Max Hawthorne is an American author known as the "Prince of Paleo-fiction" for his Kronos Rising series of sci-fi suspense thrillers, which have garnered both Book of the Year and People's Choice awards. Hawthorne joined guest host Richard Syrett (Twitter) in the first half of the show to discuss his research into the real-life prehistoric sea monsters upon which he based his primeval protagonist — the pliosaur. The ancient creature had a gigantic body with four flippers, and a head resembling a crocodile. "I have a collection of [pliosaur] cervical vertebrae... that suggest an animal between 43 and 52 feet in length," Hawthorne revealed, noting a specimen found in Mexico was approximately 45-feet long and had been killed by a much larger pliosaur.
"There have been dozens of reports... where people have claimed to have seen or encountered gigantic marine reptiles of some kind," he continued. Hawthorne reported on an unidentified creature witnessed by a worker on a Carnival Cruise Lines ship which was described as having a head like an alligator, a broad neck and shoulders, and just the part of it that was visible was 50 feet long. Hawthorne detailed the giant sea turtle sighting by Garry Liimatta who spotted an enormous turtle-like creature off the coast of Canada that he estimated was 38-feet across. The animal had huge front flippers, smaller back flippers, no shell, and poked its 8-foot long neck out of the water, he explained. "It's quite jarring to think that there are turtles out there the size of a bus," Hawthorne said. He also mentioned his new book, The Sleigh, about a cult of serial killers known as the Christmas Cannibals.
------------------------------------------------
During the second half of the program, cryptozoologist D.A. Roberts reported on his research into cryptids and his work as the Midwest Regional Director of the North American Dogman Project, where he digs deep into stories of this creature, which has the head of a dog and has been noted in historical stories dating back to ancient times. "There are certain clusters [where] we see more, but they're seen all across the country... there's Dogman researchers on most continents, except Antarctica," he revealed, noting the bulk of sightings in the Midwest occur during the fall when deer season starts. "I think they're following the prey animals," Roberts suggested. Dogman encounters are not peaceful, and many witnesses describe feeling as though they are being hunted or about to be killed, he added. According to Roberts, reports of Dogman encounters describe a beast seven to eight feet tall, moving very fast, with front hands resembling a larger version of a raccoon’s paw, and eyes that he called "demonic or hellish."
A Dogman will sometimes appear on all fours, and witnesses report hearing popping sounds as they rise to stand on two legs, he continued. Roberts pointed out that stories of Dogman appear throughout history, including from the ancient Greeks and Romans, who reported encountering dog-headed warriors during their travels. He shared a modern account from 1982 when a family of four was allegedly killed by a Dogman in a region known as the Land Between the Lakes (in Kentucky/Tennessee). Joedy Cook, head of the North American Dogman Project, interviewed two of the highway patrolmen who responded to the scene, he noted, sharing some of the grisly details of the killings. Roberts identified cast prints and fur samples as the best evidence of their existence, and offered an explanation for why we don't see many photos of cryptids. "If you are in the field and you see a cryptid... it is such a paradigm-shifting moment that you don't even think about filming anything," he said.