Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Police hunt for PNG dinosaur
AAP/Ninemsn ^ | 12 Mar 2004

Posted on 03/11/2004 7:12:33 PM PST by Piefloater

Reports a live dinosaur had been sighted on a volcanic island of Papua New Guinea prompted the deployment of heavily-armed police in search of the mystery creature.

Villagers in the superstitious island province of East New Britain this week said they fled in terror after seeing a three-metre tall, grey-coloured creature with a head like a dog and a tail like a crocodile.

They said the creature was living among thick green plants in a mosquito-ridden marsh just outside the provincial capital Kokopo, near the devastated town of Rabaul which was buried by a volcanic eruption in 1994.

Kokopo's Mayor Albert Buanga said the dinosaur would make a great a tourist attraction, if it existed.

A government official confirmed police carrying M-16s and shotguns searched the area but found no trace of the creature.

Eyewitness Christine Samei told reporters she ran for her life after seeing a three-metre tall, grey creature with a head like a dog and a tail like a crocodile which was as fat as a 900-litre water tank.

"It's a very huge and ugly looking animal," Samei told local media.

A government official said the villagers had identified the creature from books and movies about dinosaurs.

"They told us it was a dinosaur," the official told AAP.

Although police found no trace of the creature, Senior Sergeant Leuth Nidung warned villagers to take extra precautions when going about their daily business, amid reports it had eaten three dogs.

Villagers were told to report any further sightings immediately to police, who were already organising a more thorough search of the area.

Black magic and other superstitions are common in many parts of PNG's predominantly village-based society.

Each year large numbers of foreigners visit the area to see World War II relics as well as the devastated town of Rabaul - the only urban centre in the world built inside the crater of a giant volcano.


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: cryptozoology; dinosaur; godsgravesglyphs; sighting
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-86 next last
To: VadeRetro
Hope he goes for a period piece rather than trying to put it in 2004.

I do, too. To me a lot of the charm of the original was the setting of Depression-era New York. I also thought that the "prehistoric" atmosphere of the island was enhanced by the black-and-white film and the stop-animation technique, which I'm not sure a director today could even try to duplicate (although I guess Ray Harryhausen is still alive and is training a couple proteges--he could do it). I think if Jackson's going to do it well part of the challenge will be how to apply modern fx without losing the atmosphere of the original. DeLaurentis did a good job on the fx but he lost some other important stuff through poor casting choices, adding PC environmentalist themes to the plot, and getting rid of most of the dinosaurs.

41 posted on 03/11/2004 8:29:48 PM PST by Fedora
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: isthisnickcool
"Not a dinosaur. I'm almost positive it's my first wife. They better be careful because it's probably hungry for cash and surrounded by lawyers."

Has anyone checked on the whereabouts of Teddy Kennedy? I'd check to see if any of the witnesses noticed a bottle of gin clutched in its claws.

42 posted on 03/11/2004 8:37:21 PM PST by Desron13
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Fedora; VadeRetro
To me a lot of the charm of the original was the setting of Depression-era New York.

Exactly.

Ocean's Eleven is another example of a film that can't be separated from it's era. That was the film which best captured the spirit of the early 60's in America, IMO.

43 posted on 03/11/2004 8:41:58 PM PST by Ken H
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: Piefloater; farmfriend; blam; VadeRetro; Clean_Sweep
My guess:

Komodo Dragon

Description: Male Length: 2.6 m Weight: 90-kg Female Length: 1.5 m Weight: 45 kg Very large males have been recorded at 3 metres in length and a weight of more than 130 kg. The Komodo dragon, the largest lizard in the world, is a heavy, well-muscled lizard with a long thick head and neck. There are long curved claws on all four feet. The tail, which is about the same length as the body, tapers to a fine tip.

Distribution: The Komodo dragon is found on only a few small islands in the Lesser Sunda archipelago of Indonesia; the islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores and Gili Motang.

[SNIP]

Komodo dragons swim well and have been known to cross the narrow ocean barriers between the islands they inhabit.

Komodo Dragon

Komodo Dragons are extremely territorial animals. The males fight over the right to mate with a particular female. They "stand" on their hind legs and wrestle each other to the ground.

44 posted on 03/11/2004 8:43:24 PM PST by Fedora
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ken H
Haven't seen Ocean's Eleven, but there are definitely some films like that which can't and shouldn't be separated from their eras. Planet of the Apes is another one that comes to my mind where they screwed up the remake by trying to turn it into a contemporary-style film.
45 posted on 03/11/2004 8:50:41 PM PST by Fedora
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: VadeRetro
I believe that she's still alive; but she's not a natural blonde.
46 posted on 03/11/2004 8:50:45 PM PST by Doctor Stochastic (Vegetabilisch = chaotisch is der Charakter der Modernen. - Friedrich Schlegel)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: Doctor Stochastic
On the other hand, I might still be willing to kick out a stained glass window.
47 posted on 03/11/2004 8:52:21 PM PST by Doctor Stochastic (Vegetabilisch = chaotisch is der Charakter der Modernen. - Friedrich Schlegel)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: Doctor Stochastic
I believe that she's still alive; but she's not a natural blonde.

I saw an interview with her on an AMC monster movie documentary aired within the past couple years or so. She seemed pretty lively for her age, and talked about how after that film her main acting job consisted in providing screams for soundtracks, because she screamed so well in Kong that they decided to reuse her voice for a bunch of other films. I think she was also in the original House of Wax where she also did a famous scream scene.

48 posted on 03/11/2004 8:59:59 PM PST by Fedora
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: BipolarBob
As the dominant species it is our God-given duty to kill this thing.

And then hold the mother of all barbeques.

49 posted on 03/11/2004 9:10:58 PM PST by frostbit (Non Sibi, sed Patriae. "Not self, but country.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Piefloater
If verified, maybe it should be named the sasquatchosaurus.

Some paleontologists would say that all birds are dinosaurs.

I thought the city of Aden in Yemen was situated inside the crater of a volcano.

50 posted on 03/11/2004 9:13:48 PM PST by Verginius Rufus
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Piefloater
Let's see...

Three meters tall. Check

Head like a dog. Check

Tail like an alligator. Check.

There is no doubt.

It's Janet Reno.
51 posted on 03/12/2004 12:20:14 AM PST by Swordmaker (This tagline shut down for renovations and repairs. Re-open June of 2001.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ken H
I'm thinking it's a salt water crocodile. They can get past six meters long and weigh upward of a couple thousand kilos.
52 posted on 03/12/2004 3:23:32 AM PST by Junior (No animals were harmed in the making of this post)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Fedora
&*******she screamed so well in Kong that they decided to reuse her voice for a bunch of other films. *******

Kind of like the Abbot and Costello movie where they meet a scream queen who can't scream when she is really scared!
I can't remember the name of the movie!
53 posted on 03/12/2004 3:25:57 AM PST by Ruy Dias de Bivar (DEMS STILL LIE)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 48 | View Replies]

To: frostbit
***And then hold the mother of all barbeques.***

There is a 700 lb corpse stuck in a hearse on another thread somewhere!
54 posted on 03/12/2004 3:27:56 AM PST by Ruy Dias de Bivar (DEMS STILL LIE)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]

To: Fedora; hellinahandcart; NYC GOP Chick; Lil'freeper
"Marcellin Agnaga is a Congolese Biologist who accompanied Roy Mackal on his second expedition. He launched his own search in 1983. At Lake Tele he saw an animal resembling a sauropod dinosaur in the lake."

Can't anybody take a bath in peace?? Sheesh!

55 posted on 03/12/2004 5:21:22 AM PST by sauropod (I intend to have Red Kerry choke on his past.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]

To: sauropod; hellinahandcart; Lil'freeper
Can't anybody take a bath in peace?? Sheesh!

You're posting from the bath?!

56 posted on 03/12/2004 5:37:58 AM PST by NYC GOP Chick ("This situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody's part!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 55 | View Replies]

To: Piefloater
Gee. I'd want to be heavily armed if I did find it... The description doesn't sound like a herbivore...
57 posted on 03/12/2004 6:28:01 AM PST by Little Ray (John eFfing Kerry: Just a Gigolo!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sauropod
I just don't wanna know....
58 posted on 03/12/2004 6:30:10 AM PST by Lil'freeper (By all that we hold dear on this good Earth I bid you stand, men of the West!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 55 | View Replies]

To: Doctor Stochastic
Thanks for the link. That's a very interesting site.
59 posted on 03/12/2004 6:31:46 AM PST by isthisnickcool (Guns!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: Doctor Stochastic
That web page notwithstanding, I'm pretty sure she's dead, Jim.
60 posted on 03/12/2004 6:51:39 AM PST by VadeRetro
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-86 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson