January 19, 2016

40 Years Ago: Texas Pteranodon

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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.

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Ken Gerhard 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.

Filed under Avian Mysteries, Books, Cryptozoology, Eyewitness Accounts, Giant Cryptid Reptiles, Texas Monster Hunter, Thunderbirds, Winged Weirdies