Ropen
The valleys and jungles of Papua New Guinea are known to hold a treasure trove of undiscovered and unclassified species of flora and fauna. Among them, suggest some, is the ropen, a winged reptilian creature that resembles — or perhaps is — a pterodactyl. Indeed, the ropen has become the flying hobby horse of creationists, who seek to find living dinosaurs as proof that the earth is far younger than evolutionary scientists lead the rest of the world to believe. In 2006, a Texan named Paul Nation traveled to Papua New Guinea's mountainous interior and set camp in a local village near a rumored ropen roost. He never saw the creatures directly but captured footage of their "lights" in the sky. (The ropen are supposedly bioluminescent.) After a few nights of observation, Nation left his post, having seen only the aura of myth rather than the thing itself.