This is an ongoing series about explorer and spelunker, Ken Gentry, and his many encounters with amazing wonders and mysteries on and in our planet.
Pterosaurs are considered a kind of flying reptile, relative to the dinosaurs, that flew the skies in the era of dinosaurs up to 66 million years ago. Their time on earth was around 150 million years prior to that. They came in any size from a F-16 plane to a paper airplane.
Today, "ropen" are seen around the world and thought to still exist in certain areas from the South Pacific to the Americas from South America all the way up to the Western United States.
Ken Gentry shared that about 10 years ago at the Woodlake Rodeo Grounds in Woodlake, California, a man preparing the animals for the rodeo, along with 20 other people, witnessed what appeared to be a pterodactyl flying overhead.
A friend of Ken's was gathering wood in Squaw Valley for some firewood for his home. He saw one leave out of a crevice in a tree. It had a 10-12 feet wingspan.
Ken's best guess on the pterosaurs seen is that there was downsizing of them after the age of the dinosaurs, much like crocodiles and alligators. He sees these locations and thinks it's absolutely possible for such a thing to still exist and go generally unnoticed.
There is an old abandoned house in that area. The people moved out of the house and into a trailer while they work on renovation. They thought their barn was haunted and then one time a pterosaur was seen flying out of it at daybreak. It was viewed from 200 feet away. The barn hadn’t been used for 60-70 years.
The men wanted to get permission to check out the potential pterosaur hiding place in the barn, but the realtors were trying to sell the land and not amenable. They did manage to hike around the area to look for clues.
These pterosaurs are described by witnesses as having translucent wings, making them hard to see. They are said to have a somber tone, nothing bright or flashy to attract the eye. This is interesting, as we do not know much about ancient pterosaurs. They may have been much more bat-like, perhaps even utilizing sonar.
There have been numerous pterosaurs reported between Orange Cove in Squaw Valley and San Joaquin Valley. They are said to live in trees, caves, even the underside of bridges. Most sightings report them walking on knuckles and drinking from creeks.
In helping some bat experts find obscure caves in the Sierras looking for a rare bat, Ken and the men went over pterosaur reports and evidence. They covered an area from Central Sierra Nevada east of Bakersfield, Lake Isabella, Sonora and beyond. All told, that was 10 million acres. The search went on for years and the conclusion was that conditions were ideal.
Let's review some witness reports -
Today, "ropen" are seen around the world and thought to still exist in certain areas from the South Pacific to the Americas from South America all the way up to the Western United States.
Ken Gentry shared that about 10 years ago at the Woodlake Rodeo Grounds in Woodlake, California, a man preparing the animals for the rodeo, along with 20 other people, witnessed what appeared to be a pterodactyl flying overhead.
A friend of Ken's was gathering wood in Squaw Valley for some firewood for his home. He saw one leave out of a crevice in a tree. It had a 10-12 feet wingspan.
Ken's best guess on the pterosaurs seen is that there was downsizing of them after the age of the dinosaurs, much like crocodiles and alligators. He sees these locations and thinks it's absolutely possible for such a thing to still exist and go generally unnoticed.
There is an old abandoned house in that area. The people moved out of the house and into a trailer while they work on renovation. They thought their barn was haunted and then one time a pterosaur was seen flying out of it at daybreak. It was viewed from 200 feet away. The barn hadn’t been used for 60-70 years.
The men wanted to get permission to check out the potential pterosaur hiding place in the barn, but the realtors were trying to sell the land and not amenable. They did manage to hike around the area to look for clues.
These pterosaurs are described by witnesses as having translucent wings, making them hard to see. They are said to have a somber tone, nothing bright or flashy to attract the eye. This is interesting, as we do not know much about ancient pterosaurs. They may have been much more bat-like, perhaps even utilizing sonar.
There have been numerous pterosaurs reported between Orange Cove in Squaw Valley and San Joaquin Valley. They are said to live in trees, caves, even the underside of bridges. Most sightings report them walking on knuckles and drinking from creeks.
In helping some bat experts find obscure caves in the Sierras looking for a rare bat, Ken and the men went over pterosaur reports and evidence. They covered an area from Central Sierra Nevada east of Bakersfield, Lake Isabella, Sonora and beyond. All told, that was 10 million acres. The search went on for years and the conclusion was that conditions were ideal.
Let's review some witness reports -
In 1994, a minister and his daughter were hiking around a wildlife refuge south of Sacramento doings some bird watching when they saw a bird they could not explain. It circled around for about 20 minutes, giving them ample time to view it.
(LINK) The daughter described the creature has having a featherless, long thin tail and a “pterodactyl-like head”. Its wings, she explained, were “not shaped like a bird’s wings”.
“It had a long neck, long head and long pointed beak area. It had a large wingspan, bigger than a blue heron. It was gliding very high up, with very little flapping movement of its wings.”
another one -
(LINK) In May of 2008 I saw a pair of what I could identify as Pterosaurs, flying in a generally south-south-west direction over Oxnard, CA. They were at about 800 feet altitude, in a straight glide, no wing beats.I estimate they had wing spans of 10 to 12 feet. The legs trailing out behind it made it clear it was not a bird, and it had a distinct shape to the head as well. I know what I saw.
another sighting -
(LINK) John Bouker, a 22-year veteran Alaskan bush pilot, thought he'd lost his mind. As he headed toward Manokotak on October 15, 2002, he and his passengers thought they'd somehow flown into a scene from Jurrassic Park. Not far off the starboard side of his plane a gigantic winged creature soared. The amazed pilot and his stunned passengers all got a good look at the thing. Comparing notes about the sighting, all agreed that the creature strongly resembled the illustrations in books about dinosaurs and other extinct animals.
The flying creature was not a bird; it was a living pterodactyl.
Conclusion
It may seem impossible that a dinosaur bird could still be flying over our populated lands today, but it's not that unusual. A good deal of us stare at the skies at night, whether camping or sitting in the backyard or at an event, and we don't see UFOs, but very rarely. Those have the advantage of being lit up and moving in the night sky where any light and movement would draw our eye. But a dinosaur bird that has, over millions of years, pared itself down to perhaps 10-30 foot wingspan could be misconstrued from a distance as just a bird. There are no features in the sky to reference size, so a person who sees something flapping wings in the sky, figures they are seeing a bird. Not many stop to note the details unless they are at a vantage point that makes it obvious the features are remarkable in detail.
There are stories of them gestating in caves in New Mexico, being seen often in the South Pacific Islands region, as well as places like Ohio and Kentucky, Montana and Australia. There are definitely enough natural regions and isolated areas to breed and continue their evolutionary process here on Earth for a long long time, but the question begs, why aren't they tackling airplanes and helicopters, flying over major metropolitan areas and the like? Perhaps because they offer no food source and or refuge, two things that would be critical for their survival.
These witnesses, as well, would have easily chalked their sightings off as birds because they were not out looking for ropen. They were going about their business, but something about the very shape, size and movement of these flying creatures caught their attention enough to drink in every chilling detail.
Do ropen still exist? Ask Ken Gentry and he will tell you, "yes, 100% sure they do!"
Let's finish today's post up with a song by Ken Gentry and Jon Artz "Moving Around."
