The Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp
Although Patty has our hearts and minds here at the Astonishing Legends Podcast, we do recognize there are scores of other bigfoot-like creatures that roam through the United States. One of those creatures may have a name that doesn’t scream bigfoot to you...it’s The Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp. And, if you like Lyle Blackburn, he also investigated this creature and noticed a “a peculiar pattern of death surrounding anyone who had seen the Lizard Man.”
It all began the summer of 1988 in Lee County, South Carolina. On June 29th, around 2am, Christopher Davis was coming home from the late shift at McDonalds. His car, a 1976 Celcia, blew a flat tire on his way home. He pulled over about a mile from the Scape Ore Bridge to change his tire.
As he was finishing up, he saw something moving close to him in the treeline. In an interview he gave after the incident to The Item, he said he saw...a creature.
He described it at approximately 7ft tall, with green ‘wet-like’ skin, three fingers and, most hauntingly, glowing red eyes.
After seeing this being in the trees he did what any sane person would do - he ran to the driver’s side door and locked his car. As he was in his car, the creature emerged fully from the treeline and approached the car. He said the creature appeared to be angry...and strong. After trying to open the door, the creature ran away.
Momentarily relieved, Davis began to relax...when the creature took a running start and jumped onto the roof of the car. He turned the car on, sped up, and swerved in an attempt to dislodge the creature whose fingers were hanging onto the roof.
Davis, shaken up, headed to the Lee County Sheriff’s Department to report the creature and his experience. Soon, the story was picked up by several newspapers and drew quite a bit of attention to this corner of South Carolina.
Since then, there have been several compelling stories and countless sightings of the Lizard Man. In fact, there was even a photo that went semi-viral in 2015, that claimed to feature the Lizard Man.
Another story, also in 1988, tells the story of a 1985 Ford LTD that had been, according to Sheriff Truesdale, looked “chewed up.” There were bitemarks on the fender, the trim was pulled off, and even the wheel well was completely torn off.
If you’re hungering for more on the Lizard Man, you can head to the South Carolina Cotton Museum, which feature an exhibition about the summer of the Lizard Man. Janson Cox, who was the Executive Director of the Museum says this about the Lizard Man: “What you have to understand is, even back to the dinosaur age, there was a lizard-looking creature that stood on its hind legs like the Lizard Man is described. The Native Americans talked about men with tails that came to live with them. So the stories have been going on for centuries. Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?”
Thank you Ben W for this blogstonishing suggestion!
The blog image depicts Scape Ore Swamp near Bishopville, South Carolina (Station 02135300) from the United States Geological Survey