Perth pterosaur sighting

Pterosaurs Still Living

Perth, Australia Sighting, 1997

Here are excerpts from the testimony of a married couple who were living

in Perth, Australia at the time of their sighting.

The wife:

“In December, 1997 my husband and I both sighted a huge creature flying over a densely populated area, while we were out walking one night in Perth, Western Australia on the coastline around 10:30 pm. . . .”

“ . . it had a ruddy reddish brown leathery skin; (we could see its underneath as it flew over us at about 300 ft up; the glow from all the ground lighting made that possible), it had a long tail and a wingspan

that we estimated at between 30-50 feet across. . . .”

“The creature . . . just flew in the direction from North to South parallel to the coastline about 1/2 mile inland.”

“This creature was huge and never in my life have I ever seen anything that remotely resembled it until I found a page on Pterosaurs . . .”

“. . . My husband works in a scientific field and he observed it and took in much more about it than I did. . . .”

“We watched this creature glide on down the coastline until it was just a little dot on the horizon in the distance, which was about 5 minutes. . . .”

“. . . we both swear to God that we saw it . . .”

“ . . someone else must have seen it surely, but are just not coming

forward because of ridicule, which I can well understand having

gone through that myself. . . .”

“. . . What we saw did not appear to have a long neck, at least we

could not see it from the angle . . .”

“. . . yes, we believe it did have a tail, and don't believe they were

feet, but actually a tail. . . .”

“. . . It was gliding across the night sky, flying quite low, without

a sound. . . .”

Husband:

“We had been walking in the evening and had just crested a hill and

were on the down slope along a major thorough-fare. In the distance I perceived an object in the sky. At this point it was rather indistinct and wondering what it might be I watched it as it approached. Soon I was able to determine that it was some sort of flying creature, and my first thought was that it must be some very large bird. . . .”

“Within a minute or so it had reached our position and was about 250 or 300 feet above us and slightly inland. The area was moderately well lit and I saw that it seemed to be a light reddish-tan color. It did not appear to be covered with feathers but had a leathery texture. Soon after it passed us it flew over a more brightly lit sports area which highlighted even more the leathery appearance also bringing more detail to view. The wings were the most definite leathery feature, they were shaped in a triangular arch, similar to a very elongated shark fin, The body also still appeared leathery, though textured as though possibly covered with fine hair or small scales, the distance preventing any finer observation other than that it was slightly different texture than the wings. The shape of the body was a streamlined torpedo shape, slightly broadest at the chest and tapering slightly back to the hip, then tapering more quickly after the hips to a moderately thin tail which was slightly longer than the body. At the hips the legs appeared to be tucked in close to the body not allowing for easy discernment of their shape other than as a slightly different darker mass against the body. The head was close to the body, though whether from a short neck or from having its head drawn in in the manner of some long necked water fowl I cannot say.”

“The creature, during the time we observed it was mostly gliding, there was some wing movement as in a hawk or other bird controlling it’s flight path, but did not flap as a sparrow or other small bird. Whether the creature was predominately a glider, or simply taking advantage or the many air currents near the ocean to rest in flight I also do not know. . .”

“. . . I feel no compulsion to convert non-believers

or debate with skeptics.”

(Names are withheld at their requests. The wife under-

went extreme ridicule after making this story public.

She says she will never again go to any cryptozoology

forum web site.)

For more information, read the book Searching for Ropens,

Second Edition (2007), by Jonathan Whitcomb.