40 Years Ago: Texas Pteranodon
Posted by: Ken Gerhard on January 19th, 2016
40 years ago last Saturday – Two sisters named Libby and Deany Ford were at a pond several miles northeast of Brownsville, Texas when they claim they saw Big Bird. According to both women, the animal that they observed was man-sized and black with a bat-like face and wings. After looking through some text books afterwards they agreed that what they had seen closely resembled an extinct flying reptile known as pteranodon. Clearly, despite its nickname, some of the descriptions implied a non-avian identity for the mystery creature.
About Ken Gerhard
Ken has investigated reports of mysterious beasts around the world including Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, the Chupacabra, giant winged creatures and even werewolves. In addition to appearing in three episodes of the television series Monster Quest (History Channel), Ken is featured in the History Channel special The Real Wolfman, as well as Legend Hunters (Travel Channel/A&E), Paranatural (National Geographic), Ultimate Encounters (truTV) and William Shatner's Weird or What? (History Television). His credits include multiple appearances on Coast to Coast AM, major news broadcasts and Ireland’s Newstalk radio, as well as being featured in major books and in articles by the Associated Press, Houston Chronicle and Tampa Tribune. Ken is author of the books Big Bird: Modern Sightings of Flying Monsters and A Menagerie of Mysterious Beasts: Encounters with Cryptid Creatures, as well as the co-author of Monsters of Texas (with Nick Redfern) and has contributed to trade publications including Fate Magazine, Animals and Men, The Journal of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club and Bigfoot Times. He currently lectures and exhibits at events across America. Born on Friday the 13th of October, 1967 (exactly one week before the famous Patterson Bigfoot film was shot), Ken has traveled to twenty-six different countries on six continents and most of the United States. An avid adventurer, he has camped along the Amazon, explored the Galapagos, hiked the Australian Outback and has visited many ancient and mysterious sites, from Machu Pichu to Stonehenge.
Texas definitely has some large bird sightings. I don’t know my terrain down there, but something like that would need mountains or high areas to nest and take advantage of riding the air currents đŸ™‚
I have always liked the idea of pteranodons and saurs flying the skies, but have never seen one. Name that Johnny Quest episode with just such a beast…
Who could possibly describe a Pteranodon as having a “bat-like face”? Other than someone who’s never seen a bat or a picture of one, I mean? And they wouldn’t describe is as looking like something they’d never even seen a picture of, that’s for certain!
I’ll give you that in spades Goodfoot. Pteranodons definitely have the crest coming off the back of their heads and most pterosaurs have a pointy beak that is certainly not shaped like a bat’s head.
Man sized could have been a condor caliber. Black fits too. Or maybe a thunderbird — from other accounts.
I do know there have been accounts of people supposedly seeing pteranodons and dactyls, but yeah, these two women in particular . . . I’m not sure it fits the motif.