Lizard Man — Cryptid Encyclopedia

At 2:00 AM on June 29, 1988, seventeen-year-old Christopher Davis pulled over to change a flat tire on a dark road beside Scape Ore Swamp near Bishopville, South Carolina. As he finished and turned back to his car, he saw something running toward him from across the field — a seven-foot-tall humanoid creature covered in dark green, wet-looking scales, with three thick fingers on each hand, glowing red eyes, and a powerful, muscular build.

Davis jumped into his car. The creature caught up and leaped onto the roof, gripping the door handles as Davis accelerated to over 35 miles per hour. He could see its fingers — green, scaly, three-pronged — clinging to the side mirror as he swerved wildly. Eventually, the creature was thrown free. When Davis reached home, the car's side mirror was damaged and the roof bore deep scratch marks.

Over the following weeks, multiple residents of Lee County reported encounters with a large, reptilian bipedal creature near the swamp. Several cars were found with unusual bite marks and scratches. Plaster casts were made of three-toed footprints found in the mud near Scape Ore Swamp — 14 inches long.

The Lizard Man became a media sensation. Armed patrols were organized. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division investigated. Sheriff Liston Truesdale stated that while he couldn't confirm the creature's existence, the witnesses — including Davis — were credible and genuinely frightened.

Sightings continued sporadically for decades. As recently as 2015, a woman in Bishopville photographed a large, dark figure she described as reptilian, standing near a tree outside a church.

"I looked back and saw something running across the field toward me. It was seven feet tall. It wasn't human." — Christopher Davis, 1988.