The Black Vault

I know it might not seem like it when compared to a western state but Pennsylvania is a big state and being in it is often like riding waves in choppy seas there are mountains and hills everywhere as well as plenty of forest cover. check out the google terrain map
for around Tioga
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=41.0,-77 ... nnsylvania)&t=h You've got five big state forests in there and plenty of nooks and crannies too.

I'm trying to guess where I'd be if I was a bird of prey in there looking at these maps like a bird would see and I'm looking at East of state game lands number 25, west of lockwood, south of clermont and north of swissmont. Large block of few humans in and near state game lands and parks which means plenty of prey, but close enough to routes 1008 and 120 to snag the occasional road kill on less travelled roads. thats west of Tioga where sighting have been.

oops wrong thread

It was in 1892 (I believe) that a couple of fellows shot themselves a Thunderbird (at least, that's the story that appeared in the Tombstone (Arizona) Epitaph (well, what else would you call a newspaper if you lived in a town named Tombstone?) about the guys who shot themselves one.

"Great shot, thar, Ringo!"
"Thanks, Panhandle Jim."

And I think it's time we try to move closer to our own time. But before we do let's pause and think about the description of the creature that paper says was shot: "The beast had the body of a serpent, immense wings, two clawed feet and the face of an alligator and the wingspan of the creature was said to have been 160 feet and the body was more than 92 feet long. It was smooth and featherless, more like a bat than a bird."

They're describing a pterosaur, aren't they?

Now we pause to ask ourselves COULD a creature thought to be extinct have survived into relatively modern (and possibly even to MODERN) times?

And the answer is "Yes, of course!" We have seen it happen. Frilled Sharks, Coelacanths---a whole HOST of creatures that have been declared "extinct" have been found alive. But a flying dinosaur? Wouldn't someone notice?

Maybe someone has. Let's hop into our time machine here and go find out:

"LONG BEACH, CA, August 19, 2009 /Science and Research PR News/ -- Jonathan Whitcomb, author of the nonfiction book "Live Pterosaurs in America," interviewed, from 2005 to 2009, eyewitnesses from 19 states: California, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, New York, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Kansas, and Washington State. The sightings themselves were from 1980 through 2008.

Some eyewitnesses label what they saw "pterodactyl," the layman's word for "pterosaur." Many descriptions included "long tails" and lack of feathers. Wingspan estimates showed a statistical peak at 8-10 feet, but 27% of the estimates were over 18 feet: too big to be birds.

Many scientists assume that pterosaurs, like dinosaurs, became extinct by 65 million years ago. But a few cryptozoologists specialize in reports of sightings of pterosaur-like animals. They believe that many recent reports of apparent living pterosaurs in North America cannot be easily dismissed. According to Whitcomb, a substantial number are not from hoaxes, insanity, or misidentifications; they are most likely living pterosaurs."

So what are we to make of THIS?

Actually Shadowcass it sounds more like Quetzlcoatl then a Thunderbird.

But in the analysis data I have some recent news on normal vultures, which kind of surprised me. This 3 Meter wingspan Vulture has a ceiling of nearly 30000 feet.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67I23O20100819

Footnote I've been watching the local buzzards lately and a few weeks back one got into the landing pattern for the local airport. While there was no collision it was clear a normal buzzard is quite big next to a Cessna 150 (appearing about the size of the engine in the background) and in the air at the proper forced perspective could appear to be a Thunderbird, much like I said a Thunderbird could fly high enough to appear to be a buzzard.

Thats an old article what year is it from?

Sorry---it is from the San Francisco Call and the date on it is Sunday May 17, 1908

I found it while I was wandering around the Library of Congress on-line newspaper collection

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/

Well I'm not sure it'd be easy but if the news followed it might start here then
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/ ... d-1/seq-1/

Okay...here's how to use the Library of Congress
(never thought I'd have to explain this to a supposedly literate crowd).

You click on THIS link: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/

Now, where it says VIEW NEWSPAPER PAGES you click the words "search pages"

Now you see the words "Search Newspaper Pages" and various ways of doing that.

We click the "Select a Year" box (I have already told you the issue was 1908

Now under "enter search" we want to find any newspaper pages from 1908 containing the word pterodactyl.

We click "Search"

We see some newspaper pages. ONE of which is marked "May 17, 1908" which was a Sunday. We click that image.

Now we have some options. We can either download it as a pdf file or just click the little icon to the left of "draw a zoom box". The article we are interested in is in the upper right hand corner of the page.


http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/ ... terodactyl

THAT page. Now that you know how a search can be run go find the pterodactyl follow up.