2017
In 2017 in an area called Whitchurch, two people bore witness to a real-life scene from Jurassic park. This incident is known as ‘The Screeching serpents of Shropshire’ and is the latest in a series of dinosaur sightings in Britain. (though not a classical cryptid, the reason why such creatures continue to be sighted is certainly unexplained) The witness claimed she was first alerted when she heard a strange ‘screech’ coming from outside. Rather disconcertedly, she noticed that not only was the screech unlike anything she’d heard before, but the noise was getting closer. When she looked outside, across the treeline she witnessed two ‘pterodactyls’ flying side by side and watched in horror until they were out of view, Her house was near a nature reserve, and she knew the local birds well, so she distinguished that these grey, leathery winged creatures were not birds, but something else. They appeared far bigger than anything she had seen before. The lady told her husband, who was sceptical, but kept the sighting to herself. A few days later, her 13-year-old son had been playing outside, when he witnessed similar phenomena, hearing screeching, and seeing large, leathery winged creatures. Whilst trying to help her son identify what he saw, she showed him a picture of a Pterodactyl, to which he confirmed this was the creature. This is certainly an impressive story, but it isn’t the only ‘pterosaur’ sighting occurring within Shropshire. Indeed, according to the website of Jonathan Whitcomb- Living Pterosaurs enthusiast’ a further sighting occurred in 2017 on the Silkin way in Telford. Here a man saw a ‘large, leathery creature’, with a wingspan of 4-6 feet glide past him whilst walking this route. Both sightings have commonalities and point to a creature far larger than a regular bird or bat, and both witnesses felt sufficiently concerned enough to contact Jonathan.
Submitted by Amy B