CRYPTOTRIP

In the first half of Friday's program, George Noory welcomed filmmaker Christopher Maloney for a discussion on his research into cryptids and recent documentary, Cryptotrip. The film examines how sightings of unknown creatures affect the lives of those who witness them, Maloney explained. "It changes their concept of reality," he added. Maloney described his interview with Dover Demon witness William Bartlett, who expressed frustration for being known almost exclusively for an 8-second encounter he had with a strange being with glowing eyes. He shared a case from Papua New Guinea of a flying dinosaur-like creature about the size of a small airplane, as well as speculated on why there is little physical evidence for cryptids. People rarely come across bear remains in the wild and it is quite possible that members of the Bigfoot species actually bury their dead, he noted.

Two witnesses featured in his film joined the conversation to share their own creature sightings. Robin Swope recalled an unforgettable moment in July 2001, when he watched a giant bird emerge from swamp land next to the graveyard where he worked in Erie, Pennsylvania. Swope said the creature had black feathers, a 17-ft wingspan, and appeared to be prehistoric-looking. He compared it to an extinct condor. Next, Todd Neiss recounted his incredible Bigfoot sighting from 1993, when he was working in Oregon as a combat engineer for the National Guard conducting explosives training. According to Neiss, as he was exiting the blast zone in a Humvee he saw "three very large jet black figures" standing upright off in the distance. They were covered in hair, wore no clothes, had arms that went passed their knees, and at least one stood 9-ft tall, he revealed. Neiss claimed that other soldiers corroborated his sighting.