(i) At dawn a close watch is essential. It starts at 4:30 am till 5:30 am when sun comes up. Within this 1 hour period is the time birds wake up from their nests and sing. This is the crucial time when Ropen has always been seen to fly over tree canopies from one place to another. Timing of 6:30 am – 7:30 am are to be considered too because anything can happen within this time frame as jungle darkness will be evident by tree canopies and mountain clouds and fogs cover.
(ii) at dusk all cameras will be manned vigilantly at 5:45 pm-7:00 pm because this is the period Ropen is hungry and would want to feed on anything edible. Locals believe that this is the time it returns to its home from hunting trips from place to place. 4:30 am-5:45 am is on crucial watching time too because of cloud covers that make jungles gloomy and dark too quickly. REMEMBER, ROPEN HAS A CHARACTERISTIC THAT FAVOURS THESE TIMINGS.
(iii) daylight filming is 100% on because anything can pop up during day. But occasionally, chances of filming Ropen during daylight is slim.
(iv) Camera flash lights are vital. Greg Hedger’s Panasonic Full HD camcorder (5.1 inch, 29.8 mm wide and 20.4 mega pixel) has potential to do this night vision job. I need 4 digital cameras with flash lights that will support this camcorder. At least 4 Canon cameras with 10.0 mega pixels will do. EVIDENTLY NO STILL CAMERAS TO AFFORD SO WILL EMPLOY NATIVES TO USE JUNGLE KNOWLEDGE ON HOW TO AMBUSH AND HUNT WILD ANIMALS DURING HUNTING BY HIDING HUMAN SCENT AND TRACES THAT WILL SCARE ITS APPROACH FOR BAIT THAT WILL LURE IT.
3: Permission for Sacred Sites=It is a MUST THING. I have to get special permissions to film and I have to do it because without release I might face obstacles. Some of these taboo grounds got human bones that are used for spiritual worships.
Bones are remainants of grave yard dug by ropen for its food. Taboo sites are attached with evil spells. Traditionally, if someone trespasses without permissions, he/she faces death. TO CATER FOR ANY OPPOSITION FROM CUSTOMARY LAND LORDS, I GOT TO PAY SOME MONEY TO MAKE EASY ACCESS TO THESE SPIRITUALLY POSSESSED ZONES. SO JUNGLE JUSTICE IS EVIDENT ON UMBOI ISLAND TERRAINS.
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Near Lab Lab on Umboi Island, Papua New Guinea (2004 expedition by Whitcomb)
Just weeks after my 2004 expedition on Umboi Island, the cryptozoologists Garth Guessman and David Woetzel interviewed Umboi native eyewitnesses with systematic interview forms . . .
How often we’ve been taught that all dinosaurs and pterosaurs became extinct millions of years ago, as if that were proven! But what if some are still living?
With the Christmas gift-giving season approaching, I offer the following three nonfiction books that I have written, each of them about evidences for non-extinct pterosaurs, what many Westerners call “pterodactyls.”
Whichever spelling you choose, it refers to a pterosaur.
This seems a good day to acknowledge the cryptozoological contributions of my associates who have searched for the ropen of Papua New Guinea. I quote from the second edition of my book Searching for Ropens:
. . . the pioneering investigations of Jim Blume, Carl Baugh, and Paul Nation illuminated the path for my own investigation in Papua New Guinea; the 2004 follow-through of Garth Guessman, David Woetzel, and Jacob Kepas filled in the gaps of previous expeditions, amplifying and supplementing the successes of those of us preceding them; the generosity of Alex Aguila made possible the 2006 expedition of Paul Nation, whose exploring of a remote area verified the location of many of the creatures (and he brought back the first visual images to the United States; the veracity of the images and testimonies were proven through the work of two physicists: Clifford Paiva and Harold Slusher); the eyewitness testimonies of natives, Australians, and an American veteran, contributed priceless evidence; the love of my wife and three daughters strengthened me to leave the comforts of home; the prayers of family, friends, and other Americans were answered when I found Luke Kenda, who became my interpreter, bodyguard, and counselor.
Intelligent ghost lights, even when we use “ghost lights” loosely, can put us out on a limb. Almost nobody wants to jump on that bandwagon on jump onto the back of a giant pterodactyl that might bite off ones head. College professors, in particular, feel vulnerable should they suggest intelligent modern pterosaurs are glowing at night in southwest Texas.
I also mentioned the possibility that some of the Marfa Lights in Texas are the bioluminescence of nocturnal flying creatures that may be related to the ropen of Papua New Guinea. I mentioned how the light splittings and rejoinings may be large flying creatures hunting the Big Brown Bat at night.
The ropen of Umboi Island [Papua New Guinea] flies out to a reef on many nights of the month. It may have a varied diet, but the second expedition of 2004 turned up eyewitness evidence that the creature carrys heavy giant clams up into the island interior to eat.
Mentioned in the Old Testament as deadly to the Israelites who had recently escaped Egypt, the “fiery flying serpent” has been assumed, by some people in modern times, to have been a species of venomous snake that strikes as if it were flying into the air, and “fiery” has been interpreted as a description of the burning pain from its bite. But this approach judges two words technically incorrect and only one correct: not literally fiery, not literally flying, but a literal snake. Could the actual animal be more like the reverse? I believe so. Please consider recent research and investigations (1).
Problems with the “snake” interpretation — Consider Pterosaur
Consider some problems with the “snake” interpretation. In our modern technical world, we are struck by an ancient Hebrew phrase. “Fiery flying serpent,” directly interpreted, appears unconnected with any living thing, or at least unclassified by modern standard biology as living at the time of Moses. Some Bible scholars have assumed that a story of anything like a flying fire-breathing dragon could not have come from any real animal. Thus, to avoid a strange direct interpretation, we’ve been fed indirect meanings for “fiery” and “flying.”
If the Israelites had been attacked by an animal well known to us, with a clear label, we would feel no need for oblique interpretations. And if we were always humble enough to admit that our modern science might not include knowledge of every dangerous animal encountered by ancient Israelites, we would feel no need for continuous obliqueness.
An oblique response can lead to unintentional injury to reasoning. If a human who was bitten by a snake felt like the wound was burning, why label the snake with that sensation? It seems to me much more likely that “fiery” refers to something like fire in the animal, for that is what is being labeled: It is the animal.
And why label any snake with “flying?” So many better descriptions come to mind for an animal that might ambush, surprise, or terrorize its victims from the ground. Warriors in battle might be described as “flying” upon their enemies, but there is no doubt about that meaning. A non-human that flies has wings, so let’s consider that possibility. And, if I have been informed correctly, the original Hebrew relates to a back-and-forth or up-and-down motion, like the flight of a bird. It fits with a battle where swords constantly swing back-and-forth or up-and-down; it does not fit with a single forward-motion strike of a snake.
Two writers, Ronald P. Millett and John P. Pratt, have done extensive research under the traditional assumptions, including the idea that the strike of a venomous snake would cause that snake to be labeled “flying.” But that comes, I believe, from a far-less-obvious deeper assumption, one that is buried too deeply to be noticed by most researchers (buried deeper than any snake in the sand): the assumption that all Rhamphorhynchoid (2) pterosaurs became extinct before the time of Moses.
Whatever the species (long-tailed pterosaur or true snake), we need to remember that God sent those animals among the Israelites for a purpose. The people did not just happen to walk through venomous-snake territory at that time; they were being tested or disciplined by God. Of course we should avoid any argument about what species of animal is involved. But something more important deserves our attention here, and it deserves further reasoning.
Another problem with the snake interpretation strikes me to the heart. What is the usual symbolism here? Who does the snake usually represent in the Old and New Testament? Satan, of course. Does it seem likely that a true serpent would be used to symbolize Jesus Christ? If the “fiery flying serpent” were a snake, Moses would have killed one of them and dragged the dead snake on the ground, to symbolize God’s victory over Satan. He would not have given the Israelites the symbol for Satan, to look up to a common snake for healing or salvation.
I suggest that the symbolic source of salvation, held up by Moses for the people to see, had no close resemblance to the animal used by Satan to tempt Adam and Eve and cause the fall of humans in the Garden of Eden.
A better symbol for Jesus Christ
Unless I am greatly mistaken, the form that Moses held up on a pole resembled what is symbolically and literally higher than any lowly snake. It was an animal that could never be mistaken for a regular snake, and that difference is shown by two words: “fiery” and “flying.” Those two words symbolically put Jesus Christ higher than Satan, for to the power of flight (with wings) is added the glory of light.
A winged creature that glows
A more direct interpretation (normal meaning of most words), strange as it may appear, is of a winged creature that only somewhat resembles a snake, and it appears to burn or give off a fire. Critical new information has come to light in recent years, making a significant case for a non-snake that looks just enough like a snake for the ancient Hebrews to use “serpent” as part of its name. This long-tailed animal flies while glowing with bioluminescence (3).
In 2003, I began studying eyewitness accounts of strange flying creatures in Papua New Guinea. As a forensic (legal) videographer, I had produced day-in-the-life and settlement documentaries for attorneys, and had an eye for witness credibility in video recordings. I was greatly impressed by the videotaped testimonies of natives on Umboi Island (4), where the name for a large nocturnal flying creature is “ropen” (not to be confused with “byung,” which refers to the Flying Fox fruit bat).
Ropen Expeditions in Papua New Guinea
By late-2004, I had interviewed three Western eyewitnesses who had seen giant pterosaur-like animals flying in the southwest Pacific. They confirmed to me what I had learned from the videotaped interviews of natives of Umboi: Giant pterosaurs live in Papua New Guinea and Australia. I explored (5) Umboi Island before the end of the year and interviewed many natives. I returned to the United States convinced that “ropen,” “indava,” and “wawanar” refer to the same kind of giant nocturnal flying creature, perhaps even the same species. Descriptions strongly suggest a Rhamphorhynchoid (long-tailed) pterosaur. Amazing!
Also amazing is the bioluminescence, for many (if not all) of these large nocturnal flying creatures seem to control a bright glow that helps them catch fish or other food on reefs. On Umboi Island, it appears that one dominant ropen moves from one reef to another, around the island, on various nights. It shines brightly for five to six seconds, apparently just before landing (perhaps another purpose for the glow: to help it to land safely). It has been seen by many islanders and by a few Western visitors.
The bioluminescence of modern ropens may cause natives of Papua New Guinea to associate the creatures with fire. This may also have caused the ancient Israelites to label a similar creature with “fiery.” These more-direct interpretations of “fiery” and “flying” suggest that we interpret “serpent” indirectly: only somewhat like a venomous long-tail snake. (Yes, there is a case for Rhamphorhynchoid venom, cryptozoological though it may be.)
But why would the people of Moses label a winged creature with a name that included “serpent?” Consider a long-tailed lizard. Even with flaps of skin that allow gliding down from a tree, flying lizards have four legs, allowing that kind of animal to run on the ground. It is even less like a (long-tailed) Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur. And what “flying” lizard could kill with venom? “Serpent” pulls out any feather-association of birds, inserts a snake-like tail, and injects venom into the association. For a living thing that flies, that one word gives us three attributes, not bad for one word, notwithstanding the animal itself seems to have been a non-snake, according to modern technical classification.
Having raised many reptiles in my younger years, I understand the fascination some modern biologists have with true snakes. But I think it is too much, for even the skinniest snake, to ask it to fly through this narrow flaming hoop, the traditional and apparently safe interpretation. We need to examine more closely “flying” and “fiery.”
After my expedition on Umboi Island, I met an American who had explored another area of Papua New Guinea a few years earlier. He had also searched for this creature in a remote jungle and, like me, had failed to see one. But he interviewed an old man whose nephew had died after being attacked by a glikioik (pronounced glee-key-oh-eek) . The flying creature had followed the man as he carried the boy to a clinic, but before they had arrived (the creature having given up the pursuit), unfortunately, the boy went into convulsions and died. The uncle told my associate that his nephew had no obvious wound or injury on the body.
If this story of the attack by a glikioik were all we had about the dangers of strange flying creatures, I could doubt. But there are other accounts of human death from large flying creatures in Papua New Guinea (6). In addition, we have non-Biblical ancient accounts of dangerous flying creatures in northern Africa and in what is now called the “Middle East.” All these suggest that the ancient Israelites had encountered venomous Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaurs. The Israelites may have named them with “serpent” because, with wings folded up while at rest, the creatures with long tails may have somewhat resembled serpents.
The best-selling non-fiction cryptozoology book that has a special emphasis on sightings of apparent pterosaurs—that is Live Pterosaurs in America, third edition (usually at a discount on Amazon).
