Lizard Man of South Carolina
Posted by: Craig Woolheater on August 12th, 2006
In my post about the Loveland Frog, Lizard Men of the deep south were mentioned. Loren’s good friend and colleague, Mark A. Hall, has done quite a bit of research into this phenomenon.
Probably the most famous of the Lizard Men cases is the Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp in South Carolina. Below are the articles from Mark’s website about this most famous of the Lizard Man cases.
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Co-founder of Cryptomundo in 2005.
I have appeared in or contributed to the following TV programs, documentaries and films:
OLN's Mysterious Encounters: "Caddo Critter", Southern Fried Bigfoot, Travel Channel's Weird Travels: "Bigfoot", History Channel's MonsterQuest: "Swamp Stalker", The Wild Man of the Navidad, Destination America's Monsters and Mysteries in America: Texas Terror - Lake Worth Monster, Animal Planet's Finding Bigfoot: Return to Boggy Creek and Beast of the Bayou.
I’ve read enough of Mark Hall’s writings and theories to consider him a fairly stable cryptozoologist, but I have to say, his web page looks more like a sideshow broadside, or the hastily-assembled, crudely photocopied, and somewhat disjointed ramblings of your local area homeless schizophrenic. I have to ask, what’s the deal?
Something that always makes me suspicious of these reports is the fact that none of these creatures no matter what form they take, ever seem to have normal sized feet. They are always the giant economy size.
Somehow that just doesnt’t sit right with me. Anyone ever given it any thought?
Makes one wonder if giant footprints aren’t the result of using a pea sized brain.
One faker copying another.
Well hmmmmm not sure what to say or think on this one. Maybe a little on the skeptical side. I just do not know what to think when I hear these type of reports. You would like to think they are not telling a fib or something to get some publicity. But like they say any fame or $$$ will make people do some of the worst things. Makes you just say HMMMMMMMMM!!!
Lizard man is still around, read about this but I never knew it was 7 ft tall, thats the first time I read about that. Interesting information about this creature. Unfortunately, I hate to say this, I know its kind of sad, but to find out if its real we need a body to prove it exists or maybe a video. It seems to be very elusive.
The frog and the lizard man remind me of other things I’ve read about. I seem to recall that there are lizard men in South America as well, and then there is the Japanese folk tradition of the Kappa. It’s more of a turtle man, I think, but it all brings to mind how long some of these crypto critters have allegedly been spotted and/or interacted with.
I can see what Mnynames is saying about the website. I’ve read a few of these reports. As much as I would like to believe them, it all sits a little uneasy with me. I don’t know if it’s my religious upbringing or the fact that almost all the reports of the lizard men they were attacking. At least big foot isn’t usually easily provoked.
This past March, my brother and I went to Bishopville and Scape Ore Swamp, not so much to “investigate” the Lizardman, but as tourists. We tracked down Liston Truesdale who was sheriff at the time of the Lizardman flap. He kindly showed us the sites of several alleged encounters, as well as some clippings and witness statements. We asked to see the casts taken of the footprints, but he said they were put away. Truesdale pointed out that the area was much more built-up than it had been in the eighties. The highway now runs right beside the swamp, whereas it had once been a desolate and surely eerie place when the flap occurred. We camped out in the swamp and hiked around, but experienced nothing out of the ordinary. If there was ever a Lizardman, he moved on to a quieter environment.
This is a very interesting new article about sc lizard man.
I don’t think it is true, it maybe a hoax, because just think of it. A man with scales and lizard like feet, and red eyes, come on! You all know it may not be true, they would of found a fossil by now of it, or some remain of it. But if you believe in it that is ok, we are in a free crountry and you can have your own decisions if you think it is true. Hey. Maybe someday they would find one, and prove me wrong. But I think it is pretty insteresting! And I really like those type of stories!
To me, this kinda looks like a young man concocting a wild story to expalin how the family car was damaged while in his possession, followed by a classic case of mass hysteria and rumors spreading out of control.
The fact that there have been no more signicant sightings since (to my knowledge) lends support that that theory, I think.
All of this is just my opinion, of course.
Still, a fun story, and something that should be recorded for posterity’s sake.
Thanks again, Craig. Good stuff!
I totally agree mooppoint, I thought the same thing myself. The young man did a little damage to the family car and was worried about getting into trouble and concocted this far fetched story to cover his butt. being he was usually a calm quiet, good kid the folks believed him readily in the then superstitious rural south.
Actually Shumway, the fact that the Lizard Men are always hostile is a point in favour of their existence, for it points to a consistently observed behaviour.
I love these tales, precisely because they are so hard to reconcile with known facts. I know I mentioned that when I was younger I figured they must be visiting aliens (See Loveland Frog Men post), but my current view is to take the middle ground- In most cases these people saw something, but just what that is may be quite different from what they’ve reported. Sasquatch reports sometimes mention scales, which may be either simple brush, leaves, and forest debris caught in their hair, or as mentioned before on Cryptomundo, stones and sap or mud intentionally matted into the hair to produce a sort of armour.
Another way to think of these reports is in terms of mental archetypes. There is no doubting that reptiles tend to conjure up fear and dread in many people, particularly those in Western civilization. One need only look to the legends of dragons and the demonization of snakes to see how evident that is. If these are external expressions of internal imagery (Which I suppose is a nice way of saying they saw something but it wasn’t really real), then it’s not surprising that they would be hostile. If a Native American or Australian Aborigine experienced an encounter with a Lizard Man, perhaps they would have behaved differently, in keeping with their cultural preconceptions.
Then again, maybe there really are giant lizard men stalking South Carolinan teenagers and Ohio police officers, be they native terrestrials or something from much farther afield…
I live in SC and remember it being called a hoax on the news when I was a teenager. They sold t-shirts and all kinds of things. I have family in Bishopville, so I’ll ask if anyone knows who reported the hoax.
I wouldn’t label this a “hoax” any more than I would label Mothman a “hoax”. The effects of misinterpreting/mislabeling some strange, but real phenomenon, maybe, but not a hoax.
If you read the article there are two different car related attacks. One is on the young man, who reported no damage greater than a scratched bumper (hardly worth concocting a story of this magnitude when it could just as easily be blamed on a careless shopping cart in a parking lot, or another careless driver, etc.), the other was more extensive damage, coupled with “reddish hair” that was attributed to a “red fox” (since when do red fox, slightly larger than house cats, attack automobiles?)
I’m not saying these are “real” in the physical sense, but I tend to believe the phenomenon are often very “real” to those experiencing them.
Remember that if they were truly seeing something unknown, it can only be described in terms of the known. Maybe “giant lizard man” is the best they could come up with as an approximation. Maybe it was in fact one of the more hostile “marked hominids” misidentified (there was, after all, hair collected even if it was attributed to a red fox).
Or maybe someone needs to check with David Icke’s to see if any member of the Royal Family were visiting South Carolina at the time 😉
Is the Lizard Man still alive?
Is the Lizard man still alive? Well, I remember those days in 1988 when there were sightings of the Lizard man. I was living in Columbia at the time. It was truly a mystery then. The national news media was camped out in Bishopville, interviewing anyone they could about what they thought about this Lizard man. But, eventually, the hysteria died down. I don’t think that there has been an official conclusion to this mystery. However, I eventually found out, fortunately or unfortunately, that there was no real “Lizard Man”. I will simply leave it at that.
Hi my name is Logan Machelle. I’m glad I’ve check out this website. It’s been alot of talk about the Lizard Man this and that. Do I believe in it? I can’t answer it. But I can let you know that I have just been cast in an upcoming movie called Lizard Man written and directed by C. Michael Forsyth. I actually am cast as the lead character Kimberly. We haven’t start shooting yet but, we will be real SOON. Hopefully that can answer alot of people question because it’s really a big thing in Hartsville, South Carolina from little kids to adults. I will keep you and everyone viewing this website updated with more information
Sincerely,
Logan Machelle!