March 13, 2008
To living-pterosaur investigators and to those interested
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The Passing of Scott Norman
Sighting by Scott Norman
Sightings in the Western United States
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Many of Scott's friends in cryptozoology circles
were shocked to learn of his death on February 29th.
See tributes here:
The cryptozoology artist Bill Rebsamen remembers Scott Norman.
Bill Gibbons and others remember Scott Norman
. . . we were part of an expedition together to Cameroon in search of Mokele-mbembe.
Scott was a cryptozoologist who had taken his passion for dinosaurs . . .
A few years ago, Scott and our mutual friend Garth Guessman
came to visit me. Our conversation in my backyard, as I recall,
helped me to appreciate his considerate way of communicating:
Scott listened to us before giving his opinion and refrained
from lecturing us on his own expedition in Africa; perhaps I
can learn from him and refrain from giving uninvited lectures
to anyone who might listen to my account of my expedition in
Papua New Guinea.
Soon after Scott's passing, the news came out: This young man
who had failed to see the Mokele-Mbembe in Africa succeeded in
observing an apparent living pterosaur in the *United States.
If my opinion is confirmed by his team members, I will present
Scott Norman as the first cryptozoologist who has seen, during
a search, the clear form of a living pterosaur in North America.
I feel that this is an important step in the investigations.
*See below: "Sightings in the Western United States"
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Consider four sources, four cryptozoologists, four records
of what Scott Norman revealed about his pterosaur sighting:
by Garth Guessman, Sat 7/21/2007 10:38 AM:
"God has given us favor and we thank him for that. Two nights ago our
fellow researcher, Scott Norman, saw a creature glide over him only
20 feet up. He said it had a classic pteranodon shape: large head
crest, no tail and a 10 foot wing span. Scott was the most skeptical
of all of us, but not any more.
"Scott and I left yesterday and left David Woetzel there alone. . .
Last night David saw a giant 4 foot bat-like creature."
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Visiting Scientists Lecture Series & Video Presentations
Record of part of Scott Norman's brief lecture:
. . . "Scott Norman, who reported his own personal sighting of an apparent pterosaur at
about 2:00 A.M. July 19, 2007, from a distance of twenty feet. Scott described a flying
organism with a wingspan of 8-10 feet, bat-like wings, and a crested head. Team members
are still in the field, and for the present are not divulging the location of the current
investigation."
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The Scott Norman "Pterosaur" Sighting: His Own Words (edited by Chad Arment):
(July 22, 2007)
"Got back from ----- and have a very productive and interesting research trip!"
. . . "Both Garth and David were tired and went to sleep and I stayed up till 4AM. Here's
the kicker, the skeptic between 1:30-2:30AM, probably closer to 2AM, has a sighting! On the
property is a house and a shed, we had chairs and equipment set outside of the shed facing
a pasture. I was sitting in a chair, sideways towards the shed looking up at the starry skies,
when this animal came gliding just over the shed and into the field and then I lost it. . . .
"The animal I saw had an 8-10 foot wing span, the wings were bat-like in shape, the inside had
that wavy type of look. The body was about 5-6 feet in length, the neck about 1-2 feet in length,
the head was about four feet in length, and the head was key for me: it has a crest that was
about 2 feet in length, fit that of a pteranodon, don't know how else to describe it. Our contact
had a similar type of sighting three years ago in daylight. In his sighting he saw a long tail,
I did not see one . . .
"I only saw the silhouette of the animal against the a stars in the sky and saw no real details,
the animal was black, could not see any color to it. The animal was only 20 feet from me, our
contact told us his shed is 18 ft high, and the animal was about two feet above that and probably
it was a little closer as it flew by me and down into the pasture. The animal was gliding, it did
not flap its wing and it did not make any sounds, so if I had not been looking where I was I would
probably have not seen it."
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J. D. Whitcomb has sent along the following contribution to Cryptomundo:
by John Kirk (a reply to Whitcomb's introduction to Norman's sighting)
"I am able to confirm . . . what Scott Norman said he saw.
"I have known about Scott’s work in this area for 9 months and heard from him personally of
the account of his sighting of what he believes was a pterosaur. I believe he called me on
July 20th (the day after the sighting) to describe his sighting to me. I asked him several
times whether he thought he might be mistaken and could it have been a bird. He said it was
not a bird and what was amazing about this flying wonder was his description that the head
was between three and four feet long.
"He said it was more bat-like than bird-like as far as the wings were concerned. However it
could not have been a bat as no bat has a three to four foot-long head. There are other pieces
of evidence that Scott shared with me that indicate that what Scott and others in the search
area saw at such close quarters was not a bird or bat.
"The investigation in this area is ongoing. To allow Scott’s colleagues to continue their work
in peace I strongly suggest we leave them alone and wait until further evidence is presented
before we make a final decision on the identity of Scott Norman’s mystery flying organism.
". . . I know who Scott Norman was and if he said he saw a pterosaur, I am inclined to believe
him as his impeccability is without reproach."
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The pterosaur sighting (or at least apparent pterosaur sighting) by Scott Norman, in July
of 2007, was at the beginning of an investigation in a secret area in the Western U.S.;
that investigation continued through the summer, but may have slowed in late 2007 and early
2008, because of limited funding (it's still considered ongoing). When I first learned of
the sightings by this team, I assumed it was in the Southwest Pacific. Only after Scott's
passing was I informed of the details of his sighting and that it was in the U.S.. It's
important to note that one reason for the secrecy is the privacy of the landowner: He is
cooperating with the cryptozoologists as long as there are no strangers intruding; He has
no desire for any crowds or trespassers to roam around his family or property.
Two other areas of the Western U.S. have been the subject of living-pterosaur investigations.
In Southwestern Washington State, over twenty years ago, a teenager saw, on a dirt road, two
apparent pterosaurs. Late in 2007, a professor informed me of recent reports of ropen-like
lights over a river, also in Washington State.
According to the account of the teenager (in 2007, he told me about his experience) he heard
a screech and saw two huge winged-creatures, less than a hundred feet away. He told me that
their heads were four feet long. These two creatures were observed in the area for a number
of days (warmer weather, mid-1980's, Washington State) More recently, I noted the similarity
in head-size to the creature described by Scott Norman.
From the professor who investigated, in 2007, another sighting area in Washington State:
"I went on a short trip to the ______ River this summer [because of a sighting]. We were
unable to get a picture but we [saw] many . . . flashing lights. . . . Many flashes were
parallel to the river. . . at that point was a crook in the river and there were many fish
feeding . . . [prime] hunting grounds for [fish-eating] birds. Only these things fish at
night with bioluminescence. At first I thought I was just seeing many shooting stars but
they were all parallel to the river and close to the horizon. Next I noticed that when
the cloud cover came in I could still see the flashes. . . . under the cloud cover. . . .
about the size or an eagle or big hawk with a head knot . . . according to our confidant
in Washington . . . [confidant] saw it a couple of times this summer early in the morning."
More recently, I noted the similarity to the flying lights seen by Scott Norman's team.
These three sighting areas are widely separated but have been or will soon be investigated
by living-pterosaur researchers, including some who live in the areas or states involved.
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