Are Dinosaurs EXTINCT, or just SHY?

Are Dinosaurs EXTINCT, or just SHY?

by Bill Knell

In 1979 I met a guy named George. We attended the same church located in New York. It was a large congregation, which meant it took time to really meet and get to know everyone. We ultimately met at a church barbecue which he sponsored for members of various committees. During an introductory conversation I discovered that George was a geologist working for oil companies. I wondered what his thoughts were on the age of the earth, so I briefly shared my interest in these topics and invited him to have dinner with me on a Friday night.

We met at a restaurant I liked. It was perfect for quiet or personal conversations because there were some tables off to the side of the main dining room. I was concerned that some of my views might sound a bit conspiratorial and I didn't want to embarrass or scare him off. As it turned out, I wasn't the one with the wildest story and conspiratorial view.

We chatted for a while getting to know each other. George was older than me, being in his early thirties. Both of us were single and dating nice girls from the church. I thought I was well travelled, but discovered that George had me beat. He regularly visited many countries as part of his job researching oil finds and helping to assess the cost of drilling versus returns for several companies. That gave him a lot of real world work experience.

At some point I asked how he felt about the geological age of the earth as voiced by many of his colleagues? I pointed out a few facts that caused me to doubt the veracity of their claims. George took a breath and said he did not believe that the earth was billions, or even millions of years old. However, he also differed with young earth theorists who, at that time, claimed the earth was created by God just four or five thousand years ago. Today they are called young earth creationists and many believe the earth was created by God six to ten thousand years ago. Then he dropped the bomb.

George said that the story he was going to tell me was real, but he hadn't told it to many people and would appreciate it if I kept it to myself. I agreed, but he has since passed away. He said that it doesn't necessarily relate to the age of the earth, but might be a nail in the coffin of the theory of evolution.

In 1977 he was on the job in Brazil working for Petrobras, the state owned oil company. Most of the oil drilling done there is off shore. However, there is so much oil under that country that Petrobras was interested in all the on shore possibilities as well. George was in the field with six others including a guide, an assistant, two laborers and two well-armed guards. They were working in Solimões Basin.

Solimões Basin is less populated than it's neighbor the Amazonas Basin. George and his staff were working near one of the many lakes in the region. They had the advantage of acess to a barn sized structure already there that oil company employees used. It had beds, running water, a gas cooking area and a bathroom. Doors and windows with bars could be locked for security against animals like monkeys and jaguars.

Most of the work George and his crew did was tedious. However, on their second day of a planned eight day stay something happened that is unlikely to be explained anytime soon. It began with a walk to the nearby lake. It was large and being fed by several rivers. George hoped to catch a glimpse of pink river dolphins known to inhabit the area.

It was not a long walk to the lake because they took a shortcut through a heavily forested area. Just when they were about 300 feet away from the water's edge, they all saw an unbelievably large creature off to the west which was feeding on some plants. In those days before cell phones no one had a camera with them. Their assignment didn’t require one. Those who carried expensive equipment like cameras often had them stolen by monkeys or some of the less friendly natives.

The creature looked in their direction, then took off after about a minute. George was an archeology and history buff and got enough of a good look at it to be certain it was an iguanodon dinosaur. Fortunately, they are not meat eaters and are known to have a weird looking “thumb”.

Everyone in their group saw the same thing. The guards insisted that everyone return to their base in the large structure. One of them had a radio for emergencies and in his mind what they saw qualified as one. Once back at their base he contacted the company to find out what to do?

Almost immediately they were told that a vehicle would be there later that evening to pick them up. In the mean time they were not to venture outside for any reason. After they were picked up the group was brought to a Brazilian military base and debriefed. George said it seemed that this might have happened before because they had a process ready. They knew exactly what to ask and what to do.

Since the event took place on company time, all those involved were instructed not to talk about it to anyone. They were told that any information they knew about it should be considered the intellectual property of the state. Interestingly, none of the group were asked to draw any pictures of what they saw. They were only asked for verbal descriptions.

South America is a place where persistent living dinosaur sightings take place. Most are reported to be sauropods, theropods, pterosaurs and iguanodons. Many of these areas have remained unchanged making them ideal locations for living dinosaurs to appear. Early explorers are some of the sources of these reports and many natives stay away from certain areas for fear of unusually large and dangerous creatures.

Knowing George as I did I really cannot discount or disbelieve his story. Similar stories have been told about cryptids in the USA and each year it seems like more creatures once thought extinct have been found alive worldwide. One of the most common dinosaur era creatures seen here are the flying pterodactyls.