A pterodactyl under the bridge in Arkansas

We return this week to a class of unexplainable observations that we have not visited in a while: An apparent encounter with a creature that is recognized by science, but is said by the experts to have gone extinct millions of years ago. It involved one of the strangest reptilians from the ancient era when dinosaurs ruled the Earth: A pterodactyl. (I know that among the scientific establishment ‘pterosaur’ is the preferred term for this fascinating family of critters, but in my younger days I got in the habit of calling them pterodactyls, and I do so to this day.) There was one disappointing element encountered when I found this eyewitness report posted on the Phantoms and Monsters website, one of my favorites that I would highly recommend to anyone interested in the unexplained. (It can be visited at www.phantomsandmonsters.com.) The location was described only as ‘central Arkansas,’ making any follow-up investigation nearly impossible. The proximity between the creature and the witness, however, allowed her to give an excellent and detailed description that would make a suggestion of a misidentification fueled by an overactive imagination nearly impossible to defend. That clear spring afternoon seemed normal for Laura Dean, who at around 2 p.m. was driving through the scenic Arkansas countryside on her way to the grocery store. As she crossed a bridge, however, she saw something flying out from under the bridge that was not a normal part of the state’s natural abundant wildlife. She had an excellent view of it because as it flew upward at an angle, it passed no more than five or six feet from her. She described it as being medium gray in color, covered with a leathery skin but no feathers, with a stiff protuberance sweeping backward from the top of its head and ending in a point. Its eyes were large and yellow-gold in color. It was obviously struggling to gain altitude, and its slow flight gave the witness enough time to note enough details of its appearance to later allow an artist to draw a detailed rendering of it, which will be posted with this column if space allows. (Making decisions like that is why newspaper editors earn their salary.)READ MORE-http://ccheadliner.com/opinion/a-pterodactyl-under-the-bridge-in-arkansas/article_e36aa902-808b-11e4-bf4c-33d69e553bf3.html