Living Pterodactyls in 1880s
Posted by: Loren Coleman on February 2nd, 2007
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, 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.
Anyone have more on these Pterodactyl sightings? Why am I sensing a little déjà vu here, similar to how the reports of the Tombstone Pterodactyl has made people chase those tales and their own tails around for years?
- Similar Phenomena:
Chad Arment wrote an entry back in November entitled The Pterodactyls of Fresno County, California in “BioFortean Review, (November 2006, No. 5)” that would be of interest in respect to the article above.
Craig Heinselman
Peterborough, NH
Hoaxes seem to have made up a huge amount of the content of newspapers back in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.
This clouds the real historical records of sasquatchery tremendously.
How would the pterodactyl viewers have known from a distance that the critters stunk?
I’ve had a sighting or two in the past few years of possible Pterodactyls.
One was rather small (2ft wingspan), dark red with darker stripes, long tail chasing a small bird in mid flight through traffic, which almost caused a wreck. This was in the afternoon.
The other was slightly bigger and had grey fur, blue eyes, and its beak was filled with needle like teeth.
It buzzed my head while I was trying to get my dog in the house. This was at night.
I guess I used to believe in everything when I was younger. I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed life as much since that time. Anything was possible. It would be nice to have someone proved such a creature did exist. It would be a time to dream again.