(2/28/09)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Adventures LOG
2/26/09
Greetings in Christ,
I am writing this from the comfort of my home. It is good to be
back. I had a great time in PNG taking part in making the Ropen Episode
for MonsterQuest on the History Channel. While I was in a new target area
that we have never been to before (trying to expand our research to other
areas), I saw lights constant with ropen activity. I had my video camera
rolling but I don't think anything was captured on tape because it was a mile
away and dark. Nevertheless, I will have it examined to see it anything
turns up.
It is good to be back home. Had a wonderful
trip. I interviewed a man that had seen the lights over the years.
He said it drops sparks from its underside and produces a directional
light facing forward. I asked him if he ment that it shined in all
directions at once like a light bulb and he insisted that it shined forward
directionally. I assumed he was mistaking it with plane or helicopter
lights, but I wrote it all down anyway for documentation purposes.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009, from 10:30 thru Midnight:
I saw a white flash partly in the clouds out of the corner of my eye. It
may have been lightning, but it would have been a very small bolt. There
was a lot of lightning in the area, but this also could have been what the
natives call Pelusumia: (creature that) appears and disappears. I could
not tell for sure, but at least it was a "maybe."
Later, I was looking about a mile away, across a valley toward a parallel ridge
on the opposite side. The sharp ridge was a finger from a mountain range
that dropped off suddenly creating a point. Just above and out from the point I
saw a big round, red flash. I asked Cleophas, my Native guide, if he had
seen it. He said yes, and agreed it was red.
Behind the same ridge we saw brilliant light reflecting off the mist and the
clouds above the ridge. There was something right on the other side of
the ridge with serious candle power. My first thought was a car with
"super brights" was driving with its high beams on up to the
ridge. The light stayed there for about a minute and faded out over 2-3
seconds. Before it went out I turned on my Sony camcorder just in case
and flipped on the (weak) nightvision.
It lit up a second time and moved to our left further down the ridge toward the
point. It stayed there with white brilliant light for about another
minute and then faded out. Finally it moved a third time. This time
it moved so far toward the point we got all excited anticipating that it would
show itself as it came around the point. It stopped just before we could see
it, but when it stopped, I was amazed the light we saw was clearly a
directional light. The light went out from behind the point and shined so
intensely that it clearly illuminated a section of a cloud horizontally out
from the point and slightly higher. There were no other clouds between
the ridge-point and the part of the cloud being illuminated. Around this
illuminated portion the rest of the cloud was darker. It gave all the
indications of a semi-focused beam of light. I have yet to check my
camera to see if it was sensitive enough to record it.
It was a quiet night, and I heard no plane propeller, helicopter rotor, or
vehicle motor. The light shined on the cloud for 30 seconds or so and
faded out over 2 or 3 seconds. None of the lights went out like a light
switch turns of a light. They faded out over 2 - 4 seconds each.
Again indicating it was probably not an electric light. Also people don't
drive, fade out their car lights, light them back up and drive a little more,
fade them out again, turn them on again and drive some more, and then park with
lights on and finally fade them out. It is not an expected pattern
for a vehicle, but it can fit flashy (if he has directional lighting).
At first I thought this has to be a car. But there was no roads on these
ridge tops. Villagers are lucky to have a basic flash light or lantern,
and they do not have halogen or xenon lights with giant parabolic lenses.
It would have taken a very large powerful light to make that kind of
refection. I asked the Chief the next day about villages, roads or
landing pads on the other side of the ridge top. He said there were
none. I have paid Cleophas and Michael John (two Christian brothers) 50
kina each to hike up there and look for these things as well as for signs of
the creatures. They have my e-mail address so I am waiting for
word. For all I know it could have a helicopter or vehicle, so more
research will flesh this out.
I also took the liberty to put up a 1,000 kina reward to anyone that can
capture one alive. I said we want it alive, but if it is dead we still
can still use it. I told Cleophas that he would need to see it himself
and get word back to us for verification that it is an actual pterosaur.
We don't want to pay 1000s of dollars to go see a sugar glider or
something. We have to know it is a pterosaur to justify the expense.
Please pray for Cleophas and Michael (Michael is the one who is getting over
Malaria) to be strengthened for the journey and to make the time to go.
They will have to take a public transport or get a ride (50 mile trip) and then
hike up the mountain to a place that probably has no trails. It is the
rainy season, but these men are strong and are good bush-men.
I shared the story of the lights with my daughter's Christian school principle,
a former Missionary to PNG who married his wife from there. He said that
he remembers seeing "a group of bright lights moving across the sky"
in PNG but never figured out what they were. Planes, helicopters, stars,
meteors, lightning, etc., were all ruled out. None of them fit with the
combination of the timing (night), the movement, the formation they were in,
and the brightness. I may have to do a complete questionnaire with
him. It sound so much like what I saw with the night vision scope in
March/April 2008 when I saw seven at time flying across the night sky.
From the trap location, John sent the report below. It is such a blessing
to have good internet capability with him. Other areas where we research
have no electricity and no phone lines, so John is really in a perfect area for
our research. The infrastructure of the city near him is similar to Port Moresby
and Lae; much better than many other cities in PNG. Praise God for such a
good research friendly location.
Thanks for your wonderful support,
In Christ,
Garth Guessman
Genesis Park, Director of Field Research
CEM Pterosaur Project, Coordinator
2/19/09 Very interesting, somewhat exciting flashy sighting
tonight. 9:52 p.m., I'm standing at the corner of the shed closest to the
river, looking toward the front of the house when flashy lit up no more than 20
feet above the house descending on the South side of the river... The color was
yellow, and here's the best part; it was so close, and so bright, I could
clearly see how it lit up: There was a solid light, centered at the upper part
of the body, that travelled/tapered into two lines of light, left and right
side, that faded out when it reached the end of the body. It was lit up for
about 1 1/2 seconds, heading in a west/northwest direction. Really cool,
especially when you are looking directly at it and it is so close, not moving
very fast. If this one had swooped over the trap at this speed, I would be
calling Dave in the US to fly over here. Who knows, the night is young...
Sat 7/21/2007 10:38 AM
Greetings in Christ,
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. Ben Rawls showed
up hours later to continue our tag-team research. Last night David saw a
giant 4 foot bat-like creature. It came so close to him that he pepper-sprayed
it. Some spray came back and blinded Dave. He went and washed his
eyes and came back, but could not find anything.
The locals are describing seeing 4 things, a pterosaur-like creature with a head
crest, a bat-like creature (not sure if it is really a bat), small shooting
stars that can go up or turn, and giant firework-like displays that are
spectacular. We have verified all these with our own eyes.
Tonight David and Ben will be setting out a tethered rodent for bate. We should
have the generation 3 night vision camcorder running to capture it all on tape.
Please pray for their safety and success. We are amazingly close.
God bless you,
Garth Guessman
South Bay Creation Science Association, VP
PNG Pterosaur Research Team, Member
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7/17/2007 12:12 AM
Exciting Greeting in Christ,
Scott Norman, David Woetzel, and I will be departing tomorrow for the new
target area. We are excited to investigate this brand new area. If this
man is not pulling our leg, the frequency of sightings surpass all other target
areas.
Pray for us to have a safe expedition and success in getting quality stills and
video footage.
God bless,
Garth Guessman
South Bay Creation Science Association, VP
PNG Pterosaur Research Team, Member
Ps. Below is an edited e-mail from John, the man reporting the sightings.
Garth
Tonight (Monday) we went out to see the ropen light show.
Wow! It was like the 4th of July in the United States. They come
near a river by my home. 4 of us watched the river light up like someone
was using fireworks. The flash was brilliant, and it was concentrated in the
same area. We heard plenty of screeches as well. The light show started
in earnest about 10:30 p.m. I hope when you arrive it will be as brilliant.
John
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Thu 7/12/2007 2:18 AM
Greetings in Christ,
I am writing to you with trembling fingers. A recent series of events has
created an opportunity for two members of the Papua New Guinea Pterosaur
Research Team (David Woetzel and I) and another veteran researcher,
Scott Norman, to go on another pterosaur expedition. We will be
leaving early next week for a very short stay: a preliminary
reconnaissance trip. If it turns out to be valid we will plan more trips
in the future.
It all started after hearing that a man in one of the target
areas is having an extraordinary amount of sightings every night: some
less than 20 feet away. These sighting have been going on consistently
for many many years. The man thought they were shooting
stars, but he was confused as to why they sometimes moved
upward or made turns. After he was recently educated
about glowing pterosaurs, he began to pay closer attention to
them. Three years ago he saw one in plain sight at dusk with a 6 to
8 foot wingspan, claws on it's wings, a head crest like a Pteranodon, and
a tale ending with a diamond shape. He never associated the sighting 3
years ago with the "shooting stars" until now. He now watches
the flashing creatures dart around with a new
enlightenment. Interesting to note that one of the names of these
creatures on the south part of Umboi Island is "duas" which means shooting
star.
Two nights ago he saw one in plain sight at dusk flying above
him less than 30 feet up. He saw it had pointed wing tips
spanning about four feet, and a long tale. Earlier he noticed
that he could hear them make a noise when they are close. Last night,
when he heard that same noise, he grabbed his camcorder, ran out, and
captured one on video (possibly the same one with the 4 foot wingspan and
long tale) about 60 feet over his head .
He has never worked with e-mailing videos before, so understandably, he is
having a hard time getting us the footage. We plan to bring
back the video footage and have it
photographically analyzed. The man's name is John, and he is an
elder in the local church. He comes across as very credible to
us. He said to me that he wants us to come and see
them for ourselves. He personally promised me that we will
see them or else he will to pay for my trip (and in his case, he has
enough money to do that).
It is our prayer...
1. that Born-Again, Young-Earth Creation
Scientists can formally show the world that pterosaurs and
dinosaurs have survived as predicted by the Creation Model, and
2. to expose the false evolutionary
prediction of man and dinosaurs separated by millions of years as bad
science
3. that ultimately people are
encouraged take the Bible literally. And may it be used of
God to break the chains off of millions bound by the lies of evolution.
We are franticly trying to get all the necessary equipment and preparations for
the trip. Big promises have been made toward supplying the expedition. Please pray for the following:
1. For a vender, named Chuck, to come through with
a promised thermal imager with a video transmitter on lone at no
coast (a $10,000 piece of
equipment)
2. For an optics vender, named Steve, to come
through with promised night vision binoculars that can couple to our video
cameras for a rental fee of less than $300 (generation 4 quality,
worth about $7,000)
3. For us to be prepared for all possible contingencies,
including possible live capture.
4. Favor with the locals and any governmental agencies we
may have to work with
5. For God to help us be innovative, & aggressive, yet safe
& efficient
6. For us to get all the other specialized equipment and materials
for research.
7. For John and his wife to be in agreement together in helping
us with the research
8. Focus, and discipline for us to prepare properly
9. Team harmony and synergy
God bless you all for praying,
In Christ,
Garth Guessman
South Bay Creation Science Association, VP
PNG Pterosaur Research Team, Member
__________________________________________________________________
Glorious Pulsating Greetings,
The following is a response to my friend, Mark Armitage, about the Sci Fi Ropen
Program. Mark is an ICR graduate and professional microscopist (a
scientist that specializes in the use of microscopes).
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To Garth:
I watched the Sci-Fi ropen coverage....they were visibly
affected by the pulsating of the light weren't they?
In Jesus,
Mark
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Mark,
I have not seen it yet, but that is exactly what I have been told: that
the pulsations of the ropen light really impressed by the Sci Fi
crew. After he saw a ropen in 2004, our New Hampshire team member, David
Woetzel, described the pulsations to me as "shimmering" .
In his Fiery Flying Serpent article he described the light and said that
it "twinkled around the edges..." Paul Nation's 2007 video
sighting shows the lights of two ropens (indavas) in the same frame pulsating
at different rates. And now the Sci Fi footage gives further corroborative
evidence that these fiery flying serpents have a pulsating glow as they streak
through the night sky.
These creatures will be, by far, greatest biological discovery in modern
times.
I pray we are able find and display them for the glory of God, and I believe we
will as we delight ourselves in Him.
Blessings,
Garth
Psalms 37:4 Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the
desires of thine heart.
**************************************
See what's free at http://www.aol.com.
e-mail from Garth Guessman, Sun 4/22/2007 5:25 PM
Research Greetings,
Just wanted to get you up to date on the latest pterosaur research. As you
know, Paul Nation performed research earlier this year in Papua New Guinea, but
what you may not be aware of is that he turned around only few weeks later
and went back to the target area again. Last month in March
Paul's follow up trip brought to light more intriguing facts.
He has falsified one of the 7 sightings that He made. The very first bright
light he saw on the first trip: the one that he thought was a distant
indava (possible pterosaur) was actually from truck head lights on a
distant road that everyone thought was too far away to be seen. He
falsified it by three means. First, he
actually saw the "white Coleman lantern" variety with his own eyes
for the first time on this latest trip, and they were not as bright at the
yellow kind of indavas. Evidently the yellow is the brightest
variety. The truck head lights compared to the white indava lights are
brighter. The second means of falsification was with high powered
optics. Unlike the indava lights which shine in all directions, the
vehicle light (low/high beams) were directional. When the vehicles would
turn he could make out the beams of the head lights shining forward in front of
the vehicle. Again this in not like the indavas omni-directional glow.
Thirdly, the vehicles on the road were basically coming from one direction
about 20 miles away, whereas the dimmer white indavas were much closer and did
not keep showing up in the same general location. According
to Paul, the overall activity of the indavas appear to be random
flight paths over the jungle mountains.
This last point about randomly flying around is not good news for our research.
It means that we may have a harder time finding a specific location to
photograph and study them. A nesting location after a mating period
may be our only hope of finding such a place.
Another falsified sighting was from the natives. They thought a high altitude
commercial jet was an indava. Paul ensured them that, no, it was not an
indava, but only a jet with its lights on at night. They were confused because
jets make noise but these do not. Paul explained that these jets are
so high and far away that the sound can not be heard from the
ground. The indavas observed on these last two trips WERE silent, but they
were much lower and much closer. The closest was about a 1/2 mile away.
Because Toyota's are the most common vehicle in PNG, and the airliner was probably
a Quanta jet heading to Australia, Jim Blume and Paul Nation jokingly called
the vehicle head lights and the high altitude airliner that were
confused for indava lights pseudo names: Toyadactylus, and Quantadactylus
respectively (ha ha ha).
This last trip produced no good videos. He aimed at the creatures in the distance,
but the video equipment he had was not powerful enough to get any resolution
this time.
Prayer needs:
1. that we get powerful night vision
video capability in our research
2. that researchers (myself
included) can get funds for upcoming trips
3. the spiritual integrity, and wisdom
for researchers
4. that researchers' families will
be prepared, protected and provided for during their absences.
In Christ,
Garth Guessman
South Bay Creation Science Association,
VP
PNG Pterosaur Research Team, Member
Jan 17, 2007
Jacob just called me on the phone with a report that
he did take that SiFi group to area S, and that they did film a night sighting of a ropen there as it took off
and headed toward the mountain between my place and the coast.
So, these critters are getting closer to home all the time, whada ye know about
that! I do not know just what those guys will do with the film that they
got. (by the way, still no word on what the Sci Fi guys are going
to do with the footage. If any one hears about a speacial on the Sci Fi
Channel about Mysteries or Cryptozoology, let me know.
Jim tells us about another lead in the following:
PS. Jan. 16 Yesterday I was talking to one of our preachers who is near a group of
islands called "L Islands" . He said that they see the ropens all the time there while fishing but
thought they were some kind of evil spirits, and were afraid of them.
So, that is another area that we be able to check out.
When Paul Nation was there in November 2007, a land owner was hindering him
from researching a particular mountain where Jacob Kepas and a team associate,
Pastor Joseph, both saw from a great distance what appeared to be a possible
pterosaur (indava/ropen) perched on a cliff asleep with it's head tucked under
its wing. It appeared to be the right color, shape and size closely
matching the creature's description. If they really saw an indava
(possible pterosaur) that makes another first. We may well have our first team member to have seen a living pterosaur
with his own eyes IN BROAD DAY LIGHT! I am sure I speak for
everyone on the prayer team when I say, "Great job Jacob and Joseph!
Keep up the good work."
Speaking of the land owner, Jim writes the following:
Jan. 30, 2007
I went to the Target area again today and took the fellow who owns
that part of the mountain with me. Maybe he will be more cooperative the
next trip.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
In a message dated 11/13/06 4:55:26 PM,
Paul Nation writes:
Garth
Well, I am waiting in
After several days of rain Saturday cleared off and we were able to hike higher
up the mountain to the "high garden site." There the national
pastor from the village had his garden huts and we were able to set up an
observation post and look into two valleys for a long distance.
The nationals had given descriptions for years of three types of glow. First
a) "bright white Coleman lantern" glow, b) a "bright yellow kerosene
lantern glow," c) a "red hot rock red glow." I saw two out
of the three reports "glow"
We still do not know or have a verified field observation of the description of
this flying creature. That will be for another time. However just
to see and know that this Information received from nationals was true and
accurate is a great step
Sunday morning around 4:15 am due east of our site I observed a single white
glow. It appeared coming over a distance ridge line and progressed down
coming toward my location. The glow was just as the nationals on
Another couple days of rain and then we moved on to another village, and at
7:20pm we saw one yellow glow start from a small glow to a bright glow and then
a second appearance start and increased in intensity. The second glow
that was higher up the mountain, flew up and over the ridge and out of
sight. While the first glow went out. At 10 PM we saw a single
yellow glow flying along the mountain ridge to the east of our location
following the terrain up and down going south to north.
After hearing for over 12 years about the glowing "Ropen" I have
finally seen the light. (haha).
Thanks for all your prayers and support.
In Christ
Paul
Sat 11/11/2006 5:02 PM
From: Garth at Gguessman@aol.com
Praise Report on PNG Pterosaur Research
Outstanding positive trip Greetings,
Paul Nation saw ropens!!! He is on his way back after a successful trip.
I am not sure, but I don't believe he got any photos. We will see when he
returns this Tuesday. Paul has now personally seen ropens multiple times
glowing across the night sky, officially making him the first Westerner to see
the creatures on the mainland. That is ground breaking in and of itself.
There was a major answer to prayer. It rained before and after the team
was inserted into the target area. Paul sprained his knee, but God gave
grace for him to continue. They had a really tough hike through miserable
wet & muddy conditions with clouds and rain blocking their view, and then
God stepped in. The rain stopped, the clouds separated, and the team saw
ropens! We may very well have found the Ropen Hotspot we have been
praying for. This is good news for future expeditions. We are
honing in on them! God willing, I will let you know more details
soon, but for now Praise God for an outstanding research expedition!
By the way, note that yet another name has been added to list of names that the
creature is known by (due to the 800+ mother tongues of PNG): In the local
language the name is Indava.
The following e-mail is from Paul Nation this morning. I typed in the
blue letters.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: research verified
Saturday
Just to let everyone know we are safe back in Wau. Quickly, we had multiple
sightings (of the glow
of the creatures) on multiple
days. A very hot spot for "Indava" activity. More later
after I am cleaned and packed. Going to Lae Tomorrow then
In Christ
Paul Nation
following came today (11/3/06) from Missionary Jim Blume
in PNG with our other team member Paul Nation as they attempt to locate living
pterosaurs in the target area.
God bless you,
Garth Guessman
Dear Garth and Ben,
I got (Paul Nation and) the guys into Tawa this morning. We
tried unsuccessfully yesterday. There were a few good days of dry earlier
in the week which helped. But the cloud is back. I will try
to get the guys out on Friday or Saturday. Pray about that.
Also pray the Lord will put a hedge of protection around our people
here. The family of one of my workers was attacked last night and
cut up and his wife. One of the five thugs was also seriously cut in the
elbow and we captured his home made shot gun. I took them all to the hospital
in the middle of the night and got a policeman to go along. He probably
would have beat the thug to death if I had not stepped in to cool him down a little.
I was tempted to stand back and let him since the thug was one of the guys who
had recently stole all the medications in the hospital. Four of the gang
are still on the lose and will be back for vengeance.
10/21/2006
Exciting news. Our Ropen
Research Team Leader, Paul Nation, has been given generous contributions and
plans to leave for Papua New Guinea in just a couple of weeks, on October 24,
2006. God willing, he will check out
leads in the target area. Pray that
he can make progress toward finding a location of consistent ropen activity. In order to get quality videos and photos, we
need to locate places where the creatures spend a lot of time.
Our Team-Leader, Paul
Nation of
(pterosaurs) have been seen as often as every day and as many as
five at a time, and he also plans to go to a new target area not far
from the main target area. The terrain is jungle covered volcanic
mountains. It is difficult traveling on foot. There may very well be a
significant amount of backpacking from the air strip to the target
areas.
Paul
Nation with is family Sharalyn, Nathanael, Ethan (right)
He will be there for at least 2 weaks. I will keep you
informed with any breaking news as he calls me from the field with his
satellite phone.
Ben Rawls, our newest team member, is presently looking into going to PNG after
Paul Nation gets there and maybe meeting up with him, God willing. Ben wants to
1) deliver hymnals for Pastor
Jacob Kepas's Church in Lae,
2) drop off an expensive and
elaborate lap top computer with which Jacob can e-mail us pictures from the
field!,
3 and drop off motion sensor
cameras to be planted in target areas.
Work is being done now toward preparing for this next expedition.
9/27/06
For those of you new to the Papua New
1. Dr. Carl Baugh (Director of the Creation
Evidence Museum, Bible & Creation Science Teacher, and Team Founder; will
work to reactivate permits to capture & export 4 ropens when we get good
photographic evidence and verify a frequented location where ropens live)
2. Paul Nation (Team Leader: ostrich
keeper, knows how to handle 300 pound lethal birds, Bible & Creation
Science Teacher)
3. Missionary Jim Blume (Pilot,
Bible School Teacher: a key logistical
help for expeditions in PNG)
4. Pastor Jacob Kepas (Trained
in Blume's Bible school, translator, liaison, & has given us many good
leads)
5. David Woetzel (Veteran cryptozoological
researcher, Bible & Creation Science Teacher, and creator of www.genesispark.com)
6. Ben Rawls (Newest member in training, has a
rare combination of enthusiasm, hunting & outdoor skills, rope &
climbing expert, & access to high end equipment & technology)
7. Garth Guessman (cheer leader (just
kidding), cryptozoological researcher, Bible & Creation Science Teacher)
Much more could be listed for each member, but to save space I only
listed a few things. In addition to what
is listed, each member is a Born Again Believer, and a Young-Earth Creationist
with a passion for people to be free from the lie of evolution by the literal
truth in God's precious Word.
David Woetzel and I both want to go to PNG this time next year, God
willing. Ben Rawls and Paul Nation may
go sooner, God willing, but no firm date is set yet. If we are successful in these endeavors, it
will be because of godly praying people are clearing the way before us. It won't be because of one or two men, but
because of an army of prayer warriors of which you are an important part.