Today we’re going to be discussing the Mysterious Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp, or the Lizard Man of Lee County.
Lee County is located within South Carolina, about an hour east of the Capital Columbia.
The story of the Lizard Man goes back to the 1980’s. with dozens claiming after the initial incident that they saw the creature. As for the initial incident, in July 1988 the Lee County sheriff’s office investigated a disturbance involving a damaged car, right outside the Scape Ore Swamp. Apparently, the car had toothmarks along with scratches of hair. At the scene, muddy footprints were found left behind.
A young man by the name of Christopher Davis, a local teenager, reported to Sheriff Liston Truesdale that his car had been damaged by a large green creature. Davis reported the creature as being over 7 feet tall, with three fingers, red eyes and having skin like a lizard with snakelike scales.
Davis told the sheriff the following story. After working his fast food shift several weeks earlier, he left at night and was driving home when he got at flat tire. After changing it, he noticed some creature walking toward him. He then jumped in his car and attempted to flee but the creature had jumped on his car. After driving and hearing the creature on top of his car, he slammed on the brakes prompting the creature to fly off the car onto the ground.
Soon the story took off in popularity. Tourists began flocking to the city to search for the cryptid. T-shirts of the Lizard Man began appearing. With increased attention, came increased scrutiny.
Ben Radford, an American author and skeptic, began investigating the incident and found several inconsistencies within Davis’s story. He found that over the weeks, the story kept changing. For example, Davis quoted the creature had scales initially but then later changed this to the creature was covered in mud. He also changed how far away he was from the creature.
To make matters worse for the believers, Kenneth Orr, an airman stationed nearby filed a police report claiming he had seen the Lizard Man, and this was eventually determined to be a false report. Orr recanted his statement shortly after filing.
Over the years, many people in the town of Bishopville, located within Lee County have stated they have seen the Lizard Man. These eyewitness reports are best outlined in the book “Lizard Man: The True Story of the Bishopville Monster” which was authored by Lyle Blackburn and Cindy Lee.
So, was the Lizard Man an elaborate hoax or is there any truth to the eyewitness stories? Some suggest that was seen by Christipher Davis was a bear. Was the absurdity of the story something that Davis never thought would get so popular? What’s clear is that the swamp is incredibly dense, tough to navigate and dangerous too. Moonshining used to be big back in the swamp, and the Sheriff even once got stuck in quicksand chasing moonshiners.
Today, the legend around the Lizard Man reverberates within the Bishopville Town. The town has embraced the legend and the jokes along with it. Each year, there is a Lizard Man Festival where a number of citizens believe that the creature is out there, and others believe that it wouldn’t surprise them if something popped out of the swamp one day.
