Pterodactyls, 1880s
Posted by: Loren Coleman on February 2nd, 2009
Newspaper reporter John Boston picked out Groundhog’s Day, Friday February 2, 2007, to summarize some two dozen fables and strange stories from Santa Clarita Valley, California. He only listed two that were cryptozoological, Bigfoot and Living Pterodactyls, in his Groundhog’s Day article, which I have extracted for you. Did I mention it was Groundhog’s Day, the ultimate déjà vu day?
THE BIGFOOT
Since the days of the Spanish missions, tales have been handed down about a giant, 10-foot-tall hairy hominid roaming California - and, our valley.
In the 1940s, Signal editor Fred Trueblood reported giant, human-like footprints in Pico Canyon and joked that the person who made them must have weighed a half-ton and was 9-feet tall.
But huge humanoid radar alarms really went off here in the early 1970s when dozens of Sasquatch sightings were reported.
One terrified couple said they saw the beast, close up, while they were making out in a desolate canyon. The creature apparently was bending over, peering in through the windshield.
That’ll get you to therapy.
Jackson McBride reported a chilling tale to local sheriff’s deputies. McBride, his son and the boy’s friend reported seeing eerie lights on their Lost Canyon hog ranch. They also reported spotting a 9-foot-tall hairy humanoid standing in a pig pen. What made the deputies wince was that the creature was wearing a blue belt around its ample waist. Officers investigated the site, but found no footprints. They did bump into a man hauling trash from the farm and questioned him. The man quipped he hadn’t spot anyone 9-feet-tall - hairy or not - lately. The trash hauler asked the lawmen that if they did bump into someone matching the description, to please send him back because he could sure use the help loading his truck.
Bob Curasi, a farmer out near Lost Canyon, even made a plaster cast of the prints.
FLYING DINOSAURS
Pterodacyl sightings were reported here in the 1880s, around the Castaic and Rabbit (Elizabeth today) Lake. Many prominent citizens reportedly witnessed the huge creature with leather-like wings, giant eyes and skunk-like stink to it. It would dive into the lake and come out with fish. Or, fishermen…John Boston
Source: The Signal, Feb. 2, 2007, Santa Clarita, California, “Ghosts. Serial killers. Giant man-eating grizzly bears. Bigfoot. Pterodactyl sightings”.
The column mentions “Pterodacyl” (sic) in the text of the article, and properly spells it as “Pterodactyl” in the headline. BTW, there is nothing in the article about “giant man-eating grizzly bears,” only one note on a man-killing-a-big-grizzly-bear incident.
- Similar Phenomena:
I am assuming the article is referring to Castaic Valley since the lake was not created until 1973. The landscape in that area is rolling hills and brush, not condusive to hiding large creatures such a pterodactyls. A more likely suspect would be Golden Eagles, which can be quite large as far as raptors go.
Dont we hear about pterodactyls an awfull lot? Every year I hear about people seeing them in Texas and over the midwest. One could argue that Mothman is actually a pterodactyl. And the Jersey Devil, the Snallyygaster, and the of corse the Ropen and Kongamato. I find it odd that more isnt said about the subject.
im not sure if i’d put my money on something like a pterodactyl due to it dying out many years ago but maybe something more like a vulture, condor, but ofcourse bigger.