The Lizard Man from Scape Ore Swamp: The Story of Bright Red Eyes
The Scape Ore Swamp Lizardman, or widely known as the Lee County Lizardman, is an entity that reportedly inhabits the swamp of Lee County, South Carolina, in the United States. First mentioned in the late 1980s, the possible sightings and damage attributed to the creature caught the attention of the entire American community.
The Lee County Lizard Man:
On July 14, 1988, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office investigated a report of a car damaged overnight while parking at a home in the Browntown area outside of Bishopville, South Carolina, on the banks of the Scape Ore Swamp. The car would have teeth marks and scratches with hair and muddy footprints left behind. Sheriff Liston Truesdale noted that this was the start of several allegations that eventually grew into a story about a lizardman in the Lee County swamp.
Christopher Davis Account:
Christopher Davis. On June 29, 1988, he was driving home when he pulled over to the side of the road to change a flat tire. As he finished, he heard a thud behind him and turned to see something that terrified him. “I looked back and saw something running across the field towards me. I was about 25 meters away and I saw red eyes glowing. ”
Spurred on by news of the damage to the vehicle, 17-year-old Christopher Davis told the sheriff that his car was damaged by a creature he described as “green, wet, about 7 meters tall and three toes, red eyes, skin like a lizard, snake scales” two weeks earlier. According to Davis, he was on his way home from working the night shift at a fast-food restaurant when his car had a flat tire. After fixing it, he saw a creature walking towards him.
Here’s how Davis described the encounter to the Houston Chronicle after the story gained national attention:
“I ran into the car and when 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 rough green 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 the roof. I accelerated and swerved to scare the creature away. “
Davis slammed on the brakes, causing the creature to roll out of the car, finally giving it enough time to escape.
People started calling the strange creature the “Lizard Man”. Increased newspaper and media publicity about the “Lizard Man” generated new reports of sightings, and the area soon became a tourist attraction for visitors and hunters. Local radio station WCOS offered a $1 million reward to anyone who could capture the living creature.
Kenneth Orr’s account:
On August 5, Kenneth Orr, an airman stationed at Shaw Air Force Base, filed a police report claiming that he had encountered the Lizard Man on Highway 15, and had shot and wounded him. He presented several scales and a small amount of blood as evidence.
However, Orr retracted that account two days later when he was prosecuted for illegal possession of a pistol and the misdemeanor offense of filing a false police report. According to Orr, he rigged the sighting to keep the Lizard-Man stories in circulation. Reports of the creature gradually waned towards the end of the summer. Local police speculated that the sightings were likely caused by a bear.
Another trace of blood:
In 2008, the legend of the Lizard Man was mentioned in a news story about a couple in Bishopville, South Carolina who reported damage to their vehicle, including traces of blood. Investigative reports concluded that the blood traces were from a domestic dog, although the local sheriff suggested it could be a coyote or wolf.
An unusual pattern of deaths:
The most popular character in the “Lizard Man” legend, Christopher Davis is no longer around to tell us the story. He was murdered in his home in 2009. In his seminal 2013 cryptozoological book Lizard Man: The True Story of the Bishopville Monster , author Lyle Blackburn mentions that some other Lizard Man witnesses died of unnatural causes, establishing what he was calls “a peculiar pattern of death around anyone who has seen the Lizard Man.”
