South Carolina – The Bible and Modern Pterosaurs

February 25, 2012February 25, 2012

Sightings in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina

Although pterosaur sightings are reported across the contiguous 48 states of the USA, the southeast has enough of a similarity of environment to suggest the “pterodactyls” seen in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, may be similar species or even the same species.

In mid-2010, I received the following sighting report:

Large Pterosaur in Florida

“In 1995 I was living in Pensacola Fl. I was having a yard sale, so I was in the driveway at 5 am. I saw this huge bird with bat wings, at least a 20 ft wing span, flying towards me, I just turned and ran screaming into the house. The shadow it threw covered the driveway.”

Pterosaurs in Georgia

. . . my 16 year old son and I both saw [something that] resembled a small pterodactyl. Very large wingspan, but the odd thing was it had no discernible feathers. My son saw it better than I as I was driving, albeit slowly. He said it was a leathery-looking skin. Pointed head, diamond shape at the end of the tail. It appeared to me that its legs were kind of pointed backward. Today we saw this thing again about 2 or 3 miles from the original sighting. This time my daughter aged 14 also saw it. The sighting was longer and clearer as well. My son described it as having . . . like bat wings . . . I am also very familiar with turkey vultures and this was nothing like that either. . . .

Sighting in Another Part of Georgia

[Near Winder, Georgia] . . . an animal suddenly flew from the right, just over the front of her car. Although alone, she yelled, “What the — what — what is that?” . . . Overall, the animal was tan, similar to the light brown of the local deer, and the color was uniform. . . . [From her sketch of the creature—she is a talented artist] a ridge runs along the underside of the tail. [The tail is long, with a heart-shaped structure at the end.]

Pterosaur in Clinton, South Carolina

I saw a pterosaur in Clinton, [South Carolina] when I was 15 or 16 while at a soccer camp at Presbyterian College in 1994 or 1995. . . . It was huge, as big as a plane, and looked very similar to the sketch created by Susan Wooten on your website. . . . It was the last day of camp . . . I happened to be on the side lines resting when I saw a huge pterodactyl-looking creature, flying very high in the sky. The strangest thing . . . how slow the wings were flapping and how high it was flying. Several parents who were watching the scrimmages and some of the other players on the sidelines saw the creature too. [We] watched it fly into the clouds and disappear. . . . I remember shouting “that was a pterodactyl!” . . .

sketch of pterosaur seen in South Carolina

September 27, 2010September 27, 2010

Pterosaur in Clinton, South Carolina

I received a sighting report from an eyewitness who was one of many who observed an apparent giant pterosaur as it flew high above Clinton, South Carolina, years ago. Consider his own words.

I saw a pterosaur in Clinton, SC when I was 15 or 16 while at a soccer camp at Presbyterian College in 1994 or 1995. . . . It was huge, as big as a plane, and looked very similar to the sketch created by Susan Wooten on your website. . . . It was the last day of camp . . . I happened to be on the side lines resting when I saw a huge pterodactyl-looking creature, flying very high in the sky. The strangest thing . . . how slow the wings were flapping and how high it was flying. Several parents who were watching the scrimmages and some of the other players on the sidelines saw the creature too. [We] watched it fly into the clouds and disappear. . . . I remember shouting “that was a pterodactyl!”, but everyone else that saw it around me seemed to shrug it off in disbelief. I guess that’s just human nature.

He continues to be interviewed and continues to demonstrate a level of credibility deserving attention in the cryptozoology community. Since he mentions a similarity to what is suggested by the Wooten sketch (also a sighting in South Carolina), let’s look again at this sketch, simplistic as it is.

Susan Wooten, the eyewitness in the other South Carolina pterosaur sighting, is positive about the absence of feathers on the flying creature that she observed, as it flew right in front of her car in daylight.

August 11, 2010November 26, 2011

Darren Naish in the Modern Day

I’ve written elsewhere about this paleontologist, about his extensive criticism of the concept of modern living pterosaurs (“Pterosaurs alive in, like, the modern day”). His lengthy writings, on that one page, about questionable reports—they ring like strawman arguments to me, for the credible accounts are entirely neglected by Darren Naish. I appreciate his worthy contributions to paleontology, especially in regard to pterosaur fossils; but it seems to me that he has gone far afield in wandering into cryptozoology, and he seems unaware of how serious investigations of living pterosaurs are actually progressing.

I now comment on part of a comment (by Cameron, #12) on that blog by Naish. It is dated December 24, 2007.

Mr. Whitcomb, who frequents the cryptozoology.com forum as “jdw”, now claims that there are pterosaurs in…South Carolina. Considering how many bird enthusiasts there are in this country who seem to be able to spot anything slightly unusual or out of range, that would have to be one heckofa stealthy pterosaur.

The South Carolina pterosaur sighting was by Susan Wooten, who has maintained the truthfulness of her testimony for years. The description of that giant flying creature, seen in daylight near a swamp, is hardly unique in North America, but let’s examine Cameron’s statement, to see what he insinuates and if he reasons well. We need clear thinking.

Indeed we have many bird-watchers in the United States; I presume South Carolina is no exception. Watching birds is a popular hobby, but what is entailed? Well . . . watching birds and reporting those birds. So what does that tell us about a potential sighting of a giant Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur? Well . . . nothing.

What would I do, if I were a bird-watcher who saw a giant long-tailed pterosaur? I would certainly not bother trying to look up “pterodactyl” on my report form. But what would a typical bird-watcher do? Cameron seems to have missed something important here, for bird-watchers, every one of them, are quite human. Think about it: Who wants to be called “crazy?” Who wants to be ostracized?

Have I missed something here? Cameron commented on a sighting in South Carolina and seems to have dismissed it because it was of a large pterosaur. If a bird-watcher were brave enough to report that (and who is Cameron to declare that no bird-watcher has ever done so?) why would the general public react much differently? What’s wrong with the eyewitness who actually did report that sighting in South Carolina? Why should she be a bird-watcher?

Cameron seems to have dismissed the South Carolina pterosaur sighting with, “That would have to be one heckofa stealthy pterosaur.” What is really wrong with a living creature being extremely stealthy? If it lived in a country where almost every human believed it was extinct, that creature could fly around near a swamp on rare occasions. If it was a somewhat rare nocturnal creature, it would be much easier to go unclassified except as a cryptid. And how many hunters hunt pterosaurs in any swamp? And in which swamp would they look? And what tree would they climb in that swamp? It would be a challenging hunt, for a flying creature might never leave any footprint in a swamp.

Of course Cameron may not have intended any negative reflection on Susan Wooten, but I am grateful that his comment gave me an opportunity to bring up a kind of assumption that critics don’t seem to realize is an assumption: Lack of news reports of living pterosaurs does not mean that nobody sees apparent living pterosaurs.

I don’t know if that apparent ropen was startled out of a daytime sleep and forced into the air that day in South Carolina; I suspect it was. I don’t know if it is part of a colony in that part of North America or if it happened to have wandered away from tropical Central America. I don’t know if it is extremely stealthy or just somewhat rare and almost always nocturnal. I do know, as a former forensic videographer, experienced in judging the credibility of many eyewitnesses, that Susan Wooten is a credible eyewitness. I believe she saw something at least similar to a ropen. And I believe that the ropen is a modern living pterosaur.

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