back to article Car crash driver blames pterodactyl

A 29-year-old Washington driver who last Thursday night drifted into the oncoming lane before crashing into a light pole failed to convince police officers that flying dinosaurs were to blame, HeraldNet reports. The 29-year-old Wenatchee man apparently wandered off course "for less than a block" while oncoming traffic …

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  1. Sam

    Hang on a tick..

    I seem to recall a remote control pterodactyl glider model thingy on TV a long while ago, and I do believe it was in America...is it still flying?

    Maybe he DID see one...??

  2. michael
    Coat

    you never know!

    could be there are a lot of dangrous dinos at this time of year

    yes my coat and the elephant gun pls it is a long dangrous way home

  3. Paul F
    Coat

    Well, Cincinnati's go Leprechauns...

    ... so why not?

    mmmyep.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    His name must have been Calvin

    ...and he had that stuffed tiger on the backseat?

  5. Mcbain
    Dead Vulture

    Did you ever try pterodactyl on predictive?

    T9's the way to go my young American, follow the pterodactyl into the land of holy Darwin

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Dead Vulture

    Pterodactyl...?

    Is this more even proof that some "extinct" animals simply haven't been seen in a very long time..?

    (hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha...padded cell...hahahahahahahahahahahahaha)

  7. Kimo
    Alert

    Not a dinosaur

    Yes, they are both diapsids that lived at the same time, but pterodactyls are not dinosaurs! I expect a better level of technical detail from a tabloid of this distinction.

    See http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/diapsids/archosy.html for details.

  8. Tom Haczewski

    @ Sam

    I believe you're referring to a short film, with that chap who played Sam in Lord of the Rings in it. It was one of those 'Masters of Science Fiction' films.

    They must be based on real life!

  9. Neil

    Eddies...

    in the space/time continuum.

    <end obligatory Douglas Adams quote>

  10. Joe Flynn
    Thumb Up

    hahaha

    Sounds like something you'd see on a hollywood blockbuster: the officers of course didn't see the guy driving through the tropics of pangea avoiding dinos, explosions and tar pits, before he barrel rolled through a time rift and hit that lampost in washington.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @Mcbain

    Wrong login, man from mars.

  12. Jan Eric Andersson
    Linux

    @Sam

    You may be thinking of the 1983 movie WarGames, in which John Wood's character flies a model Pterodactyl in one of the scenes.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Wargames

    1980's cult classic film Wargames had a scene early on with a radio controlled pterodactyl. I remember it clearly because I wanted one!

  14. Barry
    Happy

    There's a flying in....

    ... Wargames!!

    Where they go to the island to find the Doc responsible for building WOMPR.

  15. Matthew
    Go

    @Sam

    Professor Falcon is flying a remote controlled pterodactyl when we first meet him the movie 'Wargames'.

  16. Tawakalna
    IT Angle

    Creationism..

    One presumes that, since he claims that he saw an animal that's been extinct for 65 million years, he doesn't believe in "Intelligent Design" or the literal truth of the Bible?

    Great story, but where exactly are the IT and/or Paris Hilton angles?

  17. Graham Marsden
    Happy

    @Sam and Tom

    I remember Professor Falken flying a Pterodactyl glider in the film Wargames back in 1983!

  18. Dr. Ellen
    Boffin

    Skunk Works

    A radio-control pterodactyl was commisioned by the Smithsonian Museum, and created by Paul MacCready. It flew by flapping its wings. I've seen the film, and seen the pterodactyl itself on display in the Air and Space museum.

    Perhaps this driver saw a secret military version of same. Was it black? Gotta watch out for them black pterodactyls!

  19. PaulH

    @Sam

    I think the movie "Wargames" had a radio-controlled pterodactyl, but I think that it was also in some documentary, built by some hobbiest or researcher, and not made specially for the film.

  20. J
    Paris Hilton

    What about...

    Well, they tested him for alcohol. But what about other, more er... interesting substances more apt to produce hallucinations?

  21. doomie
    Boffin

    @ Sam once again

    You're thinking of Wargames (with a very young Matthew Broderick).

    Ally Sheedy and himself go to find a Dr. Stephen Falken on his private Island, trying to hunt down 'Joshua' (ahh, so many people's passwords after that), and they get 'buzzed' by a flying pterodactyl (well, radio controlled).

    Hmm, need to get out more to remember that film in that much detail....

  22. Chris G

    It's true

    I have seen this recalcitrant animal several times. The first time it made me fail my maths O level, then some years later it made me drive my dad's car into a Rolls Royce that some fool had parked on the piece of road I was driving on,soon after that it made me drink a vast amount of Jack Daniels during my lunch break, causing me to go back to work and urinate in the corner of my bosses' office. It's true I tell you!

    what is worse are the other members of the family , the Mastodon, the sabre tooth tiger and the monkey that keeps talking to me.

  23. Sam

    @ Tom

    No, it was years ago, a Horizon Programme..called "nova" on the wrong side of the pond?

    Anyway, the skies may be full of them..

    http://www.pteroworks.com/index.htm

  24. Stuart Halliday
    Dead Vulture

    Mexico tourist?

    Isn't Mexico renounce for having people spotting Pterodactyls? Maybe this flying reptile was on holiday? Sorry - vacation.

    ;-)

  25. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    we can't stop here, this is pterodactyl country!

    all right, so maybe I did watch Fear and Loathing one time too many. Now where did I leave my coat...?

  26. Anonymous Coward
    Alien

    Some strong mushrooms

    it's been a while but they do have some nice fungus in Washington. Ahh, for the furry taste in my mouth once again.

  27. Brian Miller

    It was a chicken

    No, really, our chickens are that big. Plus we really do have a Church of God,Zilla. (In Zilla, WA, there is the Church of God. And yes there's a large inflatabile reptile on the roof.)

  28. Steve Skipper
    Coat

    But seriously....

    Maybe he was thinking of dinosaurs after he "rapter" around the lamp post.

  29. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    You never know...

    Occasionally some "extinct" animal is found to still exist after all. Or maybe it was some sort of odd-looking bird he'd never seen, and he could only relate it to a pterodactyl.

    OTOH, that doesn't mean you crash into a lamp post. I mean, let's say it was a hawk instead of a pterodactyl. Would that have been excuse enough? I don't think so.

    I'm thinking maybe it was a vulture...

  30. Nano nano

    Must be publicity ...

    ... for the upcoming series of Primeval.

    Why has no-one else twigged ?

  31. Michael Herlihy
    Dead Vulture

    A possible explanation?

    The Great Blue Heron in flight has been confused (by some who may be otherwise impaired) with pterodactyls. Perhaps this is an explanation of the events? Their range includes that of the subject in question...

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Blue_Heron

    Mike

  32. Martin Usher

    I seem to recall a remote control pterodactyl glider....

    Yes, but its not practical enough to fly down the street to frighten drivers. It has to be flown off the side of a hill ("slope plane").

    If you recall the opening lines from "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" -- about driving across the desert when the dinos hit or whatever -- then a more likely explanation is that he was suffering the effects of whatever he washed down with that "minimal amount of alcohol".

  33. Thomas
    Coat

    RE: Eddies...

    Ah. Is he? Is He?

  34. Feargal Reilly
    Coat

    Chinese immigrant?

    He may have been stunned by the impact and was in fact trying to say "tell a doctor" but it came out wrong. (or wong, even).

    No need to call me a cab, I never got out of it.

  35. TeeCee Gold badge
    Coat

    Faulty car.

    Obvious answer really. The Pterodactyl repellant emitter on his car had failed. All cars are fitted with this as standard. Easy to prove, stand next to a busy highway and count Pterodactyls. See?

  36. John Angelico
    Joke

    If you cross a...

    Pterodactyl with a prestidigitateur using a von neumann machine, then apply a reductio ad absurdum, you may be left with the letters D and T.

    Maybe that's what he saw: DTs.

    :-)

  37. Oz Warren
    Boffin

    Do You Concuss Dr?

    Man drives into pole. Police interview man. Man gives bizarre answer. Any chance of a head injury being at the root of this dinoclastic storm?

  38. Andrew K Jones
    Dead Vulture

    cheap flying dino

    Perhaps he saw one of these:

    http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/toys-games/remote-control/pterosaur-rc-dinasaur/index.html

    After all, Pterosaur/Pterodactyl ... what's the difference?

    Hopefully someone will tell me.

  39. Anonymous Coward
    IT Angle

    It's the Washington state bird...

    Often seen hovering around the home (fortress) of Bill Gates. It's believed to be a scavenger of carrion such as the Vista OS.

  40. Anonymous Coward
    Black Helicopters

    bLACK oPS

    Type your comment here — plain text only, no HTML

  41. Ismael

    It's like in the movies

    The man saw a Pderodactyl. Pderodactyls are secretly gathering to take over humanity. Nobody believes this man. We are here, all laughing from him.

    Then, the pderodactyls strike. Millions of people die. This same man escapes from the sanatorium, gather a group of crazy people coming from all sectors of society (including the obligatory very hot bimbo, a rebel adolescent and a black man). All these people were absolutely normal, living normal lifes, but all of a sudden, they'll become expert in guns handling, ace drivers and explosive masters. They'll take down the pderodactyls. The black man, rebel adolescent, hot bimbo and a lot of extras will die so this man can accomplish his mission. The only survivor, besides him, will be a beautifull woman that doesn't like him, but as the days passes by his side, begins to love him madly.

    All of this will happen in the USA, that we all know is the center of the world, so all invasions must start here. And, on the other hand, when the invaders in the USA are aniquillated, all of a sudden the invaders in all the world are destroyed too.

    You'll see. Now, we laugh of this man. After a few months, the few of us that survive will praise him like a savior...

  42. Michael Birks
    Coat

    @Ismael

    The Chances of pterodactyls coming from Washington are a million to one, he said.

  43. Nick Pettefar

    @Ismael

    Does Hollywood know of Ismael?! - i think he may have a bright future there.

    All hail Ismael!

    OK, Bollywood then.

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