Field Notes From The Unknown: Hello, I'm Casey. And I'm Mackenzie. And this is Field Notes from the Unknown, a podcast about your favorite local cryptid. Mackenzie Hrubey: Good morning. casey: Good morning. Mackenzie Hrubey: How are you doing, you crazy cryptid creature? casey: I am very good, actually. How are you? Mackenzie Hrubey: Actually, I'm good. I'm good. I it's early this morning. We're very being very brave, because we've got a project that I gotta get done with the cryptid parents later today, so thank you for being flexible. so did you go to Penhurst again this weekend? casey: I did. so this will be the third time I've went this year. I did the haunted attraction last night. Mackenzie Hrubey: Nice. Was it scary? casey: Yeah. they got me a couple of times. Okay, Mackenzie Hrubey: Okay. casey: I'll s I'll give them that. The actors do an excellent job. I felt like it was brighter this time. Like they had more lights and I'm like, nah, I would prefer it be pitch black sometimes. But Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah. casey: no, it was great. They do a great job. and I hope they stay. Like I would love for Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah. casey: them to just not close or sell it. But time will tell. Mackenzie Hrubey: Are they i is there some talk that they might be closing or selling it? casey: Supposedly they're gonna turn it into a data center. Mackenzie Hrubey: Seriously? Okay. casey: Yeah. So I don't know. I hear that it is sold and now they're like an illegal thing because the people that buy it wanna turn it into a data center. And then on the other side like I hear that it's not sold and that they're not selling it anymore. So like I it's really up in the air, like I have no idea what's going on. Mackenzie Hrubey: Well, that's crazy. casey: Because I've heard two different things the last two times that I've went. Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah. casey: So yeah, I don't know. But Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah. I feel like data centers are such a like a intense and like very present concern and issue. Sometimes I wonder if people assume that if something's going wrong, it's a data center. and it very casey: Well Mackenzie Hrubey: well could be, but I also wonder if it's like a dog whistle kind of thing. casey: So my thing is with data centers, I wanna know like I understand the environmental aspect, but I also would like to have a better inside perspective of are they using fresh clean water actually? Is this just like something to I don't know. I d I have we can't stop technology. They're going to come. It's inevitable at this point. Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah. casey: So I think We just need to use the resources that are not harming people. Mackenzie Hrubey: I agree with that. I think the horse is out of the barn. You know, there's no putting the horse back in the barn. casey: I yeah, we can't do it. We can't get it back in. Mackenzie Hrubey: But the thing that would be helpful in the discourse is transparency from the data center companies who are particularly those about how's energy being obtained, what's the water source utilization casey: Exactly. Mackenzie Hrubey: like? And like let's innovate then for all of those things to make that a green system. you know? casey: Yeah. It's the transparency and it's unfortunate because I think most of the people who are in charge of the data center are not they're there for the profit and they don't give a shit who's it affecting. Which is unfortunate. Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah, that's sad. Yeah, that's really sad. casey: Like the human aspect in some things I think right now are lack thereof. There's not. They don't care. Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah, absolutely. Well, I have a story for you that I think will brighten up your day a little bit. Are you ready? casey: I hope. Sorry everyone. Yeah. That little data center TED Talk, my bad. Mackenzie Hrubey: Please don't apologize for being your wonderful, beautiful, emotionally intuitive self. No, I liked it. It was good. all right, so we are going international today. So do you have your passport? Alright, pack casey: I do. I do. Mackenzie Hrubey: your bags. It's gonna get a little muggy, it's gonna l get a little sticky, it's gonna get full of bugs, possibly casey: I need Mackenzie Hrubey: some bats and dinosaurs today. And dinosaurs. casey: And dinosaurs? Ooh. Mackenzie Hrubey: I'm yeah. I'm taking you to the island nation of Papua New Guinea. casey: Okay. Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah, so we're going all the way across the globe today to a cluster of islands sitting in the South Pacific. if you need a reference point for where we're at, the closest other landmass to the island of Papua New Guinea is Australia. So it's gonna be the Cape York Point that's located in Queensland, Australia. please pause. Grifted boyfriend is here with I believe a coffee. Thank you. Coffee casey: Coffee delivery. Hi Charlie. Mackenzie Hrubey: Hi! I'll let you get back to it. boy. boy. Hmm. We need to get coffee creamer. So this is just raw dogging black coffee with cream in it, which is frightening. But the gaffeen is perfect. More sugar? No, I'm good. casey: Like heavy cream? Or like Mackenzie Hrubey: Okay. You're so beautiful. You can want them in here. Does he want to come in? Come on, baby. I'm sorry hi to Katie. I know we're so sweet. He was so concerned. Alright, so we're packing casey: Awww, hi sweet boy. Mackenzie Hrubey: we're packing our cats and our coffee today to Papua New Guinea. So again, closest land mass is Australia and Queensland. So for millennia, there have been rumors. on the island that there is a strange creature in the skies. casey: We did Thunderbirds a couple weeks ago. You really like these things in the skies lately. Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah, I think that to go on like these little like I don't know, like I get into an interesting topic or theme and then I stick to it. But I'll tell you, I heard about these cryptids on again our favorite cryptid show, Monster Quest. and I've always wanted to talk about them since then. So I'm gonna set the scene a little bit, okay? Alright. So we have arrived in Papua New Guinea. The crickets are chirping. There is a cacophony of bug sounds of creatures that you've never heard of before. Where deep in a tropical rainforest, the humidity is so thick. It's like walking through pudding. The environment is so unfamiliar that, you know, some of these sounds are just totally new to you. but but All of a sudden you hear a noise that sounds unlike anything that you have heard thus far. It's a loud noise. It sounds almost like a growl or a scream. And you look, you look around. You can't see anything. You keep walking, and suddenly you come into a forest clearing. And there in front of you is a creature out of land before time. Something that should not exist, but it does. And it's in front of you. And you see. A creature with a thirty-foot wingspan tip to tip, with these bat-like leathery wings and fingers at the end, a long tail that ends in a little diamond shape, and a head with a long snout and a pointed crown in the back of it. And you see this creature go hop, hop, hop, and then take off with five big, big billowy winged. I don't know, flaps into the sky. What do you think you just saw? Maybe. Maybe. casey: Is it a pterodactyl? A pterodactyl. Definitely. Mackenzie Hrubey: Maybe. Maybe. So you see you have just encountered a ropin of Papua New Guinea. A ropen. casey: Never heard of a ropin. Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah, so Ropins have a deep indigenous history. they are said to be there's actually a book. It's a book called Searching for Ropins, and this is a description which I think is kind of vague. It says any featherless creature that flies in the Southwest Pacific and has a tail length more than twenty five percent of its wingspan. So that's that's unhelpful, right? casey: How many how many how many other species do they have that is literally actually described like that? Well Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah. Especially I think the featherless one is kinda weird. But this is a good question. casey: Yeah. Mackenzie Hrubey: So the ropin is the primarily s seen creature. other names for creatures that are probably similar, but sometimes they differ by size, are the dua, spelled D-U-A, the Dua spelled du a h and then the Indava. And these are all creatures that have been seen for millennia on the islands of Papua New Guinea. So what witnesses generally describe is a creature that looks like a pterodactyl. it's between ten and thirty feet wingspan. It's got those weird back like or pterosaur like wings, a bony crest on the back of its head, and then sometimes people see ridges or plates on its back like a crocodile. It's said to have razor sharp teeth, primarily have a diet of fish, but sometimes people And the weirdest thing is that the Ropen and casey: Yes. Mackenzie Hrubey: the Jewah are bioluminescent. Yeah. Yeah. So do you know the brown mountain lights? casey: Yeah. Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah, so North Carolina brown mountain lights, people see these weird flashes of light that last for some amount of time and then go away. Could be earthquake casey: Yeah. Mackenzie Hrubey: lights, could be spirits, could be UAP, but this is a kind of a similar thing. witnesses in Papua New Guinea casey: So it could be a UFO, but actually it's just a robin. Mackenzie Hrubey: Yes. It's just a ropin. We have ropins here apparently. I don't think Thunderbirds casey: It's just a robin. Mackenzie Hrubey: were ever bioluminescent. casey: No, they yeah, no, I don't think you mentioned that. Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah. It's okay, welcome back. Your hair's cute! What's wrong with it? casey: I a little flyaway and I think it's c like having it pushed down with my hood helped. Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah, I've got this for a devil horn, so it's it's fine. My I always get casey: Yeah. Mackenzie Hrubey: like I get breakage here and then these curl like devil horns. There's also a cat in my lap. So all is well. And I put a splash of pumpkin spice latte creamer into my coffee, which is not my favorite flavor, but it's delicious. casey: You don't like pocket spice? Mackenzie Hrubey: I like pumpkin desserts and pumpkin bread and pumpkin cheesecake, but I do not like pumpkin spice beverages. What do you like him? casey: Okay. Mackenzie Hrubey: No Don't leave me I love you No Alright casey: I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. I love you. Mackenzie Hrubey: so I think we were Yeah casey: All right. So they glow in the sky. Mackenzie Hrubey: Yes. So witnesses describe a flash of blue light that lasts between four and five seconds. And they'll see multiple flashes of this throughout the sky. and actually the first white person, who by the way was not a man, not a white man, but actually a white woman, and we love her because she's a fucking badass feminist woman, was in casey: Okay. Great. Mackenzie Hrubey: 1935. and her name is Evelyn Cheesman. She was a renowned biologist and entomologist who wrote the book The Two Roads of Papua, published in 1935, and she collected over 70,000 specimens that are now housed in the Natural History Museum of London. And she actually saw these lights. And she described seeing the casey: Really? Mackenzie Hrubey: baffling lights that would flash in this blue. And she said, it was a most intriguing mystery, because by no possibility could there be human beings out there using flash lamps at intervals. case they were too far to be caused by any ordinary electric torch. So she critically evaluated these things and still found that they were fucking weird. casey: But did she actually see the rope in? Or just the lights for right now? Mackenzie Hrubey: Just the lights. Just all the lights. Yeah. Yeah. So some people think that maybe the lights are used to hunt fish. So they bioluminesce when they're above water maybe and then attract fish and then you know eat But people usually see the lights up in the mountains. So casey: Yeah. Mackenzie Hrubey: yeah, not totally sure about that. casey: It's to attract humans because we like also things that glow and we're like, Wow, what is that? Mackenzie Hrubey: We do like things that glow, and perhaps the ropen don't just eat fish. So the opening scenario we kinda walked through is the story of a former fighter pilot called Duane Hodgkinson. he saw the rope and actually saw it in nineteen forty-four. He was stationed in Papua Window Guinea during World War Two and he and another man were walking through the woods when they heard this loud noise. They were like, that's weird. Then they walked into a clearing and they saw this creature, as we described in our intro, hopping, hop and hoping and then took off. and he thought it was a pterodactyl when he first saw it. But upon engaging with like all of the locals there, they started telling him you've seen a rope in and he stuck casey: Well is a Mackenzie Hrubey: to his story. He was actually interviewed in the episode of Monster Quest. casey: And he thinks it was actually a pterodactyl. Mackenzie Hrubey: He thinks it was a rope bin. casey: Okay. So are do you think since they do have a lot of similarities, are Ropins and pterodactyls related? Because pterodactyls Mackenzie Hrubey: I think it could casey: are technically extinct. Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah, the the predominating theory is that it's a remnant population of pterodactyls that have just existed in this isolated pocket of the world f since the dinosaurs were were extinguished. casey: And I definitely think that can happen. Like, I think Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah. casey: animals are so good at hide and seek, and not to mention they have portals and they time travel. And like, I don't know, they also might be aliens like Bigfoot. So Mackenzie Hrubey: Hehehe. casey: I think I I don't know. I do think they could be a very related species to the pterodactyl. Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah. I don't think that the pterodactyl trim time travels. That's unlikely to me. But we can't rule it out. We can't rule it out. But I casey: Can't rule it out. Mackenzie Hrubey: I do think like logically, you know, like if if the asteroid that wept at the dinosaurs hit in the Gulf of of Mexico, that's almost the exact opposite side of the world from Papua New Guinea, right? Plus these are flying creatures. So like we're talking about the region of the world that probably would have been the least impacted from the asteroid collision. So like is it possible that a creature could have stayed, casey: Just Mackenzie Hrubey: you know? casey: If I saw an asteroid coming, I would probably fly away. Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah, definitely. Absolutely. Yeah. casey: And go somewhere else. Mackenzie Hrubey: Now I don't know like the relationship of like New Mexico area or like Gulf of Mexico area to like Papua New Guinea back when it was all like the continents were arranged in that certain time. You know, it would have been Pangea, but whatever happened between Pangea and now I don't have to look that up. But you know, casey: Yeah. Mackenzie Hrubey: like is that possible? Maybe. casey: It might maybe Mackenzie Hrubey: Maybe and if that's true, then perhaps we should be alarmed because let me tell you another story about a rope insiding. In nineteen eighty-six, a man was gardening, again at a former military base in Papua New Guinea, when a forty foot creature came and lifted him up with its talons, flew him up to a height of forty feet, and then dropped him. He went drop, he went casey: Did anyone see this? Mackenzie Hrubey: kapoose. Yes, multiple witnesses. And then it came back casey: Someone someone had to have seen it. Mackenzie Hrubey: Yes, an entire village saw him because the rope and came back, picked up the dead body, went, and sat in a gigantic tree and ate him in front of the entire village. So casey: Do you think she do you think she meant to drop him to kill him? Because you know. I think she meant to drop him also. She knew Mackenzie Hrubey: Yes, I think she was Yeah. Yeah, so he wouldn't struggle. casey: exactly what she was doing. Mackenzie Hrubey: Uhhuh. So I don't know, if you go, you know, researching in Papua New Guinea, bring casey: I bet you that entire village has Mackenzie Hrubey: your casey: they p they should probably leave out offering. Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah. Could you imagine the trauma? casey: Yeah, exactly, right? Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah, I give them sheep. I don't know. Give a big ass fish. casey: Did you ever watch Midsummer? Mackenzie Hrubey: Yes, I love Midsummer. casey: I think they should kinda do what Midsummer does and the oldest of the tribe should just sacrifice themselves to the ropin. Mackenzie Hrubey: That's a good idea. It's very it's very casey: I think that's a good idea also. Mackenzie Hrubey: economical, you know. casey: Yeah, right? Mackenzie Hrubey: There's another word for that, but I can't think of it right now. Yeah, that's the casey: That is insane. That is actually terrifying. Mackenzie Hrubey: that's the freakiest story. There are more modern stories, so in 2006 there was a Texan man named Paul Nation, which is so fucking Texas. casey: So is he over there or is this an hour in Texas? Mackenzie Hrubey: no, he was visiting. He was visiting. casey: Okay. Mackenzie Hrubey: But his name is literally Paul Nation. casey: That is very Texan. Mackenzie Hrubey: That's wild. So he went there in 06 and he didn't see the rope in, but he saw the lights and he recorded a video of the lights. casey: Mm. Mackenzie Hrubey: I searched really hard for the video and I feel I have this vague recollection of seeing the video at some point in time in my life, but I could not find it while researching. but I if I remember right, it was like just like these four to five second flashes of blue, white, blue light up in the mountains, and there's like four or five of them. casey: that is wild. Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah, it's crazy. And then in two thousand and fifteen there was a Canadian team of researchers that went to the island of New Britain in Papua New Guinea and had a daytime sighting of the actual ropen in the sky. So they saw the casey: Yeah. Mackenzie Hrubey: pterodactyl creature in its full glory. They did not take a picture. Nope. Just the report. casey: Did they get a picture? Did they get anything? It's twenty fifteen. Mackenzie Hrubey: I know. I know. So If you decide that you want to go to Papua New Guinea to go find the rope in, I have a couple recommended spots that you could go to. you casey: Okay. Mackenzie Hrubey: want to target Umboe Island or New Britain Island, they have the most sightings, and definitely bring your pterodactyl repellent so you don't get eaten. casey: Yeah, maybe you should actually, get a suit. Like they put on tiny little chihuahuas with spike. Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah. That's a good idea. casey: and I'm not one to harm animals at all. If your chihuahua's out there, unfortunately, I don't know. Put it on a leash. Mackenzie Hrubey: I love dogs, but I don't love chihuahuas as much. So I wouldn't you know, maybe sacrifice the chihuahua to the robin. casey: That'd be like a chicken nugget. Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah, like a little light Yeah, like a little s like a popcorn like a sh popcorn shrimp. Mm-hmm. casey: Yeah. but maybe, you know, if you're going in dangerous areas, just realize that you could get eaten and never return. Mackenzie Hrubey: Absolutely. Absolutely. There are a couple of you know, the naysayers are gonna s are gonna naysay. So these are the most spoken casey: What do they think it's? Mackenzie Hrubey: so they think it could be a misidentified flying fox, which is a giant casey: Clawing Fox. Mackenzie Hrubey: species flying fox, yeah. it's a giant species of Fruit and bug eating bat. their wingspan tip to tip is about two meters or like six six and a half feet. which is big but not not roping big. casey: Do they have a tail also? Mackenzie Hrubey: No no casey: Yeah. Mackenzie Hrubey: tail. And then no crest on their head either. So I we're gonna X that one out. casey: Yeah. Debunked. Mackenzie Hrubey: Then the other possibility is a frigate bird. so frigate birds are these really giant seafaring birds that are native to the region, and the males inflate a big ol' red pouch under their neck when they're trying to mate and attract a female. casey: Okay. Mackenzie Hrubey: but the only thing that seems common is that they fly and that they're large. So casey: Does the bouch glow or anything? Mackenzie Hrubey: No, it just it's red. But it's not blue. casey: Debunked. That's not it. Mackenzie Hrubey: You know? I don't think that's it either. And then of course pterodactyl or alien, you know. casey: I think it's probably a pterodactyl. Mackenzie Hrubey: I think it's a remnant pterodactyl species. It's fascinating. Yeah. casey: I think it's a one minute also. Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah. So Casey what do you think? casey: I think that is a four. I would like to have one as a pet. I think that would be a really cool pet. Mackenzie Hrubey: Would you okay, just walking through the practicality of the pet aspect. I love the idea and the enthusiasm. However, are we putting the rope in inside? Do you have a house large enough for that? casey: no, she would be an out in an outside enclosure that I would probably also, you know, take her out for walks. She would take me for walks. You know. Mackenzie Hrubey: And by walk you mean a horrifying flight to your death, possibly. casey: Yeah, a horrifying fly. But we would have a relationship where she wouldn't eat me. Mackenzie Hrubey: Mm-hmm. casey: And I would try and not let her eat people, but you know I can't she's hungry. I can't Mackenzie Hrubey: Bird's got a bird. casey: you know, birds yeah, she's gonna eat what she wants. Mackenzie Hrubey: What would you name her? casey: Three. Mackenzie Hrubey: What? Tree? Aww casey: Tree. Tree. Mackenzie Hrubey: That's cute. I like that. Alright, cute. I love it. casey: What do you rate the Robin? Mackenzie Hrubey: I dunno, I'm a big Rupen believer. I'm not gonna give it a five. I'm gonna give it a a solid four. I just think that we have a pretty deep and consistent bunch of sightings and the lights are something. casey: And recent, mind you, twenty fifteen, that's not that far off, like a go. Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah, that was eleven years ago. Which is crazy. We're old. But anyway. casey: We're not that old. Mackenzie Hrubey: I know. I have so many grey hairs. I don't want everyone to tell you. casey: stop. Mackenzie Hrubey: it's crazy. but I believe it. I just if there was casey: I do too. Mackenzie Hrubey: gonna be a place in the world that a dinosaur lasted, it would be Papua New Guinea. casey: Yeah. yeah. I agree. Especially a flying one. Yeah. Mackenzie Hrubey: Absolutely. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So listeners, please tell us what you think of the Ropen and the Dua. How do you rate on a believability scale of one to five? Ropen? casey: Yeah, if you had one. Yeah. Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah. casey: And you know where to find us at Feel Knows From the Unknown. Like, share, subscribe. We are on Instagram, Facebook, Spotify, YouTube. Yeah. Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah. casey: Go go look at all the things we have out there. But all right, that is it for us guys. We hope you enjoyed and we will see you next week. Bye! Mackenzie Hrubey: Aí