Eyewitnesses of the ropen
David Moke (seen above with his two sons), of Opai Village, Umboi Island,
was shocked at the bright flash lighting up the reef where he was fishing
one night. Investigators believe that the light came from the giant
bioluminescent pterosaur-like ropen.
For years, villagers of Umboi Island have seen the ropen light flying to or
from the larger mountains, in particular Mount Bel. Some describe the light
as lasting only about five seconds. They say that only one light is seen at a
time, and not only natives see it: Westerners have seen the ropen light.
Gideon Koro related how he was terrified at the sight of the giant ropen
that flew over Lake Pung (around 1994). He and his friends were only
children (or in their early teens) when they had climbed up to the crater
lake on Siasi (Umboi) Island, Papua New Guinea.
Three American explorers (Jonathan Whitcomb, Garth Guessman, and
David Woetzel) interviewed Jonah Jim regarding his ropen sighting. He saw
more than the glow: He saw the pterosaur-shape and long tail.
Jonah Jim was shown, by Guessman and Woetzel, a page of silhouettes of
birds, bats, and pterosaurs. One of those thirty-four images was chosen by
that islander: the silhouette of the Sordes Pilosus, a Rhamphorhynchoid
(long-tailed) pterosaur.
Another native on Umboi Island, Jonathan Ragu, was also interviewed in
detail by Woetzel and Guessman. That islander also chose the silhouette of
the Sordes Pilosus. Those two natives were not aware of each other’s
choices, but they both chose the same sketch, for what they had seen.
During the Whitcomb-Paina expedition of 2004, Mark Kau (of Gomlongon
Village) and Luke Paina witnessed the ropen light as it flew for a few
seconds of glowing, with Mount Bel in the background.
Before writing his scientific paper “Reports of Living Pterosaurs in the
Southwest Pacific,” Whitcomb gathered statistics on the directions of flight
and the times of night, for the ropen-light sightings. He determined that it
was more common for the light to go toward the coast early at night and to
return inland later. This correlates with what natives told the American
explorers: The glowing ropen flies out to the reefs for food and later flies
back to the mountains.
“How greatly have eyewitnesses on Umboi Island helped in
our investigations of apparent nocturnal Rhamphorhynchoid
pterosaurs in Papua New Guinea!” Jonathan David Whitcomb
Leonard, of Opai Village, was interviewed by Woetzel
and Guessman in 2004, in or near Opai, Umboi Island,
Papua New Guinea.
Leonard sees the glow of the ropen fly over his village
once a month. Like the sighting by David Woetzel, only
the glow was visible, without any clear shape or any
features observed. (Opai is close to Gomlongon.)
Although Whitcomb did not meet Leonard, he was
able to interview a number of Umboi natives who had
seen the ropen light. Like Leonard, they could not see
much more than the light itself.
Pterosaurs Still Living
Guessman and Woetzel had a fine view of Lake
Pung when they camped on Mount Tolo in 2004.
Sometimes the ropen flies over this crater lake.
Lab Lab is on the east coast of Umboi Island;
here a cargo-passenger ship stops once a week.
At Lab Lab, a government official once saw the
flying ropen light. (Umboi Official Sees Ropen Light)
Before Woetzel and Guessman had arrived at
the crater lake, Woetzel had a sighting of the
ropen light, as it flew towards that lake: Pung.
Copyright 2006-2019 Jonathan David Whitcomb
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