Host George Knapp was joined by cryptozoologist JC Johnson (additional link), who provided an update on his research and experiences with cryptids as well as Native American skinwalkers in the Southwest US. He explained that skinwalkers are Native Americans believed to be able to transform into an animal such as a bear or wolf via supernatural means. According to Johnson, Navajo skinwalkers originally had a peaceful coexistence with their tribe and served as scouts against advancing forces such as the Spanish Conquistadors or American cavalry. However, following the captivity of the Navajo at Fort Sumter, he said, they began adopting practices learned from their captors and became more concerned with personal property. In turn, Johnson revealed, skinwalkers started performing more nefarious deeds against their own tribe as in-fighting grew amongst the community.
Over the course of the evening, Johnson shared a number of stories involving encounters with strange entities which may have been skinwalkers. In one such tale, a Navajo tracker named Darren confronted a creature that had been stalking his wife and children in a remote part of the reservation. "When it stood up, it was eight or nine feet tall," Johnson reported, "covered in hair and it had ram horns that came off the side of its head." Armed with a rifle, Darren shot the creature three times in the chest, but it managed to escape the area. Eerily, he would learn a few days later that a "medicine man had died of a heart attack," leading him to suspect that this man had been using his skinwalker abilities to torment Darren's family.
Johnson also detailed accounts of 'little people' being witnessed by denizens of the Southwest. He recalled once instance where a group of Native Americans were camping overnight in the hopes of catching whatever had slaughtered some of their sheep. Around dawn, the men were stunned to see fifteen to twenty little people that stood only twelve to eighteen inches tall and were heading toward the sheep corral. Dressed in buckskin and armed with bows or spears, these entities essentially resembled "miniature Natives" to the witnesses who chased them away from the area but lost sight of them during the pursuit. Later in his appearance, Johnson recounted his work on the Melba Ketchum DNA project as well as his own encounters with seemingly supernatural entities.
Cruise Ship Chicanery
In the first hour, Chairman of International Cruise Victims, Kendall Carver, talked about chilling crimes committed on cruise ships and how the industry stonewalls investigations into these events as well as regulations that could prevent them. "We're not anti-cruise ship," Carver said of his organization, "we just want accountability." To that end, he listed a litany of potential dangers unbeknownst to cruise ship passengers such as a lack of adequate medical care and the absence of any police force aboard these massive vessels. While the cruise industry has vociferously fought against regulations to protect passengers, Carver noted that Senator Rockefeller of West Virginia has now held multiple hearings on the issue and new legislation, which would help to reform the industry, may soon be passed.