Probably the most famous photograph in history associated with the existence of pterodactyls is an image that dates back to the American Civil War, 1864.
According to the story of the mysterious image, the giant flying creature was shot down by soldiers during the American Civil War in 1864 near the city of Vicksburg.
The story says that this creature was "some unknown bird or monster."
In a surprising twist of history, a second photo appeared on the Internet that showed a similar scene.
This photo was created for a television program called FreakyLinks, which aired on the Fox network from 2000 to 2001.
The fake image showed soldiers standing on the body of another pterosaur.
There are two versions of the image
Promotional video:
There are numerous forums on the Internet that tackle the mystery of this image, which supposedly shows a creature that scientists believe has become extinct for at least 65 million years.
Many photography experts argue that the real civilian copy of FreakyLinks is essentially an authentic version, not Photoshop, and one from FreakyLinks is definitely a repetition of the original image.
Photography has become so popular that an entire website has been created specifically for it.
According to the website, “the ideas presented on this Live Pterosaur site are mostly about eyewitness accounts: real encounters with creatures called“prehistoric”or“pterodactyls”. Look at these pages with an open eye and compare all points of view. If you consider yourself an evolutionist or creationist, or are just curious, you can empathize with just one of the ideas. However, if you leave this site without believing in living pterosaurs, be aware that some people do believe in living pterosaurs: intelligent, educated people may not believe in the complete extinction of pterosaurs."
The website mentioned above was created by a man named Jonathan Whitcomb, who is a crypto zoologist and "a scientist with an unconventional view of history."
Whitcomb offers a lot of information about extinct creatures and several stories of alleged sightings of pterosaurs.
So we know there are two images of Pterodactyl's American Civil War, as well as an entire website dedicated to Pterosaur's, but is the image real or not?
According to the Modern Pterosaur website, the first image that FreakyLinks has chosen to falsify is real for a number of reasons, again explained by Whitcomb.
According to the author, at first the Pterosaur's wings confused the researchers, and some people said that they looked like parts of a canoe. However, the person who allegedly knows about Canoe contacted Whitcomb via email to talk about the Civil War image, which states:
I am 67 years old and I remember this photo from my childhood. I go canoeing very often. I have owned several of them. It's not half a canoe! Too narrow and too shallow.
Also, as Whitcomb noted; "The sun shadows tie the soldier's boot to the animal, as well as a number of details in the head, neck and other areas - they correlate well with Pterodactyl's anatomy."
However, many skeptics, such as Loen Colman, an American crypto zoologist who has written over 40 books on a range of topics, including crypto zoology. According to Coleman, the Pterosaur image is clearly a fake.
Others seem to agree with Coleman.
Another person who spoke about Civil War photography was Glen Cuban, who concluded, like Coleman, that both the FreakyLinks image and the one from which it was copied was a hoax and most likely the result of Photoshop.
But despite the merciless criticism, the old photo was still recognized as genuine by two scientists in January 2017.
However, Skepsoid appears to have solved the puzzle behind this image.
As Brian Dunning pointed out in his article titled The Pterosaur Civil War, “To find out - that the mystery of photography is something that has a simple solution that so many people struggle to prove or disprove. While they all agree that the twin photo was posed and filmed for the FreakyLinks TV show, very few of them seem to have bothered to actually watch the episode in question, Episode 4, titled "Coelacanth This," directed by Jeffrey Levy. Because that's where the real photograph appears. In one scene, the characters discuss an old photograph that they suspect may be related to recent attacks by what appears to be a giant bird."
And a photo of a pterodactyl, in all its glory, appears on computer screens.
"Derek, this is impossible." "What, pterodactyl?"
"Pteranodon, in fact, they are much more."
"Hold on, Derek, this whole civil war could just be a hoax."
“Or we could prove that these soldiers existed. Check their regiment markings for troop locations or movements, or something in the area, you know?"
In addition to the above image, there are a few more interesting photographs that many authors believe are evidence that dinosaurs and humans coexisted.
See the Stegosaurus carvings on an ancient Cambodian temple
If we look at the carvings found in the Cambodian temple of Ta Prohm, we notice the alleged carving of the Stegosaurus, or at least something that resembles it. The temple was built around the 12th century, prompting many authors and researchers to believe that dinosaurs and humanity coexisted not so long ago.
There is one more image:
Discovered in Dawson County Montana, the Triceratops horn has been controversial, dating back approximately 33,500 years, officially challenging the idea that dinosaurs became extinct around 66 million years ago.
This discovery, like many others, suggests that humanity coexisted on Earth with dinosaurs in the distant past. Triceratops's horn is currently housed in the Glendian Dinosaur and Fossil Museum.