An interesting story has appeared on Jonathan Whitcomb's blog:
Japanese World War II ship shelled pterosaur caves
February 18th, 2010 at 5:29
Three days ago, I received an email from R. K. (anonymous), of the Manus Island area of Papua New Guinea. (We starting communicating earlier this month.) The nocturnal flying creatures that he described to me – I believe they are ropens – were common and were dangerous to local fishermen previous to the early 1940s, when their numbers declined. In these northern islands, the creature is called “kor.” Here is part of R.K.’s account of the Japanese retaliation against the creatures that had attacked them:
” . . . it was the japs [Japanese miliary] on the island who were attacked by the kor. They [Japanese soldiers] apparently shot several wounding them then followed them to cves [caves] and blew [blew up] the entrances. They called ships fire on the hills and pounded them for several hours.”
R.K. asks an interesting question: “I wonder if there is a record of that somewhere?” Perhaps there is an old Japanese veteran who knows about this or has written about the battle with those creatures. If so, perhaps the word used for those creatures would be “dragons.”
Jonathan Whitcomb Says:
February 25th, 2010 at 4:30 am
Since the end of World War II, Japanese veterans (and the population as a whole), in general, have been hesitant to talk about the military experiences. But this encounter with the “kor” of northern New Guinea is more likely to have been passed on from the Japanese soldiers and sailors. I hope that somebody will search out this strange little battle; it may require somebody who knows the Japanese language.
Source: http://www.livepterosaur.com/LP_Blog/archives/267
Does anyone have any information about this to share with CFZ world please ?
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4 comments:
"Tricking the creatures into a cave where they are then all killed off by fire or smoke" is an old Folkloric pattern repeated the world over. It occurs in the story of the Ceylonese Nittaweo but then again in other places as far apart as Alaska and Patagonia.
It is a singular thing that the description of Ropens and other such "Pterosaur" reports that they mostly occur over or near the water and the description does not matc any kind of known pterosaur, but the wings and tail as described DO exactly match the shape of a manta ray. The part about the animals "being a hazard to fishermen" would tend to suggest that also.
This comes from a creationist blog (though they hide it quite well)so we need to take everything on it with a truck load of salt. Creaionists will fabricate all kinds of rubbish to back up their fairy tales.
Dale Drinnon: '"Tricking the creatures into a cave where they are then all killed off by fire or smoke" is an old Folkloric pattern repeated the world over.'
It was also a standard operating procedure for all military operating in that particular theatre, if a documentary I caught the second half of recently's anything to go by.
US naval personnel drove a load of Japanese military types and their female pleasure companions into a cave and threatened to smoke or burn them out.
As we watched contemporary footage of what happened next, all but one of the US officers involved wept bitter tears as they related how the women, clutching to their breasts the children the Japanese brass had fathered on them, walked over the edge of a cliff to be dashed to pieces on rocks in the sea below rather than surrender.
The sole exception, a grizzled US vet, took the defiant attitude, "Good riddance."
No doubt seagulls, or the local faunal equivalent, dined on pieces of some of those unfortunate women and children - in which case, isn't it possible pterosaurs, or some equivalent, could've evolved a seagull like lifestyle, especially if an appropriate eco niche was available to them; and wouldn't a string of endless tiny, geologically stable barely explored islands, difficult of access for other top predators, but surrounded by a vast resource providing a rich seafood diet be the perfect environment for such an airborne critter to survive undisturbed for millions of years?
Similarly, Richard Freeman, just as not all Japanese were bad guys and not all US were good guys, isn't it possible not all creationists who host a blog "will fabricate all kinds of rubbish to back up their fairy tales"?
Isn't it possible some of them might believe their fairy tales with such sincerity it actually makes them incapable of such fabrications?
And no, I'm not a creationist; I'm just aware even though I favour the billions of years scenario - possibly for reasons of intellectual claustrophobia - it's perfectly possible the world is only 6000 or whatever years old: I'd prefer it, though, if it wasn't.
Just a thought...
Regarding the concept of "tricking the creatures into a cave," the man who related this account to me mentioned nothing about any trick. There are other accounts, however, about these kinds of creatures living in caves.
Regarding the shape of a "manta ray," the first discovery of a fossil of a pterosaur was assumed to be the remains of a sea creature. We no longer need to make that same mistake here. The ropen (AKA kor, seklo-bali, wawanar, indava, etc) flies through the air and glows with what we believe is bioluminescence. Some of these flights are kilometers away from the sea: obviously not any species of flying fish.
The man whom I interviewed by email also related his own personal recent experience. He was in a boat at night and heard the sound of wings beating the air as he saw the flying lights overhead. That was obviously no school of manta rays flying overhead.
Before leaving the manta-ray hypothesis, if I recall correctly, this particular fisherman was hiding from the winged attacker by staying IN the water as long as possible, for the attacker was attacking from the air above, not from the water beneath.
Regarding "Creationists will fabricate all kinds of rubbish to back up their fairy tales," much could be said. For now, please consider what has been reported over the past 15 years. Eyewitnesses, apparently represent various religious or non-religious beliefs, have reported obvious living pterosaurs. Some of these eyewitnesses have given out their names: Brian Hennessy, Duane Hodgkinson, Gideon Koro, Wesley Koro, Mesa Agustin, Steven Cottingham; I could name more. Who would like to cross examine these eyewitnesses?
For those who believe differently about life-origins than those labeled "creationists," why not ask for contact information on eyewitnesses? I can provide at least some help for anyone wanting to interview those I have interviewed over the past six years.
Would it be proper for a trial attorney to avoid cross examining an eyewitness and, instead, accuse the opposing attorney of fabricating rubbish? Remember, "fabricating" in this sense means telling lies.
Why throw out proper standards of ethics? To ridicule those with different religious beliefs than ours? No. Consider the testimonies of those who have various beliefs but who have all seen what their descriptions suggest are living pterosaurs.
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