The Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp (also known as The Lizard Man Of Lee County), is a humanoid cryptid which is said to inhabit areas of swampland in and around Lee County, South Carolina.
Description
The Lizard Man is described as being seven feet tall (over 2m), bipedal, and well built, with green scaly skin and glowing orange eyes. It is said to have three toes on each foot and three fingers on each hand which end in a circular pad on them that stick to walls. It was later suggested that The Lizard Man died of boredom. [2]
Sightings
Davis sighting
The first reported sighting of the creature was made by Christopher Davis, a 17 year old local, who said he encountered the creature while driving home from work at 2 AM on June 29, 1988.[3][2] According to his account, Davis stopped on a road bordering Scape Ore Swamp in order to change a tire which had blown out. When he was finishing up he reported having heard a thumping noise from behind him and having turned around to see the creature running towards him.[4][2]
Davis said the creature tried to grab at the car and then jumped on its roof as he tried to escape, clinging on to it as Davis swerved from side to side in an effort to throw it off. After he returned home, Davis' side-view-mirror was found to be badly damaged, and scratch marks were found on the car's roof--though there was no other physical evidence of his encounter.[5][3][2]
“I looked back and saw something running across the field towards me. It was about 25 yards away and I saw red eyes glowing. I ran into the car and as I locked it, the thing grabbed the door handle. I could see him from the neck down – the three big fingers, long black nails and green rough skin. It was strong and angry. I looked in my mirror and saw a blur of green running. I could see his toes and then he jumped on the roof of my car. I thought I heard a grunt and then I could see his fingers through the front windshield, where they curled around on the roof. I sped up and swerved to shake the creature off.”
In the month that followed the Davis sighting there were several further reports of a large lizard like creature, and of unusual scratches and bite marks found on cars parked close to the swamp.[6] Most of these are said to have occurred within a three-mile (5 km) radius of the swamps of Bishopville.[6]
At the time, local law enforcement officials reacted to reports of the Lizard Man with a mixture of concern and skepticism, stating that a sufficient number of sightings had been made by apparently reliable people for them to believe that something tangible was being seen, but also that it was more likely to be a bear than a Lizard Man.[7]
Two weeks after the Davis sighting the sheriff's department made several plaster casts of what appeared to be three-toed footprints - measuring some 14 inches (360 mm) in length - but decided against sending them on to the FBI for further analysis after biologists advised them that they were unclassifiable.[2] According to South Carolina Marine Resources Department spokesperson Johnny Evans the tracks neither matched, nor could be mistaken for, the footprints of any recorded animal. Evans also dismissed the possibility that they could have been made by some form of mutated creature.[6]
The sightings attracted tourists interested in seeing the creature and hunters interested in tracking it, and nearby radio station WCOS[disambiguation needed] offered a $1 million reward to anybody who could capture the creature alive. [2][6] However, reports of the creature began to decline at the end of the summer with the last credible sighting of the year being reported in July. [5]
On August 5 Kenneth Orr, an airman stationed at Shaw Air Force Base, filed a report with the police saying that he had encountered the Lizard Man on highway 15, and that he had shot and wounded it. He presented several scales and a small quantity of blood as evidence. Orr recanted this account two days later when he was arraigned for unlawfully carrying a pistol, and the misdemeanor offense of filing a false police report. According to Orr, he had invented the sighting in order to keep stories about the Lizard Man in circulation. [7][1]
Contemporary events
- In July 2005, the Lizard Man "reappeared" in television promotions for the South Carolina Education Lottery.
- In October 2005, a woman in Newberry, South Carolina reported to the police that she had seen two creatures resembling the Lizard Man outside her home. The responding officer, Officer Michael Kennedy, apparently amused, told the woman that the creatures "just like to check on humans from time to time."[8]
- In February 2008, a couple in Bishopville, South Carolina, Bob and Dixie Rawson, reported strange damage to their vehicle, traces of blood, and the disappearance of some of their cats. Based on how the damage looks, some have claimed that this is the "return" of the Lizard Man.[9]
- The blood traces from the Rawsons' vehicle were sent to a Veterinary lab in California and were found to be from a domestic dog. Lee County Sheriff E.J. Melvin believes it was a coyote or wolf.[10]
- Soon after the incident at the Rawsons' home, Lee County Sheriff E.J. Melvin discovered a dead cow and a dead coyote in a field next to the Rawsons' home.[11]
- Interviews with Lizard Man spotters can be seen on History.com's MonsterQuest Videos/Cold Cases page.
- The Lee County Chamber of Commerce hosts a Lizard Man 5k run and sells "Lizard Man" shirts and a "Lizard Patrol" shirt.
- The Cartoon Network show The Secret Saturdays made reference to "The Bishopville Lizard Man" in the opening sequence of its series debut on October 3, 2008.
Notes
- ^ a b The Washington Post (1988-08-14) "Lizard Man' Claims a Casualty", The Washington Post
- ^ a b c d e f Horswell, Cindy(1989-07-1989) "`Lizard Man' legend still alive, kicking", Houston Chronicle
- ^ a b Milligan, Stephen (1988-08-07) "Sightings of a monster lizard from the swamp has struck terror into a small community in South Carolina", The Sunday Times.
- ^ San Francisco Chronicle (1988-08-02) "Youth Who Saw 'Lizard Man' Gets an Agent", San Francisco Chronicle
- ^ a b Horswell, Cindy (1989-07-30) "Lizard man leaves mark/Tale still told in sleepy S.C. town", Houston chronicle
- ^ a b c d Horswell, Cindy (1988-07-31) "On a scale of one to 10, it rates a downright scary 11/Leapin' lizards! Is that brute for real?", Houston Chronicle
- ^ a b Houston Chronicle (1988-08-13) "To keep a monstrous legend alive/Man admits lying about Lizard Man", Houston Chronicle