The Book Of THoTH

I found the "Flying Monsters" episode (maybe also known as "demon flyer") interesting. I've never before seen four of my friends/acquaintances on television in one night (Garth Guessman, Paul Nation, Duane Hodgkinson, and Cliff Paiva). But the show left something to be desired.

There was a brief dramatic depiction of Hodgkinson's experience in Papua New Guinea in 1944; but they left it before getting into much detail. The problem was that the show seemed to be about the disputing the idea that giant short-tailed pterosaurs fly in Papua New Guinea (Pterodactyloids); but Hodgkinson saw a giant LONG-tailed "pterodactyl."

I spoke with one Duane today, by phone. I also spoke with Guessman the day after the broadcast. There were some mistakes and other problems with the content of the MonsterQuest show. Nevertheless, I was happy that the living-pterosaur concept is getting into public attention.

Me too ! I think it's such a shame when a potentially excellent program is marred by bad editing, or worse still editing to put over a strong opinion either way.

Which channel is this shown on ? Just curious as the programs I see on Discovery, aren't really that well done. I was surprised recently to hear that David Attenborough of all people, had a show about "fantastic" creatures. Never saw any myself and they were made a little while ago. Would be interesting to see what they were like.

Anyway, back to the subject, I'd be interested to see if we get "monster quest" in the UK, or are likely to?

Hey -- do you know of any place online where one could view at least a few snippets of these shows?

http://www.history.com/content/monsterq ... l-schedule

Rats. I don't have cable.

But thank you for the link!

Its cool plu, you can get loads of info on the ropen here in forums. There have been many threads/posts over the years. Just type in Ropen into search, you will find a good few links in them.

Excellent advice, Thel -- I'll check it out. Thanks so much!
plur

I think I know why the MonsterQuest producers of this episode seemed to avoid the common cryptid-word "ropen." The point they tried to make is that sightings of giant nocturnal flying creatures that glow in the dark are only unknown bats of some strange kind. (They dispute the idea that it could be a pterosaur.)

They included a little bit of an interview of Duane Hodgkinson, but they left out important details. For example, Hodgkinson told us in other interviews (over several years) that the tail on the creature he saw was "at least" 10-15 feet long. I don't think anybody watching that episode would believe what the producers wanted us to conclude, if that description had been included in the show: It would have destroyed the producer's desire to show that the creature may be some strange bat.

Hello jdw, so nice to hear from you again.

I watch MonsterQuest too. I have a feeling that they really aren't interested in finding what they are looking for, but rather want to prove they 'don't' exist...for whatever reason. That's what it seem like to me as they never find anything. The only thing they have found was the giant squid. Anything cryptid seems they go out of their way to not find.

There was a show and I can't remember the name of it now but they did find and tape the light you talk about with the ropen. It was very large and looked more like a ufo, but it was dark so you couldn't see the rest of the animal. They were quite amazed.

It's funny, last week I was IMing my son and the topic came around to dinosaurs. He was talking about the large thunderbird from the 1800's. So I told him yes there are others, the Ropen and I gave him your site to look at. (I was also wondering how you were doing) and here you are!

Thanks for the heads up and I will be watching it. Then maybe I'll wonder over to the link Thelma gave to let them know of your link and the Ropen. It's the least we can do.

There are creatures still being named/filmed in the N.G. region

This is a recent one.




Dont give up hope jdw

Thank you, Kira!
Thank you, thelmadonna!

I don't know why I've been absent from Thoth for so many months.
Everyone is kind and considerate here. I won't mention other forums.

The television show that involved an expedition that videotaped a strange
light in Papua New Guinea--that was Destination Truth. That show was
better by far, in more ways than one.

Much else has happened in the past few months. I had my first scientific
paper published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. You can guess what
the subject was ("Reports of Living Pterosaurs in the Southwest Pacific").
And sighting reports are still coming in from various states of the U.S.:
This is exciting; and how!

I actually spent several hours today watching several episodes of "Destination Truth" and did see the one you mentioned here with the lights that may have been from a flying creature. That was, imo, one of only two truly interesting segments that they did (of the ones I watched, anyway). The show is very tongue-in-cheek and I had to laugh every time they asserted that they had "thoroughly" explored the creatures/phenomena in question -- riiiight. One night out in the woods, tromping around noisily with high-beam flashlights, trying (or not) to catch some footage of some really elusive beast. That much noise and light, they were lucky to see any wildlife at all. There was certainly nothing "thorough" about their "investigations"... but the show definitely has entertainment value.

And, jdw, our paths probably have not crossed before, but I'd like to say "welcome back" anyway -- I recently came back from a rather long absence myself. Looking forward to seeing you around the forum!
plur

Destination Truth! Thank you jdw, couldn't remember that to save my life. I guess they got canned? Figures... I did like it, but like plur said it was much tongue and cheek. Both shows, they go around making such noise and with lights and all... plus they get their smell all over things. No animal is gonna come near them. They can sense they are being looked for.

Congratulations on your scientific paper, hope it was received well. I think that a lot of scientists are waking up to the fact that , well science has a lot to learn yet. We can only hope.




That's ok, better sometimes, than never.

I wish you the best of luck and can't wait for a picture or video showing this creature. Talk about exciting! Would make bigfoot seem ho hum. lol

I just watched the show, it was very good, even though nothing was found. They did use the word 'Ropen', more then a handful of times. I missed the account of Hodgkinson though because someone wouldn't shut up!

What intrigues me though are the videos of these? creatures. They don't look as if they (lights) are coming from a flying creature, they seem to behave just like ufo's. Which of course, really gets my mind going.

But seeing that island and it's people, it's truly amazing that any part of the planet can still be as primitive or untouched by the rest of the world. Truly amazing.

jdw!?


Really, my son and I have been talking a lot about this, he even taped the show and I called him and he'd already seen it...

We both agree that the footage (video) is so 'unlike' any bird, pterosaur or anything flying. Flying means moving. All and any video of this (that is thought to be the ropen) looks more like any ufo video seen on many videos. The light does, is what I mean.

I'm not trying to start anything, this is just our assessment of the videos. Of course seeing it with own eyes is much different. Then Hodgkinson's account surely makes a difference.

We just found it to be much more than meets the eye. I found it interesting and worth some talk?

heh, they never do actually find the "monster" they're looking for, do they? It wouldn't surprise me if such creatures still existed, they just know by instinct to avoid man...

A quotation from my friend Garth Guessman seems appropriate. He was a key expedition member for MonsterQuest, although the final version of the show left out much of his interview comments. (My real name is Jonathan Whitcomb.)

"Let me clarify what I told Jonathan Whitcomb. I stayed up with 2 Christian natives
after the MonsterQuest film crew went to sleep. We observed facinating light phenomena
about midnight beyond the ridge next to us. After telling the director in the morning,
he told me it was probably a helecopter. But there was no sound of rotor blades. This
still did not convince him."

"I don't see this as a cover up; only the director not being convinced of our testimony.
I wish he could have seen it with us." [end of quote of Guessman]

I (jdw-Jonathan-Whitcomb) must add something: At the end of the show, two lights (seen early that night) were
shown the next morning to be two native campfires. But these had nothing to do with the strange light seen
by Guessman. That light was never mentioned on the show.

Still, I'm glad that this MonsterQuest episode was broadcast. (as a simple introduction to the subject of
apparent living pterosaurs)